Amanuensis Monday - December 27

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

If you have an Amanuensis Monday post on your blog, please feel free to add a link below.  An explanation of this weekly blog theme follows.

• Is there a letter, journal entry, speech, other document, or audio recording, written or delivered by or about an ancestor you wish to transcribe for future generations?

• Are you engaged in a transcription project of an historical document?

This is what Amanuensis Monday was created for. Amanuensis is an obscure word, but it derives from the Latin, ‘Manu’ meaning ‘hand’. I began this project back in February of 2009, and since then, many others have joined in on the meme.  Why do we transcribe?  I provide my three reasons in the linked post.  You may find others.

Amanuensis Monday: Dave Cruvant and the Bonus Check

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. 

This week I transcribe a 1920 news story from the St. Louis Post Dispatch which mentions Dave Cruvant, the brother of my great grandmother, Bertha (Cruvant) Newmark.

Merry Christmas from TransylvanianDutch

While I have shared these before on this blog, below are some greeting postcards from the 1930s...a few of them a bit risque...from my maternal grandmother's collection.

Amanuensis Monday - December 20th

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

If you have an Amanuensis Monday post on your blog, please feel free to add a link below.  An explanation of this weekly blog theme follows.

• Is there a letter, journal entry, speech, other document, or audio recording, written or delivered by or about an ancestor you wish to transcribe for future generations?

• Are you engaged in a transcription project of an historical document?

This is what Amanuensis Monday was created for. Amanuensis is an obscure word, but it derives from the Latin, ‘Manu’ meaning ‘hand’. I began this project back in February of 2009, and since then, many others have joined in on the meme.  Why do we transcribe?  I provide my three reasons in the linked post.  You may find others.

Amanuensis Monday: Tahiti is Paradise - 1947

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.

This week I transcribe a news story from the Christmas 1947 issue of the Statesville, NC Daily Record.  However, the news story was covered by the United Press Associations (forerunner of United Press International), so it appeared in many newspapers across the country, and this is just one of several copies I have found on newspaper databases.

Surname Sunday?: Blatt

I continue with the Surname Saturday blogging theme, but am posting this a day late-

Discuss a surname and mention its origins, its geographical location(s) and how it fits into your genealogy research.

Blatt/Blatyta

Blatt as a Jewish surname comes from the Yiddish word Blat, meaning 'Leaf.'  My ancestor, Jacob Blatt, came from the town of Łosice, Poland. 

I may know the names of several of Jacob's siblings, and their father, if some research I've been given is correct.  Family notes handed down directly from Morris's daughters says his first wife was named Belle Wyman, and she died in Poland about 1892.  One of Morris's daughter's, Blanche, married a Wyman, and it was a family joke whether or not she married a cousin.  However, research has found a Morris, son of Jacob Blatyta in Losice, who married a Chaia Beila Boksern.  It's thought that Belle had a first husband before Morris, so that could explain the surname confusion.  Her maiden name could have been Wyman, and her first husband's name could have been Boksern.

Without evidence of Chaia Beila's first marriage, or birth records of Blanche and Anna indicating their mother's name, or some other documentation, I am left wondering whether there could have been two Jacob Blatts in the Łosice area, with a son named Morris. So below I start with Jacob until further evidence confirms the connection to the Blatyta family.

The numbering below follows the d'Aboville system.
__s indicate a living relative.

6. Jacob Blatt (Poland)

6.1 Morris Blatt (1862-1926) married (1) Belle Wyman (2) Mollie (Kellner) Katz (Łosice, Poland; St. Louis, MO, USA)

6.1.1 Blanche Blatt (1887-1960) married Jacob Wyman (St. Louis, MO; Los Angeles, CA)
6.1.2 Anna Blatt (1890-1965) married Herman Max Feinstein (St. Louis, MO)
6.1.3. Henry Blatt (1898-1968) married Berdye Reisman
6.1.4 Pearl Blatt (1903-1986) married Morris Dankner

6.1.1.1 Joe Wyman (1904-2007)
6.1.1.2 Louis Wyman (1905-1997)
6.1.1.3 David Wyman (1908-1909)
6.1.1.4 Sidney Wyman (1910-1978)
6.1.1.5 ___

6.1.2.1 Bernard Feinstein (1913-1968) married Belle Hoffman
6.1.2.2 Belle Feinstein (1914-2002) married Melvin Newmark
6.1.2.3 Seymour Feinstein (1917-1999) married Leonore Miller

My number is: 6.1.2.2.1.3

Celebrities in Season 2 of Who Do You Think You Are

NBC has announced their celebrity lineup for Season Two of Who Do You Think You Are

Tim McGraw
Lionel Richie
Ashley Judd
Steve Buscemi
Vanessa Williams
Rosie O'Donnell
Kim Cattrall
Gwyneth Paltrow

Potential Spoiler for one of the episodes: 

Nfuyrl Whqq vf n qrfpraqnag bs Gubznf naq Xngurevar Fgbhtugba. Gurl qba'g unir gb vairfgvtngr gung oenapu bs gur pryroevgl'f naprfgel, ohg gur frrzvatyl haraqvat yvfg bs abgnoyr pbhfvaf gb cerfrag gb ure zvtug or gbb grzcgvat gb cnff hc, rira gubhtu gur vasb vf nyernql bayvar. V jbaqre vs gurer jvyy or nal "fhecevfr thrfg fgnef" ba gung rcvfbqr? (Use Rot13 to decode, if you wish to know beforehand.) (source) (more info)

***

I'm looking forward to the opening episode on January 21.  I may end up DVRing it, though, since it is my birthday.

Update: NBC's announcment adds Gwyneth Paltrow to the list, who the other sources didn't name, so I have added her name above.  Also...the premiere seems to have been pushed back to February 4th.  So it's no longer a birthday present for me, but maybe I am less likely to be busy during the premiere.

Family Tree Magazine 40 Best Genealogy Blogs - Voting has begun

Family Tree Magazine has opened voting for their second annual round of the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs as chosen by the Genealogy Community.

There are eight categories this year:

• Local/regional history and genealogy
• Heritage groups
• Research advice and how-to
• Cemeteries
• “My Family History”
• “Everything” blogs
• New blogs
• Technology

This blog has been honored with a nomination in the  "My Family History" category.

You can vote here, and have through Monday December 20th to cast your ballot(s).

Amanuensis Monday: Mysteries from the City Directories

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.

This week I return to the St. Louis City Directories I have been looking through on Footnote. The 1902 and 1904 directories produced some unfamiliar names.

Amanuensis Monday - December 13th

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

If you have an Amanuensis Monday post on your blog, please feel free to add a link below.  An explanation of this weekly blog theme follows.

• Is there a letter, journal entry, speech, other document, or audio recording, written or delivered by or about an ancestor you wish to transcribe for future generations?

• Are you engaged in a transcription project of an historical document?

This is what Amanuensis Monday was created for. Amanuensis is an obscure word, but it derives from the Latin, ‘Manu’ meaning ‘hand’. I began this project back in February of 2009, and since then, many others have joined in on the meme.  Why do we transcribe?  I provide my three reasons in the linked post.  You may find others.

Surname Saturday: Cruvant

I continue with the Surname Saturday blogging theme -  

Discuss a surname and mention its origins, its geographical location(s) and how it fits into your genealogy research.

Cruvant / Kruvant / Cruvand / Kruvand / Kroovand

The Cruvant surname originated in Lithuania, likely named from the town Krūvandai.  The family has been traced back to Čekiškė, which is only 5 km north of Krūvandai.  Over the past two centuries, different branches of the family have chosen different phonetic spellings, the five most common are listed above.  My second great grandfather, Moshe Leyb Cruvant, appears to be the originator of the 'Cruvant' spelling.  Three branches of the family immigrated to St. Louis, though others made their way to New Jersey, Canada, and Israel.

I am indebted to a cousin for a large amount of research on the Cruvant families, and have assured her I will not share her research online.  So while I have a good amount of information on the descendants of four of Moshe Leyb's five brothers, I will not be sharing it below.  I also do not list relatives who I know are still living.

The numbering below follows the d'Aboville system.

5.
5.1
5.1.3 Moshe Leyb Cruvant (1857-1911) married Minnie Mojsabovski

5.1.3.1 Benjamin Cruvant (1883-1960) married (1) Goldie White (2) Dora Goldstein
5.1.3.2 David Thomas Cruvant (1885-1961) married Anna Ruben
5.1.3.3 Bertha Cruvant (1886-1978) married Barnet Newmark
5.1.3.4 Stella Crvuant (1889-1931) married Louis Julius Stern
5.1.3.5 Flora Cruvant (1892-1971) married Abraham Altman
5.1.3.6 Sol Cruvant (1893-1972) married Ida Waldman

5.1.3.1.1 Clifford Cruvant (1904-?)
5.1.3.1.2 Sarah M. Cruvant (1905-?)
5.1.3.1.3 Cecelia Cruvant (1917-2001) married Morris Markowitz
5.1.3.1.4 Morris Louis Cruvant (1920-1987) married Beatrice Morganstern

5.1.3.2.1 Bernard A Cruvant (1911-1965) married Edith Kenny
5.1.3.2.2 Naomi Melba Cruvant (1918-2000) married Sammie H Brown

5.1.3.3.1 Melvin Lester Newmark (1912-1992) married Belle Feinstein
5.1.3.3.2 Harold Newmark (1915-2003) married (1) Janice Liebovitz (2) Thelma Malpe Millstone
5.1.3.3.3 Mandel Newmark (1923-1945)

5.1.3.4.1 Aaron Cruvant Stern 1908-1981) married Mary Cohn
5.1.3.4.2 Marvyn Stern (1914-1993) married (1) Selma Rosalind Wolff (2) Lieselott Bilewski

5.1.3.5.1 Cruvant William Altman (1914-2008)

5.1.3.6.2 Monroe Leslie Cruvant (1918-1997)

My number is: 5.1.3.3.1.1.3


Photograph of modern day Kruvandai.
Source: photogalaxy.

Round Numbers

I've been seeing a milestone approach for a few weeks, and I wondered how to observe it.  Back in May of 2009 I posted a photograph from the first Indianapolis 500.  I had been blogging genealogically for two years.  The past year and a half I've increased my pace a bit.  This is my 1000th post.

In 1993, in his debut album, Moby released a track simply titled, "Thousand."  Named for the number of beats per minute it attains.  Coincidentally, Moby's name begins with the letter, M - the Roman numeral for 1000.  So I decided the video would be a 'grand' way to observe the milestone.



In other Round Number news:

Congratulations to Jasia at  CreativeGene!

The 100th Carnival of Genealogy has been posted, and Jasia achieved her goal of over 100 submissions.  She divided the submissions into four separate posts. Parts:  One Two Three Four.

Amanuensis Monday - December 6th

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

If you have an Amanuensis Monday post on your blog, please feel free to add a link below.  An explanation of this weekly blog theme follows.

• Is there a letter, journal entry, speech, other document, or audio recording, written or delivered by or about an ancestor you wish to transcribe for future generations?

• Are you engaged in a transcription project of an historical document?

This is what Amanuensis Monday was created for. Amanuensis is an obscure word, but it derives from the Latin, ‘Manu’ meaning ‘hand’. I began this project back in February of 2009, and since then, many others have joined in on the meme.  Why do we transcribe?  I provide my three reasons in the linked post.  You may find others.

Amanuensis Monday: 1892-1893 St. Louis City Directories

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.

This week I look at the St. Louis City Directories from 1892 and 1893 for my second great grandfather Selig Dudelsack, who changed his surname to Feinstein shortly after arrival in America.

Surname Saturday: Van Every

I continue with the Surname Saturday blogging theme -  

Discuss a surname and mention its origins, its geographical location(s) and how it fits into your genealogy research.

Van Every 

The Van Every surname originated in either Holland or Germany as a place name, possibly Everinghe, Holland or Jever, Germany.  The surname has been traced (by others) back to Frederick Van Iveren.  Two of his sons, Myndert and Carsten, immigrated to America in the late seventeenth century.

The numbering below follows the d'Aboville system.  I've only listed my direct ancestors for several generations until I reach my great grandfather, even though I do have more names in my database. Otherwise, this list would get way too long.

4. Frederick Van Iveren
4.1 Myndert Fredericksen (1636-1706) married Catherine Burger
4.1.2 Burger Van Iveren (1660-?) married Elizabeth Meyer
4.1.2.1 Martin Van Iveren (1685-1760) married Judith Holmes
4.1.2.1.1 McGregory Van Every (1723-1786) married Mary Jaycocks
4.1.2.1.1.3 David Van Every (1757-1820) married Sarah Showers
4.1.2.1.1.3.9 Andrew David Van Every (1798-1873) married Nancy Lucellas
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1 Samuel Van Every (1820-1888) married (1) Cordelia Hitchcock (2) Abigail Stuart (3) Margaret Watkins [24 children]
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12 Melvin Elijah Van Every (1863-1929) married (1) Margaret Jane Denyer (2) Josie Thetford

4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.1 Minnie Ray Van Every (1884-1969) married August Albert Benold
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.2 Samuel Ophan Van Every (1886-1933) married (1) Esther Dahlin (2) Amy C. Johnston
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.3 Abigail Van Every (1888-1888)
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.4 Delbert Van Every (1890-1890)
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.5 Willa Van Every (1890-1916) married Lexington Roberts
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.6 Evelyn Syvela Van Every (1892-1982) married (1) William Campbell (2) IT Herrin (3) W. J. Crabtree
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.7 Melvin Theodore Van Every (1898-1899)
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.8 Myrtle Ethel Van Every (1900-1951) married (1) Dale Ridgely (2) Martin J Deutsch

4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.1.1 Marguerite Benold (1906-1998) married (1) Roswell Spear (2) Robert Spencer
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.1.2 Shirley Ruth Benold (1908-2000) married (1) Virgil Riddell (2) Leonard Lafay Griffith
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.1.3 August Wilson Benold (1911-1977) married Eva Etta Reiley
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.1.4 Charles Benold (1913-1913)
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.1.5 Elsa Louise Benold (1913-2002) married Marcus Lester Waltermire
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.1.6 Ruby Benold (1916-2006) married George Seager
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.1.7 Evelyn Benold (1918-1938) married John Ellis Lanier
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.1.8 Francis Lucille Benold (1922-1996) married Harley Hugh Searcy

4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.2.1 Everet Clarence Van Every (1906-1924)

4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.3.1 Agnes Lee Roberts (1910-1987) married Phil Gates

4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.4.1 Elizabeth Dribel Campbell (1914-1996)
4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.4.2 William Venable Campbell (1916-2004)

4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.3.1.1 Phyllis Lee Gates (1932-1985) married Clinton William Johnson

I am number: 4.1.2.1.1.3.9.1.12.8.1.3

Notable Van Everys

Dale Van Every - Third cousin, twice removed - author of the screenplays for Captains Courageous, Murders in the Rue Morgue, and other films, as well as the author of several historical novels. Our shared ancestry begins with David Van Every and Sarah Showers.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

In the process of transcribing several family audiotapes, there have been several times I've rewound the tape and questioned what I had heard.

The first time it happened, my great uncle Ted was talking about an experience in Transylvania in the early 1900s. He was mentioning how his father stored bread and cookies when he left the house. I didn't understand the word he used to describe the container. English teachers always say if you can't spell a word, look it up. But this advice is difficult enough when you *think* you understand how to pronounce the word. I was completely at a loss except for the vague sense of the word from the audiotape. (I thought it sounded like souvenir, which didn't make any sense.)

What did I do? I asked Roget for help. Roget's Thesaurus, that is. I went to the section on Containers, and just started reading through the list, until I found a word that looked like it could sound like the word on the tape. It turned out to be Chiffonier. It was a completely new word to me, but now I knew what one was.

I also struggled with the Hungarian and Romanian words they used for place names, foods, and other things.  Those were harder to look up, but I figured many of them out.

You'd think it would have occurred to me that when my grandfather, and his siblings began talking about their aunts, uncles, and cousins that the names I was writing down might be incorrect, not just because their memories were getting foggy, but because I was writing the names down wrong.

So when my great Aunt Bert mentioned the "Goodman boys" and "Honie Goodman" as the daughter of an uncle, David Deutsch, that's the surname I searched for them under, without success. Several months ago, my mother in a conversation with one of her older cousins learned the last name was Guttman. Finding Hani Guttman, with five sons in the Chicago census took seconds, and finding her death certificate at the Cook County Genealogy website didn't take much longer, and her father is recorded as Leopold Deitch. (David Deutsch had the middle name Leib. I suspect Leopold could be an Americanization. However, he could be a different brother. Theoretically it could be a coincidence of names, though the odds are against it.)

I've also learned that another daughter of David Leib, who I had recorded as Celia Palmer, may really be Celia Pomerantz. My initial online searches have found some possibilities, but nothing certain. I'd like to find a descendant of Hani or Celia and share information.  I know very little about my great grandfather's siblings.

***

Footnote had a 50%-off CyberMonday sale, so I took the initiative and re-upped my subscription.  One of the things I wanted to do was search their collection of City Directories, especially those for St. Louis and Chicago.  They don't have any Chicago directories past 1923,  but a few Guttmans appear in that year.

One thing this city directory clipping does is confirm the 1930 census in that Samuel Guttman's eldest son was named Samuel Jr.  I had wondered if the census taker misheard, as this is an uncommon naming practice in European Jewish families, but it's clear Samuel and Samuel Jr. are both living at 1415 North Maplewood Avenue, along with Edward.  Samuel and Edward are the two eldest children listed in the 1930 census for Samuel and Hani, so I am fairly certain this is the same family.

I have no clue if any of the other Guttmans on the page are related.

There's One in Every Family II: Home, sweet home!

Jasia needs more submissions for the 100th Carnival of Genealogy and another "One in Every Family" came to mind. There are more exceptions to this choice than the last, and at this time of year many churches, synagogues, schools, and fraternal organizations raise money and collect items for those families without. However, most families have a home.

I've shared photographs of several homes on this blog in the past.  Below is my great grandmother, Margaret (Denyer) Van Every in front of, I believe, the family home in Fabens, Texas (outside of El Paso). I'm fairly certain the year was between 1920-1923.

Below is my great uncle, Mandel Newmark, outside of his 'home' while serving during World War II.

However, I know from the war diary he kept he didn't consider that home.  Home was where he hoped to return, but never did.  Below is Mandel's mother, Bertha (Cruvant) Newmark, looking out the window of what I assume is the family home.  However, since I don't know the year, I don't know the address.

Several authors have attempted to define 'Home.'

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." -- Robert Frost wrote in "Death of a Hired Man"

Tess Slesinger wrote, "Home is where you hang your hat, and drop your skirt, my dear." (The Unpossessed, 1937) The proverbial "Home is where you hang your hat," may well date back further, but this is the earliest usage I have been able to find in an internet search.

Edgar Guest wrote:

It takes a heap o' livin' in a house t' make it home,
A heap o' sun an' shadder, an' ye sometimes have t' roam
Afore ye really 'preciate the things ye lef' behind,
An' hunger fer 'em somehow, with 'em allus on yer mind.

and John Howard Payne, in the opera "Clari, the Maid of Milan" (1823), wrote

MID PLEASURES and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble there's no place like home
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.

Home! home! sweet, sweet home!
There 's no place like home!

Happy Khanike!

Hanuka begins at sundown tonight.  It's an 8-day celebration starting on the 25th day of the first month of Winter on the Hebrew calendar, marking the Maccabean revolt in 166 BCE.

There are only two ways to properly spell the name of the holiday: חנוכה or חנכה (The one on the left being more common today according to Wikipedia)

If you use any other alphabet, it is entirely phonetic, resulting in many options, none of them being more 'correct' than the other.  However, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research did decide that 'Khanike' most closely approximates the pronunciation.  Their spelling is one of the least used in America, though, even if it has the most academia behind it.






There are more videos in my post last year at this time.