Florence Elsie Elaine Date

Florence was my grandmother.  She was the third of four daughters.  I don't have many photos of her side of the family, unfortunately.  What I do have I found on Ancestry.  Her parents were Thomas Rodgers Date and Lucinda Jane Edwards.

The above photo is of Florence, taken about 1950.  The children, left to right, are Beverly Jean White, me, Carolyn Herren, Elaine Herren and Danice Jones.

This is the only photo I have of Lucinda.  I have no photos of Thomas.

Harry William Herren

Harry was my grandfather on my father's side.  I did not know he had Americanized his name until I started researching that branch of my tree.  Thank goodness my father thought to let me know this VERY important piece of information!

He knew his family had moved to Iowa, so I googled the name and found a few listings for Heeren folks.  I chose one and wrote a letter, since I had no email for the person.  Serendipitous!!  I received a package in the mail with a wonderful letter and PICTURES!!!  I cried when I opened it and saw the contents.  These are the pictures that I received.

My father

My grandfather

My great grandparents

My second great grandmother

My great grandparents

 My second great grandparents

Heeren and Date families in the midwest

Although I am in close contact with my mother's side of the family, I have no contacts as of now with my father's side of the family and that makes me very sad.

I have been doing genealogy for about 20 years and have enjoyed it very much.  One of my goals early on was to find my father's family.  He remarked to me once that he saw lots of pictures of my mother's ancestors hanging in the house, but none of his ancestors.

I was able, before he passed in 2004, to locate his relatives and he and my mother were able to attend a family reunion.  One family member even sent me some photographs that I treasure!

So,  I will try posting enough information about my paternal ancestors in the hopes that I can connect with some cousins, no matter how distant.

My paternal grandparents were Harry William Herren (he was born Hero Wilhelm Heeren, but chose to Americanize his name) and Florence Elsie Elaine Date.  They were both born in Illinois.  Harry was of German descent and Florence was of English descent. Harry was the eldest of 11 children, while Florence was the third of 4 daughters.

Harry's parents were Frederick John Heeren and Wilhemina Caroline Hoffman, born in Illinois and Germany, respectively.

Florence's parents were Thomas Rodgers Date, born in Wisconsin, and Lucinda Jane Edwards, born in Illinois.

In future posts I will try to share photos and stories.  I look forward to hearing from cousins!