What is Old Roots
Dave Schultz is the Old Hippie, and this PRIVATE web site is for my very extended family to learn a little about their family, and collaborate with filling in the blanks. Privacy is a #1 Priority. All of these sites are secured with a SSL Certificate (https:// vs. http://) so all information to and from the server has a high level of encryption. Access to the sites is restricted, to keep information on those still living private.
The Reason I created Old Hippie’s Roots
Growing up, I was surprised to find out how little my parents and grandparents know about their ancestry. My grandma Castillo did have a study done on her Father’s family (the Lyon/Lyons branch) – as they actually came across on the Mayflower and fought in the American Revolution and for the North in the Civil War. So they were actually pretty easy to research – and in fact my investigation has tracked them back to the 1100s; In addition to being a descendant of Sam Adams, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, we’re direct descendants of Mary Queen of Scotts and a dynasty of (Scotch/English) Kings of England. A family castle still exists in Scotland. Most of the other parts of the family, are a little more of a mystery. The VilleMonte (my paternal grandmother’s father’s family) were French Aristocracy who fled to Montreal during the French Revolution, and migrated to Milwaukee and later Detroit. My paternal grandmother’s mother’s family was Irish (O’Connor), arriving to North Dakota during the Great Potato Famine – but little is (currently) known about them before arriving. My paternal Grand Father’s father was a pharmacist who was born in Germany. I was able to track his Schultz family back to the 1300s – and they were actually Vikings from Scandinavia with a funky name that morphed into Schultz in the 1600s. His wife was a Hoffman. She was also born in Germany (technically Prussia) and came here at the turn of the Century (1900ish) – but I’ve so far come to a dead end in Prussia. My Grandma Castillo’s mother’s family (Krajenka/Krajenke) were farmers in Poland, and migrated to the “Thumb” of Michigan in the early. 1800s. Little is currently known about them before that. My maternal Grandfather (Castillo) came from Venezuela – and other than the names of his parents, little factual information has been found on that family. It was said that his father was sent to Venezuela from Spain to be a governor (and my DNA has a good bit of Iberian Peninsula in it), but he died of small pox in the late 1800s, and all of their possessions were burn to stop any spread. His wife (Torres) is a complete dead end.
So the purpose of these sites is to document as much of the history that can be found – on the outside chance that my Mother and Father’s Grandkids and Great-Grandkids someday develop an interest in their heritage. Sadly, my mother is the only remaining family member of her generation left. All the rest took what they knew with them – maybe. My dad and I spent hours discussing what he knew, before he died. I’ll, document what I remember in the near future. Maybe my cousins/2nd cousins in my generation also know some family stories, which they might want to document before were gone too. That’s what this whole thing is about.
It is my dream that I live long enough to organized this information to be printed, and for at least one person in the next generation is passed the torch to continue where I left off.
The Three Parts To Old Hippie’s Roots
There are three distinct applications that I’m using to put this all together. They are:
Portal/News
This is the Portal. It is a WordPress site that has a couple of purposes:
- Link it all together
- Report important family news, which all family members are encouraged to submit to be posted
- Pride tips and instruction on how to use the site and applications
Ancestry Tree
This is the Genealogy application to add family members basic information – and link the relationship to others. Currently there are almost 1200 family members added — but I have maybe another 100 already on my ancestry.com family tree, which I need to add to this application. On this site, any family member can set themselves as the primary, and have dozens of different charts give them a visual picture of their particular ancestry. If you are already added, you are encouraged to add your spouse, children, ancestors and descendants not already added. It is set up to where anyone living is not displayed to anyone other than registered user, to keep their full name and DOB private.
If you are in the Private Family Group on Fascistbook, I’ve posted a throw down login that you can use to check it out. I encourage everyone to log in to view their information, add your spouse, children, important dates…
In all honesty, if you are willing to collaborate to any extent, you should email me requesting your own log in. It provides more security and allows you more features.
Family Wiki
The family wiki is another Private site, where we can collaborate on the facts, history, stories, memories and documents of all family – living or dead. It uses the exact same application (Wikimedia) used by Wikipedia. The site has quite a bit of information already on it, and I’m really depending on the over 40 crowd to help out with memories and stories of their grand parents, parents, siblings, Aunt and Uncles.
As I write this, on August 8, 2021, I have a little fine tuning to do on this site. You have to be logged in to see anything. Many of you were given logins about 5 years ago, and those log ins are still good. If you forgot it, or you want a log in to learn the history of your family – email me.
How You Can Help
- Submit Family News (marriages, births, deaths and other important family news) to be posted on this Portal Site.
- Log onto the Family Tree site, and look over your record.
- Are the dates correct?
- Are your relations complete?
- Start writing your memories and history of ancestors no longer with us, to be added to the Family Wiki
