Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Which Ancestor Moved the Furthest?

Another great genealogy challenge from Randy Seaver of Genea-musing.

1)  The Family History Hound listed 20 Questions about your Ancestor, and I'm going to use some of them in the next few months. 

2)  Please answer the first question - "Which ancestor moved the farthest from their home?"

3)  Write your own blog post, make a comment on this post, or post  your answer on Facebook or Google+.  Please leave a link to your answer in comments on this post.

My great-grandfather, Johann Anton Hork and his brother, Johann Albert Hork, came the furthermost distance from their home.

Both were born in the small town, Oberhundem, located in Kreis Olpe of Westfalen. Anton was born 8 Nov 1843 and Albert was born 10 Aug 1853.[1]

The 27-year-old, Johan Hork, arrived in the United States on 5 Nov 1870 aboard the HMS Idaho.[2] He married Julia Sievert in Joliet, Will County, Illinois.[3] John was a tailor and he took his family west as far as Portland, Oregon:

• Kane County, Illinois[4]
• St. Louis, Missouri[5]
• Detroit, Michigan[6]
• Grand Rapids, Michigan[7]
• Portland, Oregon[8]

Later he moved his family to Hamilton, Montana,[9] where most of his children lived the rest of their lives.

John Anton’s brother, Albert Hork, was a Roman Catholic priest. He attended Laurentiacum Arusberg in Paderborn, then St. Francis in Wisconsin, and finally his theological studies at University at Vienna, Austria and American College at Louvain, Belgian.  He became a priest 7 Jun 1884. He served in many parishes in Missouri: Kearney, Central City, Ridgeley, Randolph, Menominee, and St. Libory.[10]

The last church Father Albert served was at St. Louis in Gervais, Oregon. He lived until his death at the St. Mary’s Covent in Beaverton, Oregon.[11]

Distance between Oberhundem, Westfalen and Portland, Oregon is 8,278 km or 5,144 miles.[12]

---

[1] For Anton’s birth: Kirchenbuch, 1649-1874, Katholische Kirche Oberhundem (Kr. Olpe), Baptism of Johann Anton Horoch (Mikrofilme aufgenommen von Manuskripten im Bistumsarchiv Paderborn.Kein Verleih an europische Genealogie-Forschungsstell), Intl 1257842, Taufen 1826-1847, p 139. For Albert’s birth, Kirchenbuch, 1649-1874, Katholische Kirche Oberhundem (Kr. Olpe), Baptism of Johann Albert Horoch, (Mikrofilme aufgenommen von Manuskripten im Bistumsarchiv Paderborn.Kein Verleih an europische Genealogie-Forschungsstell), Intl 1257843, Taufen 1848-1878, 1853, p 27.

[2] "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), film 336, 5 Nov 1870, SS Idaho, line 39, no. 1030, Joh Hork.

[3] St. John's Catholic Church, Marriage (Church) Record of Anton Hork & Julia Sievert, Joliet, Illinois, Marriages, p 13, Hork-Sievert.

[4] 1880 U.S. census, Kane County, Illinois, pop. sched., Aurora, ED 73, p 43c (penned), p. 79a (stamped), dwelling 280, family 392, Antone Hark,  Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com), citing NARA T9, roll 217.

[5] St. Louis City Directory, 1882, p 561, Anton Hork, David B. Gould, Publ., digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com).

[6] Detroit City Directory, 1883, p 553, Anthony Hork, J.W. Weeks & Co, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com).

[7] Grand Rapids City and Kent County Directory, 1885-85, 294, Anton Hork, microfilm, FHL film 1376887, R.L. Polk & Co, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

[8] Oregon City Directory, 1891, p 62, Anton Hork, “U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989” (Beta), Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), RL Polk Co, Portland.

[9] 1900 U.S. census, Ravalli County, Montana, population schedule, ED 81, Sheet 15a, p 33 (stamped), household/family 285, John A Hork, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Jun 2011), citing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 914.

[10] Biography written in Albert Hork’s hand, 20 Oct 1902, original located at Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska.

[11] Ken Hoggatt and Phyllis (Ferrara) Hoggatt, editors, Cemeteries of Washington County, Oregon Vol 1 (Tigard, Oregon: n.p., 1996.), 126-27.

[12] Google search for “distance between Oberhundem, Germany and Portland, Oregon,” 4 Jun 2017.

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