I just recently finished was this logo for my friend Patricia in New York who does genealogy research as well as other ancestral services such as grave tending and digital preservation of family documents. This was a really fun project to me because I love the mix of history and family research, and worked with Patricia to find just the right image that would represent her business in all its facets.
We settled on this Early American floral arrangement with two silhouettes hanging within it. The idea for it came from designs I’ve seen in antique rug hooking designs, and we incorporated pretty blue forget-me-nots within the arrangement to compliment her business name.
Patricia was also a big help to me in doing some family research on my own family, as I’d gotten pretty stuck on one side because my great-great grandfather died so young and his wife remarried.
My maiden name was Van Winkle and I knew that it was a Dutch name, but that was about it.
Patricia was able to trace my family back from these prairie Van Winkles (Jim and Lula Mae, left) all the way back to New England, particularly New Jersey, where I had two Revolutionary War solider ancestors, a father and son.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that the Van Winkles have been in American a long time. Perhaps arriving just after the English pilgrims, but my ancestors were Dutch traders who eventually settled in the Manhattan area and then down in New Jersey. That is so amazing to me!
It also made me realize that so much of our ‘American story’ is left out of what we’re taught in school– and that there is so much more to learn about. In school we usually focus on the English and their settlements, but the Dutch and the Spanish were also very busy in the Americas. I’m curious to learn more about my Dutch ancestry ( my lady ancestors had some pretty amazing name such as Antje, Jacomyntje, Trintje and Grietje…future baby names, perhaps? 😉 )
It was really exciting to hear all about what Patricia discovered, and so funny that my family line stretched from where I live here in Oklahoma to her own neck of the woods up in the New York area!
If you’d be interested in having Patricia do some research into your family, or if you’d like to take her up on some of her other ancestral services, you can find more information on her website, HERE.
Til then, have a great monday and rest of the week! Its rainy and gray here, and I love it!~
~H
Sleightholm Folk Art 
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