Case and Springsteen Reunion 2017

Grandma Verda Olsen’s family reunions bring together the progeny of Edwin and Loretta Case and of L.D. and Agnes Springsteen. We enjoyed a nice family gathering and beautiful weather for our reunion this past Sunday. Here are a few remembrances of Reunion 2017.

Family quiz

• What were Loretta’s, L.D.’s, and Agnes’s actual given names? Cynthia Loretta, Loyal Davis, and Katherine Agatha.
• How did the Case and Springsteen families get connected? Verda’s brother John Case was Aden Springsteen’s barber in DeWitt, Michigan. John took Aden home with him on a visit to his family in Titus.
• Which of Aden’s and Verda’s parents was not born in the United States? (I forgot to ask this question at the reunion) Edwin Case was born in Oxford County, Canada West, in what is now the province of Ontario.

• Which of Edwin and Loretta’s grandchildren are still with us? Hud Springsteen, Ray Case, and Carol Collin

• Which of L.D. and Agnes’s grandchildren are still with us? Hud Springsteen and Joyce Peiffer

• Who in our family have departed this life since the last reunion? Ed Springsteen, Barbara Dutcher, Madge Springsteen, and Helen Springsteen

• Is anyone familiar with Ziva David? We’re not related. How about Esther David? Lee Burns? Grandma Olsen’s Great-grandma Case was reportedly born in Vermont as Esther David. I recently discovered through AncestryDNA that I share DNA with my classmate Lee Burns and a few other people who descend from David families. We’re likely to be related through that family back around the late 1700s but I haven’t found the connection yet.

• Who is Grandma Olsen’s middle grandchild? Grandma had 24 grandchildren so I said either number twelve or thirteen would be a correct answer. After a few guesses someone came up with Sue Fish, who is grandchild number twelve. Debby Potter is number thirteen.

Who came?

We were joined this year by people from Frank Case’s family, John Case’s family, Aden Springsteen’s brother Harold’s family, and Aden and Verda Springsteen’s family. Among Aden and Verda’s family were members of Mick’s family, Ed’s family, Madge’s family, and Hud’s family.

Here are a few pictures of our gathering:

Family trees

I invariably get questions about our ancestors, which I am glad to talk about but can’t answer extensively off the top of my head. I have created an exploratory tree on Ancestry that I use to find extended family lines and DNA cousins. This tree is primarily from online resources and does not reflect much information that I have gathered offline. I never copy other people’s trees wholesale but use them to find documented evidence to add people to my own tree.  I do add people based on limited evidence to seek other evidence that either proves or disproves their place in our family. I also add unknown parents to connect known siblings.

A link to my Ancestry tree is in the menu on Our Heritage. For those without access to Ancestry, printable charts for our Case and Springsteen families are available here:

• Edwin and Loretta Case’s ancestry
• Edwin and Loretta Case’s family
• L.D. and Agnes Springsteen’s ancestry
• L.D. and Agnes Springsteen’s family

I welcome questions, stories, and more information about our family ancestry. I hope to share much more here.