Welcome to my Brashler (Braschler) Family History
Clarence Brashler and his parents, John C. Brashler and Grace Van Dreal, settled in the state of Michigan, though they originally lived in the Chicago area. Both dropped the "c" from the original spelling of Braschler. These pages will contain a summary of their family stories, as well as some of the more important documents relating to those stories.
Other important surnames in this family genealogy are Braschler, Gouwens, Masmeyer, Swets, Timmer, VanDriel, VanDrunen, and Witte.
Original documents and family lore contain many different variants to the Braschler name, including Brashler, Bresler, Brasler, Brushler, and Brashelaar. "Van Driel" was the original spelling of Grace's family name. Although "Van Driel" and "Van Dreal" are only two versions of the name, researching her family requires searching American records for both the one and two word spellings of each of them (eg. VanDreal," "Van Dreal," "VanDriel," and "Van Driel"), as well as dropping the preposition "van" (eg. "Driel") when using Dutch records.
My interest in this research was to link families here in the United States with their ancestors and places of origin in the Netherlands. I have done little research on the descendants of these individuals, leaving that for later generations to discover.
It's fascinating to realize that our Braschler ancestors lived during the time of the French Revolution and the rule of Napoleon. One child was born when Russian and English troops were fighting nearby.
Other important surnames in this family genealogy are Braschler, Gouwens, Masmeyer, Swets, Timmer, VanDriel, VanDrunen, and Witte.
Original documents and family lore contain many different variants to the Braschler name, including Brashler, Bresler, Brasler, Brushler, and Brashelaar. "Van Driel" was the original spelling of Grace's family name. Although "Van Driel" and "Van Dreal" are only two versions of the name, researching her family requires searching American records for both the one and two word spellings of each of them (eg. VanDreal," "Van Dreal," "VanDriel," and "Van Driel"), as well as dropping the preposition "van" (eg. "Driel") when using Dutch records.
My interest in this research was to link families here in the United States with their ancestors and places of origin in the Netherlands. I have done little research on the descendants of these individuals, leaving that for later generations to discover.
It's fascinating to realize that our Braschler ancestors lived during the time of the French Revolution and the rule of Napoleon. One child was born when Russian and English troops were fighting nearby.