Geneabloggers, in their weekly list of events, notes that we are celebrating our third blogiversary today. This surprised me at first, but I quickly realized how that determination was made.
I began blogging in May of 2002, and while it has gone through several name changes over those 8 years, that blog still exists. Its current focus is my ongoing attempts at writing and publishing poetry and fiction.
On April 16, 2007 I began actively blogging about genealogy, and soon after discovered the geneablogging community. Approximately August 12, 2007 I created this space for my genealogy-related posts. In the process I moved a few posts from prior to April 16th I felt belonged. I've long been interested in my family history, but I hadn't yet been bitten by the research bug.
February 28, 2007 was the 100th birthday of my grandfather, Martin Deutsch (1907-1991).
Sunday, February 28, 2010
SNGF: What if I won?
Randy Seaver at GeneaMusings for his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun asked: What Would You Do if you Won?
He's referring to Ancestry.com's Contest (lasting until April 30th, and you can submit one entry daily.)
*****
Where would I go with the $20,000? I would likely take a European Vacation with potential stops in London, England; Everinghe, Holland; Losice, Poland; Warka, Poland; Cekiske, Lithuania; Kruvandai, Lithuania; Marghita, Romania; and Varalmas, Romania. I'm not sure how much research I will do at each stop; that may depend upon what I am told in the expert consultation. The trip may focus on seeing the homelands of my ancestors.
Winning the grand prize would cause a lot of stress, because before I could speak with all those experts, there would be a lot of preparation. No expert's going to break down a wall for me in 8 hours. I suspect these aren't 8 hours searching archives, these are eight hours sitting in an office looking at my research, offering suggestions on where I should look for answers. (And maybe revisions on my plans to spend that $20,000.)
So before I face these experts, my research needs to be in a slightly better state of organization. Hopefully Ancestry will give me some time to prepare.
He's referring to Ancestry.com's Contest (lasting until April 30th, and you can submit one entry daily.)
Grand Prize includes:[For anyone confused: I am 99.99% certain that the "Annual World Deluxe Subscription" is for 1 year. I base this conclusion on the Approximate Retail Value mentioned in the Official Rules.]PLUS! Twenty First Prize winners get a World Deluxe Subscription from Ancestry.com®.
- $20,000 in travel money
- Eight hour consultation with an expert genealogist
- Five experts in fields relevant to your personal family history to help you learn even more [1 hour consultations each]
- Annual World Deluxe Subscription for you and five family members
*****
Where would I go with the $20,000? I would likely take a European Vacation with potential stops in London, England; Everinghe, Holland; Losice, Poland; Warka, Poland; Cekiske, Lithuania; Kruvandai, Lithuania; Marghita, Romania; and Varalmas, Romania. I'm not sure how much research I will do at each stop; that may depend upon what I am told in the expert consultation. The trip may focus on seeing the homelands of my ancestors.
Winning the grand prize would cause a lot of stress, because before I could speak with all those experts, there would be a lot of preparation. No expert's going to break down a wall for me in 8 hours. I suspect these aren't 8 hours searching archives, these are eight hours sitting in an office looking at my research, offering suggestions on where I should look for answers. (And maybe revisions on my plans to spend that $20,000.)
So before I face these experts, my research needs to be in a slightly better state of organization. Hopefully Ancestry will give me some time to prepare.
Weekly Genealogy Picks
Weekly Genealogy Picks -- February 21 to February 27
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
- FootnoteMaven, Genoom, and Elyse's Genes all consider the traits of a Genealogist or Family Historian.
- Luckie Daniels at Our Georgia Roots, while looking at the list of search terms that have led people to her site, wonders who was searching for information on her father. I too have seen searches that led me to wonder why that person didn't contact me.
- Michael John Neill makes the observation at Genealogy Tip of the Day that you need a source for every statement of fact.
- Megan Smolenyak2 is closing RootsTelevision on March 10th, saying she has been filling a void since 2006, but genealogy is going mainstream with Faces of America and Who Do You Think You Are hitting US soil. She doesn't mention what will happen to the archives; hopefully they will be maintained.
- Check out the closing ceremonies of the Geneablogger Games -- see what medals all the teams won!
- I don't normally mention a blog post here that I have already mentioned during the week. But take a look at the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs at Family Tree Magazine. We didn't win, but we were nominated in the highly competitive "All-Around" category. I look at the four winners in that category, and I can come up with no arguments. If they do this again, I hope I get nominated in the "Personal and Family" category. I stand a chance there.
- In his Best of the Genea-Blogs Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings highlights his selections for the best reads of the week.
- Apple at Apple's Tree returns from vacation with her Weekly Rewind
- Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak's Genealogical Round Up at RootsTelevision RootsWorld. While it bears a similar name, it is separate from the site she is closing, so it is unclear what will be happening with her blog.
- Geneabloggers has a weekly list of New Genealogy Blogs and Upcoming Genealogy Blogging Events
- City of St. Louis Mayor Slay is recommending reconciliation from The Great Divorce of 1876 - reuniting City and County. I fear this would confuse future generations of genealogists even more. But I don't believe he's thinking about that; and perhaps he shouldn't.
- The historic steamboat, The Becky Thatcher, which was moored on the riverfront in the 1960s and 1970s, sinks outside Pittsburgh.
- Little Brownie Bakers has recalled several batches of Lemon Chalet Cremes. I know the St. Louis area Girl Scouts use Little Brownie Bakers, as I just received a box of Thin Mints this weekend. Not all batches of this cookie are being recalled - Little Brownie Bakers says they will be contacting the councils that are impacted. They also say the cookies won't hurt you - they just taste horrible. (Those of us who don't like lemon cookies could have told you that. But I think this goes beyond personal taste preferences.)
- Chris Dunham's Genealogue is the first place I read about the passing of Yitta Schwartz, and her leaving behind 2000 living descendants.
- Reform Judaism, with respect to Valentine's Day, asks the question "What is the need to submit to a holiday named for a saint if there is a Jewish holiday that fills a similar purpose?" and gives us five months advance warning about Tu b'Av.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Game - Day 15 - Final
More information on the Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games
Daily Stats: DayFifteen / Final
It's only 10 am, but I don't suspect I will tally up any more progress in either of the categories in which I chose to compete.
Category: Organize Your Research
Task E: Create at least 20 data entries in your database, or scan 20 photos, or scan 20 documents.
New Scanned: 23 documents (26 pages)
Total Scanned: 184 documents (337 pages)
New Data Entries: 4
Total Data Entries: 40
Medal: Double Platinum (Task completed 10 times)
In the 2008 Summer Games I scanned 84 documents (126 pages) with 20 data entries. I doubled my output in both parts of this task. Being familiar with the Wheat and the Chessboard, I know I have my work cut out for me in future competitions.
Category: Expand Your Knowledge
Medal: Diamond (4 tasks)
Daily Stats: DayFifteen / Final
Category: Organize Your Research
Task E: Create at least 20 data entries in your database, or scan 20 photos, or scan 20 documents.
New Scanned: 23 documents (26 pages)
Total Scanned: 184 documents (337 pages)
New Data Entries: 4
Total Data Entries: 40
Medal: Double Platinum (Task completed 10 times)
In the 2008 Summer Games I scanned 84 documents (126 pages) with 20 data entries. I doubled my output in both parts of this task. Being familiar with the Wheat and the Chessboard, I know I have my work cut out for me in future competitions.
Category: Expand Your Knowledge
- Task A: Use Google Maps to map out an ancestral location.
- Task B: Create a timeline related to one of your lines of research, a specific ancestor or location.
- Task C: Create a memorial page for an ancestor using either Footnote’s Create A Page feature or their Facebook application I Remember.
- Task D: Visit tutorial and learning pages of popular websites such as Ancestry.com or FamilySearch’s excellent articles repository.
- Task E: Create a surname visualization using Wordle, Word It Out or a similar application. Post the graphic to your blog.
Medal: Diamond (4 tasks)
Friday, February 26, 2010
Victor Hugo (Feb 26, 1802 - May 22, 1885)
The French author, Victor Hugo, was born 208 years ago on February 26, 1802. He is not an ancestor, nor to my knowledge anywhere on my family tree. However, I have been a fan of his works since 1988 when I saw Les Miserables on Broadway. Gavroche.org is the first domain name I ever registered, back in 2000, where I created the research site, Victor Hugo Central.
Quotes from Victor Hugo pertaining to genealogy:
"Personally I do not attach any importance to genealogical questions. The man is what he is; his value is what he has done. Beyond this, all that is added to or taken from him is nothing. Hence my absolute contempt for genealogies." -- Letter to Albert Caise, 20 March 1867.
If I could choose my forebears, I would rather have a hard-working cobbler for an ancestor than a lazy king. -- ibid.
Cemeteries take what is given them. -- chapter title, Les Miserables.
"Within your ruined churches grows the grass,
And they are full of adders. Many great
by ancestry, but workers none."
-- Ruy Blas, Act III, Sc II
Quotes from Victor Hugo pertaining to genealogy:
"Personally I do not attach any importance to genealogical questions. The man is what he is; his value is what he has done. Beyond this, all that is added to or taken from him is nothing. Hence my absolute contempt for genealogies." -- Letter to Albert Caise, 20 March 1867.
If I could choose my forebears, I would rather have a hard-working cobbler for an ancestor than a lazy king. -- ibid.
Cemeteries take what is given them. -- chapter title, Les Miserables.
"Within your ruined churches grows the grass,
And they are full of adders. Many great
by ancestry, but workers none."
-- Ruy Blas, Act III, Sc II
Thursday, February 25, 2010
A Tale of Two Grandmas
Below are two timelines, interwoven. These are the lives of my two grandmothers, mostly defined by the births, marriages, and deaths of themselves, and their close family. Though other important events in their lives are included. As is my habit, I have obscured some of the information on living relatives. [The timeline for Myrtle Van Every is an update of one I created back in March of 2008.]
While timelines in general are useful to visualize the order of events in someone's life, I thought interweaving these in this fashion might help visualize some parallels and differences.
While there are generic forms for creating timelines, I avoided them, because most of the forms I saw only allowed one line to enter the 'event' and as you will see below, I have a tendency to write more than that.
1918 - Myrtle's probable graduation from high school. Personnel records indicate she had a high school degree, and two years of post-secondary education.
1919 - Letters from Myrtle's parents indicate she married and divorced a man named "Jack." Last name yet to be determined.
12 Aug 1919 - Myrtle begins working as a clerk at the QuarterMasterCorps in El Paso TX.
1920 – According to the US Census, Myrtle may be residing at Fort Bliss, in El Paso TX, at the QuarterMasterCorps. (Surname on census is illegible.)
12 Aug 1927 - Divorce proceedings between Myrtle and Dale begin
26 Sept 1927 - Myrtle returns to work in St. Louis, Missouri
14 Oct 1927 - Divorce decreed.
1933 – Sisse is graduated from Clayton High School
18 Sept 1933 – Myrtle’s brother, Samuel, dies in Kansas City, MO of cirrhosis of the liver, caused by alcohol. Myrtle was the informant on the death certificate. There are indications her sisters may not have been there with her. Family would later tell Myrtle’s daughters that he died in a flu epidemic. If Myrtle was the only one there, it's not clear if she was the only one who knew the truth. [At age 33, both of Myrtle’s parents are deceased, and only two sisters remain alive.]
08 June 1934 - Myrtle's future husband, Martin Deutsch, accepts transfer to the St. Louis Post Office HDQ as Postal Inspector.
01 July 1935 - Myrtle transfers to St. Louis Division Hdq
10 May 1936 - Sissie secretly marries Melvin Lester Newmark; Waterloo, Monroe County, Illinois
31 Dec 1936 – Myrtle marries Martin Joel Deutsch in Springfield, IL. They are driving to Chicago to see Martin’s sister, Berta, get married to Herman Freed.
1938 - Myrtle and Martin have a daughter. Sissie and Melvin have a son.
1940 – Myrtle and Martin have a second daughter.
1941 - Myrtle and Martin move to Oakley Drive, in Clayton, St. Louis County, MO
Mar 1942 – Myrtle’s husband Martin, already an Army reserve officer, enters active service, most of it spent in Africa. Not long after, Myrtle retuns to work at the St. Louis Post Office.
29 Apr 1942 - Sissie's brother, "Babe", marries Leonore Miller
15 Oct 1942 - Sissie and Melvin have a second son, Stevan J Newmark
04 Oct 1945 - Myrtle files an affidavit that her birthdate was March 21, 1905. Her sister, Minnie, testifies in support of this statement, declaring she was present at the birth. (1905 was the year Minnie was married, so it is highly doubtful she misremembered Myrtle having been born in that year.) It is unknown why they did this. Maybe Myrtle was searching for a job and felt being five years younger would be beneficial.
1945 – November, Myrtle’s husband Martin returns home from active duty.
1945 - Sissie's husband, Melvin, returns from the war.
1946 – Deutsch Family returns to St. Louis
1947 – Myrtle takes family on vacation to Texas to visit her sisters Minnie and Eva, and their families.
11 Sept 1951 – Myrtle dies of colon cancer at the age of 51.
1952 - Sissie and Melvin have a third son
1955 - Newmark family moves to Payson Drive in Olivette, St. Louis County, Missouri.
08 Nov 1963 - Sissie's father Herman Max Feinstein dies.
09 Dec 1965 - Sissie's mother Anna (Blatt) Feinstein dies.
30 Mar 1968 – Sissie's older brother, Bernard “Benny” Feinstein dies.
22 Jan 1992 - Sissie's husband Melvin Lester Newmark, dies while vacationing in Palm Springs, California
04 Oct 1997 - Sissie's middle son, Stevan J Newmark dies.
06 Dec 1999 – Sissie's younger brother, Seymour “Babe” Feinstein dies.
11 Oct 2002 – Belle "Sissie" (Feinstein) Newmark dies from emphysema and pneumonia, at the age of 88.
I knew before I began that the two timelines would interweave well in the 1930s and 1940s with the marriages and the War. However, what this did highlight for me was that the date of both marriages appear to have been influenced by the marriage of a sibling.
Myrtle and Martin were married by a Justice of the Peace in transit to celebrate the wedding of Martin's sister. It wasn't a complete spur of the moment decision, as they had announced they were engaged at least a month earlier. I suspect since both her parents were gone, and she had already been married twice, albeit briefly both times, Myrtle had no interest in a family wedding.
While I knew Sissie and Melvin had been impatient to get married, I didn't know why the Feinstein and Newmark families had set the date as they had. If it had been in 1935, I would have guessed it was waiting for Sissie to turn 21, but she turned 22 in August of 1936. While I'm not certain, it appears the Feinsteins may have wanted Sissie's marriage to be after her older brother's. However, Sissie and Melvin were impatient, so they too were married by a Justice of the Peace.
While there are generic forms for creating timelines, I avoided them, because most of the forms I saw only allowed one line to enter the 'event' and as you will see below, I have a tendency to write more than that.
21 Mar 1900 – Myrtle Ethel Van Every is born in Maxwell, Texas, the eighth and final child of Melvin Van Every and Margaret Jane McAlpin Monteroy Denyer. (Three of those eight died as infants, so Myrtle grows up as the youngest of five children.)
21 Nov 1900 - Melvin Van Every appears in front of Dawes Commission testifying about the Denyer family Choctaw roots. He explains he is there in Margaret's stead, as she is home with a sick baby - Myrtle.
11 July 1902 - Hartley/Denyer application is rejected by the Dawes Commission for lack of evidence
08 Nov 1905 – Myrtle’s sister, Minnie Ray, at age 19, marries August Benold.
09 Jan 1909 - Myrtle's sister, Willa Ann, at age 19, marries Lexington Roberts
05 Dec 1912 - Myrtle's sister, Evelyn Syvela, at age 20, marries William Campbell
14 Aug 1914 – Belle "Sissie" Feinstein is born in St. Louis City, Missouri, the second child of Herman Max Feinstein and Anna (Blatt) Feinstein.
05 Mar 1915 – Sissie's grandfather, Selig Feinstein, dies of Chronic Interstitial Nephritis, a kidney disorder usually caused by a reaction to pain medication.
08 Jan 1916 – Myrtle’s sister, Willa Ann Van Every Roberts dies at age 26, leaving behind a daughter, Agnes, age 5.
21 Nov 1900 - Melvin Van Every appears in front of Dawes Commission testifying about the Denyer family Choctaw roots. He explains he is there in Margaret's stead, as she is home with a sick baby - Myrtle.
11 July 1902 - Hartley/Denyer application is rejected by the Dawes Commission for lack of evidence
08 Nov 1905 – Myrtle’s sister, Minnie Ray, at age 19, marries August Benold.
09 Jan 1909 - Myrtle's sister, Willa Ann, at age 19, marries Lexington Roberts
05 Dec 1912 - Myrtle's sister, Evelyn Syvela, at age 20, marries William Campbell
14 Aug 1914 – Belle "Sissie" Feinstein is born in St. Louis City, Missouri, the second child of Herman Max Feinstein and Anna (Blatt) Feinstein.
05 Mar 1915 – Sissie's grandfather, Selig Feinstein, dies of Chronic Interstitial Nephritis, a kidney disorder usually caused by a reaction to pain medication.
08 Jan 1916 – Myrtle’s sister, Willa Ann Van Every Roberts dies at age 26, leaving behind a daughter, Agnes, age 5.
16 Dec 1917 – Sissie's younger brother, Seymour “Babe” Feinstein, is born.
1917 - The Van Every Family moves to Fabens, TX, just south of El Paso. Melvin Van Every, obtains a job as El Paso County Apiary Inspector (two events are likely related)1918 - Myrtle's probable graduation from high school. Personnel records indicate she had a high school degree, and two years of post-secondary education.
1919 - Letters from Myrtle's parents indicate she married and divorced a man named "Jack." Last name yet to be determined.
12 Aug 1919 - Myrtle begins working as a clerk at the QuarterMasterCorps in El Paso TX.
1920 – According to the US Census, Myrtle may be residing at Fort Bliss, in El Paso TX, at the QuarterMasterCorps. (Surname on census is illegible.)
20 Nov 1920 - Myrtle begins working for the US Post Office in St. Louis according to her personnel records. Myrtle’s brother, Samuel, is working towards a degree in Optometry in St. Louis.
02 May 1923 – In Hudspeth, TX, at the age of 55, Myrtle’s mother dies of Chronic Interstitial Nephritis, a kidney disorder usually caused by a reaction to pain medication.
1926 – Sometime between 1926 and 1930 Myrtle’s brother, Samuel, moves to Kansas City.
02 May 1923 – In Hudspeth, TX, at the age of 55, Myrtle’s mother dies of Chronic Interstitial Nephritis, a kidney disorder usually caused by a reaction to pain medication.
1926 – Sometime between 1926 and 1930 Myrtle’s brother, Samuel, moves to Kansas City.
13 Apr 1926 – Sissie's grandfather, Morris Blatt, dies.
30 Apr 1927 – Myrtle marries Dale B Ridgely in San Francisco. 12 Aug 1927 - Divorce proceedings between Myrtle and Dale begin
26 Sept 1927 - Myrtle returns to work in St. Louis, Missouri
14 Oct 1927 - Divorce decreed.
1928 - By 1928 the Feinstein family have moved to San Bonita Avenue, in Clayton, St. Louis County, Missouri.
26 May 1929 – Myrtle’s father dies at the age of 66 in Garfield, New Mexico. At some point in the past 6 years he has remarried. Myrtle also changes her surname back to Van Every.
10 Aug 1932 – Sissie's grandmother, Annie (Perlik) Feinstein, dies. 1933 – Sisse is graduated from Clayton High School
18 Sept 1933 – Myrtle’s brother, Samuel, dies in Kansas City, MO of cirrhosis of the liver, caused by alcohol. Myrtle was the informant on the death certificate. There are indications her sisters may not have been there with her. Family would later tell Myrtle’s daughters that he died in a flu epidemic. If Myrtle was the only one there, it's not clear if she was the only one who knew the truth. [At age 33, both of Myrtle’s parents are deceased, and only two sisters remain alive.]
08 June 1934 - Myrtle's future husband, Martin Deutsch, accepts transfer to the St. Louis Post Office HDQ as Postal Inspector.
01 July 1935 - Myrtle transfers to St. Louis Division Hdq
10 May 1936 - Sissie secretly marries Melvin Lester Newmark; Waterloo, Monroe County, Illinois
31 Dec 1936 – Myrtle marries Martin Joel Deutsch in Springfield, IL. They are driving to Chicago to see Martin’s sister, Berta, get married to Herman Freed.
01 Nov 1936 - Sissie's brother, "Benny", marries Belle Hoffman
10 Jan 1937 - Sissie and Melvin are married in front of their families at United Hebrew Temple in St. Louis, the ceremony conducted by Rabbi Samuel Thurman. No one learns about the earlier secret marriage for many years.
14 Feb 1937 – Myrtle resigns from the Post Office. (effective date) 10 Jan 1937 - Sissie and Melvin are married in front of their families at United Hebrew Temple in St. Louis, the ceremony conducted by Rabbi Samuel Thurman. No one learns about the earlier secret marriage for many years.
1938 - Myrtle and Martin have a daughter. Sissie and Melvin have a son.
1940 – Myrtle and Martin have a second daughter.
1941 - Myrtle and Martin move to Oakley Drive, in Clayton, St. Louis County, MO
Mar 1942 – Myrtle’s husband Martin, already an Army reserve officer, enters active service, most of it spent in Africa. Not long after, Myrtle retuns to work at the St. Louis Post Office.
29 Apr 1942 - Sissie's brother, "Babe", marries Leonore Miller
15 Oct 1942 - Sissie and Melvin have a second son, Stevan J Newmark
1943 - Sissie's husband, Melvin joins up with the American Red Cross, most of it he is stationed in Australia
1945 – Myrtle and daughters move temporarily to West Palm Beach, FL. (House in Clayton not sold)04 Oct 1945 - Myrtle files an affidavit that her birthdate was March 21, 1905. Her sister, Minnie, testifies in support of this statement, declaring she was present at the birth. (1905 was the year Minnie was married, so it is highly doubtful she misremembered Myrtle having been born in that year.) It is unknown why they did this. Maybe Myrtle was searching for a job and felt being five years younger would be beneficial.
1945 – November, Myrtle’s husband Martin returns home from active duty.
1945 - Sissie's husband, Melvin, returns from the war.
1946 – Deutsch Family returns to St. Louis
1947 – Myrtle takes family on vacation to Texas to visit her sisters Minnie and Eva, and their families.
11 Sept 1951 – Myrtle dies of colon cancer at the age of 51.
1952 - Sissie and Melvin have a third son
1955 - Newmark family moves to Payson Drive in Olivette, St. Louis County, Missouri.
08 Nov 1963 - Sissie's father Herman Max Feinstein dies.
09 Dec 1965 - Sissie's mother Anna (Blatt) Feinstein dies.
30 Mar 1968 – Sissie's older brother, Bernard “Benny” Feinstein dies.
22 Jan 1992 - Sissie's husband Melvin Lester Newmark, dies while vacationing in Palm Springs, California
04 Oct 1997 - Sissie's middle son, Stevan J Newmark dies.
06 Dec 1999 – Sissie's younger brother, Seymour “Babe” Feinstein dies.
11 Oct 2002 – Belle "Sissie" (Feinstein) Newmark dies from emphysema and pneumonia, at the age of 88.
I knew before I began that the two timelines would interweave well in the 1930s and 1940s with the marriages and the War. However, what this did highlight for me was that the date of both marriages appear to have been influenced by the marriage of a sibling.
Myrtle and Martin were married by a Justice of the Peace in transit to celebrate the wedding of Martin's sister. It wasn't a complete spur of the moment decision, as they had announced they were engaged at least a month earlier. I suspect since both her parents were gone, and she had already been married twice, albeit briefly both times, Myrtle had no interest in a family wedding.
While I knew Sissie and Melvin had been impatient to get married, I didn't know why the Feinstein and Newmark families had set the date as they had. If it had been in 1935, I would have guessed it was waiting for Sissie to turn 21, but she turned 22 in August of 1936. While I'm not certain, it appears the Feinsteins may have wanted Sissie's marriage to be after her older brother's. However, Sissie and Melvin were impatient, so they too were married by a Justice of the Peace.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wordless Wednesday: Ten Days Without Mail
Postcard home - sent by my grandfather, Martin J Deutsch, January 29, 1943.
(The whole APO wasn't receiving mail)
(The whole APO wasn't receiving mail)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games - Days 10 and 11
More information on the Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games
Daily Stats: Day Ten and Eleven
Category: Organize Your Research
(no progress...still 19 scanned letters shy of a Double Platinum medal)
Category: Expand Your Knowledge
Tasks A, D and E completed
Task B: Create a timeline related to one of your lines of research, a specific ancestor or location. Get creative using a free application such as TimeToast. Post your timeline on your blog.
I didn't use TimeToast or any other free application; I did it by hand. And I haven't yet put a blog post together. However, I have updated a timeline I put together back in March of 2008 for my maternal grandmother, Myrtle Van Every Deutsch, and I have put one together for my paternal grandmother, Belle Feinstein Newmark. The posts will appear later this week.
Four completed tasks - Diamond Medal earned
One task shy of Platinum
Daily Stats: Day Ten and Eleven
Category: Organize Your Research
(no progress...still 19 scanned letters shy of a Double Platinum medal)
Category: Expand Your Knowledge
Tasks A, D and E completed
Task B: Create a timeline related to one of your lines of research, a specific ancestor or location. Get creative using a free application such as TimeToast. Post your timeline on your blog.
I didn't use TimeToast or any other free application; I did it by hand. And I haven't yet put a blog post together. However, I have updated a timeline I put together back in March of 2008 for my maternal grandmother, Myrtle Van Every Deutsch, and I have put one together for my paternal grandmother, Belle Feinstein Newmark. The posts will appear later this week.
Four completed tasks - Diamond Medal earned
One task shy of Platinum
Tombstone Tuesday: Max Newmark (1892-1931)
Transcription:Meyer Vulf
son of Samuel Yosef Newmark
Died on the 14th of Shevat 5691 (January 31, 1931, after sunset)
May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life
Max
1892-1931
My second great uncle, Max Newmark, is said to have been born on August 16, 1892, likely in Warka, Poland. (The Newmark family left Poland for England in either 1892 or 1893, so it's possible he was born enroute.)
He would have been 17 years old when the family arrived in the US in 1909. He originally followed his father in the tailoring business, but later opened a grocery store in East St. Louis, Illinois.
He was the victim of an armed robbery at the age of 39, leaving behind a wife and two children. He is buried at B'nai Amoona cemetery, in St. Louis, Missouri. Not far from the gravesite of his parents.
He would have been 17 years old when the family arrived in the US in 1909. He originally followed his father in the tailoring business, but later opened a grocery store in East St. Louis, Illinois.
He was the victim of an armed robbery at the age of 39, leaving behind a wife and two children. He is buried at B'nai Amoona cemetery, in St. Louis, Missouri. Not far from the gravesite of his parents.
Monday, February 22, 2010
FamilyTree Magazine Announces their list of 40 Best Genealogy Blogs
FamilyTree Magazine has announced their list of the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs divided between 10 categories.
Congratulations to all winners.
Congratulations to all winners.
Amanuensis Monday: Max Newmark - "Bandit Victim"
Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
Below is a transcription of a news article that appeared in the St. Louis Globe Democrat on February 1st, 1931. It describes the armed robbery and fatal shooting of my great-great uncle, Max Newmark, at his grocery store.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
Below is a transcription of a news article that appeared in the St. Louis Globe Democrat on February 1st, 1931. It describes the armed robbery and fatal shooting of my great-great uncle, Max Newmark, at his grocery store.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games - Days 8 and 9
More information on the Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games
Daily Stats: Day Eight and Nine
Category: Organize Your Research
Task E: Create at least 20 data entries in your database, or scan 20 photos, or scan 20 documents.
Scanned: 28 documents (52 pages)
Total Scanned: 161 documents (311 pages)
Total Data Entries: 36
This task has been completed 9 times, so if I can scan 19 more letters, I'll have earned a "Double Platinum."
Category: Expand Your Knowledge
Task A: Use Google Maps to map out an ancestral location. Create a map that you can then embed into a blog post.
I did this on Thursday
Task D: Visit tutorial and learning pages of popular websites such as Ancestry.com or FamilySearch’s excellent articles repository.
I have visited both. I know I will return to both, but I stayed longer in my initial visit at FamilySearch's site. I like the ability to sort all the documents by title, subject, or geographical location.
Task E: Create a surname visualization using Wordle, Word It Out or a similar application. Post the graphic to your blog.
Wordle is a fun way to visualize the relative quantities of different surnames in one's database. I last did this six months ago. But my database hasn't been stagnant. Here's what it looks like now. (click to enlarge):
By completing three tasks, I have earned a "Gold" in this category. By the end of competition on Saturday I expect to complete at least four, perhaps all five tasks.
Daily Stats: Day Eight and Nine
Category: Organize Your Research
Task E: Create at least 20 data entries in your database, or scan 20 photos, or scan 20 documents.
Scanned: 28 documents (52 pages)
Total Scanned: 161 documents (311 pages)
Total Data Entries: 36
This task has been completed 9 times, so if I can scan 19 more letters, I'll have earned a "Double Platinum."
Category: Expand Your Knowledge
Task A: Use Google Maps to map out an ancestral location. Create a map that you can then embed into a blog post.
I did this on Thursday
Task D: Visit tutorial and learning pages of popular websites such as Ancestry.com or FamilySearch’s excellent articles repository.
I have visited both. I know I will return to both, but I stayed longer in my initial visit at FamilySearch's site. I like the ability to sort all the documents by title, subject, or geographical location.
Task E: Create a surname visualization using Wordle, Word It Out or a similar application. Post the graphic to your blog.
Wordle is a fun way to visualize the relative quantities of different surnames in one's database. I last did this six months ago. But my database hasn't been stagnant. Here's what it looks like now. (click to enlarge):
By completing three tasks, I have earned a "Gold" in this category. By the end of competition on Saturday I expect to complete at least four, perhaps all five tasks.
Weekly Genealogy Picks
Weekly Genealogy Picks -- February 14 to February 20
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
- Ruth Coker Burks at Last2CU makes a shocking and disturbing discovery on the shore of Lake Hamilton. Her great grandmother's open tomb.
- John at AncestryChronicles reports that a cemetery is being condemned and removed to make way for an expansion at Chicago's OHare.
- The National Archives at NARAtions discusses available slave manifests. Ancestry.com has microfilmed the manifests to and from New Orleans. Manifests for three other Southern ports are available at NARA’s Southeast Regional Archives in Morrow, Georgia.
- To celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Week, Miriam at Ancestories has been republishing a series she wrote in 2008, filled with ideas on how genealogists can give back to the genealogy community.
- John at The Wandering Genealogist explains why he won't be wasting his money on the 1939 Register Service. I agree with him that every non-free genealogy source must go through a cost-benefit analysis. And the analysis is likely to differ for different researchers.
- LegacyNews discusses Gaps of Unusual Size. And how it is important to correct them, or explain them.
- Arlene Eakle explains why there is no such thing as a Genealogy Instant Answer Line.
- In his Best of the Genea-Blogs Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings highlights his selections for the best reads of the week.
- Personal historian, Dan Curtis, writes The Introvert's 12-step Plan for Painless Networking.
- Good Morning Silicon Valley has an interesting theory on how the privacy issues of Google Buzz slipped past initial testing in Google, Buzz, and the Silicon Tower.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games - Day 7
More information on the Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games
Daily Stats: Day Seven
Category: Organize Your Research
Scanned: 65 documents (121 pages)
Total: 133 documents (259 pages)
Recovering from a cold, I stayed home from work today, and got some scanning done. Still scanning letters my maternal grandfather, Martin Deutsch, sent my grandmother during the war. I'm up to the month of June, 1943.
This completes Task E of this category over six times, qualifying me for the 'Platinum' level, at least as I chose to interpret the rules. I suspect I will do some more scanning during the second week, as I have a desire to complete the box of letters, but I will also focus some time on earning a second Platinum in my other category.
The below menu was enclosed in one of the letters. I believe my grandfather censored his location.
For anyone wondering -- Most of these letters will go un-transcribed, at least for now. Though often fun to read, there isn't much genealogical information contained within them. Though by scanning them, I will still be able to share the letters with multiple family members.
Daily Stats: Day Seven
Category: Organize Your Research
Scanned: 65 documents (121 pages)
Total: 133 documents (259 pages)
Recovering from a cold, I stayed home from work today, and got some scanning done. Still scanning letters my maternal grandfather, Martin Deutsch, sent my grandmother during the war. I'm up to the month of June, 1943.
This completes Task E of this category over six times, qualifying me for the 'Platinum' level, at least as I chose to interpret the rules. I suspect I will do some more scanning during the second week, as I have a desire to complete the box of letters, but I will also focus some time on earning a second Platinum in my other category.
The below menu was enclosed in one of the letters. I believe my grandfather censored his location.
For anyone wondering -- Most of these letters will go un-transcribed, at least for now. Though often fun to read, there isn't much genealogical information contained within them. Though by scanning them, I will still be able to share the letters with multiple family members.
Poetry: Excerpt from The Hungry Year - William Kirby
The below poem appears in The Records of the Van Every Family, by Mary Blackadar Piersol, 1947. She divided the genealogy into two sections, with the second section following the United Empire Loyalists who fled to Canada, and their descendants. The poem was chosen as an introduction to the second half.
AUTUMN
The Hunger Year
The war was over. Seven red years of blood
Had scourged the land from mountain top to sea.
(So long it took to rend the mighty frame
Of England's empire in the western world).
Rebellion won at last, and they who loved
The cause which had been lost, and kept the faith
To England's crown, and scorned an alien name,
Passed into exile, leaving all behind,
Except their honour and the conscious pride
Of duty done to country and to king.
***
Not drooping like poor fugitives they came
In exodus to our Canadian wilds,
But full of heart and hope, with heads erect
And fearless eyes victorious in defeat.
With thousand toils they forced their devious way
Through the great wilderness of silent woods,
That gloomed o'er lake and stream, till higher rose
The Northern Star above the broad domain
Of half a continent, still theirs to hold,
Defend and keep for ever as their own,
Their own and England's till the end of time.
-- William Kirby (1817-1906)
While the above is how it appears in The Records of the Van Every Family, it is an excerpt from The Hungry Year, which can be read in full at Canadiana or The Internet Archive.
AUTUMN
The Hunger Year
The war was over. Seven red years of blood
Had scourged the land from mountain top to sea.
(So long it took to rend the mighty frame
Of England's empire in the western world).
Rebellion won at last, and they who loved
The cause which had been lost, and kept the faith
To England's crown, and scorned an alien name,
Passed into exile, leaving all behind,
Except their honour and the conscious pride
Of duty done to country and to king.
***
Not drooping like poor fugitives they came
In exodus to our Canadian wilds,
But full of heart and hope, with heads erect
And fearless eyes victorious in defeat.
With thousand toils they forced their devious way
Through the great wilderness of silent woods,
That gloomed o'er lake and stream, till higher rose
The Northern Star above the broad domain
Of half a continent, still theirs to hold,
Defend and keep for ever as their own,
Their own and England's till the end of time.
-- William Kirby (1817-1906)
While the above is how it appears in The Records of the Van Every Family, it is an excerpt from The Hungry Year, which can be read in full at Canadiana or The Internet Archive.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Google Maps of my Ancestors
Category 4 of the Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games is "Expand Your Knowledge"
Task A is: Use Google Maps to map out an ancestral location. Create a map that you can then embed into a blog post.
Below is a map of St. Louis addresses for my maternal grandmother, Myrtle (Van Every) Deutsch. She moved to St. Louis in 1920, and except for a brief period in 1945 when she moved to West Palm Beach, FL, she was in St. Louis for the rest of her life. Before her marriage, she moved around a lot. [Click on the '-' button to 'Zoom out' and see all the addresses, or click on "View...in a larger map".]
View St. Louis Residences of Myrtle Van Every Deutsch in a larger map
This entry serves as my status update, as it is the only thing I've done today for the competition.
Task A is: Use Google Maps to map out an ancestral location. Create a map that you can then embed into a blog post.
Below is a map of St. Louis addresses for my maternal grandmother, Myrtle (Van Every) Deutsch. She moved to St. Louis in 1920, and except for a brief period in 1945 when she moved to West Palm Beach, FL, she was in St. Louis for the rest of her life. Before her marriage, she moved around a lot. [Click on the '-' button to 'Zoom out' and see all the addresses, or click on "View...in a larger map".]
View St. Louis Residences of Myrtle Van Every Deutsch in a larger map
This entry serves as my status update, as it is the only thing I've done today for the competition.
The 90th Carnival of Genealogy is posted
Jasia has posted the 90th Carnival of Genealogy at CreativeGene. Find out which posts participants chose for the Third Annual iGene Awards.
The theme for the 91st edition...
The theme for the 91st edition...
A Tribute to Women! March is women's history month and a great time to honor the women on our family trees.This is will be the 4th annual edition on this topic so we're going to change it up just a bit to keep it fresh... Write a biography about a woman on your family tree starting with a timeline of their life. The timeline can be a separate post that you link to from your biography (which can itself be a series of articles) but please just submit one post to the COG.
The deadline for submissions will be March 15th. Thirty submissions will be accepted.More information
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games - Day 5
More information on the Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games
Daily Stats: Day Five
Category: Organize Your Research
Scanned: 22 documents (44 pages)
Total: 68 documents (138 pages)
Still scanning letters my maternal grandfather, Martin Deutsch, sent my grandmother during the war. I've completed the month of November, 1942.
One of the letters had a few small photographs enclosed. While I scanned them in, I only counted them as an additional page in that document.
Here's one of them. (My grandfather is in the passenger seat of the jeep.)
Daily Stats: Day Five
Category: Organize Your Research
Scanned: 22 documents (44 pages)
Total: 68 documents (138 pages)
Still scanning letters my maternal grandfather, Martin Deutsch, sent my grandmother during the war. I've completed the month of November, 1942.
One of the letters had a few small photographs enclosed. While I scanned them in, I only counted them as an additional page in that document.
Here's one of them. (My grandfather is in the passenger seat of the jeep.)
Wordless Wednesday: My grandmother with a cat
 | |||
| Myrtle Van Every - date unknown - cat's name unknown |
Photograph of a cat who joined my household back in August of 2008. The resemblance is striking.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games - Day 4
More information on the Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games
Daily Stats: Day Four
(Day 3 no progress was made in any category)
Category: Organize Your Research
Scanned: 20 documents (37 pages)
Total: 46 documents (94 pages)
Still scanning letters my maternal grandfather, Martin Deutsch, sent my grandmother during the war. I've reached the month of September, 1942.
Data Entries:
New Entries: 16
Total: 36
I added 14 people to my database. I also entered biographical data on two individuals (transcribing from Records of the Van Every Family) A total of 16 entries.
On the Spelling of Names
My eighth great grandfather's first name appears on historical documents as Myndert, Meyndert, and Mindert. His surname appears as both Frederickse and Fredericksen (with and without the 'c'). This isn't due solely to others writing his name down differently each time -- I suspect he may have written it differently each time, too. I believe our early colonial ancestors often didn't care how their name was spelled. Reading documents of that time, you can tell, they didn't care how anything was spelled. Written language was often phonetic.
Those of us familiar with the transliteration of languages from non-Arabic alphabets see something similar today. My Hebrew name is often spelled either Barukh or Baruch. There is only one Hebrew spelling, though: בָּרוּךְ. I was named after my great grandfather, Barnet Newmark.
These thoughts are inspired by the following post:
It seems her name issues are long running. In April of 2009, she wrote a post entitled A Rose by Any Other Name, wherein she talked about being called Betty, or Mrs. Pohl. and how even fans often insert a 'c' in her husband's given name.
I know how she feels. I have people occasionally refer to me as 'Jonathan.' Some of them assume "John" is actually a short-form, and Jonathan has to be my given name. I think this happens, partially, because Jonathan is a well-known figure in the Old Testament, and John is a well-known figure in the New Testament. And these people know I'm Jewish. However, both names originate from Hebrew names. John from 'Yochanan' and Jonathan from 'Yehonatan'. Nathan is actually a common short-form for Jonathan. However, my issue is less with spelling and more that they're calling me the wrong name. Personally, and etymologically.
As genealogists, of course, we have to in some ways ignore how names are 'supposed' to be spelled, as they can get written down in any number of ways, and if we are only searching for one spelling, we'll miss a lot. It may be unlikely that a census taker would write my name down as "Jonathan," but they could.
Those of us familiar with the transliteration of languages from non-Arabic alphabets see something similar today. My Hebrew name is often spelled either Barukh or Baruch. There is only one Hebrew spelling, though: בָּרוּךְ. I was named after my great grandfather, Barnet Newmark.
These thoughts are inspired by the following post:
Dr. Elizabeth Anne Hull has issued a statement in which she says, “My dearly beloved parents, who sadly have passed away, did not name me ‘Elizabeth Ann Hull.’ Instead they named me ‘Elizabeth Anne Hull,’ with an e, and I would be grateful if anyone who has occasion to write my name down would conform to their wishes.”Source: The Way The Future Blogs - the blog of Science Fiction author, Frederik Pohl, husband of Dr. Elizabeth Anne Hull.
It seems her name issues are long running. In April of 2009, she wrote a post entitled A Rose by Any Other Name, wherein she talked about being called Betty, or Mrs. Pohl. and how even fans often insert a 'c' in her husband's given name.
I know how she feels. I have people occasionally refer to me as 'Jonathan.' Some of them assume "John" is actually a short-form, and Jonathan has to be my given name. I think this happens, partially, because Jonathan is a well-known figure in the Old Testament, and John is a well-known figure in the New Testament. And these people know I'm Jewish. However, both names originate from Hebrew names. John from 'Yochanan' and Jonathan from 'Yehonatan'. Nathan is actually a common short-form for Jonathan. However, my issue is less with spelling and more that they're calling me the wrong name. Personally, and etymologically.
As genealogists, of course, we have to in some ways ignore how names are 'supposed' to be spelled, as they can get written down in any number of ways, and if we are only searching for one spelling, we'll miss a lot. It may be unlikely that a census taker would write my name down as "Jonathan," but they could.
Tombstone Tuesday: An Annoyance
No image this week for Tombstone Tuesday, but I do want to talk about a minor annoyance I have in attempting to obtain an image of some ancestral graves.
I've had a lot of positive results seeking assistance from volunteers at RAOGK and FindAGrave. I've also provided assistance at both in return.
However, in one instance, I keep striking out.
Back in July of 2009 I requested from a volunteer at RAOGK a photograph of the tombstones of my great grandparents, Samuel and Helen Deutsch. They are buried at Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago. Waldheim Cemetery is huge, but their website does offer an online request form. So I was able to obtain exact plot locations for their graves, and I included that in my request. I received no response from the volunteer. (And the volunteer is no longer on the site.)
In September I discovered FindAGrave and I repeated my request there. When I submitted it, I was told there were over 300 volunteers within 10 miles of the cemetery. You'd think out of those 300 individuals who have specifically volunteered to photograph graves, one would fulfill my request. But none of them did.
The request was pretty early in the fall too, so weather wasn't the reason.
Recently I noticed RAOGK has some new volunteers in the Cook County area, so come Springtime, I will try again. If that fails, maybe I'll make a trip to Chicago. It's a good five hour drive each way, but I suspect I have at least a dozen relatives, of varying distances, buried there, though I haven't obtained the plot locations for all of them yet.
I've had a lot of positive results seeking assistance from volunteers at RAOGK and FindAGrave. I've also provided assistance at both in return.
However, in one instance, I keep striking out.
Back in July of 2009 I requested from a volunteer at RAOGK a photograph of the tombstones of my great grandparents, Samuel and Helen Deutsch. They are buried at Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago. Waldheim Cemetery is huge, but their website does offer an online request form. So I was able to obtain exact plot locations for their graves, and I included that in my request. I received no response from the volunteer. (And the volunteer is no longer on the site.)
In September I discovered FindAGrave and I repeated my request there. When I submitted it, I was told there were over 300 volunteers within 10 miles of the cemetery. You'd think out of those 300 individuals who have specifically volunteered to photograph graves, one would fulfill my request. But none of them did.
The request was pretty early in the fall too, so weather wasn't the reason.
Recently I noticed RAOGK has some new volunteers in the Cook County area, so come Springtime, I will try again. If that fails, maybe I'll make a trip to Chicago. It's a good five hour drive each way, but I suspect I have at least a dozen relatives, of varying distances, buried there, though I haven't obtained the plot locations for all of them yet.
Monday, February 15, 2010
There is no Federal Holiday called President's Day
George Washington's Birthday is celebrated as a federal holiday on the third Monday in February. It is one of eleven permanent holidays established by Congress.
Federal holidays apply only to the federal government and the District of Columbia; Congress has never declared a national holiday binding in all states and each state decides its own legal holidays.
[...]
Contrary to popular belief, neither Congress nor the President has ever stipulated that the name of the holiday observed as Washington's Birthday be changed to "President's Day."
Source: National Archives
Of course...state governments, schools, or the company you work for, can call a holiday whatever they want to call it. They can also declare the holiday celebrates whatever they want it to celebrate. But the Federal Holiday that is today is only for George.
Ironically...Washington was born on February 11, 1731 (while the Julian calendar was still in use.) This became February 22nd, 1732 when we switched to the Gregorian Calendar. The earliest the Third Monday of February can fall is February 15th. The latest it can fall is February 21. It is impossible for the Federal Holiday "Washington's Birthday" to be celebrated on Washington's real birthday, according to either calendar.
Amanuensis Monday: Mandell Newmark - January 1944
Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
Below I continue the transcription of the war diary belonging to my great uncle, Mandell Newmark (1923-1945). I left off on New Year's Eve, 1943
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
Below I continue the transcription of the war diary belonging to my great uncle, Mandell Newmark (1923-1945). I left off on New Year's Eve, 1943
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games - Day 2
Daily Stats: Day Two
Category: Organize Your ResearchScanned: 20 documents (34 pages)
Total: 26 documents (57 pages)
Still scanning letters my maternal grandfather, Martin Deutsch, sent my grandmother during the war. Many of them are addressed to either Sweetheart or General, as he referred to her as his "Sweetheart General."
Weekly Genealogy Picks
Weekly Genealogy Picks -- February 7 to February 13
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
Gena Philibert Ortega at Gena's Genealogy writes about Google Book's My Library feature.
Laura at It's All Relative a few weeks ago started a weekly meme she calls Thursday's Tithe, where she discusses ways to give back to the genealogy community. This week she discusses Rootsweb mailing lists.
Michael John Neill at RootDig discusses genealogists who guarantee results.
Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings illustrates how to use Google Documents.
Dan Curtis offers some advice on how to save and store old photographs. He offers a few tips on how to retrieve photographs from the old 'magnetic' photo albums - using common household objects.
Diane Haddad at Genealogy Insider finds some historical love letters. Here's another one of my favorites from Victor Hugo to Adele Foucher, before he married her.
Frederik Pohl continues to post his recollections of Isaac Asimov.
The State Historical Society of Missouri, which had been closed on Fridays and Saturdays since November 1st due to budget cutbacks, has announced they're returning to their former six-day schedule. (They've raised sufficient private funds to be open all six days, though not all of the library's programs have been restored.) (hat/tip: MoSGA Messenger)
The UK National Archives is eliminating surplus (duplicate) microfilm archives by lottery. While they aren't seeking payment, winners will need to pay for all costs in retrieving the microfilm. So the airfare may be prohibitive for some who live 'across the pond.'
Wolfram/Alpha illustrates how one can address Valentine's Day from a mathematical perspective.
Google released Google Buzz to fans of social networking, and quickly received several complaints about privacy and features. They just as quickly released fixes. Showing they are one website that can work on 'Internet time.' (The last two links go to entries at Good Morning Silicon Valley.)
If you missed the first episode of PBS's Faces of America, you can view episode one online. (55 minutes)
Of local interest: Google Maps is slowly converting St. Louis "Street View" maps to high definition.
For other weekly/monthly lists visit:
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
Gena Philibert Ortega at Gena's Genealogy writes about Google Book's My Library feature.
Laura at It's All Relative a few weeks ago started a weekly meme she calls Thursday's Tithe, where she discusses ways to give back to the genealogy community. This week she discusses Rootsweb mailing lists.
Michael John Neill at RootDig discusses genealogists who guarantee results.
Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings illustrates how to use Google Documents.
Dan Curtis offers some advice on how to save and store old photographs. He offers a few tips on how to retrieve photographs from the old 'magnetic' photo albums - using common household objects.
Diane Haddad at Genealogy Insider finds some historical love letters. Here's another one of my favorites from Victor Hugo to Adele Foucher, before he married her.
Frederik Pohl continues to post his recollections of Isaac Asimov.
The State Historical Society of Missouri, which had been closed on Fridays and Saturdays since November 1st due to budget cutbacks, has announced they're returning to their former six-day schedule. (They've raised sufficient private funds to be open all six days, though not all of the library's programs have been restored.) (hat/tip: MoSGA Messenger)
The UK National Archives is eliminating surplus (duplicate) microfilm archives by lottery. While they aren't seeking payment, winners will need to pay for all costs in retrieving the microfilm. So the airfare may be prohibitive for some who live 'across the pond.'
Wolfram/Alpha illustrates how one can address Valentine's Day from a mathematical perspective.
Google released Google Buzz to fans of social networking, and quickly received several complaints about privacy and features. They just as quickly released fixes. Showing they are one website that can work on 'Internet time.' (The last two links go to entries at Good Morning Silicon Valley.)
If you missed the first episode of PBS's Faces of America, you can view episode one online. (55 minutes)
Of local interest: Google Maps is slowly converting St. Louis "Street View" maps to high definition.
For other weekly/monthly lists visit:
- Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs at Genea-Musings
- I'm a week late in reporting it, but M. Diane Rogers at CanadaGenealgoy has begun a monthly list of Finds and Favourites.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games - Day 1
Daily Stats: Day One
Category: Organize Your ResearchData Entries: Added 17 people to my database. I also transcribed 7 pages of text from my copy of Records of the Van Every Family, and inserted the text into the notes for 3 people who were already in my database. I'll count this as three "data entries." A total of 20.
Scanned: 6 documents (23 pages) - letters my maternal grandfather sent home from the war. I'd estimate he sent at least 3 letters a week, often more, and each letter was multiple pages. I've completed April of 1942. The last letter was in August of 1944. I have a way to go. I doubt I will finish during these two weeks.
As in 2008, I have a lot of scanning to do, and that is where my main focus will be in this competition category.
Friday, February 12, 2010
GeneaBlogger 2010 Winter Games
The Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games are afoot. [For participation instructions, follow the link.]
Team TransylvanianDutch participated in the 2008 summer edition, and will be again.
Step One: Sign up (done)
Step Two: Create a Heritage Flag, put it in your sidebar, and explain its meaning
I will be using the same flag I created in 2008
This flag contains elements of the US, Dutch and Israeli flags. The Star of David represents all of my Jewish ancestry, but since the flag is representing my blog as well as myself, I added something Transylvanian - a vampire. The vampire is by Edward Munch, who is better known for "The Scream."
Step Three: Declare the categories in which I will be competing
Category Three: Organize Your Research (I will be focusing on scanning documents, and creating data entries)
Category Four: Expand Your Knowledge (I will be creating some timelines)
Category Amanuensis: During the Summer 2008 games I began what I called a "long-term transcription project." As I wrote then: "I'm going to tally for my own benefit how many letters I transcribe. It doesn't fall under any of the competitive categories, but there's no reason I can't use the 'Olympic spirit' to challenge myself, even if no one else is doing it." Approximately six months later, this project became Amanuensis Monday. I will be re-challenging myself.
Step Four: Begin Competing on Saturday February 13.
Will do.
Team TransylvanianDutch participated in the 2008 summer edition, and will be again.
Step One: Sign up (done)
Step Two: Create a Heritage Flag, put it in your sidebar, and explain its meaning
I will be using the same flag I created in 2008
This flag contains elements of the US, Dutch and Israeli flags. The Star of David represents all of my Jewish ancestry, but since the flag is representing my blog as well as myself, I added something Transylvanian - a vampire. The vampire is by Edward Munch, who is better known for "The Scream."Step Three: Declare the categories in which I will be competing
Category Three: Organize Your Research (I will be focusing on scanning documents, and creating data entries)
Category Four: Expand Your Knowledge (I will be creating some timelines)
Category Amanuensis: During the Summer 2008 games I began what I called a "long-term transcription project." As I wrote then: "I'm going to tally for my own benefit how many letters I transcribe. It doesn't fall under any of the competitive categories, but there's no reason I can't use the 'Olympic spirit' to challenge myself, even if no one else is doing it." Approximately six months later, this project became Amanuensis Monday. I will be re-challenging myself.
Step Four: Begin Competing on Saturday February 13.
Will do.
The Labors of Hercules
On Monday, Luckie Daniels at Our Georgia Roots posted a passionate plea for a more open discussion on slavery issues, and for those with information on slave records not to withhold it.
At 12:17 a.m. Tuesday morning, before I shut the computer down for the night, I commented that I was unaware of any slave ownership in my ancestry, so I had nothing to contribute to a conversation, but I agreed that those with information had a duty to share it in some manner.
I arrived home from work Tuesday afternoon approximately 4:15 p.m., retrieving the copy of The Records of the Van Every Family from my mailbox. By 4:30 I knew I would never again be able to say what I had written 16 hours before. My 8th great grandfather, Myndert Frederickse, owned a slave.
I always knew it was possible I'd uncover ancestors with slaves, as I do have a second great grandfather, Ebenezer Denyer, who fought for the Confederacy. But my research on my 19th century Southern ancestors turned up no signs. And it's very easy to forget that slavery existed in the North, too. There were 10,000 slaves in the state of New York as late as 1820. [source]
I didn't discover the information on my ancestor in some dusty archive. It's in a family genealogy published in 1947, and oft-cited in surname discussion groups online. However, this passage hasn't been discussed:
The Annals of Albany isn't the only location I've found that this case is cited. It appears in several other Albany histories, as well as a 1944 issue of The Journal of Negro History.
I've also uncovered another brief mention of Hercules, several years after the 1686 incident. He's referenced in Swan of Albany: a history of the oldest congregation of the Lutheran Church in America, by Henry Hardy Heins, 1976, page 34. Unfortunately, Google Books doesn't allow a 'full view' of the page, and I have only been able to grab a few 'snippets.'
The teasers here are tantalizing. A discussion of Myndert's last illness? (He died in 1706, so this would have been 20 years after the trial of Hercules.) Hercules is referred to as an "assistant." It's possibly a euphemistic whitewash, but it could also mean that Hercules had been freed in those twenty years, and remained in the employ of his former master as a free man. If the latter, it suggests a possible story of forgiveness and redemption.
The book isn't at any library near me, so I am going to have to see if I can order it through inter-library loan to learn the details of its content.
While I haven't learned much if any genealogical information about Hercules, I have added him to my database using iFamlyforLeopard's "Associated Person" field.
At 12:17 a.m. Tuesday morning, before I shut the computer down for the night, I commented that I was unaware of any slave ownership in my ancestry, so I had nothing to contribute to a conversation, but I agreed that those with information had a duty to share it in some manner.
I arrived home from work Tuesday afternoon approximately 4:15 p.m., retrieving the copy of The Records of the Van Every Family from my mailbox. By 4:30 I knew I would never again be able to say what I had written 16 hours before. My 8th great grandfather, Myndert Frederickse, owned a slave.
I always knew it was possible I'd uncover ancestors with slaves, as I do have a second great grandfather, Ebenezer Denyer, who fought for the Confederacy. But my research on my 19th century Southern ancestors turned up no signs. And it's very easy to forget that slavery existed in the North, too. There were 10,000 slaves in the state of New York as late as 1820. [source]
I didn't discover the information on my ancestor in some dusty archive. It's in a family genealogy published in 1947, and oft-cited in surname discussion groups online. However, this passage hasn't been discussed:
There are other references to Myndert in the early New York records, important only insofar as they give a picture of life among the Dutch colonists...."Hercules, ye negro of Myndert Frederickse confessed to the fellonius taking out of his master's house a small chest containing wampum belonging to ye Poor of ye Lutheran Church which he broke open without ye gate by ye waterside with an ax."Mary Blackadar Piersol, author of the genealogy, cites The Annals of Albany, by Joel Munsell. I found the work scanned on Google Books, and the below two clippings.
The Annals of Albany isn't the only location I've found that this case is cited. It appears in several other Albany histories, as well as a 1944 issue of The Journal of Negro History.
I've also uncovered another brief mention of Hercules, several years after the 1686 incident. He's referenced in Swan of Albany: a history of the oldest congregation of the Lutheran Church in America, by Henry Hardy Heins, 1976, page 34. Unfortunately, Google Books doesn't allow a 'full view' of the page, and I have only been able to grab a few 'snippets.'
The teasers here are tantalizing. A discussion of Myndert's last illness? (He died in 1706, so this would have been 20 years after the trial of Hercules.) Hercules is referred to as an "assistant." It's possibly a euphemistic whitewash, but it could also mean that Hercules had been freed in those twenty years, and remained in the employ of his former master as a free man. If the latter, it suggests a possible story of forgiveness and redemption.The book isn't at any library near me, so I am going to have to see if I can order it through inter-library loan to learn the details of its content.
While I haven't learned much if any genealogical information about Hercules, I have added him to my database using iFamlyforLeopard's "Associated Person" field.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Beeswax on Google Buzz
With Google Buzz, Google has entered the Social Networking foray. (Again. It's been here in the past - Orkut and Wave.)
Here's their video explaining stuff
What follows is a summary of what I have figured out and learned in the past 24 hours.
Some important notes regarding privacy and usage:
There are a couple things that are very appealing about Buzz.
If you do find yourself using Google Buzz, and wish to follow me, you can just click on the "find people" link and search for my real name. Currently there will be five results. Two have photographs of me next to them. As I stated above, I have two Buzz accounts. The one that says "Writer, St. Louis, MO" is my personal account, and is linked to my twitter under the username Gavroche, and soon should be linked to my non-genealogy blog. The one that doesn't say this is linked to this blog, and my twitter under the username TransDutch. I've been careful not to duplicate feeds so those who want can follow both and not get duplicate items in their 'Buzz stream."
Update 2/12: Google has already made updates to address some of the privacy concerns
Here's their video explaining stuff
What follows is a summary of what I have figured out and learned in the past 24 hours.
Some important notes regarding privacy and usage:
- It's being rolled out automatically to anyone with a Google Gmail account. If you have a Gmail account, and don't have Buzz yet, you should soon. I'm not sure how long the rollout is supposed to take. If you don't have a Gmail account, they're free. (Google is devious.)
- Users can syndicate their Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, and Blog feeds (pretty much anything with an RSS feed) so that it appears in their Buzz 'stream'.
- Those with a current Gmail account are automatically set to 'follow' a grouping of their most frequent contacts. This has upset some, though it is easy to 'unfollow', and no one gets notified if you do.
- Those you are following, and those following you, are listed by default on your Google Profile. For some, this Google Profile is searchable on the web. (You have to have intentionally set it up this way for this to be the case. Here's my Google Profile if you want to see what one looks like.) Some have proclaimed this shouldn't be the default. But I believe it is the default on Twitter, and I haven't heard people complain about that. Of course, for most people, their email contacts are a much more diverse group than their Twitter followers. Regardless, you can edit your profile, and turn this feature off. Once turned off, no one will see your list of followers, or followed. Not even others on that list. (I have two gmail accounts, and thus two Buzz accounts, and have been able to verify this.)
- When someone replies to your "Buzz" (aka: Status Update), this reply appears in your Gmail inbox, as well as in your "Buzz" folder. This also happens if you comment on someone else's buzz, and someone comments after you. It's not immediately obvious how to turn this 'off.' You actually can't. But you can set up a mail filter that automatically archives these notifications, skipping the inbox.
- There is a Mobile version of Buzz. It is currently available for iPhone and Google Android. The version for Blackberry says 'coming soon.' I have a Blackberry, so I can't tell you anything about the mobile version yet. (grumble.)
- For whatever reason, if you decide you don't want any part of Google Buzz, you can scroll down to the very bottom of your Gmail screen, and in tiny print you will see a link that says "Turn off Buzz."
There are a couple things that are very appealing about Buzz.
- It's Facebook without Farmville, Farkle, or F'in MaFia! -- It can provide the status update, social networking capability without the distraction of the Facebook Apps.
- Syndication -- It's easy to syndicate your current social networking feeds so they appear in Buzz. (Of course, you can't syndicate your Buzz feed so they appear elsewhere. Why would Google want to offer that functionality?)
If you do find yourself using Google Buzz, and wish to follow me, you can just click on the "find people" link and search for my real name. Currently there will be five results. Two have photographs of me next to them. As I stated above, I have two Buzz accounts. The one that says "Writer, St. Louis, MO" is my personal account, and is linked to my twitter under the username Gavroche, and soon should be linked to my non-genealogy blog. The one that doesn't say this is linked to this blog, and my twitter under the username TransDutch. I've been careful not to duplicate feeds so those who want can follow both and not get duplicate items in their 'Buzz stream."
Update 2/12: Google has already made updates to address some of the privacy concerns
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Records of the Van Every Family
For the past couple years, in my genealogical travels around the web, and in surname messageboards on various genealogy sites, I’ve seen references to the following Family History:
A week ago, Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings wrote about the GenalogyToday, GenWeekly and LiveRoots trio of sites.
I started browsing around, searching for surnames, and discovered they were selling copies of the book for a reasonable price.
I put an order in immediately. The site said there could be a 6-8 week wait, so I knew not to expect it in my mailbox the next day. I also didn’t expect it to appear in my mailbox 7 days later. But boy was I happy to see it there last night.
I had lots of fun browsing through it. I found some interesting information about the Van Every immigrant forebears, my 8th great grandfather, Myndert Fredericksen, and his brother, Carsten.1
Some of this information will appear in later entries, but Piersol fortunately included a good number of footnotes, so I am going to see how many of the original sources I can find.
The existence of this reprint got me thinking. The reprint appears to be 'print-on-demand' with 8.5 * 11 pages, softcover, fastback tape binding. I'm interested in the content, so this didn't bother me. However, the publisher, Higginson Books, focuses on reprinting out-of-print local histories and genealogies. I wondered if the book was no longer under copyright. Because if it were still under copyright, I would watch how much of it I quoted in any post I wrote. Otherwise, not so much.
It was published originally (in 1947) in Canada, which became a full signatory to the Berne Convention in the 1920s. Therefore, copyrights in Canada last at least the life of the author, plus fifty years. I'm not sure when (or if) Mary Blackadar Piersol died, but unless it was before 1960, the book is still under copyright . I expect Higginson Books went through official channels to republish the work.
So I won't quote in detail, but as I said, Piersol does include footnotes, so perhaps I'll be able to quote from her sources.
Note 1: There are two traditional Dutch naming patterns, one based on the father’s name, and one based on locality. The former is similar to traditional Hebrew naming patterns in that children only get one name, and their surname is derived from their father’s name. Myndert and Carsten’s surname was Frederickse or Fredericksen, because their father was Frederick Van Iveren. Frederick's surname was derived in the second fashion, from a town, possibly Everinge or Evere. Myndert and Carsten’s descendants reverted to that surname, and it mutated to either Van Every or Van Avery, depending upon the branch.
The records of the Van Every family: United Empire Loyalists, New York State, 1653-1784, Canada, 1784-1947, by Mary Blackadar Piersol, T.H. Best (Toronto), 1947.It’s been on my list of resources to find, though it’s out of print. I may have been able to retrieve a copy through Inter-Library Loan, but I wanted my own personal copy, and every place I found references to it said there were no copies available.
A week ago, Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings wrote about the GenalogyToday, GenWeekly and LiveRoots trio of sites.
I started browsing around, searching for surnames, and discovered they were selling copies of the book for a reasonable price.
I put an order in immediately. The site said there could be a 6-8 week wait, so I knew not to expect it in my mailbox the next day. I also didn’t expect it to appear in my mailbox 7 days later. But boy was I happy to see it there last night.
I had lots of fun browsing through it. I found some interesting information about the Van Every immigrant forebears, my 8th great grandfather, Myndert Fredericksen, and his brother, Carsten.1
Some of this information will appear in later entries, but Piersol fortunately included a good number of footnotes, so I am going to see how many of the original sources I can find.
The existence of this reprint got me thinking. The reprint appears to be 'print-on-demand' with 8.5 * 11 pages, softcover, fastback tape binding. I'm interested in the content, so this didn't bother me. However, the publisher, Higginson Books, focuses on reprinting out-of-print local histories and genealogies. I wondered if the book was no longer under copyright. Because if it were still under copyright, I would watch how much of it I quoted in any post I wrote. Otherwise, not so much.
It was published originally (in 1947) in Canada, which became a full signatory to the Berne Convention in the 1920s. Therefore, copyrights in Canada last at least the life of the author, plus fifty years. I'm not sure when (or if) Mary Blackadar Piersol died, but unless it was before 1960, the book is still under copyright . I expect Higginson Books went through official channels to republish the work.
So I won't quote in detail, but as I said, Piersol does include footnotes, so perhaps I'll be able to quote from her sources.
Note 1: There are two traditional Dutch naming patterns, one based on the father’s name, and one based on locality. The former is similar to traditional Hebrew naming patterns in that children only get one name, and their surname is derived from their father’s name. Myndert and Carsten’s surname was Frederickse or Fredericksen, because their father was Frederick Van Iveren. Frederick's surname was derived in the second fashion, from a town, possibly Everinge or Evere. Myndert and Carsten’s descendants reverted to that surname, and it mutated to either Van Every or Van Avery, depending upon the branch.
Wordless Wednesday: Pitchers and Catchers Report in One Week
A slight departure from family history...
Caption: The Famous World Beaters
St. Louis Browns
Champions of Am. Association Four Successive Years, 1885, '86, '87, '88
Worlds Champions, 1886, 1887
Caption: The Famous World BeatersSt. Louis Browns
Champions of Am. Association Four Successive Years, 1885, '86, '87, '88
Worlds Champions, 1886, 1887
Monday, February 8, 2010
52 Weeks of Amanuensis Monday
This week's transcription not only concludes the audiotape my grandfather and his siblings created in 1977, but it closes out 52 weeks of Amanuensis Monday. Some may recall I took a holiday on Labor Day, however in the first two weeks of this series I posted transcriptions from five separate testimonies in front of The Dawes Commission. So in the past year I have actually had 54 separate posts. All of them are indexed here chronologically. I made the index chronological to create a timeline so I could see at a glance what each limb of my family tree was doing during the same time period.
The most difficult thing to transcribe?
There's no question that transcribing the audio tape my maternal grandfather and his siblings created was the most time consuming. I felt ten minutes of tape created a reasonable sized post, but it took a lot longer to accomplish than transcribing a letter or other already written document. I also ran across the issue of not being able to understand occasional words spoken in Hungarian or Romanian, and spent some time attempting to research and find the words phonetically on the internet.
However, I am glad I did it, for all the information contained within. I've mentioned before that I don't remember things unless I write them down. Decades I listened to my parents and relatives explain over and over again how A was related to B. They handed me charts they drew. Neither helped. But once I drew the charts, the information remained.
The easiest thing to transcribe?
The Dawes Commission transcripts. I just fed them through an Optical Character Recognition program, and then went through and corrected the mistakes. Some may wonder why I went to the trouble of transcribing it, or other already typewritten documents. The image of the document can be opened and read by anyone. However, the image can't be searched for words. I can put a surname in my computer's search program, and it will return every word document where that surname appears. So if I want to find that letter I recall which mentioned a particular person, I don't have to rely on having given it a useful file name, or having maintained a list of file names and their annotated descriptions. If I transcribed the letter, I can search for it on my computer.
Has everything I've transcribed been posted?
Not everything. Some of it isn't appropriate for sharing on the internet -- either due to copyright issues, or I'd rather not embarrass/upset living relatives. I also like having a surplus of transcriptions I can dip into if I have a busy week.
How much more do I have to transcribe?
I've been amazed at the number of newspaper articles I've been discovering online, and my maternal grandparents saved over a hundred letters they exchanged over the years. I'm not through transcribing my great uncle Mandell's war diary, and I have a few more audiotapes I can transcribe. And that's just what I know about now; I'm sure new things will be uncovered. Let's just say I foresee another 52 weeks of Amanuensis Monday.
The most difficult thing to transcribe?
There's no question that transcribing the audio tape my maternal grandfather and his siblings created was the most time consuming. I felt ten minutes of tape created a reasonable sized post, but it took a lot longer to accomplish than transcribing a letter or other already written document. I also ran across the issue of not being able to understand occasional words spoken in Hungarian or Romanian, and spent some time attempting to research and find the words phonetically on the internet.
However, I am glad I did it, for all the information contained within. I've mentioned before that I don't remember things unless I write them down. Decades I listened to my parents and relatives explain over and over again how A was related to B. They handed me charts they drew. Neither helped. But once I drew the charts, the information remained.
The easiest thing to transcribe?
The Dawes Commission transcripts. I just fed them through an Optical Character Recognition program, and then went through and corrected the mistakes. Some may wonder why I went to the trouble of transcribing it, or other already typewritten documents. The image of the document can be opened and read by anyone. However, the image can't be searched for words. I can put a surname in my computer's search program, and it will return every word document where that surname appears. So if I want to find that letter I recall which mentioned a particular person, I don't have to rely on having given it a useful file name, or having maintained a list of file names and their annotated descriptions. If I transcribed the letter, I can search for it on my computer.
Has everything I've transcribed been posted?
Not everything. Some of it isn't appropriate for sharing on the internet -- either due to copyright issues, or I'd rather not embarrass/upset living relatives. I also like having a surplus of transcriptions I can dip into if I have a busy week.
How much more do I have to transcribe?
I've been amazed at the number of newspaper articles I've been discovering online, and my maternal grandparents saved over a hundred letters they exchanged over the years. I'm not through transcribing my great uncle Mandell's war diary, and I have a few more audiotapes I can transcribe. And that's just what I know about now; I'm sure new things will be uncovered. Let's just say I foresee another 52 weeks of Amanuensis Monday.
Amanuensis Monday: Prosperity and Name Changes
Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
This post concludes the transcription of a tape my grandfather, Martin Deutsch, his older brother, Ted, and their sister, Berta (Deutsch) Freed recorded in 1977. I'm 2 hours and ten minutes into the tape, and at this point they're recalling odd jobs they had in their youth in Chicago.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
This post concludes the transcription of a tape my grandfather, Martin Deutsch, his older brother, Ted, and their sister, Berta (Deutsch) Freed recorded in 1977. I'm 2 hours and ten minutes into the tape, and at this point they're recalling odd jobs they had in their youth in Chicago.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Weekly Genealogy Picks
Weekly Genealogy Picks -- January 31 to February 6
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
Henio Zytomirski was a child victim of the Holocaust. A group of individuals from his hometown of Lublin, Poland have created a Facebook page for him, as a virtual memorial. Though it has gone beyond a static memorial, and there are 'posts' written, supposedly in Henio's voice. Some are concerned with this blurring of fact and fiction. [Read more]
At The Huffington Post Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak shares a photo she believes may be of the first immigrant to Ellis Island in Historical Photo? Is this Annie Moore Arriving at Ellis Island? Maureen Taylor at The Photo Detective shares her insight.
At Genea-Musings Randy Seaver wrote about Using Online Genealogy Message Boards, and has since written parts Two, Three and Four.
At The Genealogue Chris Dunham discovers a news story suggesting spray-on liquid glass may in the future be used to protect gravestones from weathering.
Blogger Pages - which became available to users of Blogger-in-Draft back on January 20th has quickly graduated from beta-testing and is now available for everyone. (hat/tip: GeneaBloggers)
In their weekly list of upcoming events GeneaBloggers also reveals there is a planned GeneaBloggers 2010 Winter Games. Opening Ceremonies set for February 12th. No details as of yet, but I participated in the Summer 2008 games, and I know if I am going to be in shape for the events, I'm going to have to start bench pressing my scanner now, and spend some time on the citation treadmill.
The US National Archives has joined Flickr's The Commons.
There is an e-book being released which claims to contain an ancestry for Elvis Presley spanning 60 generations. My genea-sense is tingling, wondering how accurate it might be. There aren't many vital records that survive from 1200 years ago. (A generation traditionally being averaged out at 20 years.)
Donna Pointkouski at What's Past is Prologue considered what would happen If Genealogists Ruled the Television Networks. At Destination: Austin Family. Thomas MacEntee followed suit. More ideas are mentioned in the comments for both entries.
For other weekly lists visit:
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
Henio Zytomirski was a child victim of the Holocaust. A group of individuals from his hometown of Lublin, Poland have created a Facebook page for him, as a virtual memorial. Though it has gone beyond a static memorial, and there are 'posts' written, supposedly in Henio's voice. Some are concerned with this blurring of fact and fiction. [Read more]
At The Huffington Post Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak shares a photo she believes may be of the first immigrant to Ellis Island in Historical Photo? Is this Annie Moore Arriving at Ellis Island? Maureen Taylor at The Photo Detective shares her insight.
At Genea-Musings Randy Seaver wrote about Using Online Genealogy Message Boards, and has since written parts Two, Three and Four.
At The Genealogue Chris Dunham discovers a news story suggesting spray-on liquid glass may in the future be used to protect gravestones from weathering.
Blogger Pages - which became available to users of Blogger-in-Draft back on January 20th has quickly graduated from beta-testing and is now available for everyone. (hat/tip: GeneaBloggers)
In their weekly list of upcoming events GeneaBloggers also reveals there is a planned GeneaBloggers 2010 Winter Games. Opening Ceremonies set for February 12th. No details as of yet, but I participated in the Summer 2008 games, and I know if I am going to be in shape for the events, I'm going to have to start bench pressing my scanner now, and spend some time on the citation treadmill.
The US National Archives has joined Flickr's The Commons.
There is an e-book being released which claims to contain an ancestry for Elvis Presley spanning 60 generations. My genea-sense is tingling, wondering how accurate it might be. There aren't many vital records that survive from 1200 years ago. (A generation traditionally being averaged out at 20 years.)
Donna Pointkouski at What's Past is Prologue considered what would happen If Genealogists Ruled the Television Networks. At Destination: Austin Family. Thomas MacEntee followed suit. More ideas are mentioned in the comments for both entries.
For other weekly lists visit:
- Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs at Genea-Musings
- Apple's Weekly Rewind at Apple's Tree
Friday, February 5, 2010
Third Annual iGene Awards - TransylvanianDutch Chapter
The Third Annual iGene Awards, The Best of The Best! It's Academy awards time... time for the TransylvanianDutch Academy of Genealogy and Family History, aka AGFH, to honor our best blog posts of 2009 in the following 5 categories:
My selections for the:
- Best Picture - Best old family photo that appeared on our blog in 2009.
- Best Screen Play - The family story we shared in 2009 which would make the best movie, along with suggested casting.
- Best Documentary - Best informational article written about a place, thing, or event involving our family's history in 2009.
- Best Biography - Best biographical article we wrote in 2009.
- Best Comedy - Best funny story, poem, joke, photo, or video that we shared on our blog in 2009.
Best Picture
This was a difficult choice, but I picked Nellie and Barney Newmark in front of the London Dining Rooms. Barney was my great grandfather, and Nellie his sister. The Newmark family left London for America on two ships, the first in 1908 carried Barney, his brother Sol, and their father, Sam. The second in 1909 carried the rest of the family. This is the only photograph I have, so far, of my great grandfather prior to his arrival in the US. Along with this photo, I received a couple others of Nellie from one of her descendants.
Best Screenplay
Not only have I chosen the best screenplay, I already have part of the script. I am choosing my series of Amanuensis Monday posts transcribing the audiotape my grandfather, Martin Deutsch, and his siblings Ted and Berta created in 1977. The transcriptions start here.
I'm not familiar enough with the current child actors out there to pick any to play my grandfather or his siblings when they were young. Since the Deutsches were Hungarian, I'd like Theodore Bikel to play my grandfather in 1977, as he was the "Dialect Expert" in the musical "My Fair Lady." Eliza Doolittle referred to him as "The Hairy Hound from Budapest," in one of the musical numbers. He looks nothing like my grandfather, but accurate appearance isn't necessarily crucial.
Best Documentary
My choice for Best Documentary is July 2, 1917 - East St. Louis and the follow-up Return to the Race Riot. (The latter does cross the 2010 nominating line by 4 days, but it refers back to the original post.) -- These entries provide information on a deadly race riot that occurred in East St. Louis at a time when several of my Cruvant relatives were living in the area. One of them was peripherally involved.
Best Biography
For Best Biography I am choosing an entry I wrote about myself, under the theory that autobiographical memoir counts for this category. We're an Academy of One, anyway. I make the decisions.
The Meaning of Khanike -- I feel through this entry I reveal a little of the child I was at age eight, and a little of the adult I am now.
Best Comedy
Several good competitors in this category, however I chose my Xmas in July series of holiday postcards from the 1930s. Several individuals have commented to me that they were shocked at how risque they were. I think every generation believes they were the first to rebel against the 'moral standards' of society.
****
That wraps up the five main categories, but the TransylvanianDutch chapter of the Academy of Genealogy and Family History is adding one.
Best Genea-Blogger in a Supporting Role - I present an award to show my gratitude to another Genea-Blogger who commented upon, or in some other way responded to an entry, providing me with more information on my family.
And the award goes to Cynthia at ChicagoGenealogy who posted Chicago Births at Record Search: When the Index Doesn't Match the Record in response to my query What Was the Indexer Looking At? I noticed that the record index on FamilySearch had a different name than on the actual image of the birth certificate. Even stranger, I knew the index was correct -- and the birth certificate was wrong. Not only did she tell me that the missing document was a Certificate of Correction, she provided a copy of the certificate from the Family History Library microfilm.
