Ann Carver Potreck / Violet Lorraine Wunsch My grandmother on my father's side was adopted as a baby by Herman B Potreck and Margaret E Potreck(Enman). We have documentation that her birth parents were Mae M Wunsch and Alfred Wunsch. All we knew is that Alfred was "recently from" Boston and that Violet was born on Nov 28th 1925 in Worcester, MA. The hospital records had long since dissappeared and may have been altered anyway. I had not found any further evidence until about 2003 ago when Robert Wunsch contacted me. After talking to him and others this is the sketchy idea we have so far. There is some circumstantial evidence that this makes sense but nothing concrete and it still doesnt give me much info on the next generation. So here's the theory: Myrtie Mildred (aka Myrtie Mae / Mae Myrtle / Mae M.) Boutiette is born on Sep 25 1900. She goes by Mae most of her life. She meets Alfred Wunsch who we think was born in Florida in Worcester/Boston. From what we can tell he is in the Merchant Marine at the time. They may or may not have been married. They have a child (Earl) Alfred Wunsch in 1920. Earl is a nickname given him by Mae and it shows up in Census records though his birth cert shows Alfred Wunsch. His father is listed as Alfred Forbes Wunsch from New Orleans on his birth certificate. In one census it states Alfred Forbes was from Florida. If these are the same people then they also give birth to Violet Lorraine Wunsch in 1925. The story goes that Alfred Wunsch is lost at sea before 1925. Now assuming he was home sometime in early 1925 that may explain things. If we have a potential window with a 5 year old son and pregnant. Putting up Violet for adoption would have made a lot of sense. We know that then in early 1926 Mae marries a Joseph Mercier. They have a daughter Dorothy in 1928. (Earl) Alfred is the grandfather of Robert who contacted me. Some things we need to clear up. We need more info on Alfred Forbes Wunsch. Find out when and how he died. It could explain a lot. It possible Alfred never married Mae and he left her. Earl/Alfred's birth certificate shows the father as Alfred Forbes Wunsch and that should indicate that Mae and Alfred were married at the time though we do not thus far have a marriage cert for them. Was he from New Orleans LA or Florida?? I have found an Alfred Forber Wunsch from Tickfaw LA (just north of New Orleans). I tracked him and he ends up living in New Orleans and working for a shipping company and at some point is also in the Navy. Could this be Alfred Forbes ? It is intriguing. If it is then he was born Jul. 4, 1894 in Tickfaw and died Aug. 8, 1953. So he was not lost at sea. Perhaps he just never came back to MA.
Joseph Aiken Ethier We have some vague family stories that suggest that my Great Great Great Great grandfather was a Native American from Canada. The story goes that his name was Joseph Ethier and that Aiken was possibly his indian name or something. Anyway he married Henerette Menard in Canada and they had a son name Oliver Ethier, who was my great-grandmothers grandfather. Oliver was born in 1857 in Canada and at some point the family immigrated to the US before Oliver died in 1937.