A Bit of History

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Family Stories Through the years, families have preserved their heritage in stories. The purpose of this page is to share those stories so that everyone can understand what our ancestors went through. Vande Voorde Family - A Whole New World According to the family story, the name Vande Voorde (also Van de Voorde and Van DeVoorde) means "House of Voorde." This theory fits well with the background of our ancestor. Alois Peter (or Petrus) Vande Voorde was born in Belgium in 1862, of a royal blood line. Nothing is known about his parents as he and his older brother were raised by his grandparents. His brother was to inhert the land and estate while Alois was to be trained for religious life. But Alois met a merchant's daughter, Mary Leona Lomme, and fell in love. Against his grandfather's wishes, he left the estate and he and Leona were married in Brussels in 1885. Because of this, his grandfather disinherited him. Not much is known about how they lived. After working, saving money, and having 3 children, Alois made the trip to America in 1892. Leona remained, caring for the children and having another boy, who died 6 months after his birth. For their livelihood, she baked what they called "Brown Bread" and she and the kids would sell it on the streets of Brussels. In the first half of 1894, Leona and the children were to sail to America. Because one of the children came down with an unknown childhood disease, they missed the first ship. As fortune would have it, that ship sank en route to America. Alois, not knowing that they had missed the ship, thought he had lost his whole family at sea and headed back to work in Nebraska. He had no way of knowing Leona and the children had crossed over on another ship. As the story goes, when she could not find Alois waiting for them, she traveled with a group of French-speaking nuns to Chicago, although there is some discrepancies in the story over whether she spoke French or Flemish. We know she was born in Vorsel, in the Oost-Vlaander province of Belgium, so she may have spoken both languages. From Chicago, she headed to Nebraska, eventually making it out to the farm where Alois worked near David City. When he saw his family, he fainted from both the hard work of the fields and the shock that his family was indeed alive. In the days after, he showed his family the cave he had dug out that stored the vegetables and dairy products he been saving for them, since they had sold all they had in Brussels so they could afford the price to come over.
The Damsgaard Mystery The name "Damsgaard" is somewhat of an enigma to our family. It has long been thought that it is a title of some sort. Indeed by the names that family members have given it does appear to be. Christopher Johanson Damsgaard dropped the name, however, not wishing to have his children be called "Dam goard-head" as he supposedly was.
Johnson Family - On the Road Again Coming soon
The Golden Thread The Worth family has been affectionately nick-named the "Golden Thread." It's golden child, Sarah Worth, is descended from a long line of great families. Her paternal grandfather was a nobleman in England who took the side of Oliver Cromwell during their Civil War in the early-mid 1600's. His lands were stripped from him and at least 2 of his sons emigrated to Mass. One went to Nantucket and Sarah's father, Lionel, went to Salisbury. Sarah's maternal grandfather was John Whipple. He resided in Ipswich, Mass, where his house still stands, and I believe you can even take tours of it.
The Duffy Family Bryan Duffy came to the US, probably after his marriage to Ann Harty in 1844. This is only a guess, however. We know his son was born in Rock Island, Illinois in 1856. One job Bryan is known to have had was that of a street wetter. He drove a wagon which sprinkled water in the road to keep down the dust.
Gill Family - Fierce Wilderness Corporal John Gill served in King Phillip's War with the first, or Mt. Hope, campaign under Capt. Prentice. After arriving at Miles garrison in Swansey on June 24th, 1675, indians started firing from the bushes across the river at the guards. Corporal John Gill with Quartermaster Joseph Belcher assumed command of twelve volunteers to go over the bridge near Swansey to attack the indians, but were driven back. Mr. Belcher was wounded in the knee and Corporal Gill was shot in the breast, but Corporal Gill's buff coat and several thicknesses of paper saved him from injury. The grandson of John, Samual Gill, had his own experieance with indians. The Abenaki, to be exact. At the age of 9, he was kidnapped from his Salisbury home and taken to their camp in St. Francois (Francis), Canada. There, he grew up and married another white captive by the name of Rosalie James. According to my sources, this was because the tribe cheifs wanted to keep the white race in the tribe. All of Sam and Rosalie's children married into the indian population. All but one - the one I am descended from.
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