Amanuensis Monday: A Further Inventory of Cousins

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

I'm nearing the end of a transcription of a tape my grandfather, Martin Deutsch, his older brother, Ted, and their sister, Berta (Deutsch) Freed recorded in 1977. I'm 1 hour and 50 minutes into the tape, and at this point they're trying to remember the names of their uncles, aunts and cousins.

---

1:50:00

Ted: Mother’s sister, Rosenblum, Mrs. Adolph Rosenblum.
Martin: Adolph was his name
Ted: Adolph was her husband’s name.
Martin: It was Sarah wasn’t it?
Bert: That was not mother’s side, that was father’s side.
Martin: You think that was father’s side? That could have been father’s side.
Bert: Giza was another sister
Martin: Dad’s…
Ted: No we’re talking about mother’s side
Martin: Giza. What did she change her name to?
Bert: Hoffman
Martin: She never did change it from Giza, though?
Bert: It must be Gizella in English.
Martin: I remember her, Giza Hoffman, mother’s sister
Ted: That’s right, and she came to live with us around 1917 or 16
Martin: When she was unmarried?
Ted: When she was unmarried. She came out here and soon after. Soon after we got here, she came out. She lived with us on Campbell Avenue for awhile.
Martin: I had forgotten that.
Ted: Then she met this man, Morris Hoffman
Martin: It wasn’t Nathan Hoffman?
Ted: No, it was Morris, and married him around 1917. And then they have about four children.
Martin: The Hoffmans, do you remember any of them?
Ted: Esther Hoffman, she lives here
Martin: I think I met her, I recall meeting her
Ted: She’s working for the government now as a secretary, and another son is Bernard Hoffman, who is living now. And they had another son, Irving Hoffman. He died. And there’s another girl, who’s married, I don’t recall her, Helen was her first name. I don’t recall her last name.
Martin: You did pretty well to have remembered
Ted: I remember because when their mother passed away, Gizella passed away, they had an estate and probate, and that’s how I remember their names. [ed: Ted was a lawyer by profession.] Outside of Gizella, that’s the, there were only two sisters that I remember.
Martin: And no brothers
Ted: And her brother was James
Martin: Yeno, James. OK, let’s get over to father’s side.
Ted: Father’s side, we already mentioned practically all of them.
Bert: You missed Joe Deutsch, Herman Deutsch
Ted: That’s from another brother that I never knew.
Martin: Yeah, Joe Deutsch then was married to Eva.
Ted: Eva Deutsch.
Martin: And she’s still living, he’s dead.
Ted: No.
Bert: They’re both dead.
Martin: They’re both dead.
Ted: (unintelligible) five years old when she died.
Martin: So they were Dad’s…
Ted: They were from another brother. Dad’s brothers, and I don’t recall him at all.
Martin: He may have stayed in Europe and you don’t remember.
Ted: Yeah, I think so.
Martin: That was quite a big family, of course Joe Deutsch and Eva Deutsch’s children were Albert and what’s his
Ted: Sigmund.
Martin: Sigmund.
Ted: And Albert died.
Martin: Yeah, Albert died, and Sigmund is still alive.
Ted: There’s another one, Herman Deutsch.
Bert: Dora was his wife.
Ted: Who was he, I don’t recall who he was. He must have been…a brother of Joe’s?
Martin: I don’t recall Herman Deutsch.
Bert: Yes he was.
Ted: He was?
Martin: A brother of Joe’s.
Bert: And there was Sarah Goldberger
Ted: Sarah Goldberger was his sister
Martin: Whose sister?
Bert: Joe’s. And, Greenfield,
Ted: Regina.
Bert: Regina.
Ted: Sisters from this other brother
Martin: Joe. So Regina was our cousin too. Regina Greenfield. I recall the name.
Bert: She married the brother of her aunt Rose.
Ted: Herschel Greenfield. Nathan Greenfield was his brother.
Martin: Yeah.
Ted: Two brothers married two sisters.
Martin: I see. I guess I never did know the relationship because of the names. Well, now I’ve covered…
Ted: Let’s see, we mentioned Dexter.
Martin: Yeah. And he didn’t have any children I guess, did he?
Bert: No, he never did.
Martin: He just passed out of the picture. Well, I don’t know, did we leave anybody out? Brothers or sisters of mother or father?
Ted: Mother had another sister in Europe, Rosa. They were here at one time, but they went back to Europe, and never came back here.
Martin: They were here when we were here? They went back after WW1?
Ted: They came back to Hungary from the United States must have been around 1910, before we [arrived]

1:55:00

Martin: Oh, before, I see.
Ted: They stayed there and never came back. I remember they visited us and when they came back from the United States they brought a lot of money with them. At that time it was a lot of money.
Martin: If they had a couple hundred dollars.
Ted: They bought two beautiful horses, and they called them Chassar and Chular.
Martin: I’m going to stop here a moment, and come back. You say you remember mother had a couple other brothers. Do you remember the names?
Ted: They lived with the parents at that time when I
Martin: Back in Europe
Ted: When I visited them in Europe. One of them was Feri – F E R I.
Bert: Would probably be Freddy in English.
Martin: That was his brother. Now they never came over…
Ted: There was a younger one, Dezur
Martin: Dezur? I recall the name, D E Z O I supposed.
Ted: In Hungarian they spelled it with a Z. Dezur and Feri, those are the two brothers I met that I know of in Margitta, because I was there, and I visited them. I used to go when I visited them, I went out to the marketplace, I used to sell water over there. Fresh water.
Martin: Sell water? How did you get the water?
Ted: Well, we had a well. They had a well.
Martin: Oh, you wouldn’t get it from the river?
Ted: Grandfather had a well. And they had a little container that I put on my back. I was about 10 years old. We’d go to the marketplace, and sell fresh water. We made money that way.
Martin: You had goatskin probably.
Ted: No, we had a little container. I don’t recall what kind, made out of wood, that’s all I know.
Martin: Seems to me it would leak. You probably had to carry it halfway up the mountain or something.
Ted: There wasn’t any mountains around Margitta. They were in a valley more or less.
Martin: Flat.
Ted: I recall every time I visited them I stayed maybe 2 to 3 weeks. It wasn’t only for one day. I remember there was a great big plain next to their home, just a wild plain where we used to go out and play
Martin: I suppose they did farming, would you guess?
Ted: Exactly what he was doing I don’t remember.
Martin: Of course, all these relatives in Europe we lost track of either after World War One, certainly after World War Two. There was absolutely no correspondence or contact or information of anybody in any way.
Ted: No
Martin: Since World War Two anyway.
Ted: Although, Esther Hoffman told me that she had contacted somebody in Israel who was related to her mother.
Martin: Oh, is that right, so she may have left Hungary and went to Israel after WW2 I suppose. That is something.
Ted: I didn’t go into it deeply with her. That’s my recollection.
Martin: That’s something you can explore here with Esther.
Ted: That’s right.
Martin: I’ve met her. She’s a very charming girl. I haven’t seen her. I guess I met her at Herman Freed’s funeral maybe.
Bert: Yeah, you probably did.
Martin: I don’t believe I had known her before. She was of course Giza’s daughter.
Ted: Her name now is Cohler.
Martin: She married?
Ted: She’s married and has a child.
Martin: KOHLER, or something like that?
Ted: COHLER. She’s married to Jerry
Martin: Jerry Cohler.
Ted: That was the daughter of Gizella.

---

A lot of this is repetitious of names they've already discussed earlier in the tape, but it's helpful for them to repeat it, if only to verify they're remembering it the same. They do discuss their mother's siblings who remained in Europe for the first time. The Israeli cousin that Esther Hoffman had been in contact with was likely a grand-daughter of Feri/Frank Lichtmann. She and her family have traveled to the US a couple times now, and I've had a chance to meet them. The uncle they recall as Dezur, is listed in my family notes with the English name David.

I have learned through some research that the father of Joe and Regina Deutsch was an Albert Deutsch, another brother of my great grandfather, Samuel. Bert says their cousin, Herman Deutsch was also a brother to Joe and Regina. This is possible, though I haven't found any documentation absolutely connecting Herman to Albert. The records I have found show he was ten years younger than Joe, and seven years younger than Regina. My research also suggests Joe changed the spelling of his surname to Deutch (dropping the 's').

There are 20 minutes left of the tape to transcribe.

---

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 Genealogy Picks

Weekly Genealogy Picks -- January 10 to January 16
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere

Miriam at Ancestories is running a series: 52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases. This week she wrote on Alaska. (Note: she appears to be posting them on Sunday, and this list runs Sunday to Saturday, so when you read this, Arizona's post will be on the site.)

Chery Kinnick at Nordic Blue writes The Best Laid Genealogical Plans - where she begins to tell the tale of how she 'discovered' her birth father 'after nearly fifty years of wondering.' I look forward to reading the continuation of her story.

Wendy Littrell at All My Branches Genealogy begins to catalog all the organization Membership Lists her family and ancestors appeared on - civic, professional, and fraternal. I hesitate to imagine how long the list for my family would be, even if I limited it to recent generations. But I think it might be a worthwhile endeavor.

Matt Quinn at PoemBlaze Blog, in a post entitled, Genealogy Has its Limits shares a poem he wrote about his grandfather, Matthew T. Ryan. He started this blog about a week ago, and is trying to post a poem every day. Not only are he and I members of the same local writer's group, he is partially responsible for my genealogical obsession.

In time for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, History Man has an entry on The Doctrine of Non-Violence.

Katrina McQuarrie at Kick-Ass Genealogy provides suggestions on Dealing with Roadblocks when Interviewing Relatives.

Olive Tree Genealogy begins a 12-part series on 'less obvious' genealogy records, with a discussion about medical records.

James Tanner at Genealogy's Star questions the accuracy of family trees that 'go back to Adam.' He's not questioning the Biblical material, which is a matter of faith, but the accuracy of first millennium and medieval records.

The Daily Riverfront Times reports about What Happens When you Run a Meth Lab at a Cemetery:

"...So you can imagine what would happen if someone who operates a meth lab was also in charge of running an entire cemetery. Oh wait, you don't have to imagine. It actually (allegedly) happened in Wood River, Illinois."

The first issue of Digital Content Quarterly was released:

"Whether your background is cultural heritage, education and research, health or public service broadcasting, you face many of the same opportunities and challenges when it comes to digital content. In this fast-paced, ever-changing environment the Strategic Content Alliance’s Digital Content Quarterly (DCQ) provides a news round-up of digital content issues from around the world, thought-provoking features highlighting key debates in the field and regular columns from experts in areas that have most traction in terms of digital content provision: intellectual property rights and business modelling and sustainability."

For those readers who read few other genealogy blogs, the following may be news to you:

Ancestry Magazine is Discontinuing Publication

Who Do You Think You Are - the US version of the British show - is scheduled to premiere on NBC Friday March 5th at 7 pm central, 8 pm eastern.

In each episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, a celebrity embarks on a journey of self-discovery and unearths his or her family tree - revealing surprising, inspiring and sometimes tragic stories that are often linked to events in American history. We share intimate moments with the stars as they learn about their past, and how the struggles of their ancestors have shaped today's world. Stars include Lisa Kudrow, Sarah Jessica Parker and Susan Sarandon.

Faces of America - a 4-part series hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. - premieres on PBS Wednesday, Feb 10th, at 7 pm central, 8 pm eastern. (Follow the link for a video preview.)

For other weekly lists visit:

• Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs at Genea-Musings
• Apple's Weekly Rewind at Apple's Tree
• Donna Pointkouski's Donna's Picks at What's Past is Prologue
• Julie Cahill Tarr's Friday Finds at GenBlog

Finding the Source of some Photographs

My maternal aunt is in the process of moving, and she shipped a box filled with photographs and family letters. Included were these two photographs of her maternal grandparents (my great grandparents) Melvin and Margaret (Denyer) Van Every.

The is the back of the photographs


When I looked at the back of the first photograph, I said to myself, 'that's not possible.' I read '1926' as a year, and I knew my great grandparents were too young in these photographs for that to be the year. After looking at the second photograph, I knew those were just numbers for the photographer's use. But the photographs were marked as taken in St. Louis, and my great grandparents never lived in St. Louis. They may have visited my grandmother here. She moved here in 1920, but once again, they're younger in the photos than they would have been in 1920.

There was also the question of why it said 'Deutsch.' My maternal grandmother Myrtle Van Every, married my grandfather, Martin Deutsch, in 1936, after both my great grandparents were dead. Of course, Deutsch could have been a photographers surname, or for some reason it was being used to reference the German language, but it seemed too much of a coincidence.

I was unable to find any information on Chesshire Photographers. I looked up Scruggs, Vandervoort and Barney. It was a department store chain in St. Louis, which had its start in 1850. They opened a store in the St. Louis suburbs in 1951, only a few blocks from where my grandfather lived, though my grandmother had died a little over a week before it opened. Vandervoorts closed in 1969, but from 1992 to 1997, the building was used for one of the largest independent bookstores in the nation, Library Ltd. I spent many hours in the bookstore. The building was demolished in 2008.

However, the photographs were taken long before 1951. I estimated their age to be about the same as they were in 1900 when they had a picture taken with my grandmother, shortly after she was born. When I pulled up that photograph on my computer to compare, to see if my judgment was correct, I chuckled.


They're identical. Outfits, and poses. The background, the cropping, and the colorization is all that is different. At some point in time I believe my grandmother had the photographs created from the original. I'm sure the process at the time was a little more difficult than Photoshop. But I am confident I have found the source of the photographs.

He should get a re-vote

Snoop Dogg is shocked by some DNA results taken for the Lopez Tonight show, which indicated he was 6% European, and 23% Native American.

"We got to have a re-vote, this ain't right," said the 38-year-old.

According to Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, in a Huffington Post article from back in December, the test the Lopez Tonight show is using is outdated, and often inaccurate. There is a newer test that is more accurate. So, Snoop Dogg ought to get his re-vote. (As should Larry David, from back in December.)

***

I'm not too interested in this test. Instead of testing your mt-DNA or Y chromosome origins, it tries to compute the percentages of nationalities in your personal genetic makeup. As I understand it, even if 100% accurate (which even the newer test isn't), it's not testing your ancestral heritage. Some may recall from genetics discussions in school that due to recessive and dominant genes, you might get more than half of your genes from your mother or father. It's not an even split. Over the generations, the difference is multiplied. Whole parts of your family tree may be missing in your genes, but present in your siblings or cousins, while they're missing other parts.

Some may be interested in knowing which parts they got, but if I am correct in my understanding, it doesn't really interest me.

Rock 'n Roll and Genealogy

Science Fiction author, Cory Doctorow, has an article in Locus Magazine - Close Enough for Rock n Roll. In it he presents an analogy I like a lot. Here are a few excerpts:

I say that "close enough for rock 'n' roll" means: "Rock 'n' roll's virtue is in its exuberance and its accessibility to would-be performers. If you want to play rock 'n' roll, you don't need to gather up a full orchestra and teach them all to read sheet music, drill them with a conductor and set them loose in a vaulted hall. Instead, you can gather two or three friends, teach them to play a I-IV-V progression in 4/4 time, and make some fantastic noise."

...

If the Internet has a motif, it is rock 'n' roll's Protestant Reformation thrashing against the orchestral One Church.

...

The interesting bit isn't what it costs to replicate some big, pre-Internet business or project.

The interesting bit is what it costs to do something half as well as some big, pre-Internet business or project.

***

Doctorow focuses for most of the article on the newspaper industry, but there are many applications, and its relevance to the Genealogy world is an obvious one.

The internet has revolutionized genealogy research. The online researcher can make some 'fantastic noise.' Because of this greater accessibility, more people are becoming enraptured by the sound. Many feel the results they get from the internet are 'close enough.'

However, the internet doesn't replace the sheer orchestral majesty of a row of microfilm cabinets at your local library, or the subtleties of interviewing the family elders. You're not going to break down as many brick walls playing just the "pajama game.'' And keep in mind: the quality of information on the internet is as variable as the quality of garage bands.

Google Storage Space

I have two gmail accounts, each with 7.4 GB of storage, and growing.

One form of backup I use on documents is mailing the document from one account to the other.

This works for most documents, but gmail does have a 25 MB limit on file size. When you are scanning documents at large resolutions, I've found it's not too difficult to go over 25 MB.

Google has announced that Google Documents will soon allow you 1 GB of additional storage space for files. (These files won't be converted into Google Doc, Spreadsheet, or Presentation format -- it's simply storage space.) And if you need more space, additional GB will be fairly inexpensive.

The file size limitation will be 250 MB.

****

We're happy to announce that over the next few weeks we will be rolling out the ability to upload, store and organize any type of file in Google Docs. With this change, you'll be able to upload and access your files from any computer -- all you need is an Internet connection.

Instead of emailing files to yourself, which is particularly difficult with large files, you can upload to Google Docs any file up to 250 MB. You'll have 1 GB of free storage for files you don't convert into one of the Google Docs formats (i.e. Google documents, spreadsheets, and presentations), and if you need more space, you can buy additional storage for $0.25 per GB per year. This makes it easy to backup more of your key files online, from large graphics and raw photos to unedited home videos taken on your smartphone. You might even be able to replace the USB drive you reserved for those files that are too big to send over email.

Tombstone Tuesday: Martin and Myrtle (Van Every) Deutsch

My maternal grandparents Martin and Myrtle (Van Every) Deutsch are buried in Memorial Park Cemetery

Myrtle Ethel Van Every was born on March 21, 1900 in Maxwell, Texas. Martin Deutsch was born on February 28, 1907 in Varalmas, Hungary. They met in St. Louis, Missouri in 1934, and were married on December 31, 1936.

I never knew my grandmother, as Myrtle died on September 11, 1951, from colon cancer - 18 years before I was born. My grandfather I knew well. Late into his life he kept in remarkable shape through lifting a set of 11 pound weights, which I have today. He was also a fan of technology, whether it was a Presto sandwich maker, the Commodore 64 he purchased for his grandkids in the 1980s, or an audio cassette recorder he took to Chicago with him in 1977 when he visited his brother and sister. He died on March 19, 1991, from colon cancer.

Martin and Myrtle on their Honeymoon (in Mexico) in 1937.

Weekly Genealogy Picks

(meant to post this yesterday, but several other things got in the way.)

Weekly Genealogy Picks -- January 3 to January 9
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere

First, in sad news, Hugh Watkins of Genealoge, passed away on December 29th. (his obituary) hat/tip (Everything's Relative)

In Personalized Genomics, Blaine Bettinger of The Genetic Genealogist, shares how a genetics test revealed a greater risk for Diabetes.

Schelly Talalay Dardashti of Tracing the Tribe shares some suggestions on Getting Relatives Involved.

Greta Koehl of Greta's Genealogy Bog, inspired by my Amanuensis Monday project, begins Transcription Tuesday.

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings shows that the Ancestry World Tree and the Rootsweb WorldConnect project are exactly the same database.

The January issue of Shades of the Departed - The Magazine has been released, with articles on New Years Resolutions, a look back at 1910, the preservation of old scrapbooks, and more.

Ancestry.com has improved their Wildcard Search flexibility dramatically.

Author, John Scalzi, on Whatever, writes of discovering an old 'hard floppy' with unknown data on it. A reminder that storage media outlast the devices we use to read them, and any important data (photographs, documents) need to be transferred to the newer storage mediums before the old devices disappear.

GovGab has an entry on why you might not want to eat at the airport on your next genealogy excursion.

Finally, here's a comic which could add a new word to a genealogist's vocabulary: circasize.

For other weekly lists visit:

• Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs at Genea-Musings
• Apple's Weekly Rewind at Apple's Tree

Amanuensis Monday: An Inventory of Cousins

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

I'm returning to transcribing the tape my grandfather, Martin Deutsch, his older brother, Ted, and their sister, Berta (Deutsch) Freed recorded in 1977. I'm 1 hour and 40 minutes into the tape, and at this point they're trying to remember the names of their uncles, aunts and cousins.

---

1:40:00

Martin: So I think we took care of Dad’s relatives about completely.
Ted: Mother’s father I remember him. He was married
Martin: Before we go here, Dad was married with a first wife.
Ted: That’s right.
Martin: Do you have any recollection of that?
Ted: I don’t remember – I wasn’t there. But I do remember his daughter.
Martin: He did have a daughter by his first wife
Ted: By his first wife, who was a step-sister to us, and she lived in Italmas.
Martin: She lived in Italmas?
Ted: And Dad took me many times to visit them. They lived
Martin: That was the one daughter he had by his first wife, she died.
Ted: She had several kids, which I don’t recall how many
Bert: Six, father used to say six.
Ted: And she had a husband, they lived next to the river in Italmas. 'It' means river in Deutsch, so they lived next to a river, and that’s how I remember.
Martin: I guess we lost track of them, between two wars
Ted: We tried to get her to come out
Martin: She didn’t want to come out?
Ted: She didn’t want to come out, and then we lost track of her all together
Martin: Which is understandable. Then you say, mother’s
Ted: Mother’s grandfather and father lived in Margaritta
Martin: Margitta. M A R G I T TA, is the way I envision spelling
Ted: I understand the Romanians changed it to Margarita, I’ve seen that on a map since the war, and he was married to Zally
Martin: Zally was his wife’s name?
Ted: His name was Lichtmann
Martin: Lichtmann. L I C H T MA N N, would you say that, double N ending?
Ted: L I CH T M A N
Martin: One N?
Ted: Maybe two.
Martin: Anyway, LICHTMAN is the name, now she had brothers and sisters.
Ted: That’s right, she had brothers here in New York
Martin: She had one brother?
Ted: Mother had a brother named…Hungarian name was Yonas, no Yeno
Martin: That was yours
Ted: YENO , and he lived in New York

1:45:00

Martin: In English he changed it to James?
Ted: I don’t know.
Bert: I was in New York, and they lived in…
Martin: In what year would you say you were there?
Bert: About ’34.
Martin: 1934, and stayed with them? So that you got acquainted with the family.
Bert: I got acquainted with the whole family, they’re a lovely family
Martin: How many kids did they have?
Bert: They had two boys, one was George and the other I can’t remember the older boy’s name
Martin: George was one of them, you can’t remember the older boy. Anyway, you lost track of them in the meantime. You haven’t had any connection.
Ted: I haven’t had any connection with them.
Bert: After Uncle James died, we didn’t hear from them. They moved away and we didn’t hear from them.
Ted: The last I heard the two boys were, one of them was living in Washington, employed by the government. I don’t know in what capacity. One of them called me, I would say at least ten years ago when he was passing through Chicago
Martin: Oh, is that right?
Ted: He called me, and I tried to see him, but I was involved in something and I couldn’t see him that day. And I just talked with him over the phone.
Martin: So you never did meet him?
Ted: I never got any details of where he lived, what he was doing, matter of fact I asked him to come and have lunch the next day, but he said he had to go home today.
Martin: He might have been the one working for the government.
Ted: I imagine it could be, I don’t remember which one it was.
Martin: Well to get back to the other mother’s relatives. Of course we knew of Bert Gold who lived in Racine. As matter of fact her husband, she died long ago, but her husband just died not too long ago, four or five years, in his nineties.
Ted: About 92
Martin: 92 years old when he died. And of course he had…they had children. Emilie Fox, is one of them. Albert and Bill. Bill died in Arizona I understand, he moved out there and married, but he died in Arizona. Albert is still in Racine, I think carrying on with the old business if I’m not mistaken.
Ted: No, he’s in another kind of business
Martin. He’s not selling clothes?
Ted: No.
Martin: And Emilie Fox is down in Lincoln, Illinois. Now, that’s…Of course Mother stayed with Bert Gold in I guess Racine at the time.
Ted: That’s right
Martin: When she was here for a year trying to earn a few dollars to bring us all over. OK, that’s one family. Now, who else? There were a lot of families.

---

Transcribing this section, I realized the notes I took originally listening to the tape were incorrect. I had written down that my great grandfather, Samuel Deutsch, and his first unknown wife had six children. Actually, they had one daughter, and that daughter had six children, all of whom remained in Transylvania. Without any married names to go on, the odds are low on tracking what happened to them, but possibly the vital records will someday be discovered.

It's interesting how many of the 'facts' from this tape contradict other information I have. All three seem to remember 'Zally' as the name of their maternal grandfather, Israel Lichtman's second wife, or at least there is no argument. It's possible that was her Hungarian name, or a nickname derived from her Hungarian name. Other family notes I have say her name was Sara Jonas. Their mother, Helen (Lichtman) Deutsch was the only child of Israel and his first wife, 'Betty' Adler. All the siblings of Helen mentioned are half-siblings.

Yeno Lichtman actually went by the English name Eugene, not James. I have photographs of him and his family, with their names labeled on the back. Though it is also possible he used both names at different times. His two sons were Joe (not George) and Israel.

The current Romanian spelling of the Hungarian town, Margitta, is Marghita. Though the name does appear to derive from "Saint Margaret." I am unable to find 'Italmas," on a map, though I may not be hearing the name of the town correctly. According to online dictionaries, the German words for river are 'fluss' and 'strom.'

There are 30 minutes left of the tape to transcribe.

Re-Defining Friendships

Almost anyone on Facebook (or other online 'social networks') goes through the same decision making process. Do we or do we not ‘accept’ a Friend request from someone we barely know? The former high school classmate who never spoke to you once in those four years? The colleague who works in a different department, and you think you might know who they are, but you aren’t sure? The ‘Friend’ of a ‘Friend’ who liked the comment you made on one of your friend’s posts? The complete stranger who came across your blog, liked what they read?

As a member of the genealogy-blogging community, I’ve received scores of friend requests from fellow genealogists. I’ve accepted all of them.

And then there is the next issue. At what point do you end one of these new ‘friendships.’ Is there anything that would cause me to defriend someone?

I reached that point today.

It wasn’t because they were filling my newsfeed with silly game statuses. I long ago learned how to hide those.

It was because of a racist comment they made. The comment was also political, but the politics didn’t matter to me. I have ‘real world’ friends who have diametrically opposed political views. I’ve had a couple political discussions with some Facebook friends who are otherwise unknown to me – and I haven’t defriended them because they have opinions that differ from mine. But I won’t tolerate racism.

This is where the party ends.

It’s likely they will recognize themselves, as I suspect Facebook notifies you when you have been defriended, and I suspect they read my blog.

They'll probably insist what they said wasn’t racist, or that I’m over-reacting. That’s OK with me. They are entitled to believe what they want to believe. But, to me, what they said was racist, and since I don’t really know them, I see no reason I need to keep them on my list of ‘friends.’

The Usefulness of a Library Card

Amy Coffin at WeTree, with the support of GeneaBloggers, are collectively providing a weekly challenge this year they are calling 52 Weeks to a Better Genealogy.

Week 1: Go to your local public library branch. Make a note of the genealogy books in the collection that may help you gain research knowledge. Don’t forget to check the shelves in both the non-fiction section and the reference section. If you do not already have a library card, take the time to get one. If you have a genealogy blog, write about what you find in your library’s genealogy collection.

Monday morning of Week 1, and I was home, sick. The rest of this week it's been close to zero degrees Fahrenheit outside. Heading to the library after work hasn’t appealed much. I preferred, for example, letting my cat curl up on my lap as I re-watched the Doctor Who End of Time episode.

But I have a library card, so I can go to my local library (St. Louis County Library) in the comfort of my living room. There are a few databases I could access only if I went to the physical library (Ancestry and Footnote being the two chief ones of interest to me.) But many others don’t have this restriction. All you need is a library card number.

• HeritageQuest Online
• Sanborn Maps for Missouri and Illinois
• Gale Virtual Reference Library (Encyclopedia, almanacs, and specialized reference sources)
• Oxford English Dictionary
• Oxford Reference (Dictionaries for Literature, Classics, Folklore, Mythology and Languages)
• World Book Encyclopedia
• St. Louis Post Dispatch 1988 to present
• St. Louis Post Dispatch 1874-1922
• Christian Science Monitor 1988 to present
• New York Times 1851-2004
• New York Times 1995 – Present
• USA Today 1997 to Present
• Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition 1984 to Present
• Washington Post 1987 to present
• NewspaperArchive
• 19th Century African American Newspapers
• Charleston Mercury, New York Herald, and Richmond Enquirer (1860-1865)
• Ethnic NewsWatch
• Factiva
• Informe (Hispanic newspapers and magazines)
• InfoTrac Custom Newspapers
• NewspaperDirect Press Display
• Nineteenth Century US Newspapers

I’m leaving a lot off the list. But I’ve focused on those of interest to those researching genealogy and history. There are databases for science, government, health, and more. You may be able to find similar resources elsewhere on the internet, but it's all available in one location.

The St. Louis area has three library systems - City, County, and several municipalities in the County went rogue and developed the Municipal Library Consortium. However, along with neighboring St. Charles, they have formed a "reciprocal lending" program with each other, so if you reside in any of them, you can get a library card for any of the others, for free. (I actually reside in a district in the Municipal Library Consortium. I have only three library cards, as I haven't investigated the offerings in St. Charles yet.)

Note: I would be remiss if I failed to mention that while not accessible from home, the St. Louis County Library has housed the National Genealogical Society Collection since 2001. It comprises over 20,000 volumes. All of the 20,000 volumes are available through Inter-Library Loan, if you happen not to live in the St. Louis area.

Volunteerism

Volunteerism.

It’s something that ‘runs’ in the family for me. Especially where it merges with community service.

All four of my great grandfathers were members of fraternal organizations where community service was encouraged. Barney Newmark and Melvin Van Every were Masons, Herman Feinstein was also a Mason, but more specifically a Shriner, and Samuel Deutsch was a member of the Progressive Order of the West.

My great great grandfather, Selig Feinstein, was active in both the Chesed Shel Emeth Society and the Tiphereth Zion Talmud Torah Hebrew Free School. It appears he encouraged his children at young ages to help out – for example, his daughter Rose held lemonade stands to raise money for the Post Dispatch Pure Milk and Free Ice Fund.

I have been a member since 1992 of a local 'fraternal-type' organization active in community service. Not everyone looks at STARFLEET chapters the same as Masons or The Elks, but the activities are likely strikingly similar. I've answered phones at local telethons, donned clown makeup and walked for a local Children's charity, made sandwiches for a local homeless shelter, and participated in the Overseas Coupon Program, providing much needed assistance to service personnel overseas. Additionally my career is as a grant writer for a local non-profit. Though it’s no longer volunteerism when you get paid for it.

The upcoming edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is on Volunteerism with regard to Genealogy. In the spring and summer of 2008 I was briefly a volunteer at Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. What is RAOGK? Why did I become involved? Why did I stop? Will I do it again? Excellent questions. Answers follow.

What is RAOGK?

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness is a network of volunteers who have agreed to take photographs of tombstones, or look up obituaries or public records, charging only copy, and occasionally travel, fees. Often charging neither. The website divides all the volunteers by locality. In the United States, you first select a state, and then choose a county. (If you're looking for assistance with public records, don't neglect to look up the county where the state capitol is located. As someone might be willing to look up state records.)

Why Did I Become Involved?

After receiving some significant assistance through RAOGK, I naturally had the desire to return the favor. I looked at the St. Louis list of volunteers, and noticed that while there were several people offering to photograph tombstones, there was no one offering (at the time) to look up obituaries or public records. I submitted my name.

Why Did I Stop?

The requests came fast and furious. I was the only one, so everyone came to me. I had volunteered to look up not only obituaries, but also do simple searches in the extensive microfilm collection at the library. It wasn't long before I developed a backlog of requests. Swamped, I took my name down so I wouldn't get any more as I filled the ones I had. I didn't put my name back up.

Will I Do it Again?

Probably. I enjoyed doing it; it was just time consuming. Now that there are others doing it, I might be able to keep up with the requests. I might also restrict my services at first, perhaps only looking up obituaries, and see if the amount of requests I receive is manageable.

The St. Louis County Library staff will of course look up obituaries too (and other records)...and they charge only minimal fees.

Final Note

If you live in the St. Louis area, and are interested in joining the local chapter of STARFLEET, or would like more information, send me an email. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations!

[Image is a modified World War I poster.]

St. Louis Public Library - Central - to close

The St. Louis Public Library - Central will close in mid to late 2010. This isn't due to the economy. On the contrary, it is a huge renovation, and they hope to re-open in 2012 on the building's 100th anniversary. (The news article says 200th, but the building was built in 1912, and I think that's only 100.)

This is the City library system, and the building is located on 14th and Olive. It's within walking distance of where I work, but I don't do a lot of research there. I've done some, when I've found through WorldCat that they have a book I want, but it hasn't been often. While the building is beautifully constructed, and a pleasure to behold, I am personally most grateful for their online index of the St. Louis Post Dispatch obituaries.

In all the detailed changes, a couple paragraphs stood out

The library will also add a stationary computer lab, a laptop checkout station, and the entire building will offer wireless internet connection.

Excellent! The stationary computer lab and wireless internet connection are almost essential for any major library renovation today, in my opinion. But the laptop checkout station is a brilliant addition. While I have my own laptop the majority of patrons will not.

Also, many of the library’s collections will be digitized, says McDonald, including special collections of photos from the 1896 tornado, photos of the Muny, of St. Louis neighborhood and glass plate negatives from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Thunderous applause.

Here's a video about the history of the library and plans for renovation

87th Carnival of Genealogy has been posted

The 87th Carnival of Genealogy has been posted at CreativeGene with 65 submissions of New Year plans and resolutions. Jasia has also announced several changes to the structure of the carnival. I agree with her that the changes aren't major, and should actually improve the quality of the carnival.

The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: Volunteerism! Here's a chance to toot your horn about whatever genealogy projects, organizations, or events you voluntarily give your time and efforts to. What do you get out of volunteering? How did you decide what to volunteer for? How much time each month do you spend volunteering for genealogy projects/organizations/events? Is there an organization or project you'd like to recommend to others? Tell us all about it! The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2010.

Visit CreativeGene for more information.

Amanuensis Monday: Return to the Race Riot on July 2, 1917

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.

Back in April I blogged about the Race Riot in East St. Louis on July 2, 1917. It may be the deadliest in the nation's history. According to sources I've read, the riot occurred on Collinsville Avenue between Broadway and Illinois Avenue. In April, I noted that my great grandmother had two brothers who lived in the area. I wondered:

So where were my great grandmother's brothers during the riot? I don't know. Only a generation removed from European pogroms, it's hard to believe they did anything truly regretful. There are no family stories I have heard, and their names aren't mentioned in any of the online sources I searched.

I didn't expect to find out the answer. But for one of the brothers, I did, in the St. Louis Post Dispatch 1874-1922 archives. He's actually mentioned in some of the sources I read back in April. Just not by name.

---

St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 19, 1917, page 2.

STATE ATTACKS ALIBI OF RACE RIOT CASE DEFENDANT
Draws From Henry Robinson Denial of Statements Made at Coroner’s Request

Harry Robinson’s alibi, in his trial with John Dow and Charles Hanna on the charge of murder in the East St. Louis race riot of July 2, was attacked by the prosecution in the Belleville circuit court today, by comparing it with the record of Robinson’s testimony at the coroner’s inquest.



The inquest testimony is not an official record, as the testimony was not taken verbatim by the stenographer, but was summarized. If Robinson had not taken the witness stand himself, the summarized record of his statement to the coroner could not have been placed before the jury.



His employer, Ben Cruvant, and Mrs. Cruvant, testified that Robinson was working in Cruvant’s shoe shop until noon July 2. This covered the time between 10 and 11 am., in which according to the State’s testimony, Robinson was holding up a pawnbroker and looting his shop of revolvers.



Robinson was asked, on cross-examination, if he had not said at the inquest that he was in front of the pawnshop when it was entered and that he saw the mob’s acts in the street during the morning. He made a general denial of his answers as summarized in the Coroner’s record.



Here are a few relevant quotes I've found from other sources:



"In the heat of the riot on Collinsville Avenue at about 1.15 o’clock p.m., July 2, 1917, while the mob were taking negroes from street cars and beating and shooting them a stray bullet, which had been fired at a negro boy, struck and killed a retired merchant, a white man named William Keyser."

Source: Biennial report and opinions of the Attorney General of the State of Illinois, 1918, p. 18.



“Harry Robinson, 21 year old shoe repairer, who was tried for the murder of William Keyser, a white man, but concerning whose guilt the jury was unable to agree, was taken to Chester yesterday to begin serving his five year sentence for conspiracy to which charge he pleaded guilty.”

Source: St. Louis Globe Democrat, October 31, 1917

---

The name of a relative can turn up in some of the unlikeliest of places. My great great uncle probably remained in his shoe shop throughout the afternoon, even if his employee left at noon. As long as it was true, his testifying on behalf of his employee can only be looked at positively, even if his employee turned out to be guilty of other crimes.



Mrs. Cruvant would have been Dora, née Goldstein, who Ben had married in 1912.

---

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 Genealogy Picks

Weekly Genealogy Picks -- December 27 to January 2
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere

• A 90-year old Tampa, Florida woman refuses to return Davy Crockett's marriage license to Tennessee officials. (hat/tip: Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter)

• Also in Tampa, New Years Eve, a set of twins were born on opposite sides of midnight. (Some newspapers, such as the New York Daily News have chosen the sensationalistic and grammatically incorrect headline announcing the kids were born a decade apart. They were born in separate decades, but not a decade apart.)

• The St. Elmo Historical Society needed to raise some money, so they came up with a calender they called "Naughty, but nice." "It features 13 color shots of everybody from the city veterinarian to the local newspaper owner to a waitress with a seductive smile posing in the altogether. Strategically arranged props, ranging from an impressively sized bolt-action rifle to a golden retriever (which even appears to be smiling), cover the truly naughty bits, although readers' imaginations are given free rein." The Post Dispatch article shares a 'recreation' of the photo of the veterinarian and the golden retriever.

• The Library of Congress and the Internet Archive have put 60,000 books online. Many of a historical or genealogical nature.

• Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak writes about Annie Moore, the first Ellis Island Immigrant, for The Huffington Post.

• Missouri Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, talks about the Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative

• You still have the rest of today to enter the Data Backup Weekend Contest over at GeneaBloggers.

• Mark Tucker at ThinkGenealogy writes about the new social networking site, FourSquare, and how genealogists might use it.

• Craig Manson at GeneaBlogie concludes his mock courtroom argument on certification.

For other weekly lists visit:

• Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak's Genealogical Round-up at RootsWorld
• Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs at Genea-Musings
• Apple's Weekly Rewind at Apple's Tree

Finally, while it isn't genealogically related, I thought author Neil Gaiman had a great New Years Benediction

Repeat: Missouri Digitial Heritage

The below originally appeared on May 6, 2009. (some minor revisions have been made, and an addendum included.)

---

Through the Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative, the Missouri State Archives and the Missouri State Library, in partnership with the State Historical Society of Missouri, are assisting institutions across the state in digitizing their records and placing them online for easy access. We invite you to explore our website and to join with us in celebrating our collective past.

While the Missouri Death Certificate collection is perhaps the best known part of this collection, there is a whole lot more there. Following is a sample of some of the things you will find there of genealogical or historical interest

We will start with collections housed at the Missouri State Archives:

• Missouri Census Schedules from 1830-1930

Index to federal and state census records, 1830-1930, available on microfilm at the Missouri State Archives.

• Missouri Birth & Death Records Database Pre-1910

Abstracts of Missouri birth, stillbirth, and death records recorded before 1910.

• Missouri Death Certificates (1910-1958)

Index of death certificates, linked to digital images of the original death certificate. Updated annually.

• Missouri Judicial Records

These historic probate records offer insight into the lives of Missourians through wills, inventories, settlements, and guardianship records. Circuit court cases provide a wealth of information on everything from the fur trade to the Civil War, steamboats to McCormick Reapers, and agriculture to urbanization.

• Missouri Coroner's Inquest Database

Index of coroner records from seven Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis, dates range from 1842 to 1932.

• Missouri Local Records Inventory Database

This database, produced by the Missouri Local Records Preservation Program, is a compilation of inventories of local government records identified as having permanent or enduring value and housed primarily in county and municipal offices, but includes some libraries, museums, and historical and genealogical societies that maintain government records. Not all Missouri offices have been inventoried. This database is being updated periodically as additional inventories are completed.

• Missouri Naturalization Records Database (1816-1955)

Abstracts of citizenship records from 22 Missouri counties.

• Missouri Soldier's Database: War of 1812 - WWI

Database abstracted from the service cards of over 576,000 Missourians who served in twelve wars and military engagements. Includes those in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I, as well as the Heatherly War (1836), the Mormon War (1838), and the Iowa (Honey) War (1839). Over 380,000 of the records are for Civil War soldiers.

• Missouri County & Municipal Records on Microfilm

Listing of microfilm reels, by county, office, and municipality, held by the Missouri State Archives.

• Missouri Mormon War

Gateway to state records concerning the Missouri-Mormon conflict, 1838-1841. Includes finding aids and some digitized records.

The Digital Heritage collections also includes links to collections elsewhere that have been ‘contributed’ by outside sources.

• University of Missouri Libraries Electronic Books

Contributed by: University of Missouri Libraries
Electronic books from University of Missouri Digital library. [Includes St. Louis Social Registers of 1916, 1922. 1924 and 1925, Missouri Plat books from 1930, Sanborn Maps, and more]

• Dred Scott Case

Contributed by: Washington University Libraries

Collection of one hundred and eleven documents, over 400 pages of full-text searchable resource that represents the full case history of the Dred Scott Case.

• Ozarks Digital Library - Greene County Missouri, Records

Contributed by: Springfield-Greene County Library District

Collection of full text indexes and abstracts to records including circuit court record books, coroner's records, alms house records, justice of the peace records and others.

• Polk City Directories 1859-1925, Hannibal, MO

Contributed by: Hannibal Free Public Library

Polk City Directories 1859 - 1925.

• Blue Springs Historical Society Archives Photograph Collection

Contributed by: Blue Springs Historical Society

Historical photograph collection depicting life in Blue Springs, Missouri.

• 1948 Presidential Campaign

Contributed by: Harry S. Truman Library & Museum

Collection of 90 documents of President Truman's 1948 Presidential Campaign covering years 1946-1968

This is still a small sampling, but should give an idea of the diverse materials available through this collection. I am hopeful that the initiative, the brainchild of our current Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, will continue expanding unabated if in 2010 she wins her Senate campaign.

---

On December 28th, the Democrat News, the local paper for Fredericktown, Missouri published a column written by Robin Carnahan: Discover Your Family History with Missouri's Digital Heritage.

Excerpts:

The holiday season is a great time to reconnect with family and reminisce about the past. At the Secretary of State’s office, we’ve created a tool Missourians can use to piece together their family history and explore the shared history of our state.

In April of 2008, my office launched the Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative, which provides thousands of documents online, including photographs, newspapers and manuscripts from Missouri’s past. In fewer than 20 months, www.MissouriDigitalHeritage.com has received more than 95 million hits from people all across Missouri and the world.

[...]

Because of the vast resources it provides, the website has been recognized nationally by two different magazines as one of the best sources for historical and genealogical research provided by any state. This year, Ancestry Magazine named the Missouri Digital Heritage website one of the top-five state websites for online genealogical records. Also, Family Tree Magazine, America’s largest-circulation genealogy magazine, named the site one of the top-10 websites for local searches.

As you visit with your families in the coming weeks, I encourage you to use the Missouri Digital Heritage website to find interesting stories about your family and our state. Maybe you can show your kids their great grandfather’s military record or look up a map of your hometown from the early 1900s. Whether your family has lived in Missouri for generations or you recently moved to our great state, I’m sure you’ll be able to discover something new by using this resource.

My Ahnentafel/Ahnenliste

I've been actively blogging about family history for two and a half years (has it really been that long?); I figured it was time I posted a list of ancestors. I have chosen to use the ahnentafel numbering system. (**)

Below I include names, and the best information I have found so far on years of birth and death, and place of birth. (I've obscured the information for all living individuals)

On their first appearance, I have linked surnames to their respective category labels for relevant blog posts (even if the labels haven't been used yet, they may be at some point), and I have added links to individual memorials on Find a Grave (FGM) where they exist.

While I can only carry the Newmark surname back six generations, I include the numbers for successive generations as a placeholder for the beginning of each generation. Inversely, I can carry my Cruvant ancestors back a few more generations, but I have promised not to share online the research given to me by a cousin, and I wouldn't know those names without her help.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who thinks they are a cousin.

---

For those unfamiliar with the ahnentafel numbering system, the number for X's father is 2X, and X's mother is 2X+1. 

1. Me, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
2. Dad, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
3. Mom, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

4. Melvin Lester Newmark, 1912-1992, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (FGM)
5. Belle Feinstein, 1914-2002, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (FGM)
6. Martin Joel Deutsch, 1907-1991, Varalmas, Hungary (FGM)
7. Myrtle Ethel Van Every, 1900-1951, Maxwell, Texas, USA (FGM)

8. Barnet Newmark, 1886-1956, Warka, Poland (FGM)
9. Bertha Cruvant, 1886-1978, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (FGM)
10. Herman Max Feinstein, 1886-1963, Volhynia, Ukraine (FGM)
11. Anna Blatt, 1889-1965, Poland (FGM)
12. Samuel Deutsch, 1861-1938, Hungary (FGM)
13. Helen Lichtmann, 1881-1958, Margitta, Hungary (FGM)
14. Melvin Elijah Van Every, 1863-1929, Middleville, Michigan, USA (FGM)
15. Margaret Jane McAlpin Monteroy Denyer, 1868-1923, Kyle, Texas, USA (FGM)

16. Samuel Joseph Newmark, 1862-1940, Poland (FGM)
17. Rose Cantkert, 1865-1943, Poland (FGM)
18. Moshe Leyb Cruvant, 1857-1911, Lithuania (FGM)
19. Minnie Mojsabovski, 1863-1924, Lithuania (FGM)
20. Selig Dudelsack, 1860-1915, Ukraine (FGM)
21. Anna Perlik, 1868-1932, Ukraine (FGM)
22. Morris Blatt, 1862-1926, Poland (FGM)
23. Belle Wyman, ?-1892, Poland
24. Abraham Deutsch, Hungary
25. Sarah Weiss, Hungary
26. Israel Lichtmann, Hungary
27. Betty Adler, Hungary
28. Samuel Van Every, 1820-1888, Brant, Ontario, Canada (FGM)
29. Abigail Stuart, 1825-1866, Welland, Ontario, Canada (FGM)
30. Ebenezer Ophan Denyer, 1828-1872, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA
31. Sarah Ann Hartley, 1836-1898, Mississippi, USA

32. Israel David Neimark, Poland
33. Leah, Poland
34. Hirsch Cantkert, Poland
35. Bryna, Poland
40. Samuel Zvi Dudelsack, Poland
41. Gitel Slupsky, 1846-1906, Poland (FGM)
42. Isaac Wolf Perlik, Poland
43. Freida Lipman, Poland
56. Andrew David Van Every, 1798-1873, Ontario, Canada (FGM)
57. Nancy Lucinda Van Sellas, 1799-1880, Ontario, Canada (FGM)
58. Elihu Stuart, 1788-1826, Canada
59. Johanna Swayze, 1796-1854, Ontario, Canada
60. William Denyer, 1794-1848 Hampshire, England
61. Elizabeth Sliver, 1798-1840, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA
62. George W. Hartley
63. Eliza Beasley (?)
64.
112. David Van Every, 1757-1820, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA (FGM)
113. Sarah Showers, 1762-1795, Pennsylvania, USA
118. Israel Swayze, 1753-1844, Warren, New Jersey, USA
119. Abigail Coleman, 1757-1843, Warren, New Jersey, USA
120. William Denyer, 1770-?, England
121. Jane Goldfinch, 1770-?, England
122. John Sliver
123. Barbara Fretz, 1775-1840, Pennsylvania, USA

128.
224. McGregor Van Every, 1723-1786, New York, USA (FGM)
225. Mary Jaycocks, 1736-1786, New York, USA
226. Michael Schauers, 1733-1796, New York, USA
227. Hannah Van Tock, 1740-1825, New York, USA
236. Israel Swayze, 1720-1774, Southold, New York, USA
237. Mary Pitney, 1720-1754, New Jersey, USA
246. Mark Fretz, 1750-1840, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA
247. Elizabeth Rosenberger, 1752-1847, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA
256.
448. Martin Van Iveren, 1685-1760, Kingston, New York, USA
449. Judith Holmes, 1694-?, New York, USA
452. Adam Schauers, 1701-1762, Baden, Germany
453. Maria Fritz, Germany
454. John Van Tock, 1714-?, New York, USA
455. Hannah Pierce
472. Judge Samuel Swayze, 1688-1759, Southold, New York, USA
473. Penelope Horton, 1690-1746, Cutchogue, New York, USA
492. John "Weaver" Fretz, 1704-1772, Baden, Germany
494. Henry Rosenberger, 1725-1809, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
495. Barbara Oberholtzer, 1726-1775, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA

512.
896. Burger Van Iveren, 1660-1762, Albany, New York, USA
897. Elizabeth Meyer
898. William Holmes
899. Lysbeth Wipp
904. Michael Schauers, 1679-1710, Baden, Germany
905. Anna Schauerin, 1679-1734, Baden, Germany
944. Joseph Swayze, 1653-1717, Suffolk, New York, USA
945. Mary Betts, 1654-1734, Queens, New York, USA
946. Barnabas Horton, Cutchogue, New York, USA
947. Sarah Wines
984. Johannes Fretz, 1680-1729, Alsace, Germany
985. Ann Marie Gross, 1682-1714, Baden, Germany
988. Henry Rosenberger, ?-1745, Germany
990. Jacob Oberholtzer, Germany

1024.
1792. Myndert Fredericksen, 1636-1706, Everinghe, Holland (or Jever, Oldenburg)
1793. Cathalyn Burger, 1640- (before 1663)
1888. John Swayze, 1619-1706, Suffolk, England
1889. Katherine Kinge, 1625-1692, Essex, England
1890. Capt. Richard Betts, 1613-1713, Hertfordshire, England
1891. Joanna Chamberlain, 1620, 1711, Hertfordshire, England
1892. Caleb Horton, 1640-1702, Southold, NY
1893. Abigail Hallock, 1642-1697, Suffolk, NY

2048.
3584. Frederick Van Iveren, Everinghe, Holland (or Jever, Oldenburg)
3782. Richard Chamberlain, 1590-1639, Warwickshire, England
3783. Elizabeth Stoughton, 1600-1647, Suffolk, England
3784. Barnabas Horton, 1600-1680, Leicestershire, England (FGM)
3785. Mary Langdon, 1611-1698, England (FGM)

4096.
7566. Thomas Stoughton, 1557-1622, Suffolk, England
7567. Katherine __, England

Some descendancies online for some of the more distant ancestors

• A Brief History of John and Christian Fretz and a complete genealogical family register, Rev. Abraham James Fretz, 1890. (PDF - 41 MB) (Other Formats)

• A Brief History of John and Christian Fretz and a complete genealogical family register to the fourth generation with accounts and addresses delivered at the Fretz family reunions, Rev. Abraham James Fretz, 1904. (PDF - 9 MB) (Other Formats)

• Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Martin and Jacob Oberholtzer; Together with Historical and Biographical Sketches, Rev. Abraham James Fretz, 1903. (PDF - 7 MB) (Other Formats)

• A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Henry Rosenberger of Franconia, Montgomery Co. Pa; Together with Historical and Biographical Sketches, Rev. Abraham James Fretz, 1906. (PDF - 22 MB) (Other Formats) (GEDcom at WorldConnect)

• The Rosenberger Family of Montgomery County, Edward Mathews, 1892. (PDF - 3 MB) (Other Formats)

• Horton Genealogy; or Chronicles of the Descendants of Barnabas Horton, George F Horton, M.D., 1876. (PDF - 20 MB) (Other Formats)

• Descendants of Barnabas Horton

• Sweezey.com

• Some Descendants of Rev. Thomas Stoughton of County Kent, England

• Notable Descendants of the Immigrant Stoughton Siblings of Massachusetts, Gary Boyd Roberts, New England Historic Genealogical Society.

** Note: Some consider ahnenliste to be the more accurate German word when the numbers are presented in a list format, instead of a table.  However, English-speaking genealogists seem to have largely adopted the term 'ahnentafel' to refer to both 'table' and 'list' format.  "We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." - James D. Nicoll, 1990

Poems to Celebrate a New Year

To-Morrow
Edgar Guest

He was going to be all that a mortal should be
To-morrow.
No one should be kinder or braver than he
To-morrow.
A friend who was troubled and weary he knew,
Who'd be glad of a lift and who needed it, too;
On him he would call and see what he could do
To-morrow.

Each morning he stacked up the letters he'd write
To-morrow.
And thought of the folks he would fill with delight
To-morrow.
It was too bad, indeed, he was busy to-day,
And hadn't a minute to stop on his way;
More time he would have to give others, he'd say,
To-morrow.

The greatest of workers this man would have been
To-morrow.
The world would have known him, had he ever seen
To-morrow.
But the fact is he died and he faded from view,
And all that he left here when living was through
Was a mountain of things he intended to do
To-morrow.

Old Years and New
Edgar Guest

Old years and new years, all blended into one,
The best of what there is to be, the best of what is gone --
Let's bury all the failures in the dim and dusty past
And keep the smiles of friendship and laughter to the last.

Old years and new years, life's in the making still;
We haven't come to glory yet, but there's the hope we will;
The dead old year was twelve months long, but from it we're free,
And what's one year of good or bad to all the years to be?

Old years and new years, we need them one and all
To reach the dome of character and build its sheltering wall;
Past failures tried the souls of us, but if their tests we stood,
The sum of what we are to be may yet be counted good.

Auld Lang Syne (Modern English translation)
Robert Burns

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

Chorus

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,
Sin' auld lang syne.

Chorus

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.

Chorus

And there's a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.

Chorus