My Family Story

Benjamin Putt is said to be my immigrant ancestor on my mother's father's side of the family. He was born in Germany/Prussia in 1756. He came to America and settled in Washington County, Maryland. Here, he married Barbara Lavina Lowman. She was born in 1783 in Pennsylvania. They had a son in 1819 before moving to Stark County, Ohio. Benjamin died between 1840 and 1850. Barbara died in 1856.

John W. Putt was born in 1819 in Washing County, Maryland. He moved to Stark County, Ohio with his family. Mary Wiest was a daughter of two German immigrants. She was born in Huntingdon County Pennsylvania in 1819. The two were married in Stark County, Ohio and had a son, William in 1849. The family relocated to Allen County, Indiana in the mid 1850s. Both died here in 1903.

William Putt was born in 1849 in Ohio. After relocating with his family, he married Martha Alice Davis. Martha was born in Allen County, Indiana in 1857. In 1876 they had a son, Benjamin Wilbur J. Putt. The family owned and operated the Union House Hotel (pictured below) until William's death in 1911.

Benjamin Wilbur J. Putt was born near the Wells County line (see map below) in 1876. He married Bessie Denny who was also born in Indiana in 1881. Bessie died in 1921, but the two had at least one son, Chauncey. Benjamin later remarried before dying in Fort Wayne in 1954.

Chauncey Putt, my great grandfather, was born in 1899 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He married Hazel Worden, my great grandmother, who was born in neighboring Adams County. The two had four children together before their deaths in 1977 and 1978, respectively.

Robert Jerome Putt, my grandpa, was born in Fort Wayne in 1923. He and his brother Wayne were both deployed overseas during WWII. Wayne was sent to the Pacific front and my grandpa was sent the opposite way. My grandpa was in the 568th Squadron in the 390th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force. He was stationed in Ipswich, England and was responsible for carrying out bombing missions over Germany. During one mission, my grandpa's B17 bomber was gunned down over Friesacker, just west of Berlin, and he was forced to parachute out and fall to the unknown. He wondered around Germany for three days before giving himself up to avoid starvation. He was a POW for four months, ironically in the same country his ancestors left for America, before the camp he ended up at was liberated by General George Patton on April 29th, 1945. Robert earned a purple heart for his service and, against all odds, came home to marry my grandma, Thelma Keith. The two had 11 children together before Robert was diagnosed with late stage lymphoma. My mom told me that he never spoke of his experiences in the war until very shortly before his death. The link below will take you to a detailed interview with my grandpa about his experience in the war conducted by his son, Rodney, about 6 months before his death in 1992. I was never able to meet my grandfather, but the stories I've heard make me truly wish I had. His brother Wayne also returned home and had a large family of his own.

My mother, Jean, was the 10th of 11 kids in her family. She, and all of her other siblings, were born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. All of her brothers played basketball at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne. Her brother Dean remains the fifth all-time scorer for the school even though he played before the addition of the three point line. Her brother Neal won the state championship for Northrop High School in the 70s, which is still often mentioned today. My mom was on the dance team in high school and also attended IPFW for college. She got her bachelors in biology and a masters in education. She actually took 60 hours of class toward her PhD at Ball State. She married my father, Robert Norwalk, in 1983 and had three kids. My older sister Sydney in 1993, me in 1996, and my younger brother Devon in 1999. We lived in Fort Wayne until 2011 when we relocated to Carmel, Indiana.

My grandma on my mother's side, Thelma (Keith) Putt, is of Scottish or Irish decent. It is said that my migrant ancestor on this side of the family was George Keith. He is believed to have been born in Scotland in 1662 and lived in St. Mary's County, Maryland. He is said to have lived to the age of 110, dying in 1772. The next ancestor I have found concrete information on is the great grandson of George Keith.

George Hanson Keith was born in 1790 in Prince Georges County, Maryland. He married Abarilla Perkins in Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1814 before moving to Daviess County, Indiana. Here they had at least one son in 1821, Jarit Keith.

Jarit Keith lived his whole life here along with his wife, Rhoda Jane Lester. Lester was also born in Daviess County. Both died in Daviess County and had at least one son, Isaac Newton Keith.

Isaac Newton Keith was born in 1850. He married Mary Jane Alexander, who was born in nearby Pike County. The two lived in Daviess County for most of their lives before Isaac Newton Keith died in 1920. In 1926, Mary Jane is said to have died when her dress caught fire from an open fire place in the home. The two had at least one son together, Thomas Keith.

Thomas Keith was born in 1887 in Daviess County, Indiana. Thomas and his wife, Elizabeth "Libbie" Feagans, moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1925. They had 6 children. My grandma, Thelma (Keith) Putt was just two years old when the family moved north.

My grandma, Thelma Putt, was the most amazing woman I've ever known. She had 11 children, as mentioned previously, as well as over 40 grandchildren, and nearly 20 more great grandchildren. Even with all of these grandchildren, I do not remember a softball or basketball game of mine she did not attend. Sadly, she died in 2010, at the age of 84, when she fell down the stairs in my house. She broke her neck and later passed away in the hospital.

My father's family was much more difficult to trace. There are a few likely reasons for this. One being that his family is not nearly as close as my mom's family, so I do not see nor talk to them nearly as often. The other reason that made it difficult was that the family last name changed after coming to America, as well as many of the first names in the family, to sound more American. It is quite clear, however, that my father's family has not been in the country for nearly as long as my mother's.

Vincent Narkiewicz was born in 1873 in Poland/Prussia. His wife, Jozefa Dworaczyk, was born in Ulejno, Poland in 1881. I can assume that they fled from Poland due to the widespread famine that plagued the area and for more opportunities for a better quality of life. I know they had at least one son, my great grandpa (An)T(h)ony Narkiewicz in 1906. I found records that show they had a daughter, Martha, who was born in 1909 in Erie County, New York. Knowing this, I assume that my great grandpa was also born in New York rather than in Poland.

My dad says that his grandpa, Tony Narkiewicz, wanted to work alongside his brother at Union Carbide as a machinist, but they would not hire members of the same family. This was the reason said to be the reason he changed his last name to Norwalk. I believe that the name change could have been an effort to have a more American sounding name. I found it interesting that, when researching Polish last names, the most common last name in Poland today is Nowak, just two letters short of my last name now. On June 18th, 1929, Tony married my great grandmother, Estelle (Jeannie) Weviorski. The two had at least one son, my grandpa Robert J. Norwalk, on July 13th, 1932 in Niagara Falls, New York.

Great grandma Norwalk, aka Estelle Weviorski, was born in October 1908. Her parents emigrated from Austria for similar reasons as the Narkiewiczs. Her father was Felix Weviorski, born in 1873. Her mother was Casimiera "Katherine" Weviorski, who was born in Poland in 1881. The last name 'Weviorski' is likely an occupational last name, as my great grandma often said her maiden name was Weaver. She had 3 sisters and 2 brothers. Her birthname was Estelle, but in many records it is Stella. However, my dad knew her as Grandma Jeannie. She grew up and lived most of her life in Buffalo, New York.

My grandpa, Robert J. Norwalk was born in Niagara Falls, New York in 1932. I believe this is where he met my grandma, Lynne Weaver. My dad Robert Jr., was born here in 1963. His family moved to Farmington, Michigan, near Detroit, where my Uncle Ric was born. The family then moved to Lockport, New York. This is where my aunt Nicole was born. The family then moved to Illinois, and back to Michigan, before finally settling in Fort Wayne, Indiana by the time my dad was in fifth grade. My grandpa Norwalk finally retired to West Palm Beach, Florida, where he spent the rest of his life.

I do not know much about my dad's mother's family history, but I am able to make some educated guesses. My grandma, Lynne Weaver, is the daughter of Leon and Lucille Weaver. My great grandma Norwalk often said her maiden name was also Weaver. This makes me assume that my grandma's family also has central European roots. Weaver is an occupational last name, meaning that their ancestors were likely weavers. My Uncle Ric sent me the results of his 23 and me DNA test. This helps with my assumptions of my grandma's family as well. Likely a fairly similar background as my grandpa's family. My grandma lived most her life in Fort Wayne before moving to McCormick, South Carolina. She received a Pharmacy Doctorate Degree from the University of Buffalo, one of very few females to do so at the time. After moving to South Carolina, she worked as a pharmacist at a prison in Agusta, Georgia. She recently retired and still lives in SC today.

My dad, Rob Norwalk Jr., lived in Fort Wayne for most of his life. He began dating my mom when he was a junior and she was a sophomore at Northrop High School. He went to Purdue University, where he received a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering. He then got his MBA from Indiana University. He worked at Raytheon in Fort Wayne for 31 years. My family moved to Carmel, Indiana for his job in 2011. Once we moved, he realized he no longer wanted to work here. He then took a job at another electronic defense company where he still works today. My parents got married on May 23rd, 1987 and are still very happily married today.

If you are still following along, I have finally gotten to myself and my siblings. My oldest sister, Sydney, lives in northern Marion County and works at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis. She graduated from Indiana University's Kelly School of Business in 2015. My brother, Devon, is a Senior at Indiana University. I graduated from Carmel High School in 2014 before attending Purdue University. After switching my major from Industrial Design to Nutrition, Fitness, and Health, I realized I did not like either. I finally decided to double major in graphic design and meteorology at Ball State University. Finally, I discovered GIS and decided I liked that better than design and meteorology. I hope to graduate as soon as possible and move to a place more exciting than Indiana.

Overall, I have discovered that my family is about as white as they come. I never knew how strong the Polish roots are in my family. I always assumed my mom's family was German and Irish, with the last names of Putt and Keith. It's crazy to think how different everything could have been had any of my ancestors went somewhere else.