Van Wickle Family History

This semester I have been taking a family history class, and learning all about how to research your ancestors. This was partially inspired by Grandma Joan, and here enthusiasm at Christmas time, when she was searching on ancestry.com.

Here are some random things I learned about the family this semester..

first: I got the opportunity to interview Grandma Joan about her life. Did you know that she went to the same high school that Elizabeth Taylor and Ann Rice? And that she initially wanted to be a flight attendant, but you had to be a certified nurse, and she didn't handle the sight of blood very well. Also, her favorite place to travel has been England, and she has lived in the same house for 50+ years! She even told me all about Santa Barbara at its beginning, and how it was all "newly weds and nearly deads". So interesting! If any of you want the transcription of the interview, let me know!

Also, I spent quite a bit of time getting information on the Willis side of the family, but it looks like those records are going to need to be requested from the county.

As for the Van Wickle side however, I got some great information, and added a generation to the family tree! True success!

Please meet: Andrew D. Van Wickle who is, Rick and David's great-great-grandfather. Why is this important? Well, as stated in the section of the book pictured below, he was born in New York. Since New York is often the starting place of immigrants, if we can find information on him, and therefore information on his parents, we just might be able to find out where the Van Wickle's em migrated from! I am hoping it is only one more generation back. Very exciting!

Also, here is a picture of the Shelby Pharmacy that was co-established by Frank Van Wickle (Rick and David's great-grandfather). Frank bought out his partner and ended up enlarging the business by adding groceries. This was in Oceana, Michigan.

I hope the Van Wickle's found some value in this information. I am more than happy to send you the articles or sources if you would like to do some searching of your own.

Love,

the newest Van Wickle :)