| Abstract: |
Anthony DeFreesez, (1788-1873) one of twelve children, was born May 4, 1788 in Rockbridge, Virginia. He died in South Bend,
Indiana. His father was Joseph Hutton DeFreesez, (ca. 1753-1826) born in New York, New York, and his mother was Mary Start
(ca. 1755-ca. 1829). According to Anthony's family narrative, DeFreesez is French in origin and the family came to New York,
then known as New Amsterdam, from Holland. The name may have originally been DeForest and evolved to DeFreesez due to a Dutch
pronunciation. Dr. John A. Henricks (1811-ca. 1876), great-great-grandfather of the collection donor, was born August 10,
1811 in Pendleton County, Kentucky. His family soon moved to Champaign County, Ohio. He studied medicine at Urbana with lectures
in Cincinnati and then began to practice medicine. He continued to practice medicine until the early 1830s when he moved to
the South Bend, Indiana area. He was married to Julia Comparet ca. 1833 and they had two children who both died in infancy.
Julia died around this time as well, and John relocated to Joliet, Illinois to work on the Illinois and Michigan Canal and
then become the warden of the state prison in Joliet until 1842 when he returned to the South Bend area. He remarried in 1841
to Harriet Sanger (Langer?) and they had six children of which only one, Edward W. Henricks, survived. Edward W. Henricks,
son of John A., was born ca. 1849. He served aboard the U.S.S. Canandaigua in the late 1860s. His log of a voyage from October
25, 1867-November 20 1868 is included in this collection. He was married around 1872 to Elizabeth (unknown maiden name) and
they had three children. Louise (b. ca. 1874) and John (b. ca. 1876) were both born in Indiana and Harold (ca. 1890-1955)
was born in Ohio. S The collection consists of a family narrative, log of a voyage on the U.S.S. Canandaigua, and a manuscript
obituary.
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