Did he carry her off to Denmark!

[cotswold mike]

Not so much a brick wall as a language barrier. My great-aunt, Emma Esther SUMMERLIN (b: 1833, daughter of Thomas SUMMERLIN 1795 – 1854) married Hans Hornemann VAN ALLER in Westminster on 16 May 1855 (Free BMD: London 1a 544 and IGI: M14751-1). The father of the groom is Joost Jacob VAN ALLER.

The good news is that I was able to find Joost in an Ancestry public tree (born 4 Aug 1809 in Helsingør, skt.Marie). The bad news is that I cannot read Danish. Furthermore, the tree does not include Hans as one of the children of Joost. I cannot find the couple in either the 1861 or 1871 Census so it maybe that Hans took his bride off to Denmark.

Any help that you can give will be gratefully received.

[Richard1955]

Hi Mike
I have tried every variation you can think of to search the 1861 census and they can not be found
so perhaps they were in Denmark.
Would Google translater help with the odd word. Or are they all odd !

[birdlip]

Hi Mike,

IGI has three children for this couple indexed under ALLER and born in Prussia:

John Peter Gottfried van Aller b 12 Jul 1859, bap 29 Sept 1859 Hannover Stadt, Hannover, Prussia. Parents Hans Hovurmann van Aller and Emma Esther Summerlin

Mary Augusta Clara van Aller b 13 Jun 1861, 11 Sep 1861 Hanover, Hannover, Preussen. Parents Hans Hermann van Aller and Emma Esther Summerlin

Anna Hester Louise van Aller b 25 Aug 1863 (no baptism date given) Hanover, Hannover, Preussen. Parents Hans Hermann van Aller and Emma Esther Summerlin.

[Coromandel]

Well spotted, birdlip!

Googling also found this:
'Thomas Wilhelm Ludwig van Aller. Son of officer in Denmark and Germany Hans Hornemann van Aller (1811-1901) and Emma Hester Summerlin (1833-1878). Born 1865.06.22 in Germany. He was a pharmacist in Mobile, Alabama. Died 1943.03.19.'

This is from http://
genforum.genealogy.com/vanaller/messages/3.html

where there's more about Thomas's descendants.

[Coromandel]

Here is a van Aller family tree:

http://www.
vanaller.net/genealogie/gdpvanaller21nov09.php

If you put van aller in the 'achternaam' box and hans in the 'voornaam' box then click 'zoeken' you should find more about Hans Horneman Van Aller. This shows seven children from his marriage to Emma Hester 'Sommelino' and another four from a previous marriage.

[cotswold mike]

Thank you everyone so far. It seems that my great-grandfather's line is much more prolific outside the UK - there must be something in the Danish air . It may even be time to upgrade the Ancestry subscription to the international version. I might even find at least one living relative

[Isabel H]

If you search the Dansk Demografisk database (http://www.ddd.dda.dk/dddform2_uk.asp) for van Aller, you will find "Just Jacob von Aller" (not the Joost b. 1809) and his wife Hanna Rist in Helsingør in 1801. For county enter Frederiksborg, and select a year. For some reason only a son's name comes up in the results so click on Show Household. Just Jacob is the Dutch Consul, and they have two sons at this point.
Hanna appears again in 1834 as Hanna Margrethe van Aller, widow of consul.
In one of Coromandel's posts I saw Hans Horneman's dates, 1811-1901. I couldn't find him in the censuses, so searched for his birth/baptism in the Church Registers of Helsingør which are on the Danish State Archives website, Arkivalieronline. The writing is very difficult to read, but there is an entry for Hans Horneman on 13 Jan. 1811 at Helsingør skt Marie, parents are Just van Aller and Anna Rist. I am not entirely sure, as there are words I can't make out, but I think he was born on the 12th Jan.

[cotswold mike]

Many thanks for that additional information.

I already have Joost Jacob (1809-?) and Hans Hornemann (1811-1901) as two of the four children of Joost Jacob van Aller (1756-1824). IGI: M147451-1 has a Joost present as father of the groom at the 1855 London marriage of Hans and Emma Esther Summerlin (1833-1878). I have assumed a transcription error (brother not father). They had seven children, all that I have records for were born in Prussia (Hanover) but there are a few blank spaces. Two of them emigrated to the USA and, hence, have been easy to trace. Thanks to great-aunt Emma and Hans I may now have surfeit of remote distant cousins, and that includes four further generations of Hans Hornemann van Aller!