Top 10 Genealogy Lessons Learned in 2014 - Part 2

More lessons learned from my genealogical adventures in 2014. NOT in priority order:
 
5. Be prepared when visiting or calling cemeteries. With an alphabetical listing of surnames printed from my gen software, I made several cemetery visits this year to eyeball burial sites. Most cemeteries were kind enough to do lookups or give me detailed plot maps, which I compared with my alpha list to be sure I visited as many family graves as possible. Also, I photographed hundreds of stones near my family's graves for two reasons: In case I later learn that they're in-laws or other relatives, and to post on Findagrave for the benefit of others. Not being able to visit certain cemeteries, I've called and asked questions--and found out that, for instance, Rosa Markell (marker at left) was originally buried in one plot but was moved to another when her stone was erected. Lesson: Do my homework before making a cemetery visit, have names/dates in hand, have a camera handy, show appreciation to cemetery staff, and follow-up by posting and/or correcting on Findagrave.

4. Dig deep for resources at the local level. At the start of this year, I followed the URL on the Emmet County Genealogical Society's bookmark (which I received at a FGS conference) and unearthed a goldmine of info about hubby's McClure ancestors--details that don't show up in an ordinary Google or Bing search. A new link on that site leads to online newspaper archives at the Greenwood Cemetery in Petoskey, Michigan, a potential source of obits and other info about the McClures. I also made small donations to county gen societies in exchange for receiving photocopies of surname info in their written files, and will follow up other local resources such as land-office info. Lesson: List the counties or county seats where ancestors lived and search out those genealogical and historical societies.

3. Mine newspapers for every scrap of info. Accessing newspaper databases, I've obtained dozens of obits and marriage announcements this year. I look for each person's obits (or engagement/marriage) on multiple days (often there are two obits, on day of death and on day of burial) and I search multiple news sources (both town and county-seat newspapers, for instance). Some newspapers printed much more detailed obits or wedding announcements, including the full names of out-of-town guests who are relatives! Obits and wedding announcements are also valuable for noticing who is NOT listed. Lesson: Keep plugging in those names, analyze every name/location mentioned, and be flexible about spelling and dates.

2. Context counts. Because I created memory booklets about my maternal and paternal ancestors this year, I did a lot of research to understand why and how they did what they did (leaving the old country, traveling from or to a certain port, settling in a particular area, etc). World history and hyperlocal events definitely influence individuals: My grandparents fled pogroms and persecution in Eastern Europe, along with millions of other immigrants who sought a better life in America. Names, dates, places, and relationships are data points that must be linked by stories of why and how--and that's why context counts. Even the context of a century-old photo makes a difference in telling the story. Lesson: Time-lines and family trees must be analyzed in the context of what was happening at the time.

1. Never give up! This is a lesson reinforced every time a distant cousin finds me via my blog or Facebook or Ancestry or Findagrave and we exchange info. Luck plays an important role in genealogy. We just never know when a vital scrap of knowledge will pop up and solve a mystery that's stumped us for years. Lesson: Life in the "past lane" requires patience and perseverance. Plus good records so when that key item drops into my life, I can put my hands on the rest of the puzzle pieces and figure things out.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!

Top 10 Genealogy Lessons Learned in 2014 - Part 1

Everybody loves "top 10" lists. This is the first of two posts about my top 10 list of genealogy lessons learned in 2014, a year of cousin connections as well as ongoing mysteries. In no particular order:

10. Ancestor landing pages work. Several cousins contacted me in 2014 after searching for family names and landing on my ancestor pages. At left, my 23-month readership for each landing page. (Mystery photos, Mayflower page, and 52 Ancestors pages are less than a year old.) Even when I don't blog about a particular family for months, the landing page still attracts views. Lesson: Consider additional ancestor landing pages and be sure to update as needed.**

9. Facebook genealogy pages are fantastic sources of ideas and info. There are more than 4,100 genealogy pages on Facebook, and I've joined a couple of dozen to learn more about genealogy resources in specific areas (like New York City) and to ask questions. That's how I learned where to send for certain naturalization papers, marriage documents, and more. Simply reading the posts by researchers and experts has enriched my family history knowledge. Plus I've actually connected with cousins through the surname lists on some of these county genealogy pages. Lesson: Click to join more Facebook genealogy pages! Scroll through posts for general knowledge, post questions, and give back by posting responses and links where appropriate.

8. Every old photo album reveals a story--beyond the individual photos. Lucky me: Given access to my late father-in-law's early, intact photo albums for scanning purposes, I've uncovered new stories and relationships that he never mentioned. Like the summer his dad bought a 1917 Ford and drove from Ohio to Chicago to see relatives. Between the captions and the number and order of the photos in the album, we confirmed genealogical suspicions about who's who, who was really important to this family, and where people fit on the family tree. Not to mention learning about this family's daily life by taking a magnifying glass to the photos. Lesson: Analyze the sequence and number of photos, as well as the content of each photo and each caption.

7. Try creative online searches. So much new info becomes available online every week (and not just on Ancestry or Family Search) that it's hard to keep up. But when I research "new" relatives, I do a general Web search for "first name last name" AND "last name, first name" at the very least. If too many results pop up, sometimes I add "AND genealogy" to the names or add the city or state or a meaningful year. Also I've had incredible luck with newspaper databases this year, again being creative because "first name last name" doesn't always work. Also try Linkpendium, browse the geographic link pages, and search from there. Lesson: Cast a wide net on searches, since ancestors often moved around or did interesting things (like get married or arrested) in unexpected places. And somebody who has the same surname but isn't familiar may actually be a distant relative or know a distant relative.

6. Spend the money to obtain original documents for key relatives. No, I'm not a billionaire (or even a millionaire), but sometimes there's no other way to find out a female ancestor's maiden name or other vital info on vital records, short of visiting an office or archive in person. This year I've paid for microfilms from Family Search to see NYC death records and purchased nearly a dozen original marriage documents in search of the Roth and Lebowitz family connections, not to mention several UK birth and death records. What I learned illuminated family relationships and helped me sketch out my cousins' family trees. Of course I also wound up with my share of puzzles, too. Lesson: Figure out what I need and what I hope to learn before I write the check, and then if it makes sense, order the documents and cross my fingers that my ancestors told the truth.

More lessons learned in Part 2.

** A few days after writing this, I added a new Farkas & Kunstler landing page :)

Christmas Postcards, Circa 1910

These fun vintage Christmas postcards were all sent to my husband's Wood family in Toledo, Ohio, in the early 1900s. (Not from Grandma--she was a family friend.)

Some were from aunts and uncles, some from cousins, some from friends.

Happy holidays!

Surname Saturday: Sharing the Stories Too

In 2014, I didn't just smash brick walls--I also shared family history stories with the next generation.

At left, the contents page from a 16-page "memory booklet" I created to trace my grandparents' family histories (Teddy Schwartz and Minnie Farkas).

My goal was to tell the family stories I had gathered in the historical, geographical, political, economic, and social context of their lives. In addition, I wanted to present old photos that younger relatives had never seen or had long ago forgotten.

By reading the narrative, looking at the maps, and looking at the photos, future generations will understand what our ancestors were leaving behind and why, where they went and why, and how their courageous journeys turned out. After all, they both came from parts of Eastern Europe that changed hands almost as often as the weather changes in New England. And their travels to the New World were driven by hopes and dreams, not to mention political and economic necessity.

The sections on Grandma and Grandpa's family backgrounds were my chance to present the family tree as far back as I know it on both sides (with connections to the Simonowitz, Gross, and Kunstler families). Also I included maps of where they were born and where they lived on the Lower East Side.

I told the story of teenaged Minnie coming to America with one older brother and two preteen siblings, to be reunited with their parents after two years of separation. And I told the story of teenaged Teddy arriving at Ellis Island on his own, finding work as a runner for the steamship lines, and helping one brother and one sister come to New York from Hungary. I saved the story of how they met and married for a separate section, to build a little drama and keep readers turning the page.

The section titled "What was the world like.....?" was an opportunity to portray just how much the world has changed since these ancestors were born in 1886-7. The United States had only 38 states at that point! President Cleveland dedicated Lady Liberty in 1886. Queen Victoria was celebrating her 50th year on the throne of England; light bulbs were novelties, not yet mainstream; horse-drawn conveyances filled city streets. These facts are eye-openers for relatives who were born digital.

Every page included 2-3 photos or documents (like their marriage cert). I put the captions into a separate "who's who" section to save space. The "where and when" appendix is a timeline of each grandparent's life, in table form. I printed the booklets (I made four) in color so the maps and photos would be eye-catching and invite readers to browse once or twice before filing on a bookshelf.

In 2015, I plan to do similar booklets for hubby's maternal and paternal lines. Crossing my fingers that I can find the time and the skill to make a DVD of at least one family tree's photos!

52 Ancestors #52: My Schwartz Family from Ungvar

I'm honoring Great-grandpa Herman Yehuda Schwartz and Great-grandma Hana (or Hani) Simonowitz Schwartz in this final post of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" series, a wonderful weekly challenge by Amy Johnson Crow that has attracted hundreds of participating blogs.

My Schwartz family was based in the market town of Ungvar, Hungary, which is now known as Uzhorod, Ukraine. It's a busy town at the base of the Carpathian mountains that passed from one empire or nation to another as the map of Eastern Europe was redrawn again and again in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Three of Hani and Herman's grown children left Ungvar before 1906 to make their homes in New York: Sam (originally called Simon), his younger brother Tivadar (hi, Grandpa Teddy!), and their younger sister Mary. I know, from photos and postcards that have been passed down to me, that the Schwartz siblings in America stayed in touch with their family in Ungvar year after year.
The patriarch of the Schwartz family, Herman, died sometime before 1926, when his granddaughter Viola was born. Matriarch Hani died in the 1930s, after teaching her granddaughter Viola the basics of sewing and cooking and baking.

Tragically, the Ungvar-based Schwartz siblings and their spouses and children were all victims of the Holocaust. The only survivor was Viola (my Grandpa Teddy's niece), who returned to her hometown after the war and built a new life in Ukraine and, later, in Israel. This final post in the "52 Ancestors" series is dedicated with love to Viola and her family.

52 Ancestors #51: Great-Grand Uncle William Steiner, Born in Berks county, PA

Hubby's Steiner ancestors have been my special genealogy focus in 2014 (and 2013). Why? Because we want to determine where the Steiner family originally came from, and when they arrived in the US. Family legend says they were from Switzerland--but there are no supporting stories or documents.

So far, I can't go any further back than Jacob S. Steiner (1802?-1860?) and his wife Elizabeth (1802?-1864, maiden name unknown), hubby's great-great grandparents.

Now, thanks to a genealogy angel on the Crawford County, OH, History and Genealogy Facebook page, I have this detailed obit of William Steiner (1827-1899), a son of Jacob S. Steiner. William is hubby's great-grand uncle (the brother of his great-granddaddy, Edward George Steiner).

The obit states that William "was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, December 23, 1827. His father and mother were Jacob and Elizabeth Steiner. When quite young, the deceased, with the family, moved to Strasburg, Wayne county, Ohio. During his early life, he worked on a flat boat on the Ohio canal, which ran the tow path that is inseparably connected with the name and fame of the lamented James A. Garfield. After leaving the canal, he was apprenticed to a plasterer which trade he industriously followed ever since.

"On December 5, 1850, he was married to Catherine Coder and 6 children were born to them, four of whom survive him, namely: Rev. Dennis R. Steiner, of Glathe, Kansas; Harry L. Steiner, of Toledo; Mrs. Emma F. Stull, of Veedersburg, Ind; and Mrs. Fred Harter, of Oceola."

A gold mine of info, with places, dates, names, and insight into his working life and his religious beliefs! My next step is to investigate Steiners in Strasburg, Wayne county, Ohio and try to trace them back to Berks county, PA.

This new info came about because of my genealogy alter ego Benjamin McClure, who has a FB account and is active on relevant Facebook genealogy pages. If you're not already using Facebook for genealogy, I encourage you to get started. There are lots of kind folks out there ready to offer advice--and who knows, you might be lucky enough to connect with a cousin or three.

Mrs. John Quincy Steiner Was a Champion - Want to Guess Her Specialty?

Searching through newspaper archives can bring up all kinds of interesting tidbits about our ancestors. Hubby's 1st cousin, 2x removed, was John Quincy Steiner (1862-1941), who married Laura V. Bowland (1860-1931) in 1884.

Searching for their obits, I found the following snippet in the Evening Independent of Massillon, Ohio, from October 16, 1926.

Yes, hubby's Steiner family included a champion hog caller.

"Triumphing over six men, Mrs. John Q. Steiner, 55, of Old Fort won the Seneca county hog-calling contest, hands down. Her "Poo-e-e! Poo-poo-e-e! Oh, Poo-oo-ee-e" has greater appeal to hungry porkers than the similar calls of the men contestants, the judges ruled."


Who knew?

Remembering Mom and Auntie on December 4

Dorothy Schwartz (my Auntie) was born 5 minutes before her sister, Daisy Schwartz (Mom), on December 4th. Here they are in their high school graduation photos. Remembering them with love!

52 Ancestors #50: Trying to Confirm Ebenezer Larimer, Previously Unknown Fourth Great-Grand Uncle

I often refer to the Larimer Family book (covering ancestors from 1740 to 1959--see it online here) when trying to place Larimer ancestors in the context of hubby's ancestors. But it's possible that the book left out a 4th great grand-uncle!*

Cousin R (hi, probable cousin!) contacted me last week to say that he's descended from the missing great-grand-uncle.

Here's the genealogy, according to the Larimer book: Robert Larimer, who was shipwrecked on his way from Northern Ireland to America, married Mary Gallagher (or O'Gallagher) and had four children, all born in Pennsylvania, according to the book: Isaac, Ebenezer, Phoebe, and Grizella.

Ebenezer Larimer (1773-1827, Findagrave memorial #49880241) married Catherine [maiden name unknown] and, according to the Larimer book, they had 9 children: James Barr Larimer, John W. Larimer, Isaac Larimer, Elizabeth Betsy Larimer, Phoebe Larimer, Rebecca Larimer, Emelia Larimer, Effie Larimer, and Martha Larimer.

The Larimer book is sketchy on the descendants of these 9 children. But it doesn't list any Ebenezer Larimer, Junior.

Cousin R has done his homework and says that Ebenezer had another son, Ebenezer Junior, who had a son, James M. Larimer.

We're going to team up to confirm the connection between the two Ebenezers. The excerpt at top of this post shows James M. Larimer and his family in 1860 in Jackson township, Perry county, Ohio. On the very same page are two other Larimer families, also farmers:

• Robert Larimore, born in Ireland, with wife Margaret and daughter Susan
• Obadiah Larimer, born in Ohio, with wife Sarah and children Obadiah, Almira, and James S.

These other Larimers aren't listed in the Larimer book and so now the hunt is on to determine whether James M. Larimer was related to these other Larimer folks or to OUR Larimer ancestors.

*Ooops, I calculated the relationship incorrectly when I originally posted this. So many Larimers, so many possible relationships!