Poetry: TS Eliot - The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

Second submission for West in New England's Great American Local Poem Genealogy Challenge

T.S. Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1888, where he lived until 1905. From 1905-1914 he was in Boston and Cambridge, MA furthering his studies at Milton Academy and Harvard University (Except for 1910-1911, which he spent in Paris). In 1914 he moved to London where he spent most of his adult life. [source]

Since most of my paternal ancestors were residing in St. Louis from 1890-1905, and since the rest were in London, and since I have maternal English ancestry as well, I think Eliot definitely qualifies as a poet from an ancestral region.

Excerpt from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - by TS Eliot

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

Full poem

Many have suggested that the yellow fog in these stanzas was directly inspired by the factory smoke that filled the St. Louis atmosphere at the turn of the century.I believe this is the most direct reference Eliot makes to St. Louis in any of his poetry, though some have identified the "Brown God" in his The Dry Salvages as the Mississippi river.

As I also mentioned back in February of 2008, Eliot said regarding the William Prufrock Furniture company that was present in St. Louis during his youth:

"I did not have, at the time of writing the poem, and have not yet recovered, any recollection of having acquired this name in any way, but I think that it must be assumed that I did, and that the memory has been obliterated."

At the moment I have one more submission in mind. I've found a collection of Polish poetry in translation, but I have yet to select a specific poem.

Wordless Wednesday: RMS Campania

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Tombstone Tuesday: Annie (Perlik) Feinstein (1868-1932)

Transcription: Nechama daughter of Reb Zev died on the 9th of Av, 5692. (August 10, 1932)

Nechama is the Hebrew word for 'comfort.' Common English variants dropped the first syllable and became Hanna or Anna.

A great-great grandmother, Annie, her children, and her mother-in-law immigrated to America in 1891, a year after her husband Selig Dudelsack. She immigrated under the surname Feinstein. The family story had always been that Selig changed the surname in the immigration line. It's possible Annie or her Mother-in-law was responsible, or Selig changed it during the intervening year, and contacted them somehow.

She is buried at Chesed Shel Emeth in the family plot. Annie's tombstone illustrates an unfixable flaw in Hebrew/Gregorian date converters. If you enter 9th of Av, 5692 into a converter, you will be told the Gregorian date was August 11th. However Hebrew days begin at sunset, and Annie's death certificate says she died at 8 pm on August 10th. [Note: The 9th of Av is "the saddest day in Jewish history."]

I have no photograph of Annie, even though I have seen several Feinstein family photos from the 1920s. I'm still hopeful I will find one.

Finally. a meteorite did fall on Archie, Missouri on August 10, 1932. However, Archie is 280 miles from St. Louis, so I suspect the meteorite was unrelated to Annie's death.

Amanuensis Monday: Pregnancy and Naming the Child

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

This week I transcribe a letter my maternal grandmother, Myrtle (Van Every) Deutsch, wrote to her sister-in-law Bert (Deutsch) Freed, in May of 1938.

(Bert is the same child in my transcription last week who was hidden from the immigration authorities in 1913.)

---

5372 Cates Avenue,
Saint Louis, Missouri,
May 19, 1938.

Dearest Bert

It was so sweet and thoughtful of you to call us long distance the other night. I was only sorry Martin was not at home to talk to you also. He seems to always miss out on your visits, telephone calls, etc. He came home the very next night.

Last Monday night I had another "upset" and have spent the last few days in bed. It will be so nice not to be a Semi invalid after the baby comes. I have always been so husky and strong that it seems ridiculous to pamper myself now, but the doctor insists that I do. I am going to the doctor again tomorrow. Last month I lost two pounds and in the past three weeks gained back only four ounces of it. The doctor wants me to gain five or six pounds more, as he said one of my stature should gain more. I have gained 20 pounds so far, which is about average. Last week when I went to the doctor he said he didn't believe the baby would arrive until about June 15th, as I do not seem to have developed sufficiently. I hope he is wrong and the baby decides to come next week My bag is all packed and I'm ready to go.

A number of our friends can't wait until the baby arrives. Monday I received a package from a girl friend in Texas containing a lovely satin print gown for ME and an adorable little dress for the baby. Another couple we know want to give the baby a comb and brush set, but they said they would have to wait to see if it is a boy or a girl so they can get military brushes if it's a boy.
Besides they want to have the pieces monogrammed. The Tunneys have repainted the little crib they gave us, and Martin will have a new mattress made for it while I'm in the hospital. It is so nice of Mother to fix up the basket for us, and I do appreciate it.

Martin said he thought he would wait and get the fresh tires when they come in. He will write you further about his wants. It seems to me that that's a pretty fine saving to make on the tires, and I'm quite sure he will take advantage of your offer to get them for him. Perhaps the three of us can drive up and get them later an in the summer.

I had a nice letter from Sally and she was grumbling because you owe her a letter. She said for me to tell you if you didn't write, she wouldn't call you up on her visit to Chicago this fall. She will return there alone, as she and Joel are spending his vacation at some seaside resort this summer. His mother intends spending a couple of months with them soon.

When are you going to have your tonsils removed? Don't neglect it, my dear, if the doctor advises having them out. There's really nothing to the operation and I know from experience that diseased tonsils can cause heaps of trouble. I had mine removed when I was in my teens, and their removal made a vast improvement in my health.

I am supposed to think up some names today and make a list for Martin to look over tonight, so that we might agree on a name for our baby. I have practically let him name the boy, so I think he ought to permit me to name the girl. I was amused at him last night he said, 'I WANT YOU to choose the name!" But it seems every name I think pretty, he doesn't care for, so we’re still stymied. I still prefer Barbara Jane (my first choice) and I like Suzanne second best. But Martin frowns on both of these. He wants a very ordinary name, he says, but so far has made no helpful suggestion or named any preference. I think he would like to name a girl for Mother (your mother) and perhaps mine. My mother's middle name was Jane. But I doubt vary much if Mother would approve of using her name as it would not conform to the Jewish custom. Can you come to the rescue and suggest something appropriate?

I'm glad the check arrived on Mother's Day and pleased Mother. Martin wanted to write on the card for her to buy a pair of shoes with the money, but I told him there might be something she wanted or needed more than shoes this year. I have been unable to get out lately. I had wanted to go downtown and get some house-dresses for her, but of course that is impossible right now.

I know Jerry and Dorothy are "off me" because I haven't written them the itinerary of the Mexico trip that I promised them Perhaps I can get around to it within the next few days. Esther Linquist, who lived next door to us on San Bonita, is in Mexico now. She and another friend of mine, Hortense Sierk whom Eddie met, made the identical trip that Ed made last fall. They were in Mexico City when the country was threatened by that revolution last week.

I have no special news for you, Bert, dear. Give my love to all the clan and tell them I'm looking forward to seeing them all during various week ends this summer. And lest but not least, depending on seeing you and Herman among the first visitors!

Yours devotedly,

Myrtle.

---

My grandparents had been married about a year and a half at this point.

The "Jewish custom" mentioned refers to a superstition against naming children after living relatives - out of fear the Angel of Death might get confused and come after the child instead of the adult. Even though at this point none in my family probably actually held the superstition, the custom remained, and my grandmother was trying to respect it, even though she came from a different tradition. (The repetition of names in the Van Every line can get very confusing.)

If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post below, or in the comments.

Weekly Picks

Weekly Picks for October 11 - October 17

Genealogy/Family History

Getting ready for the gift-giving season early, Gtownma has some Family History Gift Ideas.

Jessica's GeneJournal has an entry on Trippstadt, Germany's civil death records

FamHist writes on how much the Find-a-grave website has changed in the past 9 years.

History

Shades of the Departed points to Time Magazine's Top 10 Doctored Photographs of all time.

A clause-by-clause comparison of the US Constitution and the Confederate Constitution (hat tip: Missouri SGA Messenger)

In the News

The Genealogue finds a news story of how Slovakia is requiring tombstones carved in 'minority languages' to be recarved.

Almost as if the news were written by William Faulkner, a Texas woman lived with the corpse of her dead boyfriend for a week. (Though no foul play is suspected.)

Holidays, Birthdays, and Anniversaries

footnoteMaven and Destination: Austin Family both have stories about surviving California's Loma Prieta Earthquake 10 years ago.

JewishGen and Tracing the Tribe both have entries on the latest findings concerning the origins of Christopher Columbus.

GenealogyBank celebrated its third birthday. I find they are an excellent resource for locating obituaries.

Little Bytes of Life observes the 119th birthday of the Daughters of the American Revolution

JewishGen has an entry on Rhode Island's Touro Synagogue, the oldest Jewish synagogue in America. (Approaching age 246) (George Washington wrote a letter to the congregation, and Longfellow wrote a poem about their cemetery.)

Internet Tips

The Google Blog has an entry on how to manage your online reputation/change your search results. This is information Jennifer Easevoli (who stands accused with her husband of defrauding Cisco out of $23 million) may need to take a look at, if it's not too late.

Miscellaneous

Science Fiction author, John Scalzi, writes about how his local library, due to budget cuts, is now closed three days out of the week, and is open less hours on the other four.

Genealogists often depend on the local library for research, and others may be facing similar cuts in their towns.

Poetry: The Forest -- Emilius Buczi

This is my first entry in the Great American Local Poem Genealogy Challenge being hosted by West in New England.

In Google Books I found Poetry of the Magyars: preceded by a sketch of the language and literature of Hungary and Transylvania, translated by John Bowring, 1830.

Inside I found a poet named Emilius Buczi who was born in Kolosvar, Hungary. Kolosvar is today known as Cluj, Romania, and is nearby the town of Nagyalmas/Varalmas where my maternal grandfather was born.

Bowring wrote in his introduction:

Buczi is a native of Kolosvar—his poetry is of the classic character, which has grown out of his great devotion to the writers of Greece and Rome. He was professor of rhetoric at Nagy Szeben (Hermanstadt), but ill health compelled him to abandon his chair, and to retire for some years to private life. On his recovery he was appointed to the professorship of moral philosophy at Karoly Fejervar (Karlsburg), which occupies him at this hour.

In the below poem the author writes about what may be a local forest.

The Forest
by Emilius Buczi.

Deep in the stillness of the solemn forest
Peace sings her hymns of solitude, Apollo !
While the light zephyrs, listening to the music,
Glide along slowly.

Through the green boughs what friendly spirits vibrate
Round the old roots what gentle streamlets murmur !
Brightening with influence full of joy and beauty
Life and its struggles.

I, when I look upon those lovely meadows—
Streams full of light—and hymn-impassioned songsters—
Forests and flowrets—feel that woe's oppression
Smites me no longer.

Shades of the forest! to your calm recesses
Pride never wends, nor passion. When the branches
Of your green trees are fluttering in the breezes,
Bear me their freshness.


Below you can read it straight from Google:

William Denyer - Exhorter

I made an interesting family discovery in Google Books today:

According to the Annals of the Kensington Methodist Episcopal Church (1801-1893), pages 77 and 79, a William Denyer is listed as a "Class Leader" in 1825 and an 'Exhorter' in 1827.

The Kensington M.E. Church is the oldest church in the Kensington and Fishtown neighborhoods of Philadelphia. [source]

According to the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church:

The duties of an Exhorter are, to hold Meetings for Prayer and Exhortation wherever opportunity is afforded, subject to the direction of the Pastor; to attend all the sessions of the District and Quarterly Conferences, and to present a written report to the same. He shall be subject to an annual examination of character in the Quarterly Conference, and a renewal of License, to be signed by the President thereof.

A Class Leader is defined in this manner:

That it may the more easily be discerned whether they are indeed working out their own salvation, each Society is divided into smaller companies, called Classes, according to their respective places of abode. There are about twelve persons in a Class, one of whom is styled The Leader. It is his duty,

§ 1. To see each person in his Class once a week at least; in order, (1.) To inquire how his soul prospers. (2.) To advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as occasion may require. (3.) To receive what he is willing to give toward the relief of the Preachers, Church, and poor.

§ 2. To meet the Ministers and the Stewards of the Society once a week; in order, (1.) To inform the Minister of any that are sick, or of any that walk disorderly and will not be reproved. (2.) To pay the Stewards what he has received of his Class in the week preceding.

So, is this the William Denyer who is my third great grandfather? I know from A Brief History of John and Christian Fretz and a Complete Genealogical Register (1890) that my ancestor was:

Born in the county of Southampton, Hampshire, England, Nov. 22, 1794; died in Louisana, Mar, 14, 1848. In early life he was a cabinet maker in Baltimore, Md, After marriage he was a farmer in Bucks Co., Pa., later he burned lime from oyster shells, in Philadelphia, was in ice business, rafted lumber down the Schuylkill river, boated on the Schuylkill canal, run saw and grist mill in Lycoming Co., Pa., and engaged in whip-sawing at New Albany, Ind. While there he was taken sick, and went to Louisiana for his health. In 1839 he settled with his family near Brazoria, Tex. In 1840 he moved to Gonzales Co. , Tex. , and in 1841 to Louisiana, and traveled as an itinerant minister of the M. E. ch., until his death.

So it seems to fit my current knowledge, and it possibly dates when he began his professional career within the church.

Wordless Wednesday: RMS Tunisian; SS Oceanic

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When it comes to Poetry Challenges - I'm just a guy who can't say no

West in New England is hosting a Great American Local Poem Genealogy Challenge:

1. Find a poem by a local poet, famous or obscure, from the region one of
your ancestors lived in. It can be about an historical event, a legend, a
person, or even about some place (like a river) or a local animal.

2. Post the poem to your blog (remembering to cite the source where you found it.)

3. Did it inspire you to research the subject of the poem and how it relates to your
ancestor?

4.Submit your post's link to [West in New England] by November 22nd and I'll publish all the entries on Thanksgiving Day!

I have posted a few poems in the past that would be appropriate for this challenge:

The Mounds of Cahokia, by Micah P. Flint
Fellow Citizens by Carl Sandburg
Mother by Ida Green (a poem by a distant relative in time and space)

However, we have been given more than sufficient time, so I will find a new one.

Tombstone Tuesday - Selig (Dudelsack) Feinstein (1860-1915)

Transcription: Simcha Zelig son of Samuel Zvi, died on the 19th of Adar 5675. (March 5, 1915)

Selig Dudelsack was a second great grandfather, my paternal grandmother's paternal grandfather. When he immigrated to the US in 1890, he changed his surname to Feinstein. He is buried second from the right in the front row of the Feinstein plot at Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery in St. Louis. Next to his mother, Gitel. His sister, Toba, is in a nearby section.

These photographs were among the first I took in my research, back in July of 2007.

Amanuensis Monday: Rabbi's Daughter Kidnaps a Baby

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

I continue transcribing the tape my grandfather, Martin Deutsch, and his older brother, Ted Deutsch, recorded in 1977. This 5-minute segment concludes the first 90 minutes. I follow it with a related news story, and some obituaries.

Regarding the title of this post: I think most people assume a kidnapping is always a bad thing. That's not the case.

---

1:25:00

Martin: Well we’re making pretty good progress here. One thing – we’re in the United States. We’re on Claremont Avenue, and you were just telling me about the Adamses and visiting them in Michigan in later years. When we were living there and we had seven in the family, Al was born there, too.
Ted: No, Al wasn’t there on Claremont Avenue, he wasn’t born yet.
Martin: Well, we had the problem arise of
Ted: Al was born in 1914, this was still 1913.
Martin: Still ’13. I guess he wasn’t born. He was being carried. And the reason I make emphasis on that is because there was a moment there when we were in deep trouble. The authorities whoever it was, possibly US Customs
Ted: Immigration
Martin: Immigration was trying to ship us back.
Ted: Yeah, well, that came about. We were here only maybe
Martin: A few months I suppose
Ted: I would say
Martin: Less than a year before Al was born, see
Ted: That’s…Al was not born at that time, but he was in being (?)
Martin: Yes, mother was pregnant with Al
Ted: So, we…it happened some time I would say in Fall, or late…early Fall
Martin: Of 1913
Ted: Of 1913.
Martin: We came in ’13 in February this could be in the Fall.
Ted: We were living in this basement and Dad got sick at that time. And couldn’t support the family.
Martin: He couldn’t work
Ted: He couldn’t work. He had a job, but he had to quit. So, according to our affidavits nobody else could help. Those people signed the affidavits. So we became a public charge.
Martin: Yes, and as a result, if you couldn’t support yourself. If you have no means of support you’d be shipped back.
Ted: That’s right, you could be deported to the country you came from. Our neighbors got wind of this, and they…we had Mrs. Klachter, one of our
Martin: She was…
Ted: She was a friend of the Adamses that we knew, our next door neighbor. Our next door neighbor was Adams.
Martin: I guess they all took an interest in this strange family that just came over with a half dozen kids, and I guess they kinda felt sorry for them and helped them.
Ted: They helped…they gave mother jobs, did some housework here and there. Worked for the Adamses. She was crying they would deport us. These Adams had a friend Klachter who was a banker. And his wife took an interest. She belonged to some society that took an interest
Martin: In the immigrants. I guess it was some sort of charitable organization
Ted: Yeah, something like HIAS they called it, Hebrew Immigrant Association, they still have it. [Note: Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society] And this banker was familiar with the deportation cases. He got in touch with the congressman, Sabath. At that time we had a congressman, Sabath. To see what they could do. And eventually, while he was working this way, the wagon came to take us away.
Martin: We were actually that close?
Ted: Yeah, they parked in front and this Adams fellow had a daughter named Molly, and she was going to high school. She was a senior in high school. Which was across the street, and she came home, school was out, and she saw the wagon. She knew what it was, so she grabbed Bert, who was only still a year
Martin: A couple years old
Ted: And disappeared with her, so they started looking for Bert. The rest of us were there. And they couldn’t find Bert. After...somehow they went away. They didn’t take all of us. Some other... Must have had some strings pulled somewhere in politics where they weren’t bothering us until this Sabath got a bill introduced in Congress to let us alone.
Martin: You think it went that far, that it took a bill of Congress
Ted: It took a bill in Congress to stop the deportation
Martin: I can’t imagine it being done so quickly, or absolutely.
Ted: I guess that’s the way it was done. But that was the way it was explained to me.
Martin: It usually takes months and months for anything like that.
Ted: It took a bill in Congress to stop our deportation, and that was the only way to stop it.

---

I, too, have doubts that legislation was passed specifically to save one family, however Congressman A.J. Sabath (1866-1952) from Illinois was a member of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization [source] [source], so he may have had the power to pull some strings, or he may have helped pass legislation that did have an effect. If so, I have been unable to uncover the legislation referenced.

Allen arrived in January of 1914, and once a child was born in the US, their status was never questioned again.

Our family owes a lot to the quick thinking of a friendly teenager. It's possible this was a common practice, and she or others had done this before. Her action could have backfired horrifically - and probably would have in a different country in a different time. But American deportation authorities weren't about to separate a family.

Mollie Adams became Mollie Britton, and she later ran a hotel in Sister Lakes, Michigan. A hotel at which I have learned Ted Deutsch and his family spent several vacations. Below are obituaries and a news story I have uncovered.

The News – Palladium, Benton Harbor, Mich June 4, 1968

Britton Rites Held

Funeral Services for Mrs. Mollie Britton, 68 of Box 27, Sister Lakes, were held at 10 a.m. this morning at the Florin funeral home. Rabbi Joseph Schwarz of the Temple Beth El officiated. Following the services the body was taken to Westlawn cemetery in Chicago where graveside services will be held at 3 p.m. this afternoon.

Among the survivors is a son Marshall Britton of Addison Ill.

The News – Palladium, Benton Harbor, Mich July 29, 1968

Sister Lakes’ Harry Adams Dead at 78

DOWAGIAC – Harry E. Adams, 78, of Sister Lakes, died at noon Saturday in Lee Memorial hospital.

He was born Sept 12, 1889 in Austria, the son of Benjamin and Rebecca (Rabbi) Adams.

Mr. Adams and his brother Charles operated the Sister Lakes’ dancing pavilion, Ramona, for many years. He was past president of the Southwestern Michigan realtors association, a member of Temple Bethel of Benton Harbor, the Sister Lakes Chamber of Commerce and had been a past Exalted Ruler of the BPOE Elks lodge No. 889. Mr. Adams had been an active member of the Dowagiac Rotary club for many years. He had been associated with the real estate business in the Sister Lakes’ area, developing large tracts of lake-front property.

Surviving are two sisters, Mrs. Michael Levin of Chicago and Mrs. Loretta Morris of Sister Lakes and a brother Samuel of Gary.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the Temple Bethel. Benton Harbor. Rabbi Joseph Schwarz will officiate. Burial will be in Westlawn cemetery, Chicago.

The Elks lodge will conduct memorial services this evening in the McLauchlin funeral home, Dowagiac.

The family has suggested memorials be made to the coronary unit of Lee Memorial hospital.

The News – Palladium, Benton Harbor, Mich October 7, 1974

Mrs. Loretta Morris

DOWAGIAC – Mrs. Loretta Morris, 85, of Sister Lakes, died Saturday afternoon in Schato nursing home in Dowagiac.

Her husband, Aaron, preceded her in death in 1945.

She is survived by one sister, Mrs. Jane Levin of Chicago.

Services were held Monday at 10 a.m. in the McLauchlin funeral home with burial in West Lawn cemetery, Chicago.

The News – Palladium, Benton Harbor, Mich July 27, 1961

Old Hotel Landmark Being Torn Down

Sister Lakes – Britton Court, a local landmark for nearly a century, is being torn down to make room for a shopping center at Sister Lakes.

Mrs. Mollie Britton had operated the hotel until this summer after acquiring it in 1927. As many as 50 or more persons were often accommodated she said in apartments or cottages. The cottages are being moved down by Round Lake and are for sale.

The Britton property is at the main corner of the Sister Lakes community, across from the new bank. Past projects on the 50-acre farm have been the playhouse, Mollie’s Drive-in, a sub-division just getting underway, and a fire department.

SELLING OUT

Mrs. Britton is selling her 13-room home, but will remain in the Sister Lakes area. Her sister, Mrs. Loretta Morris, lives with her. “This home is just too large for me anymore,” Mrs. Britton sighed.

The home is known to her friends for its luxurious design and contents. The owner designed it herself, she said. Her new smaller home will be on Round Lake.

This Saturday the 13-room home will go on the auction block, after an open house of three days. Contents of the hotel will be sold a week later, Aug. 5. The owner is saving the contents of her big home.

Half of the Britton property will be subdivided this fall, 25 acres across the road to the west. The land where the hotel is being razed is to be sold for commercial and residential lots, Mrs. Britton said.

---

From these articles, it appears Benjamin and Rebecca Adams had six children - three sons: Harry, Charles, and Samuel - and three daughters: Mollie (Britton), Loretta (Morris) and Jane (Levin). It's not clear whether "Rabbi" is a nickname for "Rebecca", or whether it is a title, in which case it referred back to Benjamin, as the first woman ordained a Rabbi in the US was in 1972. [source]

---

If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post below, or in the comments.

Weekly Picks

Note: 10/12 - I added a few news stories I had bookmarked but forgotten to include

The Digital Librarian's list of Genealogy Resources.
(hat/tip Genealogy's Star)

FamHist has an entry on Watching Over My Shoulder. The feeling we sometimes may feel that someone (an ancestor perhaps) has been watching over our shoulder as we conduct our research, encouraging us, and celebrating with us once we unearth their existence.

GeneaMusings writes on the process for adding information on Ancestry's 1930 Census.

GeneaBlogie writes on the new Federal requirements for bloggers regarding product endorsements. From a non-Geneablogger perspective -- Comics Worth Reading also has an entry on this topic.

GeneaBlogie also writes about "confidential marriages," which are only permitted in the state of California.

An "in case of failure" message then-General Eisenhower drafted in case of the failure of the D-Day invation. Uploaded by the National Archives to their Flickr account.

Recent News

A Torah scroll that was loaned from a St. Louis congregation 45 years ago to the State of Missouri's prison system has been returned. The Rabbi hopes to send the scroll out on another mission.

A Holocaust memorial has been unveiled in Romania (hat/tip JewishGen)

Moscow is running out of room to bury the dead

A "cyber cemetery" to preserve government documents

Famous cemeteries for touring

Humor

The Jewish Publication Society recommends five books of Jewish Humor. Some people may think I'm older than I am when I say this, but I noted with alarm the absence of author Leo Rosten from the list. I highly recommend his Joys of Yiddish, as well as his novel, The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N. (Originally published in the 1930s, Hyman Kaplan 'shouted' his name long before the internet - and he added asterisks!) The novel may feel somewhat dated at times, but its account of an immigrant's struggle with the English language is now classic.

The original baby killer

It's a commonly heard expression among writers. The footnoteMaven recently invoked it: Kill your babies. Those sentences you think are the most precious thing on earth - aren't.

Who said it first - in what context?

Style, for example, is not—can never be—extraneous Ornament. You remember, may be, the Persian lover...how to convey his passion he sought a professional letter-writer and purchased a vocabulary charged with ornament, wherewith to attract the fair one as with a basket of jewels. Well, in this extraneous, professional, purchased ornamentation, you have something which Style is not: and if you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: ‘Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.’ -- Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944), On the Art of Writing, 1916. [Emphasis added]

Note, he didn't advise you not to write the sentence in the first place. Give birth to the jewel, then put it aside.

Quiller Couch is best known as the editor of The Oxford Book of English Verse. He also translated the fairy tales of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and Bluebeard into English, though there were earlier translations.

Blog Indexing

Apple writes about Creating a Blog Index.

Her post made me think about my attempts at organizing the growing information on my blog. Originally, like her, I focused on the labels that Blogger provides (On other blogging systems they are often called categories.) And I had all the labels listed in my sidebar. A list that grew and grew.

Recently Blogger added a feature that allows you to selectively add labels to your sidebar. (It's no longer all or none.) So now I have three listings: 1) Posts by Surnames 2) Posts by Locale 3) Carnivals and Memes. There are many other labels I have used in the past, and continue to use, but they are no longer in the sidebar.

The only 'true' index I have created is an index of my Amenuensis Monday transcriptions, which I have placed on my main website - where I also have created some lists of genealogy resources. This blog may someday leave Blogspot and return to its original location. I moved it here at a time when there was nothing else genealogical on my website and I wanted to make this separate.

The search features Blogger offers eliminates some need for indexing. The search box in the "Blogger bar" doesn't work very well -- it doesn't conduct an every-word search on the posts, and misses a lot. However, the Search Gadget they provide for the sidebar does a much better job. And recently they added the ability to search every page linked to from the blog, as well. I'm not certain how comprehensive this feature is, but it looks impressive.

Poetry: Forgetfulness by Billy Collins

Billy Collins, US Poet Laureate from 2001-2003, may be my favorite contemporary poet.

Here's a YouTube animation of one of his poems - a poem dealing with the forgetfulness we all begin to feel after we reach a certain age.



Direct Link

The poem comes from his collection entitled The Best Cigarette, which he released via Creative Commons license. The video was created by JWT, with permission by Billy Collins, and this appears on their YouTube channel.

PastPorts: October 2009

The October issue of PastPorts (pdf) arrived in my email box this week. PastPorts is the newsletter of the St. Louis County Library Special Collections department.

The newsletter is filled with tips for local researchers, along with a list of new print and microfilm resources at the library.

A few items I'd like to highlight:

• St. Louis City Death Records

Although Ancestry offers a database called “St. Louis City Death Records, 1850 – 1908,” there are differences between it and the St. Louis Death Registers: Deaths Recorded in the City and County of St. Louis, 1850–1908 produced by the St. Louis Genealogical Society in 2004 and available on public PCs in the Special Collections Department.

Differences listed include: Ancestry's database doesn't contain any records after 1901; doesn't contain records for those who died outside of St. Louis but were returned for burial; and doesn't include records for St. Louis County after it split from St. Louis City in 1876 -- Whereas the St Louis Genealogical Society database does. [Note: A keyword search on the Ancestry database finds only one entry from 1902, and confirms none exist for 1903-1908 despite the title.]

It's a good reminder that one shouldn't always judge an online database by its title, and similar databases at a local library may actually contain more data.

• The Special Collections Department has also created some Research Guides which could be very useful for researchers new to the library holdings -- as they provide an overview of the resources available at the library, and there are individual guides based on geography, ethnicity, record types, and a few special topics. For visitors from out of town, they also have a guide for local lodging and dining nearby the library.

• I was also pleased to see the announcement that they have purchased four more combination Microfilm Readers/PCs with scanning software. (For a total of five) It's very nice to be able to save a copy of the microfilm page directly to a flash drive, as opposed to printing a copy out and scanning it in at home.

Wordless Wednesday: SS Rhein / USS Susquehanna

(position cursor over images for descriptive words - if desired.)
[information source] [image source]

Voting for the 40 best Genealogy Blogs

Family Tree Magazine is asking the Genealogy Community to vote on the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs.

They have completed the nomination stage, and have divided the nominees into ten separate categories:

1) All-Around (News, research advice, personal family stories, photos, opinion, etc)

2) Personal/Family (A family history blog focused on one - or more- specific families)

3) Local/Regional (Blogs focused on a region's history and genealogy)

4) Cemetery (Cemetery research, gravestone photos, etc)

5) Photos/Heirlooms (Blogs focused on the preservation of photos and heirlooms)

6) Heritage (Blogs focused on genealogy as it relates to a specific ethnicity, or heritage)

7) News/Resources (Blogs focused on genealogy news and information about resources)

8) How-To (Instructional content on genealogy resources and methodology)

9) Genealogy Companies (Blogs written on behalf of genealogy companies)

10) Genetic Genealogy (Blogs focused on genetic genealogy and family health history)

I have been honored with a nomination in the All-Around category.

The category is filled with blogs I would recommend to anyone who asked me for recommendations. All of the categories on the voting ballot are filled with highly recommendable blogs. (I guess that's kind of the point, right?) So I'm just honored to be on the list.

So if you read Genealogy Blogs (and if you are reading this, you do) go vote.

You have until November 5th to vote, and you can vote more than once.

Tombstone Tuesday: Morris Blatt (1864-1926)

Transcription: Moshe son of Jacob Blatt died on the 29th of Nisan, 5686. May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.

Morris Blatt was a second great grandfather, my paternal grandmother's maternal grandfather. His first wife, Belle (nee Wyman) died in Poland, circa 1892, possibly of a bee sting, Morris and his two daughters, Blanche and Annie, immigrated to America and settled in St. Louis, in approximately 1890. (He and his first wife are said to have been divorced.) Morris married for a second time in 1893. With his second wife, Mollie (nee Kellner), he had two more children - Henry and Pearl.

1913 Deutsch Family Manifest - SS Rhein

Here's details from the Passenger Manifest I mentioned in my Amanuensis Monday post earlier today. (Found at Ancestry.com)

Page One

Page Two

Click to enlarge either one

The names on the far left are very difficult to read. However, there is enough detail otherwise to identify this as the correct passenger manifest without any doubt.

In the middle of the first page you can clearly read Varalmas, Hungary as their town of origin, and 'Hebrew' as their nationality. But the clincher is the 'nearest relative' in country of origin, as they listed "father in law" and "grandfather" Israel Lichtmann in Margitta, Hungary. If I didn't know what to expect to see there, I probably wouldn't be able to read it, but it is clear. On the far right it lists Chicago, Illinois as their destination.

The names are supposed to be (from oldest to youngest) Salomon, Jean, Ted, Ed, Martin, Maurice, and Berta. However, those are the English names of the children, which would have varied from their Hungarian names. I know my great grandfather went by both Salomon and Samuel at different times. The manifest says he was 45 years old, but he was likely closer to 52. He may have lied out of fear they wouldn't let him in the US if he was too old to earn a living.

A few columns to the right of their ages we see whether or not they could read or write. In the rows for Salomon, Jean, Ted, and Ed it says yes for both. This is the US Passenger Manifest implying they all could read and write English. I'm not certain this is accurate. Though I believe the father could read and write Romanian, Hungarian, Yiddish, and German - at least to some degree. The three elder children, ranging in age from 14 to 9, would have had varying skills.

On page two we learn (on the far left) that the 'wife' and 'mother' paid for their passage. Which isn't a surprise, as I knew my great grandmother came over to America a year earlier specifically to raise the money for the rest of the family's passage.

The column for friend/relative they are joining is another instance where if I didn't know what it was supposed to say, I wouldn't be able to read it. It says "Helen Deutsch" and I believe it says "435 (or 1135) Christiana Avenue." If it weren't for the section of the audio tape which I posted this morning, I would have no idea what the street is, but I believe this does confirm Ted's recollection.

Finally, I learn my great grandfather was 5 foot 4 inches, black hair, brown eyes. Jean was 4 foot 8 inches, and Ted was 4 foot even. It doesn't indicate the height for any of the other children.

The Wedding Cake of the Duke and Duchess of York, 1923

Here's a 1923 silent film, from the official YouTube channel of the British Monarchy. The Duchess of York later became Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.

Amanuensis Monday: Baltimore, Ellis Island, Wilson, Taft and Serbia

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

I continue transcribing in ten minute segments the tape my grandfather, Martin Deutsch, and his older brother, Ted Deutsch, recorded in 1977.

---

1:15:00

Martin: Two weeks crossing the Atlantic. And it was you think it was in January or February.
Ted: We got here it was in February. I don’t recall whether it was in the middle of February. I know it was February.
Martin: It was in the winter.
Ted: There was snow on the ground. The only reason I think it was February is because they were talking about the President taking office the next month. I remember that.
Martin: I see, it was in March then.
Ted: It was March 15th. And we were here already, see, in February.
Martin: March 15, 1913 would have been Wilson?
Ted: That’s right.
Martin: He was elected in 1912, and then took office on March 15, 1913. Roosevelt was going out. Teddy Roosevelt was going out.
Ted: It wasn’t Roosevelt. It was Taft.
Martin: Taft, sure.
Ted: I remember the kids were singing, “Taft, Taft you’re gone. Taft. Roosevelt next month.”
Martin: And it was Wilson, because of course he was in during the war.
Ted: That’s what makes me sure it was in February.
Martin: And you recognized that when you landed? Or…a few days after that.
Ted: When we landed we stayed with some friends for a while. The Newmans (?).
Martin: In Chicago.
Ted: In Chicago. They had a home on Christiana Avenue, just west of Humboldt Park.
Martin: They owned their home there?
Ted: They owned a home there, they lived on the second floor, and we lived on the first floor. At that time.
Martin: For just…
Ted: About six months I think
Martin: Was it that long?
Ted: Yeah.
Martin: It’s something I didn’t remember at all
Ted: We were there with them, I would say it seems six months to me. And then we moved to Claremont Avenue.
Martin: I remember the place on Claremont in the basement room.
Ted: That was still 1913.
Martin: And of course we went to school near Claremont.
Ted: We went to school. High School there, which was just around the block.
Martin: Well, to get back about the vessel and where did we…we took off from Bremen, Germany, I imagine. Where did we land in the United States, I’ve always been puzzled about that. I thought it was Ellis Island.
Ted: We didn’t land at Ellis. We came through Baltimore. That’s what I … Our passport called for Baltimore.
Martin: Well, if we had tickets on any vessel that would be scheduled for Baltimore, that’s where we came. I hadn’t heard of Baltimore being a port of Entry for immigrants, but of course I am satisfied it was. And while most everybody came through Ellis Island, we didn’t. That surprises me, but I can understand it would be true. Is there any kind of papers that would show it. So that we know that’s what happened.
Ted: I never ran across any papers that would show positively that we came through
Martin: I’m not….your memory is satisfactory I’m sure. It just surprises me. I was also wondering the actual dates. I never have seen…saw anything positive to give us the date, and the port.

1:20:00

Ted: I could never prove that we landed in Baltimore because I don’t have anything to show. If we had come through New York, we would have been put into Ellis Island for detention. We would have been detained there for processing. I don’t ever remember going through any processing over there.
Martin: Well, I would think you would be processed even in Baltimore, but it didn’t impress you somehow. I can’t imagine…you didn’t just come off the boat and come to Chicago. You went through customs, I’m satisfied.
Ted: We went through customs, but we weren’t detained there very long.
Martin: Somehow, you know I visited New York not too long ago, and I went to Ellis Island just to look at the place, and it seemed familiar to me, but I may have seen movies of it or pictures and I’m not sure whether its from my own memories when I was five or six years old and coming here that it seemed familiar. It may have been just from movies I had seen or pictures I had seen of Ellis Island. Well,
Ted: I may look into it.
Martin: I know you have the passports. And you showed it to me, and I couldn’t figure out an exact date.
Ted: Didn’t I give you the passport?
Martin: No, you took it back and you said you’d keep it. Then you were going to give it to me, and you forgot to bring it.
Ted: Last time you were here at the wedding.
Martin: No, you showed it to me here one day, and you were taking it back for some reason. You were going to look at some more papers. But that may be the --- the dates is what I’m…and the port of entry which I think should be positive, but I couldn’t figure it out from the passport, anyway. And you kind of read it. But I don’t think it gave the information about the date of embarkation or anything like that. Those would be other papers.
Ted: The passport gives you the date that you left.
Martin: The passport was issued. No, the passport was issued on a certain date. But it doesn’t say when you left.
Ted: It says you’re killeag (sp?). That means “left the county.”
Martin: All right, I looked at the visas in the passport and there was no entry whatever. It didn’t show that you went through any.
Ted: That’s right, I had noticed that.
Martin: When you go from Austria to Germany, which you had to do, or Hungary to Germany, you go through border processing, and they punched or stamped the passport to show you entered. And when you left anyplace they’d show you left. And when you arrived in the United States they ought to show you arrived.
Ted: Might have been on some other document, which I don’t have.
Martin: But it didn’t show it on that passport, and that’s what I’m remarking on.
Ted: That’s only proof when you left the country.
Martin: I think it is only proof you were issued a passport. But it doesn’t show when you left.
Ted: It does show when you left Hungary.
Martin: All right.
Ted: Because it says Killeag --- and it got the date on it. It was 1913 some time.
Martin: Now, this was one year or so before the war, you know. That was quite an achievement.
Ted: That was a coincidence.
Martin: Of course it was because nobody foretold a year before. It certainly
Ted: Nobody knew about the war. The funny part of it is Dad was not of military age, and they let him go on. If he had been of military age.
Martin: You mean he was over age. Now he had served in the military there.
Ted: Yeah!
Martin: He had I think whatever was required. He had put it in.
Ted: But he was fifty years old.
Martin: I remember him always talking about the huzzars. I think he was some kind
Ted: He was an aide.
Martin: Aide, yeah. He probably took care of their horses and boots.
Ted: That’s as far as a Jew could get.
Martin: That’s right. Of course, I don’t know if there were wars. If he had been born in…
Ted: He was in one war.
Martin: …1866 he was in the war of 78 or something like that with France or Germany.
Ted: He was in a war with Austria, Hungary and Serbia.
Martin: Serbia.
Ted: That’s the time they took over a big territory…Bosnia, called Bosnia. And that war Dad was in that war, and that was the reason the First World War started, because the Serbs were angered because Austria took Bosnia from them, and they wanted it back. They have been fighting off and on ever since. So when they had the Sarajevo affair in Serbia they assassinated the [ ] that started the first World War.

---

Of course it was Archduke Ferdinand who was assassinated, though I am uncertain of the word Ted uses at the end of this section, and I'm also uncertain of the word (probably Hungarian) which appeared on their passport and Ted says meant "left the country." It sounds like Ted says they stayed with the 'Newmans' upon their arrival in Chicago. However, the Newmans would have been cousins instead of friends.

It was the war of 1878 where Austria occupied Bosnia. They annexed Bosnia in 1908...which led to WWI. My great grandfather's service papers indicate he was in the army from 1881-1907.

Their passenger manifest found online indicates they arrived on the Rhein from Bremen in the Port of Baltimore on March 20, 1913...five days after the inauguration.

However, I don't doubt that with the closeness of Baltimore to DC there was a lot of talk on the streets about the inaugural -- and I suspect Ted's understanding of English wasn't great then, or his memory sixty years later of what he heard was faulty.

---

If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post below, or in the comments.

Weekly Picks

Saturday September 26 - Sunday October 4

A selection of blog entries and newspapers articles from the past week:

• AnceStories' October 2009 Calendar of Events
• Genealogy's Star on standards of genealogical evidence
• NARAtions (the blog of the National Archives) asks for input on the process for ordering copies of their archival records.
• Daly History has an entry on Birth, Marriage and Death certificates in the UK
• footnoteMaven at Shades of the Departed has an entry on pet photography in the 1870s and 1880s
• Craig Manson at Shades of the Departed has an entry on what to do if one thinks they may have Classified Photographs
• GeneaMusings has a list of unindexed databases at Ancestry.com. (I discovered the Missouri Still Birth and Miscellaneous records back in March of 2008. I still haven't found time to browse through the 72,000 pages of unindexed material for St. Louis.)
• Cpaphill Vintage Postcards links to the Official Channel of the British Monarchy on YouTube, which has several historical videos of interest.
• Auschwitz blueprints are online (hat tip: GenealogyBlog)
• A press release from LiveRoots.com (hat tip: MoSGA Messenger)

In the News

• On September 26th, Robert M. Doerr, editor of the Missouri State Genealogical Association Journal, passed away at the age of 82.
• Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis marks its 160th anniversary
• Ardi, the oldest and most complete skeleton of a potential human ancestor

Poetry

• Velveteen Rabbi's poem for Sukkot (A week-long Jewish festival which began the evening of October 2nd)

Poetry: Perseverance - by Gelett Burgess

From: Goops and how to be them: A Manual of Manners for Polite Infants Inculcating Many Juvenile Virtues Both By Precept and Example With Ninety Drawings -- by Gelett Burgess

Here's the text:

Perseverance - by Gelett Burgess

Tony started bright and early, clearing up his room,
Soon he found he had to stop and make a little broom;
So then he went into the yard to get a little stick,
But the garden needed weeding, so he set about it, quick!
Then he found his wagon he intended to repair
So he went into the cellar for the hammer that was there;
He'd just begun to build a box, when it was time for dinner,
And that's why Tony's father called his son a "good beginner."

Burgess is best known for his poem about never having seen a purple cow. Though he wrote a lot of other humorous verse. At times I have found I can identify with the character of Tony in the above poem. I can easily get distracted.

Carnival of Genealogy #81: Writing a Blog Obituary

poster by the footnoteMaven

The assignment for the 81st Carnival of Genealogy: "If your blog ended or was lost/deleted today, how would you write its obituary?"

TransylvanianDutch, the genealogy blog written by Missourian, John Newmark, was lost today. The blog had its origins in April of 2007 on another blog by the same name, and maintained by the same author. A friend of Mr. Newmark's introduced him to an online genealogy site, which turned out to be a 'gateway drug' for this resident of the 'Gateway City'.

Mr. Newmark had been blogging since 2002, so when he moved his genealogy writing to its own space on Blogspot he transferred a few older posts on the topic, but the true origin of the blog has to be identified as April of 2007.

TransylvanianDutch (sometimes referred to affectionately as TransDutch) had received some recognition, being listed in the Top 25 Most Popular Genealogy Blogs in April of 2009 by ProGenealogists, as well as being added to AllTop's list of Top Genealogy sites in August of 2008.

At the funeral, several fellow geneablogs talked about what they would miss about TransDutch. Some said they would miss the weekly Amanuensis Monday posts. Others said they were always impressed by the high quality of English.

The Coroner's Report is uncertain about cause of death. There are rumors that a programmer in Mountain View, California spilled a glass of orange juice on the servers and the bits and bytes containing two years worth of data were lost in a second. Author, John Newmark, hadn't backed up the posts. Ashamed, he returned to his former blog, and says he will return to blogging about politics, religion and the other stuff he was writing about before his genealogy obsession. Fans of his genealogy posts tried to talk some sense into him -- comparing the five people who used to read his blog to the current numbers. But he refused to listen.

Contributions should be sent to the Dead Blog Fund.

Creative Note: When I was in high school, one summer I attended a 'Creative Writing Camp' in Michigan. We were given a similar assignment and had to write an obituary for ourselves. I entitled my obituary: "Death by Orange Juice." I had recently learned that one can drown from having one's beverage go 'down the wrong tube.' So I decided I had to give my blog a similar cause of death.

And yes, this is just a creative exercise; this blog isn't dead. And I do back up my posts.

But I have been thinking about occasionally (maybe once a week) writing down some of my non-genealogical thoughts here. Stuff in addition to the social networking posts I've written lately.

Kutano - Combining Twitter and Google's Sidewiki into one App

As I mentioned in my post about Google's SideWiki -- they also opened up their API to allow others to create applications that use comments left in SideWiki.

I received the below email yesterday (Tuesday) morning from a Marketing Manager at Kutano:

I came across your post about Google SideWiki and wanted to let you know that this morning we are expecting to release what we believe to be the very first Sidewiki client ever!

Our tool, Kutano, already works as something of a "SideTwitter", showing tweets about each web page and website directly beside the page and allowing for conversations and comments on the page as well. However, as of early this morning (10AM), Kutano will also be pulling in "high quality" comments that are made in Google's Sidewiki.

The advantage of this, aside from being able to collectively view web page related tweets, Sidewiki and Kutano comments in one place, is that Kutano will also allow users to respond to and start interactive discussions around comments made in Sidewiki. Currently, Sidewiki comments are not threaded and there is no way to respond and engage another person that commented on the web page. Additionally, there is not yet a way to have multiple discussion topics on one page. But using Kutano, people will be able to engage in more interactive and topic-varied discussions about each web page using Sidewiki comments as well as existing web page related tweets and Kutano comments. As can already be done with existing Kutano discussions, users will also be able to tweet out entire discussions as well.

I didn't have time yesterday to test it out, but I have this evening.

First the technical requirements:

Kutano claims that it works on Firefox 3 with Windows (x64 or x86 of XP and above), MacOSX, or Linux. And with Internet Explorer 7 or 8 (32-bits) with Windows (x64 or x86 of XP and above)

I am using it on Firefox 3 with MacOSX.

The Kutano Experience

As a Twitter Application

Kutano creates a fully functional Twitter sidebar on your browser, as can be seen below, but the arrow button in the lower right minimizes the sidebar. Two of the buttons to the right of the textbox are "Tweet about this page" and "insert current page URL". For both Kutano creates its own shortened url for the page. For the former it also adds the text "Reading __Page Title__"

Alone, these are nice added features.

As a SideTwitter

In the above image you can see all the tweets for my recent Wordless Wednesday post. The one tweet from my TransDutch account which automatically tweets every blog entry. Occasionally some of my posts get a little more TwitterLove, but to illustrate the features better, I went to CNN.com

Now I am looking at all the Discussions for CNN. The yellow boxes near the bottom of the panel represent comments pulled in from Google's SideWiki application. The other comments are from Kutano. The numbers in the icons indicate how many posts in each discussion thread.

The email I received from Kutano also indicated Google's API for SideWiki allows them to pull in the comments from SideWiki to use in their App. However, it doesn't provide a mechanism to send comments in the other direction. So discussions that take place on Kutano remain on Kutano.

Thoughts

I don't see myself getting involved in too many side-discussions about a page. Unless of course discussions form around my blog, or any other websites I maintain. I expect most people who have a comment about my blog to post it in the comment threads, or email me. However, not every website has a place to leave comments.

I remember a time not too long ago, back when I was in college and frequented the Usenet bulletin boards, where these discussion threads would have been more appealing to me.

For me the benefit of SideWiki (and Kutano) is the ability to leave notes on a page that otherwise doesn't provide a means to do so. (A blog that doesn't allow comments, or a normal web page without a discussion forum.) The note may provide more information the page doesn't already contain -- or indicate any inaccuracies I feel are there.

I do like the ease of use of Kutano as a Twitter application.

Wordless Wednesday: Cactus Flower in San Marcos, Texas

Cactus Flower Along Devil's Backbone Ranch Road #12
San Marcos, Hays County, Texas
Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/ / CC BY 2.0

Tombstone Tuesday - Minnie (Mojsabovski) Cruvant

Transcription: Here is interred Michaliah  Machla Kruvant, daughter of the righteous Zadok Mandel. Died on the 8th of Adar I, 5684. May her soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.

Here is one of the few photographs I have of my second great-grandmother, Minnie (Mojsabovski) Cruvant, wife of Moshe Leyb.

They immigrated to America from Lithuania circa 1875-1885.