My Dolisi Family History & Picture Album Written by Carole Dolisi Beaver 1st Edition, dated 12-22-2018 Excerpt #2 for the Gardner Historical Museum’s Website: Dolisi Family Beginnings & Immigration Copyright © 2018 by Carole Dolisi Beaver © 2018 Written by Carole Dolisi Beaver Excerpt #2, page 1 Carole Dolisi Beaver © 2018 Written by Carole Dolisi Beaver Excerpt #2, page 2 Chapter 1 - Dolisi Family Beginnings I had always heard that my Dolisi family came from France, but I never knew exactly where in France. Some old obituaries and those early records I got from France helped me pinpoint the area. I now know that our branch of the family lived in the Lorraine Region, Moselle Department in several little towns (called communes) named Audviller, Hinsing, Hirbach, Holving, Schweix, Steinbach, Ventzviller and Val de Gueblange. It would be many years before I clarified this information and found a map detailed enough to show these little towns. The Lorraine Region is shown in green in the upper right of the map below. A Region in France is roughly equivalent to a Region (such as the Midwest) in the United States. You may have heard the term Alsace-Lorraine in France. That actually refers to two different contiguous Regions in France. We are from the Lorraine Region. Map of France showing the different Regions along with the location of Le Havre port & Ventzviller (one main home of Dolisi folks) © 2018 Written by Carole Dolisi Beaver Excerpt #2, page 3 French geography divides that country much like our country is divided into Regions/States/Counties/ Townships/Cities. Here is the actual full French geographic description of the commune of Ventzviller where we are from and an example comparison to my home town of Gardner, KS, to help you understand the terminology: United States France Region (Midwest) Region (Lorraine) State (Kansas) Department (Moselle) County (Johnson) Arrondissement (Forbach) Township (Gardner) Canton (Sarralbe) City (Gardner) Commune (Ventzviller) Below is another map upon which I have shown the general location for the important surnames of Dolisi, Deprez, Kayser/Kaiser and Moll. You can see where they lived in relation to each other. The blue river running top to bottom is the Rhine River. France is to the left of it and Germany to the right. One thing that threw me off for many years was the spelling of the town Ventzviller. Old obituaries said the family came from Wentzwiller and, wouldn’t you know, there actually is another town in France that is spelled that way with W’s. It is NOT the right place. Ours is the town spelled Ventzviller. Surname Locations in France and Germany © 2018 Written by Carole Dolisi Beaver Excerpt #2, page 4 My 2-gr-grandfather Jacob Dolisi Jr. married Marie Catherine Deprez and you can see that their families lived near each other in France. That marriage occurred in Ventzviller, home town of the bride. My Dolisi family immigrated to America in January 1848. My 2-gr-grandfather Joseph Francis Moll Sr. married Regina Kaiser, but that marriage occurred in New York City after both families came to America. It is my belief that my Moll family immigrated to America in the 1st Q. of 1832 and that my Kaiser family immigrated to America between June 1830 and June 1831. Did the Moll & Kaiser families know each other in Europe? Probably not, but I do not actually know the answer to that question. I expect they met at the German speaking St. Nicholas Catholic Church in New York City. That is where they married, anyway. In France, my direct Dolisi ancestors appear to have stayed in a relatively small geographic area in the Lorraine Region. Roughly in chronological order, the records I found happened in this order of location: 1. Hirbach (was the earliest commune mentioned) 2. Holving 3. Hinsing 4. Schweix 5. Ventzviller Ventzviller is the main town that I consider “home” for my Dolisi family because it is the first town I saw in old obituaries. But, in reality they also resided in many little towns near Ventzviller. For example, the town of Schweix is a very important one for the family, too. To help me visualize the location of all these little towns, I found the map below and I have highlighted them in the lower left in pink. Current Location of Specific Towns © 2018 Written by Carole Dolisi Beaver Excerpt #2, page 5 Chapter 2 - Dolisi Migration Pattern In studying genealogy, a person gets involved in analyzing migration patterns. It never ceases to amaze me how brave and adventuresome my ancestors were. They endured many hardships in their lives. I have often wondered why they left one location for another and how did they even know about these new locations? I am sure the motivation was always a promise of a better life for them and their family. They mostly worked the land as farmers, so I am sure they looked for the promise of better, more productive land. Even though my Dolisi family came from France, I now know that they were also fluent in the German language. In fact, they sought out and attended German speaking Catholic churches in both Mascoutah, IL, and Eudora, KS. Perhaps they heard about these new locations from other church members and their families. For my Dolisi family (Edward Cornelius Dolisi and his ancestors), I can break down their migration into 8 phases. In many cases, the family lived out on a farm rather than in a city, but for this purpose I have listed the closest city for them. When summarizing things, it is my usual personal preference to abbreviate an American location in the order of State, County, City because I think it makes the movement between states be more obvious. Phase Description 1. Ventzviller, Lorraine Region, France → Le Havre port, France 2. France → America (from French port of Le Havre to American port of New Orleans; arrived on 2 separate ships, one on 1-3-1848 & the other on 1-22-1848) 3. Up the Mississippi River → IL, St. Clair Co., Mascoutah (arrived bef. 8-16-1850) 4. IL, St. Clair Co., Mascoutah → IL, Clinton Co., Carlyle, then Memphis (IL, not TN) (moved bet. 6-14-1856 & 9-13-1860) 5. IL, Clinton Co. → KS, Johnson Co., Olathe (probably moved bet. 9-28-1864 & 8-8-1865) 6. KS, Johnson Co., Olathe → KS, Douglas Co., Eudora (started moving there in 1865) 7. KS, Douglas Co., Eudora → AR, Benton Co., Hickory Creek area (moved on 11-22-1886) 8. AR, Benton Co., Hickory Creek area → KS, Johnson Co., Olathe/Gardner (moved bet. 11-15-1914 & 1-16- 1915) © 2018 Written by Carole Dolisi Beaver Excerpt #2, page 6 Phase 1: Ventzviller, Lorraine Region, France → Le Havre Port (left Ventzviller area probably in the Fall of 1847) My Dolisi family arrived in America in January 1848, but their journey began in late 1847 when they traveled from their home in the Ventzviller area to the busy port of Le Havre, France. By land, Ventzviller is about 385 miles from Le Havre. I don’t know how they traveled to the port, but I imagine it was mostly on the system of rivers. One major river, the Seine River, terminates on the west at Le Havre. If they traveled by water, I expect they somehow made their way to that river in order to end up at Le Havre. I have read how families arrived in Le Havre back then and had to wait days, even weeks, before boarding a ship for America. Those with some money stayed in local inns, but those without literally lived on the street until they could board a ship. The Dolisi family who took the Brunswick ship was a party of 12 people – 5 adults and 7 children ranging in age from 1 to 12. I imagine getting from Ventzviller to Le Havre was a journey of its own and who knows how long it took. Hopefully they did not have to wait long before boarding their ships. My research shows that in 1848 the journey across the ocean typically took 36 – 45 days. Jacob Dolisi Jr. took a ship named Chesapeake which arrived in New Orleans on 1-3-1848. The others took a ship named Brunswick which arrived in New Orleans on 1-22- 1848. © 2018 Written by Carole Dolisi Beaver Excerpt #2, page 7 Phase 2: France → America (left Le Havre in Nov/Dec 1847 and arrived in New Orleans on 1-3-1848 & 1-22-1848) In the year 2000, I first found Jacob Dolisi Jr. (b. 7-24-1817) on an immigration index CD at a library in Plano, TX. The transcribed name listed in the index was Jacques Dolis, but I had a hunch it might be my guy based on his name, age (was exact) and his being from France. It was an important discovery because it gave the ship’s name, port of departure, port of arrival and date of arrival. I could not completely prove my hunch until 2007, when I discovered that Ancestry.com had actual ship’s manifest images online. Using the information from the index, I was able to locate him. He was traveling under the name of Jacques Dolisi. He arrived alone on a ship named Chesapeake on 1-3-1848. His name is listed on page 4 of the manifest, line 136. Ship Manifest for Chesapeake © 2018 Written by Carole Dolisi Beaver Excerpt #2, page 8 For many years after finding Jacob Jr. alone on this ship, I wondered “where in the heck is his family?” I knew that he was married with children at that point.