This is a fun meme from Randy at Genea-Musings.

1) How old is your great-grandfather now, or how old would he be if
he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a
whole number. This is your “roulette number.”

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ahnentafel (ancestor name list). Who is that person.

3) Tell us three facts about that person with the “roulette number.”

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog.

5) If you do not have a person’s name for your “roulette number” then spin the wheel again – pick a grandparent, a parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!

OK, I admit I tried to game the system: I tried all four great-grandfathers: the Norwegian, the Austrian, the Scot, and the Prussian. The earliest, Gottfried Hann, died in 1896 at the age of 35; the latest, George Ross, died in 1940 – that’s interesting all by itself.

Less interesting is that all four produced Ahnentafel in the 400s, squarely in the middle of the Tyler family. This is my aunt’s husband’s family, who emigrated from England to Washington DC in 1899 and shortly thereafter to Chicago. For our purposes, I’ll profile David Edward Tyler, the immigrant patriarch of that family:

Birth:      2 Nov 1866,
Brixton, Surrey, England

Death:      4 Feb 1951,
Evanston, Cook, Illinois

Burial:      7 Feb 1951,
Skokie, Cook, Illinois

Occupation:      Steward,
Glenview Golf Club (30 years)

Father:      Eli TYLER
(1837-1914)

Mother:      Sarah Elizabeth
HARVEY (1838-1908)

 

1871: 138 Lyham Rd.,
Clapham, London, England

1891: 176 Lyham Rd.,
Clapham, London, England; Baker

1900: 233 35th St.
NW, Georgetown, District of Columbia

1910: 124 Wesley
Street, Wheaton, DuPage, Illinois; Coachman for a private family

1920: 2748 Bennett
Ave., Evanston, Cook, Illinois; Caddymaster, Golf Club

1930: 2748 Bennett
Ave., Evanston, Cook, Illinois; Steward, Golf Club

1951: 2748 Bennett
Ave., Evanston, Cook, Illinois

Services for David E. Tyler, 84, of 2748 Bennett Av. Evanston, manager of the locker room at the Glenview Golf Club for over 30 years, will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the chapel at 1567 Maple Av., Evanston. Mr. Tyler, who died Sunday in St. Francis hospital, Evanston, also was a coachman for Admiral Dewey, the hero of Manila, in Washington for five years. He leaves his widow, Bertha; four daughters, Mrs. F.E. Meyer, Mrs. Stanley Jakely, Mrs. Robert E. Davis, and Mrs. Louis Johnston, and two sons, Albert E., and William F. — Chicago Daily Tribune 6 Feb 1951.

So: from Scotland to Admiral Dewey in a few easy steps. Thx, Randy – this was a good one.