What I have found is that my grandfather was the youngest of 8 children, at least three of whom died as children or newborns. I think he was the only one to come to America. In fact, my parents used to hope my brother would have children so the name (Tuniman) would carry on. We believed we were the only Tunimans in the US.
My grandfather's father, (my great grandfather), was one of four children. One of those four children, my grandfather's Uncle William, also came to the US in the late 1880s, along with his 8 children. He and his wife had a ninth child in the US. Most of William's children married and had many, many children of their own. These family members, lived in Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota, among other places. It is this group, my grandfather's first cousins, and their offspring, that I have been tracking. It's been much easier of course, to track them down, mostly cause I can read English! I'm able to read archived newspapers, which as I explained in the last post, print all kinds of interesting gossip which allowed me to piece families together. In addition, relatives who have passed away in the past 10-15 years often have on line obituaries which provided me a treasure trove of info on family relationships. Occasionally, I can even glean a bit of info looking at pictures of tombstones, as well as seeing which family members are buried near to each other.
Along the way, I've come across some interesting stories. Dorothy Bridgman Tuynman, who would be my dad's second cousin's wife, lived in Sarasota, Fl. She worked for the fire chief there. An article about the fire chief related: Dorothy, affectionately known by the firemen as "Mother", was the department's sole secretary for many years. The men recollect that, "Cowsert might have been the chief, but Mother kept the place running".
Florence Coyer De Vaul was another second cousin of my dad's. She passed away in 2007 at the age of 92! During her life, she attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY (my mother is from Rochester), worked at an aircraft factory, was a librarian, an avid reader, enjoyed birding, traveling and loved watching the Chicago Cubs, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Minnesota Twins! Below is a picture of Florence.
And next is a picture of Florence from her grandfather's 90th birthday party.
I found only part of a story about Margaret and Otto Coyer. She was my grandfather's first cousin. Here is part of that article:
She babysat in many homes and would stay with people when they weren't feeling well or recuperating......Members (of her church) still talk of the creamed chicken and biscuits she and Ethel Brown served for the Ladies' Aid in the 30's, the teachers would come after school and the business men around six, all enjoying their 25 cent meal.
She enjoyed gardening, her little corner of the block was filled with blossoms of every kind and many kinds of trees and bushes.
She loved life and made life happy for those around her. Her children and grandchildren adored her.
Of course, I also came across much sadness. Lorens Tuynman, another of my dad's second cousins, died at the young age of 20 in a car accident, shortly after his son, Lorens Jr. was born. His sister, Margaret died at the age of 19. She had been attending music school and became ill.
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