My Uncle Sidney Bernard Burk (1914-1995), was the only member of the Burk family born in Montreal, Canada.
His father, my immigrant grandpa Isaac Burk (1881-1943), was a skilled cabinetmaker. In search of work, Isaac moved the family back and forth from New York City to Montreal during the period of 1910 to 1915, according to family stories and border crossing documents.
Ephemera passed down = breakthrough
Turns out, my bachelor uncle Sidney was very important to my genealogy efforts. If not for his tendency to hold onto stuff for decades, I wouldn't have been able to research the lives of Isaac Burk and his siblings.
One key piece of ephemera he passed down was a wedding invitation (see excerpt below) mailed from relatives in Manchester, England to Sidney's Aunt Nellie (Isaac Burk's older sister) in New York City during the 1930s.
Now my British cousins and I communicate regularly, exchanging photos and info--all because Uncle Sidney passed down scraps of old family history containing crucial clues.
Keeping his memory alive
Uncle Sidney never married and had no descendants, so I've been documenting his life and posting publicly on a variety of sites such as WikiTree, to be sure he's not forgotten.
Here's part of the free memorial page I created on Fold3, emphasizing Sidney's military service during WWII. I included a photo with name, dates, and attribution.
Thank you, Uncle Sidney, for passing down ephemera that helped fill major gaps in the Burk family tree!
Passed down is this week's #52Ancestors prompt from Amy Johnson Crow.
What a treasure!
ReplyDeleteI have ephemera from maiden great-aunts that also helped with my genealogy research. I, too, try to keep their memories alive by writing about them and those who had no children.
ReplyDelete