Lifespan Statistics Revisited, Again

Using my genealogy software, I first generated a lifespan report from six different family databases back in 2008 - Age is Relative, There is a lot of different data contained in the report, as can be seen in the original post, however for this post I am going to focus on average lifespan.

2008 Statistics

Note: The numbers of individuals given are for the entire database, and includes those for whom both birth and death aren't known. The average lifespans are calculated on a smaller number of individuals.

Full Database
695 males: Avg lifespan: 61
603 females: Avg lifespan: 62

"Direct Ancestors" Only
71 males: Avg lifespan: 67
58 females: Avg lifespan: 68

Descendants of Israel David Neimark  (died approx 1890)
55 males: Avg lifespan: 66
53 females: Avg lifespan: 74

Descendants of Me’er Kruvant (born before 1795)
116 males: Avg lifespan: 68
110 females: Avg lifespan: 70

Descendants of William Denyer (1794-1848)
121 males: Avg lifespan: 53
103 females: Avg lifespan: 61

Descendants of Andrew Van Every (1798-1873)
93 males: Avg lifespan: 49
82 females: Avg lifespan: 48

For each of the last four databases, the forebear is a 3rd great grandfather, so they are roughly equivalent in generation. I wondered at the causes of the apparent lower lifespans for my Denyer and Van Every lines. One possible cause included rural vs urban living. Another possible cause included sampling size. Did I just not have enough data? Perhaps, over time, as the database grew, the average lifespans for the different family branches would even out.

2009 Statistics

In 2009, my database had grown, so I generated some updated statistics in Database Size and Lifespan Revisited for the full database, and for one family in particular.

Full Database
1030 males: Avg lifespan: 60
921 females: Avg lifespan: 62

Kruvant Descendants (Me'er and his two brothers)
368 males: Avg lifespan: 58
367 females: Avg lifespan: 62

I discussed the dramatic drop in lifespan for the Kruvant family. It wasn't unsuspected, as I had just entered a large Register I had received from a cousin researcher including many Lithuanian cousins who 'died' in rather graphic ways between 1939-1942. Though one might point out that while the lifespan for that family dropped significantly, the result was pretty close to the full database. Was this really due entirely to the Holocaust, or did the simple growth of data play a role?

Current Statistics

I didn't consider this possibility back in 2009, but as my database has grown even more since then, I thought I would return to this topic, and I realized I needed to address it.

The only way to do that was to generate a separate Kruvant database, run the statistics report, remove from that database every victim of the Holocaust, and then run the statistics report again. While I was just deleting records, and in a database I had generated only for this purpose, the process was a little disturbing, as I clicked on names, and the software asked if I was sure I wanted to delete the individuals.

Full Kruvant Line
380 males: Avg lifespan: 58
374 females: Avg lifespan: 63

Edited Kruvant Line
355 males: Avg lifespan: 63
351 females: Avg lifespan: 69

It appears the Holocaust accounted for almost all of the drop in the lifespan for Kruvant females, but it was only part of the equation for the males.

Below are the current results for several other databases.

Full Database:
1471 males: Avg lifespan: 61
1341 females: Avg lifespan: 63

Ancestors:
79 males: Avg lifespan: 67
78 female: Avg lifespan: 67

Deutsch Line:
95 males: Avg lifespan: 66
80 females: Avg lifespan: 75

Denyer Line:
188 males: Avg lifespan: 57
180 females: Avg lifespan: 62

Van Every Line:
158 males: Avg lifespan: 53
134 females: Avg lifespan: 53

Newmark Line
114 males: Avg lifespan: 69
129 female: Avg lifespan: 73

Dudelczak Line
152 males: Avg lifespan: 63
146 females: Avg lifespan: 73

The average male lifespan for the Denyer descendants has improved with added data, whereas the average female lifespan hasn't by much. The averages for my Van Every line have also improved, but only slightly. While the data so far is sparse, my mother's paternal Deutsch family appears to be among the longer-lived in my tree.

Some people might wonder at why my full database hasn't grown more in six years of research.  My database could be huge, especially on my maternal line, if I added everything I found from Ancestry's Public Trees, WorldConnect, etc. Early on in my research I found at WorldConnect a 6795 individual database containing every individual from the genealogy: A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Henry Rosenberger of Franconia, Montgomery Co., Pa, Rev. A.J. Fretz, 1906. I downloaded the database, but I didn't merge it with my own. (Even if I trust Fretz's research, I have no way to know if the person who entered the data copied the data correctly from the book.) It would certainly have impacted my statistics greatly if I had:

Rosenberger Descent
3435 male: Avg lifespan: 33
3360 female: Avg lifespan: 32

I believe the low figures are due mostly to a very high infant mortality rate.

For some perspective I looked at two more databases.

First, I looked at my wife's database. I've only begun researching, and haven't entered all the data from a Register someone else produced. However, so far, it seems the women have a significantly higher lifespan than the men in her family.

Jen’s family
175 males: Avg lifespan: 59
165 females: Avg lifespan: 67

For another perspective, I looked at the Royal database provided with my genealogical software program, iFamily. The data goes back to the middle ages on some lines, so one would expect a lower average lifespan, which is the case.

Royal Database
1686 males: Avg lifespan: 49
1322 females: Avg lifespan: 52

In summary

Regardless of the reasons, whether they may be based on geography, time, genetics, or something else, different families have different average lifespans. The women in my separate family databases seem to have longer lifespans, which is what I have been told is the case in general. However, in my full database, the gender difference is much less. This makes me wonder if there are some branches of my family where the stats are reversed.

Database	Size (M/F)	Lifespan (M/F)
Full	695/603 1030/921 1471/1341	61/62 62/63 61/63
Ancestors	71/58 79/78	67/68 67/67
Newmark	55/53 114/129	66/74 69/73
Kruvant	116/110 368/367 380/374 355/351*	68/70 58/62 58/63 63/69*
Dudelczak	152/146	63/73
Deutsch	95/80	66/75
Denyer	121/103 188/180	53/61 57/62
Van Every	93/82 158/134	49/48 53/53
Jen’s Family	175/165	59/67
Rosenberger	3435/3360	33/32
Royal	1686/1322	49/52

Amanuensis Monday: December 20, 1876 - An untimely death

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, newspaper articles, 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.

I began this project back on February 16, 2009.  Since I began, many others have joined in on the meme. I am thrilled that this meme I started has inspired so many to transcribe their family history documents. Why do we transcribe? I provide my three reasons in the linked post. You may find others.

This week I look at a news clipping I found from the Missouri Republican, dated December 20, 1876, concerning a likely relative of my wife.

Amanuensis Monday: Jasper Fulkerson and the Wind Mill

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

Despite an absence of Amanuensis posts for awhile, I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, 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.

I began this project back on February 16, 2009.  Since I began, many others have joined in on the meme. I am thrilled that this meme I started has inspired so many to transcribe their family history documents. Why do we transcribe? I provide my three reasons in the linked post. You may find others.

***
This week I look at a newspaper article found at ChroniclingAmerica, mentioning a possible relative of my wife's.

The importance of handwriting

Being able to identify the author of a document can be very helpful. It can be almost impossible to identify the author of a typed document, but a handwritten document is a different story.

I've shared part of the following image before. I hypothesized it might have been copied from a family bible. In 1918 my great-grandmother used the bible's record of birth dates to prove to FBI agents when my great uncle, Sam, was born. (An ex-wife claimed Sam had lied about his age to avoid being drafted, among other accusations.) 

From the FBI Report: Mrs. Van Every then presented the family Bible with record of births that had been kept by her for many years, and this record shows that on January 15, 1886 a son was born and that his name is Samuel Opham Van Every, the record of this Bible has not been interfered with since the birth of this subject was recorded therein as it is in perfect condition and shows plainly that there has been no erasures of any nature.

In some letters that my great grandfather wrote to my grandmother, he indicated the bible had been lost in the 1920s. I used its one-time existence as a possible explanation for how the 1900 census taker was told that the children Abigal and Delbert were still alive. (This is actually a better explanation if the record in the bible only included dates of birth, and not death, as the FBI report might indicate.)

I have identified the handwriting on this document, as well as a date for when it was written. The handwriting above appears to be a perfect match to the document below, which my grandfather noted in 1965 was created by my grandmother circa 1940. Therefore it couldn't have been copied directly from the bible, but probably came from a combination of family knowledge, and research.

For example, I am fairly certain that the dates for her grandfather's birth and death came from Rev. Abraham Fretz's genealogy on the Fretz Family. The Fretz genealogy is mentioned in some letters that her sister, Minnie, wrote. I am disappointed that no one in the family seemed to remember when Sarah Hartley Denyer Foster died (approx 1898 according to testimony provided to The Dawes Commission in 1900). Minnie was only 12 then, but it means no one recorded the date, or the records had been lost. Of course, in 1940, the only living individuals in that top chart were my grandmother, and her two sisters, Minnie and Evelyn.

My great grandmother, Helen Lichtman Deutsch, lived until 1958. Samuel Deutsch lived until 1938. Knowing my grandmother drew my grandfather's chart circa 1940, when at least one of his parents was still around to answer questions, makes it more likely that the names for his ancestors are accurate. Samuel and Helen were the immigrants, and any records of their parents and grandparents currently lie undiscovered in Transylvania.

My Denyer Ancestors

I've blogged about my research on my Denyer ancestry before, but I thought I would create a summary post of what I have found so far.

Third Great Grandparents

Information on which I am fairly certain ends with my third great grandparents, William Denyer and Elizabeth Sliver. My third great grandather, William, was the immigrant, and he married Elizabeth Sliver in America. Most of my information about the two of them comes from the work of Rev. Abraham J. Fretz, in A Brief History of John and Christian Fretz and a Complete Genealogical Family Register, 1890. And the extent of the information provided about William was "He was born in the county of Southampton, Hampshire, England, November 22, 1794."

Fourth Great Grandparents

Most of my research and 'conclusions' on prior generations could be critiqued as "Cinderella Genealogy" - a term I created for a common fallacy among some family historians. If the shoe fits, the fairy tale Prince's reasoning went, it must belong Cinderella. Because, clearly, no one else in the kingdom wore the exact same size shoe. However, keeping my mind open to other alternatives, these look like the best matches.

Here's what I suspect is the marriage allegation for my fourth great grandparents, William and Jane Denyer.  According to Fretz, my second great grandfather, Ebenezer Denyer, had a sister named Jane Goldfinch, so a connection to the Goldfinch surname is likely. Farlington and Portsea are also both located in Hampshire.

Here are a list of baptisms from the Farlington Parish records. The parents for all of them, except Barnard Goldfinch Denyer, are listed as William and Jane. Barnard's parents are listed as William and Ann. I'm unsure if this is a clerical error or not. I suspect the William baptized in 1795 is my 3rd great grandfather, the immigrant. Baptisms several months after a birth aren't uncommon. FindMyPast indicates John Henry was baptized in 1796, which makes more sense, for if William and John Henry were twins, they likely would have been baptized together. All the public family trees on Ancestry.com that include William and Jane (Goldfinch) Denyer, include these children as theirs, so I am not alone in making this connection.

Absent documentation that the William Denyer who married Elizabeth Sliver was born in Farlington, and not elsewhere in Hampshire, this is supposition.

Fifth Great Grandparents

Here's a baptism record (from FindMyPast) for a William Denyer born in 1763, child of Richard and Elizabeth. 1763 is an unlikely birth year for the William Denyer who married Jane Goldfinch in 1791, as he was supposed to be 21 at the time of the marriage allegation. However, the text of the marriage allegation is a transcription. Someone born in 1763 could have been 27 in 1791, and a 27 could be mis-transcribed easily as a 21.

Here's a 1771 baptism transcription for a William Denyer, illegitiamate son of a William Denyer and Elizabeth Fyfield. This is a more likely possibility, if the marriage allegation is correctly transcribed.

The Farlington Parish burial records include three Denyers (Robert, Ann, and William - with William indicated as their son, and born in 1763) in April of 1807. Most of the public family trees at Ancestry indicate this William as Jane Goldfinch's husband. I haven't found a 1763 baptism for a William, son of Robert and Ann. None of the public family trees cite such a source. It's possible someone somewhere has found birth information for this William, perhaps from his death records, however, without any documentary evidence, I am uncertain this is the same William who married Jane Goldfinch.

It is entirely reasonable to believe there may have been two William Denyers of similar age living in Farlington at the same time. It's a fairly common name.

Onto Jane's parents

Here's a transcription of a 1766 baptism for a Jane Goldfinch, daughter of George and Jane. This is unlikely due to the year, since Jane was also supposed to be 21 in 1791, and neither 24 nor 25 are likely to be mis-transcribed as 21. Many online family trees identify Jane's parents as George and Jane, without any documentary evidence that it is the correct match. Goldfinch is another somewhat common surname.

I haven't found a baptism closer to 1770 for a Jane Goldfinch. However, I have found a Barnard Goldfinch of Portsea, who died in 1789, and whose will indicated he had an unmarried daughter named Jane. The marriage allegation above indicated Jane was from Portsea, not Widley.

One avenue of research I have considered is to try to research the history of ownership of the plot of land that is described in the will, and assigned to Jane. If I'm correct, it should have transferred from the Goldfinch to the Denyer family after William and Jane were married in 1791. Of course, it appears that William and Jane Goldfinch Denyer settled in Farlington, and not Portsea. So even if it was this Jane who inherited Barnard Goldfinch's land, it may not have been kept by her after the marriage. I have done a search for all the Denyers living in Portsea in the 1841 Census. There are a handful.

Memorial Day

A post for this weekend on what Memorial Day is for, besides barbecues.

The above image comes from the Memorial Day page at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, explaining that Memorial Day is a day for remembering those who died in the service of their country.  [Read the full text of the poem.]

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action. [source]

[More on the history of Memorial Day]


Unnamed Remains the Bravest Soldier - by Walt Whitman (From 'Specimen Days')

OF scenes like these, I say, who writes—whoe’er can write the story? Of many a score—aye, thousands, north and south, of unwrit heroes, unknown heroisms, incredible, impromptu, first-class desperations—who tells? No history ever—no poem sings, no music sounds, those bravest men of all—those deeds. No formal general’s report, nor book in the library, nor column in the paper, embalms the bravest, north or south, east or west. Unnamed, unknown, remain, and still remain, the bravest soldiers. Our manliest—our boys—our hardy darlings; no picture gives them. Likely, the typic one of them (standing, no doubt, for hundreds, thousands,) crawls aside to some bush-clump, or ferny tuft, on receiving his death-shot—there sheltering a little while, soaking roots, grass and soil, with red blood—the battle advances, retreats, flits from the scene, sweeps by—and there, haply with pain and suffering (yet less, far less, than is supposed,) the last lethargy winds like a serpent round him—the eyes glaze in death—none recks—perhaps the burial-squads, in truce, a week afterwards, search not the secluded spot—and there, at last, the Bravest Soldier crumbles in mother earth, unburied and unknown.

The cartoon above is by John T. McCutcheon - published circa 1900

Correction: These Sunken Gardens aren't those Sunken Gardens

A year ago I compared a photograph form the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair to a 1914 postcard of the construction of the St. Louis City Public Library headquarters.

I decided based on the similar design of the pathways and gardens, that the Sunken Gardens behind the library were likely the same Sunken Gardens from the Fair. (Actually, I didn't use the word likely. I should have hedged my bets.)

According to this map of the fairgrounds, the Sunken Gardens were in Forest Park. (Most of the fair was, and I should  have recalled this fact.) If you enlarge the image, you can see it in the center-left, by the northwest corner of the lagoon. Between the Liberal Arts building and the Mines and Metallurgy building. (D2)

The library has a new gallery of images from their construction, including this photo taken in 1908, indicating that their Sunken Gardens were created at the same time the library was built.

Researching Witnesses

Conducting a search at the St. Louis Genealogical Society database this weekend I found four transcriptions of Naturalization Index Cards of interest to my family history research.

Witnesses are there to testify that they know the individual. They might be neighbors, friends, colleagues, or even relatives.

In this case, it is the witnesses who are my relatives, and those in the naturalization process who are unknowns to me.  I am thankful that the database was set up so that the witnesses were indexed. That's not always the case.

I have a suspicion it is more likely they were friends, neighbors, or colleagues than relatives, so I'm not going to spend too much time on it. However, since these records date to 1900 and 1901, I'd like to at least see if I can match them up with someone in the 1900 census, and record that information for any future researcher who might wish to investigate more deeply.

I also want to positively identify which of my kin were the witnesses. The first step will be to find the microfilmed naturalization records at the local library, so I can see the signatures of the witnesses.

The names from the transcriptions appear to be:

• Morris Cruvand
• Ben Cruvand
• B. Cruvant

The most likely kin include:

• My great great grandfather, Moshe Leyb (Morris Louis) Cruvant
• Morris's son, Ben Cruvant.
• Morris's nephew, Ben Cruvand

Since multiple branches of the family settled on different spellings of the surname, it is very possible individuals weren't consistent throughout their life on their spelling of choice. But I have copies of signatures from other documents, so hopefully I will be able to match those up.

Ben Cruvant put down an 1883 birth year on his WWI Draft Card, which would imply he was only 17 in 1900. Witnesses most likely had to be at least 18, but that doesn't mean Ben didn't lie about his age in order to be a witness, or perhaps he lied on his draft card. His birth certificate hasn't been discovered in Lithuanian records.

Myrtle Van Every Deutsch (1900-1951)

For Mother's Day I decided to honor my maternal grandmother, Myrtle Van Every Deutsch. I've written a lot about her on this blog, transcribed several letters she wrote, and shared several photographs, but not all of the ones below.

I don't know the dates for all of the photographs.

• She was born in March of 1900, in Maxwell Texas, so the baby picture with her parents, Melvin and Margaret Denyer Van Every is fairly easy to estimate. 
• The photograph in the upper right hand corner was taken at the Grand Canyon, likely in the early 1920s. 
• The photograph with the horse, "Joe," was taken in the summer of 1919 - likely somewhere near El Paso, Texas.
• She is nine years old in the center-left photo. 
• The photograph center-right was also likely taken in the early 1920s. I think she was in Hollywood, as a caption indicated she was: looking for "the stars." 
• In the photo in the lower-left she is on her honeymoon with my grandfather, Martin Deutsch. The year was 1937, and I believe they were in Mexico.
• The photograph in the lower-right was taken in 1942, in St. Louis. 
• The photograph with her sisters, Minnie and Evelyn, was taken in 1947, in Texas.

Collages

Several have left favorable comments about the collage on my recent Sepia Saturday post.

I originally included the collage in a 2010 post on Alternatives to Scrapbooking. I'm not fond of cutting photographs into weird shapes or finding cute backgrounds, however, I do enjoy making digital collages. A commenter in 2010 suggested that the collage is closer to the original idea of scrapbooking than what it has morphed into today.

I also made the argument back in 2010 that a blog could fit the OED defintion of a scrapbook, with a little flexibility for technology:

"A blank book in which pictures, newspaper cuttings, and the like are pasted for preservation.”

Here are a few other collages I've previously created for this blog.

1) Honoring my paternal grandmother, Belle "Sissie" (Feinstein) Newmark (1914-2002)

 

(clockwise around the baby picture in the center: with her older brother, Ben; with her younger brother, Seymour; with Seymour and their parents, Herman and Annie; a newspaper article announcing her engagement; a high school graduation photo; two photographs with her husband, Melvin; and the final photograph was taken in 1995 with me.) 

 

2) Honoring all the (deceased) female ancestors for whom I have photographs

 

 

(l to r: Myrtle Vanevery Deutsch, Margaret Denyer Vanevery, Helen Lichtman Deutsch, Bertha Cruvant Newmark, Minnie Mojsabovski Cruvant, Rose Cantkert Newmark, Annie Blatt Feinstein, Sissie Feinstein Newmark)

 

3) Honoring all the (deceased) male ancestors for whom I have photographs

 

 

(l to r: Melvin Newmark, Barney Newmark, Herman Feinstein, Samuel Newmark, Moshe Leyb Cruvant, Morris Blatt, Martin Deutsch, Melvin Vanevery, Samuel Deutsch, Samuel Vanevery)

Sepia Saturday: Cancer and Cats

The theme photograph for this week's Sepia Saturday is to the left - a machine that dispensed lit cigarettes. I instantly thought of the collage I created several years ago containing a photograph from my paternal grandparents' honeymoon, a cigarette my grandmother probably received for her 17th birthday, and lines from both of their death certificates.

One would think with everything we know today about cigarettes, no one would smoke. But alas, that isn't the case.

On a lighter note, the theme picture features "Black Cat" cigarettes, so I also thought about this photograph of my maternal grandmother, and an unnamed companion:

While my wife and I both grew up in 'dog families,' we now have two black cats of our own.

May Day! May Day!

Holidays on May 1st

• May Day  which has its traditional origins in the Celtic holiday of Beltane and the Germanic holiday of Walpurgis Night.

• International Worker's Day [aka Labo(u)r Day] which has its origins in Chicago's Haymarket Affair. [Chicago Historical Society's Haymarket Affair Digital Collection]

• Loyalty Day - a holiday created in America in the 1950s to 'counter-balance' International Worker's Day.

• MayDay - "an initiative to protect cultural heritage from disasters." 

Note: the distress call "Mayday!" actually derives from the French words venez m'aider - meaning "come help me."

Data Backup Day: My Data Backup Plan

In the GeneaBloggers Community, the first day of every month is Data Backup Day.

For most of my backup needs, I rely on my Mac's Time Machine software, installed on an external hard drive. The software takes care of itself, every hour making an incremental backup of any and all changes, allowing me to go back in time an hour, day, week or month to see what my computer looked like then.

But there is still the slim possibility that my computer and external hard drive could be destroyed simultaneously. (A fire? I live in St. Louis, and know that it was a fire here in town that destroyed most of the 1890 census records.)

I store copies of several important files "in the cloud" using both Dropbox and Google Drive. I also have more than one Google Gmail account, and have mailed important documents to myself, storing copies in both email accounts.

Whatever means you use, it is important to have a plan, because otherwise it is too easy for important data to be lost in a computer crash.

[The image is a modified version of Winslow Homer's Blackboard (1877)]

Tombstone Tuesday: Seen in Southern Illinois

My wife and I explored Southern Illinois this weekend - stopping at several of the hiking paths and other sites along the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail. In the Alto Pass area, we spotted the below tombstone.

We had to stop to take a picture, but we didn't ask directions.

If anyone is interested in a similar exploration, I can recommend a bed and breakfast to spend the night. The accomodations at Von Jakob are very comfortable, the food is excellent, and they have a nice selection of wine, beer, and mead to taste.

A Year Ago Today

This is a picture of Jen and myself a year ago today, on April 22nd, 2012.

It's amazing how quickly a year goes by.

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.

Song of Solomon 2:16

Weekly Genealogy Picks - Changes

Using the "Share Page" at TheOldReader, I have simplified for me the process of sharing posts I find which I feel may be of interest to others.

Every post I share will appear here:

TransylvanianDutch Weekly/Daily Picks

• This page has an RSS feed, so you can subscribe to it and receive every post I share, when I share it.
• If you have a TheOldReader account, you can 'follow' it instead, and it will appear separately from your other subscriptions.
• Or you can bookmark the page and stop by whenever you wish and see my latest selections
• I have a list of the five most recent shared posts on the left sidebar, along with a link to the page.
• I can connect the page to Facebook, through a setting in TheOldReader, and it will be shared there as well. I'm not doing this, but it is an option.
• I will only be sharing items I think will be of interest in the same categories I was already sharing posts on this blog. TheOldReader has both a "Share" and a "Like" feature, so I have  a different method of bookmarking posts of personal interest to me.

Downsides:

• I will not be able to share anything that doesn't appear in an RSS feed to which I currently subscribe. This mostly means news articles.
• If you don't have a TheOldReader account, the page includes the full posts that are shared, so if you bookmark the page, you will probably have to scroll through posts you don't wish to read. (If you do have a TheOldReader account, and simply bookmark the page, the posts will appear in a collapsible format which will be easier to scroll through.)
• If you subscribe to the feed, you should be able to skip over posts in the same way you normally would with whatever news reader you use.
• Many of those who subscribe to the feed will see duplicate posts - the first one by the original blogger, and then my share of it. Mine may often include a line or two of commentary. 

Upsides:

• I think this will free up about an hour on my weekends I can spend actually conducting genealogy research, composing original content for this blog, or other activities.

If  you were utilizing my Calendar of Upcoming Holidays, you may find: The Interfaith Calendar of interest. That is where I was getting my list of religious holidays.

Two Poems for Today - April 19

The Midnight Ride of William Dawes - by Helen F Moore (1896)

I am a wandering, bitter shade,
Never of me was a hero made;
Poets have never sung my praise,
Nobody crowned my brow with bays;
And if you ask me the fatal cause,
I answer only, “My name was Dawes.”

‘Tis all very well for the children to hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere;
But why should my name be quite forgot,
Who rode as boldly and well, God wot?
Why should I ask? The reason is clear –
My name was Dawes and his Revere.

When the lights from the old North Church flashed out,
Paul Revere was waiting about,
But I was already on my way.
The shadows of night fell cold and gray
As I rode, with never a break or a pause;
But what was the use, when my name was Dawes!

History rings with his silvery name;
Closed to me are the portals of fame.
Had he been Dawes and I Revere,
No one had heard of him, I fear.
No one has heard of me because
He was Revere and I was Dawes.

***
Excerpt from Campo dei Fiori, by Czeslaw Milosz (1943)

I thought of the Campo dei Fiori
In Warsaw by the sky-carousel
One clear spring evening
To the strains of a carnival tune.
The bright melody drowned
The salvos from the ghetto wall,
And couples were flying
High in the cloudless sky.

(full poem)

April 19th is filled with historical events. 

Many Americans think of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.  (Some erroneously place it on April 18th, but it was a midnight ride. The battles took place the next day.)

But this is also the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. The most recent edition of Tablet Magazine was devoted to Warsaw, including a haunting look at repurposed gravestones.

Note: According to this source William Dawes, who rode with Revere, was related to Henry L Dawes, for whom The Dawes Act was named.

Yom HaShoah / Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is Holoccaust Remembrance Day - the 27th Day of the Hebrew month of Nisan.

Contrary to some thought, the day was not chosen to correspond with the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising [Nisan 14]. There were some who suggested that as the date, but it would have coincided with Passover celebrations, and wouldn't have been appropriate. The 27th was chosen because it lay between Nisan 14 and Israeli Independence Day. Even though it was separated from Passover, many Orthodox Jews don't observe it because it still falls within the month of Nisan, when mourning is prohibited. [Source / Source]

Holocaust Butterfly from aahelpdesk

• A musical interpretation of the poem, The Butterfly

Some past posts:

• Central Database of Shoah Victims Names - Part I / Part II
• Terezin: Not Your Usual Honeymoon Destination

Weekly Genealogy Picks: March 31 - April 6

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• James Tanner at Genealogy's Star discusses Equal Rights for Ancestors. Do our ancestors deserve to be treated equally, with equal amounts of research time devoted to them?

• Diane Haddad at Genealogy Insider provides 10 Tips For Researching Genealogy in Court Records.

• Michele Simmons Lewis at Ancestoring's Ask A Genealogist compared the Old Search to the New Search at Ancestry.com in a three-part series. Parts: 1, 2, 3.

• The Missouri Secretary of State has announced that the State Archives is working with FamilySearch to create an online database of state marriage records from territorial times through 1969. (hat/tip: GenealogyBlog)

• Robert Darnton at The New York Review of Books looks at The Digital Public Library of America which is to be launched on April 18th. "The Digital Public Library of America, to be launched on April 18, is a project to make the holdings of America’s research libraries, archives, and museums available to all Americans—and eventually to everyone in the world—online and free of charge."

• One April First, The Ancestry Insider asked Did Your Ancestor Fall Out of the Sky?

• Poetry: Donna Pointkouski at What's Past is Prologue shares her poem Where I'm From, based on the George Ella Lyon template. [Link to my 2009 post about the template]

Other Weekly Lists

• Genealogy News Corral - Diane Haddad - GenealogyInsider 
• Fab Finds - Jana Last - Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog 
• Blog Posts for Genealogists - Michael J Leclerc - Mocavo Blog 
• Monday Morning Mentions - Lynn Palermo - Armchair Genealogist 
• Best of the Genea-Blogs - Randy Seaver - Genea-Musings
• Friday Finds - Julie Cahill Tarr - GenBlog 

Upcoming holidays - religious and secular, national and international - for the next two weeks

Two Week Calendar

• April 7 - Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jewish) [ Sundown April 7 - Sundown April 8]
• April 7 - World Health Day
• April 8 - International Romani Day
• April 11 - New Year (Hindu)
• April 11 - Ramayana (Hindu) [April 11-20]
• April 12 - Yuri's Night
• April 14 - Baisakhi/New Year (Sikh)
• April 15 - Yom Ha'Atzmaut (Jewish) [Sundown April 15 - Sundown April 16]
• April 15 - Jackie Robinson Day
• April 15 - Patriots' Day (US) [For those observing it on the 3rd Monday of April] 
• April 19 - Dutch-American Friendship Day
• April 19 - Patriots' Day (US) [For those observing it on the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord]
• April 20 - Ramanavani (Hindu)
• April 21 - First Day of Ridvan (Baha'i)

Friday Five

Many years ago I started a series of posts I entitled, "Friday Five" based on the old internet meme of listing five random songs from your computer's playlist. Instead, I found five names in online genealogy databases that were related to each other thematically.

If you click on the category link below this post, you'll notice that most of the themes have been fun and lighthearted, however, today I said to myself, "Let's do a Friday Five," so I looked at the calendar to see if there were any holidays coming up, and I noticed Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) on Monday. A fan of Mel Brooks, I couldn't resist the opportunity. It is springtime after all.

My apologies to anyone who feels the below (or above) is at all inappropriate.
All of the below names were found in databases at Ancestry.com

***

1. Crystal Knot – 1900 US census – Age 9 – Shields, Lake, IL
2. Robert Auschwitz – 1920 US census – Age 3 – St. Louis, MO
3. George Hashoas – 1885 Nebraska state census – Age 2 – Friend, Saline, NE
4. Celia Kaddish – 1911 UK census – Age 4 – Yorkshire-West Riding
5. Gay Hitler – 1910 US census – Age 28 – Pickaway Ohio

***

According to my quick research Gay Ludwig Hitler graduated from Kenyon College in 1905, was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, and became a dentist. He died in 1928.

There’s no photograph of the tombstone on FindAGrave, but there is a photograph of the entrance to Hitler-Ludwig Cemetery in Circleville, Ohio.

Data Backup Day: Accidents Happen; Be Prepared

The first day of every month is Data Backup Day.

Accidents have been known to happen. We can't predict them, but we can be prepared for them.

Digitize your source materials, and back them up regularly.

Image Source: "The First Page," by Émile Bayard (1837-1891). An illustration for the novel, Ninety-three, by Victor Hugo.

Émile Bayard's best known illustration is his image of Cosette sweeping the floor of the inn, for the novel, Les Misérables.

Weekly Genealogy Picks: March 24-March 30

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• Jon Platakis at The Lithuanian Tribune recently reported on the claim that Christopher Columbus was a Lithuanian Prince. (hat/tip: Stanczyk-Internet Muse)

• Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings provides a detailed response to a reader asking about the LDS Church's control over genealogy records.

• Thomas MacEntee at Destination: Austin Family wonders with respect to the recent Supreme Court discussions on Marriage Equality: What Would My Ancestors Think? This is a question family historians often have, as our political and religious views rarely match those of our ancestors on every issue.

• "Food is my sanctuary," writes Michael W Twitty at Afroculinaria in his post, "Passover: A Black-Jewish Food Musing."

• Stephen Baloglu at Ancestry Blog announces new features at Ancestry DNA including the ability to download raw DNA data which can be uploaded to other websites.

• At The Art of Genealogy Karin Hadden describes Finding Family Using Google Maps. This is a Google research technique I hadn't thought about yet.

Other Weekly Lists

• Genealogy News Corral - Diane Haddad - GenealogyInsider 
• Fab Finds - Jana Last - Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog 
• Blog Posts for Genealogists - Michael J Leclerc - Mocavo Blog 
• Monday Morning Mentions - Lynn Palermo - Armchair Genealogist 
• Best of the Genea-Blogs - Randy Seaver - Genea-Musings
• Friday Finds - Julie Cahill Tarr - GenBlog 

Upcoming holidays - religious and secular, national and international - for the next two weeks

Two Week Calendar

• March 31 - Easter (Christian)
• April 1 - April Fool's Day
• April 2 - World Autism Awareness Day
• April 6 - Tartan Day
• April 7 - Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jewish) [ Sundown April 7 - Sundown April 8]
• April 7 - World Health Day
• April 8 - International Romani Day
• April 11 - New Year (Hindu)
• April 11 - Ramayana (Hindu) [April 11-20]
• April 12 - Yuri's Night
• April 14 - Baisakhi/New Year (Sikh)

Politics, Religion, and Genealogy

There are some who think discussions of politics and religion don't belong on a genealogy blog, but I disagree. Politics and religion are hopelessly intertwined with family history research.

When I first began researching, I downloaded some research forms from a source that won't be named. I'm sure there are millions of similar forms out there. Below are two clippings from a "Family Group Sheet."

I knew instantly back in 2007 that if I were going to give the form to relatives to fill out, I would need to change at least one word. And I did change that word to, 'Naming.'

While that is the only word I changed back in 2007, looking at the form today, it does present other issues. How do I record a domestic partnership? A civil union? I have some friends who are participating in a handfasting later this year. They're not my relatives, but they are somebody's relatives. How would I record that? It would make things a lot easier if the same word was used for all unions, wouldn't it? There is power in a union.

Of course, the confusion doesn't end with different terms for different unions. Do I only include a space for the biological parents (which appear to be implied above), or should I include space for adopted parents as well? How do I handle a case where the parents received either a sperm or egg donation from a third party?

So, to those who insist that religion and politics be separated from genealogy, I ask: "How?"

A selection of prior posts concerning politics, religion and genealogy:

• Apathy is foreign to my genes
• Religion and Genealogy
• Baptisms by Proxy

Weekly Genealogy Picks: March 17-23

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• The Signal at the Library of Congress has announced an e-publication entitled, "Perspectives on Personal Digital Archiving." It is a collection of their blog posts on the topic. "This resource can serve as a primer for the digital archive novice, as well as a refresher for those with more experience."
• NPR looks at how photographs were faked prior to Photoshop. This reminded me of some prior looks at this topic which are now over a decade old, but still online: PBS's Digital Truth and Photographic Truth in a Digital Era from the Media Awareness Network.
• Philip Trauring at Blood and Frogs writes of Genealogical Red Herrings
• Elyse Doerflinger at Elyse's Genealogy Blog addresses the accusation that Young People aren't Interested in Genealogy.
• Johanna Carlson Draper at Comics Worth Reading highlights an intriguing upcoming graphic novel, Persia Blues. "Persia Blues is a character-driven slice of life tale, combining fantastical elements with contemporary politics, while exploring the universal themes of tradition, family, guilt, and freedom." Due out in May, and serialized online beforehand.
• Here's an entertaining, and educational video explaining the difference between Holland and The Netherlands (hat/tip: Mocavo Blog)

• Alexis Grant, guest posting at My Name is Not Bob dispels 3 SEO Myths That Scare Writers, providing some useful advice for bloggers, regardless of genre.

Other Weekly Lists

• Ruth's Recommendations - Ruth Blair - The Passionate Genealogist 
• Genealogy News Corral: RootsTech 2013 Edition - Diane Haddad - GenealogyInsider 
• Fab Finds - Jana Last - Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog 
• Monday Morning Mentions - Lynn Palermo - Armchair Genealogist 
• Best of the Genea-Blogs - Randy Seaver - Genea-Musings
• Friday Finds - Julie Cahill Tarr - GenBlog 

Upcoming holidays - religious and secular, national and international - for the next two weeks

Two Week Calendar

• March 24 - Palm Sunday (Christian)
• March 24 - Orthodox Sunday (Orthodox Christian)
• March 25 - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin (Christian)
• March 25 - Pesach/Passover (Jewish) [Sundown March 25 - Sundown April 2]
• March 26 - Khordad Sal (Zoroastrian)
• March 27 - Magha Puja Day (Buddhist)
• March 27 - Lord's Evening Meal (Jehovah's Witness)
• March 27 - Holi (Hindu)
• March 27 - World Theatre Day
• March 28 - Maundy Thursday (Christian)
• March 28 - Hola Mohalla (Sikh)
• March 28 - Birth of Prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroastrian)
• March 29 - Good Friday (Christian)
• March 31 - Easter (Christian)
• April 1 - April Fool's Day
• April 2 - World Autism Awareness Day
• April 6 - Tartan Day
• April 7 - Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jewish) [ Sundown April 7 - Sundown April 8]

The Old Reader Works Some Serious Magic

It took a few days, but The Old Reader finally managed to handle the overload on its server from Google Reader users seeking a new home. I uploaded my Google Reader feed file on Thursday night. This morning I received an email that the import process had been completed, and all 378 of my feeds were processed. Their server speed is still a bit slow, but it's understandable. As of March 18th, their user base had grown 12-fold. They've announced that they are exploring a freemium model, but the free plan will keep its current functionality.

As I looked at the feeds, my jaw dropped in shock. I asked myself if it was Easter morning, because the dead were rising from the grave.

When one follows several hundred blogs, if blog posts from any single blog stop showing up in your inbox, you might mourn the loss of the content, but you might not actively seek out where the blogger has moved.  Even if it is as simple as visiting the website and seeing if they made a small change to their RSS feeds, you might not go to the trouble. Some people might clear out the dead feeds, but others would just let them be - you never know when the blogger might reeturn.

Without identifying the blogs in question:

• In one case, the blog feed URL had moved from

www.domainA.com/rss/newfeed.xml to www.domainA.com/feed

• In another case, the blog feed URL moved from

www.domainB.com/blog/atom.xml to www.domainB.com/feed

But I suppose since the blogs were still at the same top-level domain, The Old Reader found it.

In both cases, Google Reader stopped displaying the posts over a year ago.
When I imported the feeds to NetVibes, NetVibes reported them as 404s.

Weekly Genealogy Picks: March 10-16

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• Michele Simmons at Ancestoring provides some tips on More Effective Searches

• In honor of St. Patrick's Day, Diane Haddad at Genealogy Insider suggests Six Irish Genealogy Websites

• Michael J. Leclerc at Mocavo Blog has dealt with several genealogical myths this week, including: Coats of Arms, The Indian Princess, and All The Records Burned in a Fire.

• Tess Webre at Digital Preservation shares a possible bedtime story for children: Snow Byte and the Seven Formats: A Digital Preservation Fairy Tale.

• There was White Smoke at the Vatican this week, and the world has a new Pope.  Judy G. Russell at The Legal Genealogist discussed The Laws of the Church and how canon law can impact genealogy.

• Nina Strochlic at The Daily Beast shares the story of An Auschwitz Survivor Searching For His Twin on Facebook

• Google announced this week that their app, Google Reader, only has a little bit more than three months left to live. This news sent ripples across the internet as devoted fans were stunned.

• In Good Bye iGoogle, Good Bye Reader, Good Bye Usefulness James Tanner at Genealogy's Star wonders what app Google will decide to retire next.

• Frederic Lardinois at TechCrunch believes it might be Google's other RSS product, FeedBurner.

• Levi Sumagaysay at Good Morning Silicon Valley discusses the lesson Google's announcement teaches us: "how easily important tools can be taken away from us at any moment, and it might be a good time to think about backups to the services we rely on the most."

• Jonathan Bailey at Plagiarism Today looked at the announcement from the viewpoint of what this means to the professional blogger, and whether we need to rethink our RSS strategy. 

• Several Tech websites have offered suggestions on alternative RSS readers, including: Macgasm, LifeHacker, and c/net. The social news website, Digg, has announced they're going to build a new RSS reader.

Other Weekly Lists

• Ruth's Recommendations - Ruth Blair - The Passionate Genealogist 
• Genealogy News Corral - Diane Haddad - GenealogyInsider 
• Notable Genealogy Blog Posts - Michael Hait - Planting the Seeds 
• Fab Finds - Jana Last - Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog 
• Monday Morning Mentions - Lynn Palermo - Armchair Genealogist 
• Best of the Genea-Blogs - Randy Seaver - Genea-Musings
• Friday Finds - Julie Cahill Tarr - GenBlog 

Upcoming holidays - religious and secular, national and international - for the next two weeks

Two Week Calendar

• March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
• March 17 - Cheesefare Sunday (Orthodox Christian)
• March 18 - Lent Begins (Orthodox Christian)
• March 19 - Saint Joseph's Day (Christian)
• March 20 - Ostara (northern hemisphere) Mabon (southern hemisphere) (Pagan)
• March 21 - New Year (Baha'i)
• March 21 - New Year (Persian/Zoroastrian)
• March 24 - Palm Sunday (Christian)
• March 24 - Orthodox Sunday (Orthodox Christian)
• March 25 - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin (Christian)
• March 25 - Pesach/Passover (Jewish) [Sundown March 25 - Sundown April 2]
• March 26 - Khordad Sal (Zoroastrian)
• March 27 - Magha Puja Day (Buddhist)
• March 27 - Lord's Evening Meal (Jehovah's Witness)
• March 27 - Holi (Hindu)
• March 27 - World Theatre Day
• March 28 - Maundy Thursday (Christian)
• March 28 - Hola Mohalla (Sikh)
• March 28 - Birth of Prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroastrian)
• March 29 - Good Friday (Christian)
• March 31 - Easter (Christian)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Every year on St. Patrick's Day I've blogged about the Irish ancestry of my great grandfather, Barney Newmark.

He wrote a bio of himself for a "Who's Who" of local businessmen claiming to be a native of Dublin, even though he was almost certainly born on the outskirts of Warsaw, in Warka, Poland. He celebrated his birthday on March 17th, though some documents state he was born on March 25th, and others state April 14th. I shared my Irishness with a friend back in 2007, and he looked Barney up in the 1930 US Census, and sent me a link. I've long been interested in my ancestry, but I had done no research, and had no idea what was available online. And here I am six years later.

While my Irish ancestry may be somewhat mythological, my wife's isn't. According to some sources, her 3rd great grandfather, Thomas Muldoon, was born in Ireland in 1817, in County Fermanagh.









Past St. Patrick's Day posts

March 17, 2012: Happy 126th Birthday to my Great Grandfather
March 17, 2011: Happy St. Patrick's Day
March 17, 2010: Barney's Birthday and Birthplace
March 17, 2009: On St. Patrick's Day Everyone is Irish
March 17, 2008: My 'Irish' Great Grandfather
March 15, 2007: Corned Beef and Cabbage on Rye