Andrew David Van Every Ahnentafel

In my recent post about Canadian Ancestors a few people revealed themselves as cousins in the comments. So under the possibility they are reading my blog, I thought I would post for them an ahnentafel of the information I have for my ancestor, Andrew David Van Every, whose maternal grandfather was loyalist Michael Showers. If they (or anyone else) know any further information, I would certainly be interested.

The below information comes from the New Toronto Historical Society, though much of it I have seen elsewhere.

[Note to those unfamiliar with ahnentafels: To find an individual's father, multiply their number by two. For their mother, multiply by two, and add one.]

1. Andrew David Van Every
Born: Mar 1796, West Flamborough Township, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada
Marriage: Nancy Lucinda Van Sellas
Died: 25 Jul 1873, South Dumfries, St George, Ontario, Canada aged 77

2. David Van Every
Born: 13 Oct 1757, Poughkeepsie, Dutchess, New York, USA
Marriage: Sarah Showers in 1782
Died: 1820, St George, Brant, Ontario, Canada aged 63

3. Sarah Showers
Born: 1761, Pennsylvania, USA
Marriage: David Van Every in 1782
Died: 1795, St George, South Dumfries Township, Ontario, Canada aged 34

4. McGregor Van Every
Born: 27 Apr 1723, Lunenburg, New York, USA
Marriage: Mary Wilcox on 17 Jan 1750 in Poughkeepsie, , New York, USA
Died: 15 Sep 1786, Newark, Niagara, Ontario, Canada aged 63

5. Mary Wilcox
Born: 29 Apr 1736, Lassingberg, , New York, USA
Marriage: McGregor Van Every on 17 Jan 1750 in Poughkeepsie, , New York, USA
Died: 1786-1809, Niagara, , Ontario, Canada

6. Michael Showers
Born: 1733, Rhinebeck, Dutchess, New York, USA
Marriage: Hannah Von Toch in 1756 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Died: 1796, West Flamborough Township, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada aged 63

7. Hannah Von Toch
Born: 1740, New York, USA
Marriage: Michael Showers in 1756 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Died: 5 Jul 1825, Barton Township, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada aged 85

8. Martin Van Every
Born: 1685, Kingston, , New York, USA
Marriage: Judith Holmes in 1718
Died: 1760, , , New York, USA aged 75

9. Judith Holmes
Born: 13 Jun 1694, New York, , New York, USA
Marriage: Martin Van Every in 1718

10. William Williamse Jaycocks
Marriage: Mary

11. Mary
Marriage: William Williamse Jaycocks

12. Johann Adam Schauer
Born: 14 Aug 1701, Massenbach, , W?rttenberg, Germany
Marriage: Maria Elizabeth Fritz on 3 Apr 1720 in Claverack, Dutchess, New York, USA
Died: 1762, , Berks, Pennsylvania, USA aged 61

13. Maria Elizabeth Fritz
Born: 2 Feb 1699, Massenbach, , W?rttenberg, Germany
Marriage: Johann Adam Schauer on 3 Apr 1720 in Claverack, Dutchess, New York, USA

14 John Johan Van Toch
Born: 1714, Beaverwick, New York, USA
Marriage: Unknown
Died: New Jersey, USA

16 Burger Myndertse Van Iveren
Born: 1660, Albany, , New York, USA
Marriage: Elizabeth Meyer
Died: Southern, , New York, USA

17 Elizabeth Meyer
Marriage: Burger Myndertse Van Iveren

18. Martin Meyer
Marriage: Unknown

24 Michael Schauer
Born: 1679, Massenbach, , W?rttenberg, Germany
Marriage: Anna Magdalena in 1698 in Massenbach, Germnay, W?rttenberg, Germany
Died: 1710, Emigrating, New, Yorkshire, England aged 31

25 Anna Magdalena
Born: 1679, Massenbach, Deu, W?berg, Germany
Marriage: Michael Schauer in 1698 in Massenbach, Germnay, W?rttenberg, Germany
Died: 1734-1802, , , New York, USA

26 Georg John Fritz
Born: 1656, Anhausen, Neuweier, , Germany
Marriage: Maria Elisabetha Rosimund on 24 May 1698 in Salzbach, , , Germany

27 Maria Elisabetha Rosimund
Born: 1660, Anhausen, , , Germany
Marriage: Georg John Fritz on 24 May 1698 in Salzbach, , , Germany

28 Abraham Van Toch
Born: 1690, New Jersey, USA
Marriage: Sarah Speer

29 Sarah Speer
Born: 1694, New York City, New York, USA
Marriage: Abraham Van Toch

32 Myndert Frederickse Van Iveren
Born: 1640, Everinghs, Zealand, , Holland
Marriage: Unknown
Died: 1 May 1706, Albany, , New York, USA aged 66

33 Cathalyn Burger
Born: 16 Dec 1640, New Amsterdam, , New York, USA
Marriage: Unknown
Died: 1663 aged 23

48 Michael Sauer
Marriage: Anna Marie Heaton in 1655
Died: 1696-1708

49 Anna Marie Heaton
Marriage: Michael Sauer in 1655

52 Henrich Fritz
Born: 1630
Marriage: Unknown

58 Hendrick Speer
Marriage: Catherine Van Giesen in 1693 in New York City, , New York, USA

59 Catherine Van Giesen
Born: 1677, New York City, New York, New York, USA
Marriage: Hendrick Speer in 1693 in New York City, , New York, USA

118 Jans Van Giesen
Born: 1645, Niagara, , ,
Marriage: Justrina Kierstede in 1674 in New York City, , New York, USA

119 Justrina Kierstede
Born: 10 Oct 1649, New York, , New York, USA
Marriage: Jans Van Giesen in 1674 in New York City, , New York, USA

Some (e.g.) believe Justrina is descended from Aneka Jans. Though others question this.)

American Bottom and Illinois Harvest

In March I mentioned the American Bottom Riverweb site, which

contains a large digital archive of artifacts related to the American Bottom region, defined as the area south of the confluence of the Missouri, Mississippi and Illinois rivers. This includes portions of St. Clair, Randolph, Madison, and Monroe Counties in Illinois. Most of the information on the site appears to be centered on the Cahokia Mounds, and East St. Louis.

The site has moved to a new location on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's servers, and while they still have an interesting archive, it appears they have removed the East St. Louis City Directories.

Never fear, Illinois Harvest, a product of the UIUC library, has them.

Illinois Harvest has a large digital book collection for download, including over 400 entries under the subject header of County and Local Histories, another 400 under Church and Congregational History in Illinois, and 125 under Genealogy Resources.

The latter includes the 1813 and 1818 Pension lists, listing everyone in the US receiving a military pension in the given year. As well as a couple dozen Chicago "Blue Books" and social registers.

What is Truth?

A Family History/Genealogist actively tries to sort out truth from 'family fictions.' But what exactly does 'Truth' mean?

I have a couple examples from the family of my great grandfather Barney Newmark's brother Sol.

1)

Sol and Sarah Newmark were married in 1902 in London. What was Sarah's maiden name? Looking at the marriage certificate, UK 1901 census, various birth and death certificates of herself and her children (I don't have her birth record) It's roughly 50% Sandler and 50% Nathan. The origin of the confusion is clear - her father's name almost undoubtedly was Nathan Sandler. Sometimes she utilized the religious tradition of adopting her father's given name as her maiden name (without using the 'daughter of' construction). She wasn't consistent though, and it's not as if prior to Year X she used one, and after Year X the other, it went back and forth, even when she was the informant. She had two maiden names, neither one more truthful than the other, and which one she gave to those who asked must have depended upon her mood.

2)

Sol and Sarah's oldest son, born in 1905, was named after Sol's deceased grandfather, Israel David Nejmark (believed to be the original Polish spelling of the surname). Sol's youngest brother, born in 1904, was also named for the same man. So there was an uncle/nephew one year apart in age named Israel David. Or was there?

I just retrieved the birth certificate of Sol and Sarah's son. It reads "David Israel". The inversion could easily be a clerical error. However, there is a Jewish superstition against naming children after living relatives, so there may have been reason for them to avoid giving him the exact same name as his 1 year-old uncle. If the names were intentionally inverted on the birth certificate, I have no reason to believe their son was ever referred to in that manner by family or anyone else his entire life.

The superstition was that the angel of death could get confused and come for one and take the other. But even if we assume that there was no clerical error on the birth certificate, and they intentionally gave him an 'official' name different from his uncle, if the 'official' name was never actually used by the family, is it still the 'true' name? Wouldn't the name he was called by everyone his entire life be the 'true' name?

3) and a final example from my great grandfather Barney Newmark

Barney was born in Poland on March 17, 1886, or so he always told everyone, including his family (at least when he wasn't claiming he was born in Ireland). On his Draft registration form, and on his death certificate with his wife as the informant, it says April 14th. On his Declaration of Intent to become a citizen he wrote March 25th. So minus a birth certificate, what is Barney's true birthday?

(Interestingly March 25th is exactly 8 days after March 17th. This is interesting because the Jewish naming religious rite is scheduled for the 8th day, which could provide an explanation for the importance of both dates. April 14th, 1886 also fell almost exactly one lunar month after March 17th. March 17th was the 10th of Adar 2, and April 14th was the 9th of Nisan. However, the only thing that happens 1 month after birth that I can find is the redemption of the first born male, and Barney wasn't the first born. It is conceivable that in converting from Hebrew date to Gregorian date some incorrect math was used that produced a date a month off. However, even if this is the explanation for the multiple dates, not knowing what the Hebrew date was, it is impossible to know which was the correct calculation, and which one wasn't.)

Reading this years later on Sept 14, 2017

I realize I had forgotten what I discovered about the Hebrew calendar in 1886. In the intervening years I've confirmed that observing a birthday on the date of circumcision was definitely a Polish/Lithuanian Jewish custom. However, I am intrigued that March 17th, 1886 fell in a leap month. I'm unsure why this didn't occur to me back when I wrote this post, but...

Those who are born on February 29th would celebrate their birthday in most years on March 1, even though they realize that their 'true birthday' was February 29th. Might someone born in the 2nd month of Adar, in non-leap years, celebrate their Hebrew birthday in the month of Nisan on the appropriate date? Could this have lead Barney, really born on March 17th, 1886, to state that his birthday was April 14th. But still, use March 25th as his 'circumcision date.'

This explanation connects all three dates of birth in a very logical fashion. It isn't necessarily true. But it is very intriguing.

Pearl Harbor Day, 2008

Since posting my Veteran's Day, I have found the remaining photographs, and today seemed to be an appropriate day to post an update.

Below are the photographs of my grandfathers, their brothers, and brothers-in-law who served in WWII.


My grandfathers Melvin Newmark (1912-1992) and Martin Deutsch (1907-1991)


Allen Deutsch (1914-1988) and Maurice "Jerry" Deutsch (1909-1950).


Harold Newmark (1915-2003) and Mandell Newmark (1923-1945).


Bernard "Benny" Feinstein (1913-1968) and Seymour "Babe" Feinstein (1917-1999)

Illiterate Ancestors

As the Genealogue points out the UPI's headline for an article on Michelle Obama, "Future First Lady had an Illiterate Ancestor" is a little unfair. Every first lady in the history of this country probably had an illiterate ancestor.

I suspect the UPI may have thought "great great grandparent" was closer than many. However, I will point out that several of my paternal great great grandparents would likely have been recorded as illiterate, since they didn't know English. They may have been literate in Yiddish, or other tongues, but not English. My maternal great grandparents from Transylvania were similarly 'illiterate'. That is often the case with first generation immigrants to America, unless they come from an English speaking country.

The original Chicago Tribune story had a more appropriate headline. A first lady closely descended from slaves is newsworthy.

What's in a Number?

Randy Seaver at Geneamusings asks Who's Number 1000? That is: Who was the 1000th person entered into your family history database.

Most databases, being number-based, assign every entry a number starting with #1. My software, IFamilyForLeopard, is no different.



If you click on the pull-down menu in the searchbox in the upper-right of the screen you can select "Numeric ID" and then just enter the Numeric ID of your choice.

I don't know a lot about #1000 who is only recorded as "Kathryn".

I found it interesting to work backwards and see what # entry I was (45). Some people likely start entering data with themselves, but the first person entered into my database was my second great grandfather, Samuel Newmark.

The most recent entry was #1395, who is a living 3rd cousin, grandson to a cousin who passed away approximately 2 weeks ago.

What's in a Name?

Olive Tree Genealogy raises the topic of nicknames that aren't derived from given names - how we can't assume "Uncle Charlie's" name was actually Charles.

She asks others to contribute similar occurrences in their family tree.

My grandmother Sissie (Feinstein) Newmark was born "Belle". It's not too difficult to guess that one of her brothers gave her the nickname that stuck with her the rest of her life. Equally obvious in its etymology, her younger brother, Seymour, was known as "Babe." There were actually two Seymour Feinsteins known as Babe, first cousins to one another, both youngest childs.

A related topic are nicknames that are derived from the given name, but in a manner that isn't immediately obvious. I went into detail on this in my post on Jewish Mysticism and Genealogy.

One ancestor was named Zvi Dudelsack. He never immigrated to America, but his children passed his name down as "Harry". Another ancestor was named Zev Perlik, and some of his descendants knew him as "William." You have to be multilingual to follow the etymology, but if the Royal Family were Jewish, it would not be surprising if Prince Harry and Prince William had the Hebrew names of Zvi and Zev.

From Inbox to Blog in 30 Seconds

Received an email with lots of pictures of dogs with funny captions. I felt this one was appropriate to post here, and might be the perfect thing for a Monday morning following a holiday weekend:


"So, Dad left when he found out about Mom and the Panda."

Thanksgiving poetry

GRATITUDE - by Edgar A. Guest (©1917)

Be grateful for the kindly friends that walk along your way;
Be grateful for the skies of blue that smile from day to day;
Be grateful for the health you own, the work you find to do,
For round about you there are men less fortunate than you.

Be grateful for the growing trees, the roses soon to bloom,
The tenderness of kindly hearts that shared your days of gloom;
Be grateful for the morning dew, the grass beneath your feet,
The soft caresses of your babes and all their laughter sweet.

Acquire the grateful habit, learn to see how blest you are,
How much there is to gladden life, how little life to mar!
And what if rain shall fall to-day and you with grief are sad;
Be grateful that you can recall the joys that you have had.

The poems I posted last year

Conflicting Emotions

I want to talk about a holiday filled with conflicting emotions.

This is a holiday that remembers our ancestors’ religious persecution.

This is a holiday that commemorates freedom and hope.

Celebration of this holiday involves food, prayer, games, and family gathered.

This holiday requires us to close our eyes, temporarily, to the facts.

This holiday requires us to forget, for the moment, what happened afterward, in the following generations.

We focus on the freedom, the hope, the opportunity, with the albatross of that same opportunity squandered hanging over our heads, but not welcome at the holiday table filled with food, family, and festivities.

I probably should wait to talk about this holiday, since it doesn’t begin for another 3.5 weeks.

Hanuka begins on December 21 this year.

However, in the year 164 BCE, when Mattathias, his sons, and their followers fought back against religious persecution, the month on the Roman calendar was November.

As Rabbi Joseph Telushkin in Jewish Literacy, writes, “One of the sadder ironies of Jewish history is that the Maccabees led a successful revolt against King Antiochus’ anti-semitic oppressors only to turn into oppressors of the Jews themselves. (p. 112)”

On Hanuka we will focus on the freedom, the hope, and the opportunity, just as we as Americans do on Thanksgiving. We need to teach our children what happened next, so they aren’t blind to the forces of history, but that can be done on a different day. It doesn’t need to weigh us down on a holiday meant for celebration.

Take'er Easy There, Pilgrim

I subscribe to the Oxford English Dictionary's Word of the Day email. The OED is best known for their 'genealogy (etymology) of words.'

On holidays their word choice is often related to the holiday. For example, here is a selection from today's word: Pilgrim

4. a. U.S. Hist. Usu. in plural and with capital initial. Any of the English Puritans who founded the colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620; (gen.) any of the other early English colonists. See also Pilgrim Fathers n. at Compounds 2.

In quot. 1630, William Bradford (the second governor of Plymouth) uses pilgrim of the settlers figuratively, alluding to Hebrews 11:13 (cf. sense 3). The same phraseology was repeated by Cotton Mather and others, and became familiar in New England. By the late 18th cent. commemorative toasts were often given to the Pilgrims or the Sons of the Pilgrims, and through such celebration Pilgrim and Pilgrim Father eventually passed into use as historical designations.

1630 W. BRADFORD Hist. Plymouth Plantation 36 They knew they were but pilgrimes, & looked not much on those things; but lift vp their eyes to ye heauens, their dearest cuntrie. 1654 E. JOHNSON Hist. New-Eng. 216 Yet were these pilgrim people minded of the suddain forgetfulness of those worthies that died not long before. 1660 in Publ. Colonial Soc. Mass. (1914) 17 366 [New Haven colony] bounds extended neare unto Cold Spring, beyond Pilgrims Harbour. 1702 C. MATHER Magnalia Christi II. i. 3/1 They found..a new World..in which they found that they must live like Strangers and Pilgrims. 1794 in Publ. Colonial Soc. Mass. (1914) 17 366 Toasts on the occasion, viz..The Pilgrims in Concord. 1841 A. YOUNG Chron. Pilgrim Fathers 88 The term Pilgrims belongs exclusively to the Plymouth colonists. 1892 Nation (N.Y.) 21 Apr., What shall we say to the descendants of the Pilgrims, and the Signers,..who are happy and content under his sway? 1957 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 101/2 The Betty lamp of the Pilgrims (1620)..was equipped for hanging from mantelpieces or shelves. 1987 N. BLEI Neighborhood xxii. 146 Thanksgiving was as gray as the clothes the Pilgrims wore.

Note: The link at the top of this post will take you to the page with the complete entry for the current date. It changes every day, though. There is a link in the upper-left though for those who wish to subscribe via email or RSS feed.

Canadian Ancestry

I missed the first edition of the Canadian Genealogy Carnival back in September. My entry for the second edtion will actually be appropriate for both topics.

First Edition: Introduce us to your Canadian ancestors.
Second Edition: Tell us about famous Canadians in your family.

"The first Loyalist settler in Upper Canada may have been Michael Showers. On May 30, 1781, Captain Walter Butler reported from Niagara that 'an old man in the Rangers named Michael Showers' had been permitted, although still fit for service, to build himself a house, and had begun planting and 'Commencing Farmer'" -- From "Loyalist Narratives from Upper Canada", by James J. Talman, 1946, p. xl

Michael Showers' daughter, Sarah, married David Van Every, the son of McGregor Van Every, another early Loyalist settler of Niagara. David and Sarah Van Every were my 4th great grandparents. Their son, Andrew Van Every, lived and died in Canada. Andrew's son, Samuel, returned to America in the mid-19th century, though he had siblings and cousins who remained in Canada.

Does First Loyalist Settler of Upper Canada qualify as a 'famous ancestor?' Some might accept it. Others might ask for some broader name recognition. In that case I need to move away from direct ancestors, and toward the Stoughton Descendants I've blogged about before. If I need a famous cousin, that will always be a good place to start. Through my Stoughton ancestry I am related to the Marquesses of Dufferin. While this is an Irish peerage, it began with Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Earl of Dufferin, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, who served as Governor General of Canada.

Lord Dufferin served as Governor General of Canada during a period of rapid change in Canadian history. During his term, Prince Edward Island was admitted to Confederation, and several well-known Canadian institutions, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Royal Military College of Canada, and the Intercolonial Railway, were established.

I will assume that satisfies any definition.

I am as proud as any American can be of their United Empire Loyalist heritage. As I like to point out, there is nothing wrong with loyalty. It is usually the loyal who are considered patriotic. The Revolutionaries were the ones who committed treason. Of course, when the treasonous are successful, they get to write the history and instantly they become the patriots.

I also have some Newmark ancestors who were in Canada for 3 months in 1907.

During This Week

Birth, marriage and death anniversaries for my ancestors and their kin during the upcoming week:

Gregorian Calendar: November 23-29
Nov 25, 1956 – Barnet Newmark died (great grandfather)
Nov 26, 1848 - George Van Every born (2nd great uncle)
Nov 26, 1999 – Belle (Hoffman) Feinstein died (great aunt and godmother)
Nov 29, 1825 – Elizabeth Ann Sliver Denyer born (3rd great aunt)

Hebrew Calendar: Heshvan 25 – Kislev 2
Heshvan 26, 5765 – William Venable Campbell died (1st cousin once removed)
Heshvan 27, 5691 – Alice Van Every died (2nd great aunt)
Heshvan 27, 5650 – Anna (Blatt) Feinstein born (great grandmother)
Heshvan 28, 5682 – Charles Van Every died (2nd great uncle)
Heshvan 29, 5555 – William Denyer born (3rd great grandfather)
Kislev 1, 5609 – George Van Every born (2nd great uncle)

LIFE images 1850s-today

LIFE magazine has released millions of their photographs on Google Images.

Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

[link]

It should be noted that while they say they will continue to add more photographs, the earliest decade currently in the archive is 1860s. The first successful photograph supposedly was produced in 1827. Therefore, I think the above contains an obvious typo.

The question might arise -- are any of these photographs in the public domain? Let's take a look at this chart by the Cornell University Copyright Information Center. My assumption is that all the photographs fall under the category of Works for Hire - the company of hire being LIFE. According to the description, most of them were unpublished. So prior to their publication this week on Google, they had a copyright of 120 years from creation. Therefore, on January 1, 2008 any of the photographs dated prior to 1888 were in the public domain. I am fairly certain once a work enters the public domain, that isn't retracted.

However, all the post 1888 photographs are now published. And published works for hire have a copyright of 95 years after publication.

So it is quite understandable why LIFE went along with Google's idea of publishing all these unpublished works. If I am correct, it extends their copyright significantly. But the currently 100-200 pre-1888 photographs are in the public domain.

Rate of Exchange

A year ago I wrote a summary of what I had spent retrieving documents.

One section was devoted to the UK General Register Office, from whom I had obtained several birth certificates and a marriage certificate. Each certificate cost 7 pounds, and last year the rate of exchange was 2 dollars = 1 pound, so that was $14 apiece.

The rate of exchange is back down to $1.50 per pound. Most of this drop has occurred within the past 90 days.

So now could be a good time to make purchases from the GRO and UK National Archives.

During This Week

Birth, marriage and death anniversaries for my ancestors and their kin during the upcoming week:

Gregorian Calendar: November 17 - November 23

Nov 18, 1930 – Alice Van Every died (2nd great aunt)
Nov 20, 1948 – Ada Bell (Reeves) Vann died (1st cousin twice removed)
Nov 20, 1972 – Sol Cruvant died (2nd great uncle)
Nov 21, 1889 – Anna (Blatt) Feinstein born (great grandmother)
Nov 21, 1918 – Samuel C Van Every died (2nd great uncle)
Nov 22, 1794 – William Denyer born (3rd great grandfather)

Hebrew Calendar: Heshvan 19 - Heshvan 25

Heshvan 21, 5610 – Elizabeth (Fretz) Geil died (5th great aunt)
Heshvan 21, 5717 – Melvin Edwin Denyer died (1st cousin twice removed)

A desire for legible handwriting

For the past year I believed my Great Grandfather, Barney Newmark, and his father Samuel Newmark, traveled from England to Canada in May of 1904, spent three years in Canada, and then crossed the Canadian border into the US in July of 1907, returning to England in 1908, delivered good news, and the family permanently immigrated to the US in two trips in 1909 and 1910.

Part of that was based on this image



It comes from the Canadian border crossing document from July of 1907. The month/year for their arrival in Canada is pretty legible, I think. I realize that 4s and 7s can look alike, but we have a 7 in the same hand two boxes over, so I was pretty confident Samuel and Barney spent three years in Canada, though I knew I wouldn't know for certain until I found the documentation. I also wondered if I would ever find any footprints of where they went and what they did in Canada during those three years.

Today I found their Canadian manifest in the Canadian Passenger Lists database (1865-1935) on Ancestry. They arrived in Quebec on May 11, 1907. The ship was the Tunisian. They only spent two months in Canada. They probably left very few Canadian tracks.

I now have all the manifests documenting all their ocean travels and border crossings except for how they got from Poland to England in approximately 1893.

Veteran's Day, 2008

My grandfathers and several great uncles who served in WWII:

Mandell (1923-1945) and Melvin (1912-1992) Newmark; Martin Deutsch (1907-1991); Allen Deutsch (1914-1988); Jerry Deutsch (1909-1950).

This isn't a complete set of great uncles who served, as there are others for whom I haven't found appropriate photographs yet. My grandfather wasn't stationed with his brother, Mandell, but they had a couple chances to be together on leave during the war.

During This Week

Birth, marriage and death anniversaries for my ancestors and their kin during the (past week and) upcoming week:

Gregorian Calendar: November 2-November 16
Nov 7, 1908 – Shirley Ruth Benold born (1st cousin once removed)
Nov 8, 1905 – August Benold and Minnie Ray Van Every married (great uncle and great aunt)
Nov 10, 2004 – William Venable Campbell died (1st cousin once removed)
Nov 15, 1852 – Alice Van Every born (2nd great aunt)

Hebrew Calendar: Heshvan 4 – Heshvan 18
Heshvan 4, 5669 – Aaron Cruvant Stern born (1st cousin twice removed)
Heshvan 4, 5703 – Stevan J Newmark born (uncle)
Heshvan 4, 5703 – August Benold died (great uncle)
Heshvan 4, 5751 – Clara (Rubin) Newmark died (2nd great aunt)
Heshvan 5, 5763 – Belle (Feinstein) Newmark died (grandmother)
Heshvan 6, 5748 - Selig Seymour Oxenhandler died (1st cousin twice removed)
Heshvan 6, 5681 – Samuel Tillman Hartley died (3rd great uncle)
Heshvan 10, 5666 – August Benold and Minnie Ray Van Every married (great uncle and great aunt)
Heshvan 10, 5657 – Ida (Waldman) Cruvant born (2nd great aunt)
Heshvan 11, 5649 – Abraham Altman born (2nd great uncle)
Heshvan 11, 5648 – Louis Stern born (2nd great uncle)
Heshvan 13, 5669 – Shirley Ruth Benold born (1st cousin once removed)
Heshvan 16, 5697 – Bernard Feinstein and Belle Hoffman married (great uncle and great aunt)
Heshvan 17, 5730 – Minnie Ray Van Every died (great aunt)

Smile for the Camera: Oh Baby!

The word prompt for the 7th Edition of Smile For The Camera is Oh, Baby! Show us those wonderful family photographs of babies, or those you've collected. Share the ones that are too cute for words, or those only a mother could love. Your favorite of grandma or grandmas' favorite. Grandpa on a bear skin rug or grandpas' little love. Everyone has a baby photo, so let's see it!

Above are baby photographs of three of my four grandparents. My maternal grandfather was born in rural Transylvania, and I suspect they didn't have a camera. The top two photos of my paternal grandparents were taken in St. Louis. (Most likely Missouri, though my grandfather's maternal grandparents were living in East St. Louis, Illinois at the time.) My maternal grandmother's baby picture was most likely taken near San Marcos, Texas, which is between Austin and San Antonio.