One of my favorite ways to identify cousins I never knew I had is through “Google Alerts”. Essentially, this is a free tool that scours the web looking for new content that contains keywords that are of interest to me. In my case, the keywords are the relevant surnames that appear throughout my family tree. When the tool finds a match, it alerts me by sending an email.
I receive an email almost every day alerting me that yet another person has put a Biesemeyer fence or some other type of Biesemeyer tool up for sale on eBay or craigslist. These are not exactly the kind of alerts I had in mind. After about the 25th consecutive email, I decided it was time to investigate whether or not there is a connection between these tools and my Biesemeyer ancestors. It’s not much of a stretch admittedly.
Bill Biesemeyer was the inventor behind the Biesemeyer T-Square® saw system. In 1983, the system was recognized as “the greatest contribution to woodworking for the period 1980-1982”. In 1995, DELTA International Machinery Corporation purchased the company which Bill and his wife, Joan, had grown to $4 million in annual revenue. I learned this from DELTA’s website.
At this point, I had a name and a logo. Next, I found Bill’s obituary from 2013 which indicated he was born in Marshall, Missouri. The chances of us not being related were shrinking by the hour since my Biesemeyer ancestors lived due east of Marshall in Warren County, Missouri. The Biesemeyer branch of my family tree is one that I hadn’t really explored yet so I had my work cut out for me. I learned that Bill’s father was Arthur Biesemeyer. His father’s name was Friedrich as was his father’s and his father’s before him. The fourth Friedrich in the line was our common ancestor. He was born in 1774 and died in 1845.
The emails for Biesemeyer tools continue to land in my Inbox. At least now when I delete them, I know the cousin behind the popular brand name.
Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relations: 4th cousin, 1x removed
Common ancestors: Bill’s 3rd great grandparents, Friedrich Christian and Anna (Eikermann) Biesemeyer, are my 4th great grandparents
Reference:
http://www.deltamachinery.com/about-us/biesemeyer-history