SNGF: Ancestors with Facial Hair

Randy Seaver at Genea-musings suggested for last night's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun to share photographs of ancestors with facial hair.

(All photographs below can be clicked on to view larger.)

	I'll start off with my own photograph. I'm not my own ancestor, but facial hair isn't a relic of the past in my family. I'm wearing a hat that was bought for our 20 month-old twins, so it's a little small.
	My grandfather, Melvin Newmark (1912-1992) was well-known for his well-groomed mustache. This photograph was taken in 1971.
	My great grandfather, Samuel Deutsch (1861-1938)  I believe this photograph was taken in Hungary prior to immigration in 1914.
	My great grandfather, Melvin Van Every (1863-1929). This photograph was taken in 1900.
	My great great grandfather, Moshe Leyb Cruvant (1857-1911). This photograph was likely taken within the last few years of his life.
	My great great grandfather, Morris Blatt (1862-1926). I am unsure when the photograph was taken. Perhaps at one of his children's weddings, which would place it in 1912, or early 1920s.
	An unknown Lichtmann or Deutsch relative, likely taken in Hungary.

SNGF: 100-word challenge

Tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings was based on the 100-word challenge.

The 100-word challenge is a weekly challenge given to children under the age of 16. The majority of participants appear to be from England or Australia, though there are some American youth. Last week's prompt was "Grandparents are important because."

For the SNGF challenge, Randy provided readers with the same prompt.

I didn't write a story. I wrote a poem - exactly 100 words in length, if one includes the title.


Grandparents are Important Because 

They can share the stories
of when our parents were young
and didn’t listen to what they were told.

They can also share the stories
of when they were young
and didn’t listen to what they were told.

They can teach us
the world was around long before we were,
and while we may think

everything is now different
a lot of it is still very much the same.
And while it might appear

we aren’t listening,
when we are grandparents
we’ll remember the stories,

and pass them on,
and that is why
grandparents are important.

SNGF: Ancestor's GeneaMeme

 For tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings suggested:

1)  Participate in the Ancestors GeneaMeme created by Jill Ball on the Geniaus blog.

2)  Write your own blog post, or add your response as a comment to this blog post, in a Facebook Status post or note, or in a Google+ Stream item.

The Rules:

The list should be annotated in the following manner:

Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item

[I've added some notes in brackets]

The Meme:

Which of these apply to you?

1.  Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents

2.  Can name over 50 direct ancestors

3.  Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents  [I have photographs of 6 of my 16 gg-grandparents]
4.  Have an ancestor who was married more than three times  [several]
5.  Have an ancestor who was a bigamist.  [I am unsure the correct term was chosen here. Bigamy is always a crime, by definition. Someone who has a polygamist ancestor doesn't have a bigamist ancestor, as long as it was legal.]
6.  Met all four of my grandparents [3/4]
7.  Met one or more of my great-grandparents  [1]

8.  Named a child after an ancestor. [No children yet. Getting married next year...]

9.  Bear an ancestor's given name/s [My Hebrew name 'Baruch' is after my great-grandfather Barney]
10.  Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland
11.  Have an ancestor from Asia [No identified ancestor]
12.  Have an ancestor from Continental Europe
13.  Have an ancestor from Africa [No identified ancestor, though I'm sure if I were able to trace my ancestry back far enough...]
14.  Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer [Both of my maternal grandparents grew up on a farm.  I have to go a few generations further back on my father's side.]
15.  Have an ancestor who had large land holdings
16.  Have an ancestor who was a holy man - minister, priest, rabbi [Methodist and Mennonite]
17.  Have an ancestor who was a midwife [A great grandmother practiced midwifery in Chicago after emigrating from Transylvania]
18.  Have an ancestor who was an author [Ancestry's OneFamilyTree states Chaucer as my 18th great grandfather, but I have disproven that relationship. I do have a close ancestor who published a book on legal matters.]
19.  Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones
20.  Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng
21.  Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X
22.  Have an ancestor with a forename beginning with Z
23.  Have an ancestor born on 25th December
24.  Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day
25.  Have blue blood in your family lines [I used to believe all my blood was blue, before it was oxygenated. However, this scientific myth is allegedly inaccurate. OneFamilyTree would tell you I have royal ancestry, but I haven't verified my lines.]
26.  Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
27.  Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth [1/4]
28.  Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century
29.  Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier
30.  Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents [All 8 I believe.]
31.  Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X (not that I know of)
32.  Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university [Both of my grandfathers. One of my grandmothers took college courses, though she didn't get a degree. My other grandmother enrolled at a university, but changed her mind, and didn't attend.]
33. Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence
34.  Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime. [No serious crime I can think of offhand. Not counting petty theft.]
35.  Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine [I'm a genealogy blogger. That's what I do.]

36.  Have published a family history online or in print

37.  Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries [Have plans to do so next year.]
38.  Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family.

39.  Have a family bible from the 19th Century

40.  Have a pre-19th century family bible

Does the I Ching have the answers I seek?

For his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Randy at GeneaMusings suggested we seek help from the Online IChing.

• Go to IChingOnline.net and ask a question relating to your genealogy research. You can "throw the coins virtually" or "throw the coins by hand." You have to click the "throw" button six times, then click on "Read."   

I threw the coins virtually.

• Report the question you asked and the answer you received, in the form of the Cast Hexagram (which explains the situation you are now in, or what has gone before), to your readers.

I decided to ask a specific question:

Where will I find the record of my great grandmother Bertha's birth?

The answer I received:

 45 - Forty-Five

Ts'ui / Gathering

The Lake rises by welcoming and receiving Earth's waters:
The King approaches his temple.
It is wise to seek audience with him there.

Success follows this course.
Making an offering will seal your good fortune.
A goal will be realized now.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is an important Convergence, and you must be part of it.
Look for the Center of this convergence.
Like waters running to the sea, like an astronomical convergence of planets revolving around the sun, you should let the gravity of this Center draw you near.
Others are also drawn to this Center, and among them you will find shared bonds and kindred spirits.
This tribal convergence will give you a clarity of purpose.
You will no longer be alone.

• Does the answer make any sense to you? How do you interpret the answer? 

This makes some semblance of sense.  Bertha (Cruvant) Newmark referred to her father as Moshe Leyb the King.  It was a joke likely based at least in part on his initials (M-L-K) spelling the Hebrew word for King.  Is the I Ching telling me I need to figure out the synagogue my great great grandfather attended, and if it still exists, perhaps they might have some records?

What kind of offering do I need to make?

The Center of Convergence I should seek might refer to the local genealogical society.  Others are certainly drawn there.  I've been a member previously, but I have let my membership lapse.

SNGF: Where I'm From

Randy at Genea-Musings suggestion yesterday for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun was to create a poem based on the Where I'm From template, created from the poem by poet, George Ella Lyon.  An excellent suggestion.

You can find her original poem, along with audio of her reading it, on her official site, GeorgeEllaLyon.com (Her poem can be found many other places across the web, as it has become quite popular.)

I shared my version back in 2009.
Here it is again

Where I’m From
by John Newmark ©2009
based on Copy-Change Template by George Ella Lyon

I am from books --
from hostess ding dongs and lemonade stands.
I am from a three bedroom, finished basement, with a backyard fence our crazy dog was able to jump over.
I am from the dandelions I refused to accept were weeds,
and the tree that was planted in Israel in my name when I turned thirteen.

I’m from Sunday Dinners and talking politics at the table --
Sam and Rose --
fiftieth wedding anniversaries --
and watching Must See TV every Thursday night with my cousins at Grandma’s.

I’m from ‘pick up your clothes’ to ‘make your bed.’
I’m from Christmas Trees and Bar Mitzvah lessons.
I’m from St. Louis, Transylvania, Poland, and Texas --
Chopped liver, corned beef, bagels and gefilte fish.

I’m from a grandfather, who in the 1930s jumped a train with his friends and rode to California
to a grandmother, age 7, on a beebox in her father’s Texas apiary -
she stands in the center
of a photo at my parents’ house
inside a box next to other boxes
filled with books,
pictures,
high school mementos,
my grandfather’s Cavalry sword from the 1920s, Star of David on the hilt,
and the WWII diary of a great-uncle who never returned.

SNGF: The Day I Was Born

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun this week is to conduct some research on one's own birthdate.

1) What day of the week were you born? Tell us how you found out.
2) What has happened in recorded history on your birth date? Tell us how you found out, and list five events.
3)What famous people have been born on your birth date?  Tell us how you found out, and list five of them.

1) Using one of my favorite perpetual calendars/calendar converters at Calendarhome, I confirmed I was born on a Tuesday. The date is January 21st on the Gregorian Calendar, and the 2nd of Sh'vat on the Hebrew calendar. 

2 and 3) Using Wikipedia, I looked up January 21 

Five events on my birthdate

1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.

1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.

1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Quebec Flag Day.

1985 – The inauguration of President Ronald Reagan to a second term, already postponed a day because January 20 fell on a Sunday, becomes the second inauguration in history moved indoors because of freezing temperatures and high winds. The parade is cancelled altogether.

2008 – Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 14%.

Five famous people born on my birth day

1338 – King Charles V of France (d. 1380)

1824 – Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, American, Confederate army general (d. 1863)

1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer (d. 1957)

1924 – Benny Hill, English actor, comedian, and singer (d. 1992)

1969 – Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese manga artist (shares my year as well.)

Also using Wikipedia I was able to look up Shevat in Jewish History

On the Second of Shevat

76 BCE - Hashmonean King Alexander-Yannai (Jannaeus), a Sadducee and an enemy of the Pharisees, died on this date. Known as a ruthless leader, he persecuted the Pharisees and those loyal to them (approximately 50,000 were killed in the years 82-76 BCE). As a result, the day of his death was declared a holiday in Talmudic times.

1800 -The yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of Chassidic Rabbi Meshulam Zusha of Anipoli (1718?-1800). He was a disciple of the 2nd leader of the Chassidic movement, Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch- The Great Maggid of Mezeritch.

SNGF: Those who share my birthday

Randy Seaver proposed a fun challenge in his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  Is there a person in your genealogy database that has the same birth date that you do?  If so, tell us about him or her - what do you know, and how is s/he related to you?

2)  For bonus points, how did you determine this?  What feature or process did you use in your software to work this problem out?  I think the Calendar feature probably does it, but perhaps you have a trick to make this work outside of the calendar function.

It's Sunday afternoon, but I was able to answer this question on two different calendars quickly, using iFamily

1) In the Events menu select "On This Day"
2) Enter the Month and Date, and hit return (or tab)

A list of events (births marriages and deaths) on that date appears

3) Check the box that says "Display the results using the Hebrew calendar"
[Note: The program converts Gregorian to Hebrew for the current Gregorian year.]
4) Change the Gregorian Month/Date so that it lists the events for the correct Hebrew date.

For the Gregorian calendar, two individuals in my database share my birthday of January 21.

Bernie Klinsky (1927-1995).  Bernie's grandfather, Jacob Perlik, was the brother of my second great grandmother Annie (Perlik) Feinstein.

Elizabeth Fretz (1781-1849).  Elizabeth was the sister of my 4th great grandmother, Barbara (Fretz) Sliver.  Elizabeth married John Geil.


For the Hebrew calendar, only one individual shares my birthday of the 2nd of Sh'vat.

Frances Lucille Benold (1922-1996).  Frances was the youngest daughter of my grandmother's sister, Minnie (Van Every) Benold.  She married Harley Searcy (1917-1986).

SNGF: Clerihew

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge is to write a clerihew.  I am in the midst of a family reunion weekend, but I had a few minutes to compose a poem or two.  Especially a clerihew -- since that ties so well in with family.

Randy's definition "a four-line irregular poem or verse that follows an AABB rhyme scheme" departs slightly from the traditional clerihew. 

In addition to the requirements he mentions

• It is biographical and usually whimsical
• The first line consists solely (or almost solely) of the subject's name.

(It's also usually about notable individuals, but notability is subjective.  Many genealogists consider all of our ancestors notable.)

Here's my first one.  

Goldfinch, Barnard
or so I have heard
was a maker of sails, in Portsea
and left his children each a thousand pound annuity

I hear the sound of relatives, so I will return later.

Later

Moshe Leyb Cruvant --
our ancestral immigrant
why St. Louis he chose
over Lithuania, no one knows.

SNGF: Most Prolific Father

In honor of Father's Day, the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge at Genea-Musings is:

1) Determine who is one of the most prolific fathers in your genealogy database or in your ancestry. By prolific, I mean the one who fathered the most children.

2) Tell us about him in your own blog post, in comments to this blog post, or in comments on Facebook.

I've looked at this question before.  Back in November of 2007 I declared my most prolific ancestor to be my second great grandfather, Samuel Van Every, with 22 children.  It's still Samuel, but he now has 24 children.  (only 14 or 15 made it out of childhood.)   It is now believed there were two Willies and two Wilaminas, with the sons dying in infancy, and the daughters each making it only to age five - all four possibly named after Samuel's younger brother, William.  I also now have the vital statistics for a lot more of the children than I did two and a half years ago.

SNGF: Matrilineal Line

For his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, Randy Seaver at Geneamusings challenged:

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:


1) List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!


2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.

Perhaps he came up with this idea because tomorrow is Mother's Day?

a) Me - John C. Newmark (1969 - )
b) (classified)
c) Myrtle Van Every (1900-1951) married Martin Joel Deutsch (1907-1991)
d) Margaret Jane McAlpin Monteroy Denyer (1868-1923) married Melvin Elijah Van Every (1863-1929)
e) Sarah Ann Hartley (1836-1898) married Ebenezer Ophan Denyer (1828-1872)
f) Eliza Beasley (?-?) married George W. Hartley (?-?)

The names of Eliza Beasley and George W. Hartley come from the Dawes Commission testimony of Sarah's brother Samuel Tillman Hartley.  And that is where my knowledge ends.

My mother has had her mtDNA tested and she was in Haplogroup U5 (Clan Ursula) - This suggests a possible origin in Northern Europe - such as Sweden, Norway, or Finland.  This discovery didn't disprove that Sarah Hartley was part Choctaw (she allegedly claimed to be 1/8), but it does suggest that her brother's claim in front of the Dawes Commission that their mother was 100% Native American (1/2 Choctaw, 1/2 Cherokee) was inaccurate.

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.)

Grand Prize includes:

• $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

PLUS! Twenty First Prize winners get a World Deluxe Subscription from Ancestry.com^®.

[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.]

*****

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.