Happy Thanksgiving from 1913

This holiday penny postcard was sent to my husband's uncle in Cleveland, Ohio in 1913. The eight-year-old recipient might not have been able to read the greeting written in cursive. The sender, living in Chicago, says she has "company just now and will write a longer letter very soon."

I'm not sure about the turkey's unique coloring but I do appreciate how my husband's ancestors stayed in touch for every holiday and in between.

Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

Family History: Ration Book Thanksgivings

 
On Thanksgiving weekend, my husband will be showing these ration coupons to our family and telling the story of how his parents (Marian Jane McClure Wood and Edgar James Wood) needed to bring their ration books to the store when they bought certain foods during World War II. Coffee rationing began in November, 1942, and ended in late July, 1943--spanning a single Thanksgiving. Other foods and items were rationed much longer.

I'm sure the younger relatives will have heard of wartime food rationing but most likely never saw actual ration coupons inside a personalized ration book. These coupons belonged to Marian, whose name and address are on the front of the book. 

Thankfully, the Wood family's ration books survived the past 80 years and are now stored in archival boxes in my home office, to be passed to the next generation along with stories. 

Do you have family history artifacts you can share on Thanksgiving to stimulate conversation and tell stories about ancestors' lives?

Remembering Leona Walaszczyk, Former Director of the Macy's Parade

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Polish-born Lee Wallace (1903-1989) was the head of public relations for Macy's in New York and therefore the boss of the store's hugely famous Thanksgiving Day Parade. In fact, 2024 is the 100th anniversary of this incredible parade!

The Parade always took place around the time of Lee's birthday, November 24th, so I doubt she had time for any personal celebrations. Lee was my aunt Dorothy Schwartz's beloved life partner. 

Walasyk to Wallace

Before I began writing this post, I reviewed my research and looked for anything new. It wasn't so long ago that I found out Lee had Americanized her surname from Walasyk to Wallace. 

Now I've uncovered a 1951 newspaper legal notice mentioning Lee and her brothers and their children. New news about Lee's original surname!

Walaszczyk to Walasyk to Wallace

Published in the Record newspaper of Hackensack, New Jersey, the notice announces that the undersigned will apply for a judgement authorizing them to "assume other names."

Interestingly, Lee was using the name "Leona Z Wallace" as long ago as 1936, when she applied for a Social Security number. I have a copy of that application. I wonder why the family, together, took legal steps to change to the Wallace name in 1951? (Update: A BlueSky follower suggested it might be due to one or more of the Wallace family members intending to apply for a US passport. That sounds quite likely!)

Anyway, by discovering their original surname was Walaszczyk, I was able to find her and her parents and siblings in the 1915 New Jersey Census and the 1920/30 US Census records. Her father Anthony was a silk weaver, as was her mother Frances. Lee's parents never simplified their surname to Walasyk, but her brothers did, and after their parents passed away, they all ultimately switched to Wallace in 1951.

Happy birthday to Leona Z. Walaszczyk (pronounced VALASHCHICK), who headed the most well-known Thanksgiving parade in the United States, with my Auntie Dorothy at her side. 

Did David Light Join the California Silver Rush?

My husband's Bentley ancestors moved from upstate New York to settle in Elkhart county, Indiana in the mid-1830s. William Tyler Bentley (1795-1873) and his wife Olivia Morgan Bentley (1799?-1838) had seven children before she died during a particularly severe winter in Indiana. 

William never remarried. About 1850, he went west to begin farming in Tulare County, California as it became a state. Many of his family members also went to California at that time to farm or raise livestock.

William's daughter Elizabeth E. Bentley (1821?-1898?) married widower Emanuel Light (1815-1897) in Elkhart, Indiana in 1847, becoming a stepmother to his sons David and Eugene. The family moved to California and settled in Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco. As adults, David Light and Eugene Light also became farmers in Santa Rosa (see top left of map).

Then why did David die in Silver City, California in 1863? He was reportedly 22 years old, and multiple news reports of his death only provide a date and a place.** Silver City is in the area now known as Sequoia National Park, a mountainous region that today has no year-round residents. Interestingly, Silver City (bottom right of map) is much closer to Tulare (where William Bentley died in 1873) than to Santa Rosa, where the rest of David's family lived.

Silver City was apparently part of the California Silver Rush. Was David seeking his fortune there? Or was he in Silver City for some other reason? As the map shows, it was more than 300 miles from his farm (and his father and brother), quite a long distance to travel in 1863. 

Remembering David Light (1839-1863), outlived by his brother Eugene Light (1840-1908) and his father Emanuel Light.

**UPDATE: Two wonderful readers recommended doing further newspaper research. Several newspapers, which I looked at previously, indicated Silver City without any state. This matters because other reports of deaths in those papers indicated a state only when the death took place outside of California. 

But! One report, in the Sonoma County Journal, indicated David M. Light died in "Silver City, N.T." which translates to Nevada Territory--the site of lots of Silver Rush action! (Nevada didn't become a state until 1864.)

Since Silver City, Nevada is closer to David Light's farm in Santa Rosa than Silver City, Calif., as shown on map above, it is very possible that David sought his fortune there in early 1863. I'm going to go with Nevada now that I've seen this additional death notice.

Sharing Ancestor Bite-Sized Bios More Widely Because LOCKSS

Another post about bite-sized ancestor bios! Many of my husband's US, Canadian, and UK ancestors served in the military over the years. Researching them over the past year, I prepared bite-sized bios as part of a family history booklet for the family. 

Most of the bios are 4-8 sentences long. I mention parents' names, birthplace, spouse, children, not just military service. Sometimes I include a sentence or two about significant military battles or awards, if appropriate. But even a couple of sentences will help flesh out a bit of the life of each military ancestor.

The next step was to share the bios on multiple websites so these ancestors and their military service is not forgotten. Remember, LOCKSS (lots of copies keep stuff safe).

Bite-sized bios on Fold3

You don't have to subscribe to post a bio on an ancestor's memorial page on Fold3, which is owned by Ancestry and focuses on military records. Searching the Honor Wall of service men and women is free, as is adding a bio. Search the wall using this link. Also on that page is a link to create a new memorial (free) if none shows up in your search. Sharing ancestor/veterans' bios on that site has been an ongoing project for me.

As an example: For my husband's great great uncle Benjamin Franklin Steiner (1840-1924), I added a bio by clicking the add button on his memorial page (see yellow arrow in image above). You can either type it in or copy from a document and paste it in. Once you save it, you can edit if you like by clicking the pencil tool (see green circle on above image). 

Be sure to bookmark or tag the memorials so you can easily return to them later. The tag tool is at top right (orange circle on above image). You can tag with a phrase like "US Civil War" or use a bookmark tag for a later visit.

Bite-sized bios on Find a Grave

Many (but not all) Fold3 memorials include links to the person's Find A Grave memorial. Since the bite-sized bio is already written, it's easy to copy and paste onto that person's Find A Grave memorial. Above, a slightly edited version of the bio I wrote for Benjamin Franklin Steiner's Fold3 memorial is also posted on his memorial at Find A Grave. 

Benjamin's memorial page is managed by someone else, so I submitted the bite-sized bio using the suggest edits function...also indicating that this man was a veteran. The edits were accepted. A small V shows next to this ancestor's name, a visual symbol of military service that any visitor to his Find a Grave page will see.

Wash, rinse, and repeat

You can post bite-sized bios on even more sites. I added Steiner's bio to WikiTree (above), FamilySearch (below), and MyHeritage (at bottom).  

LOCKSS in action! I don't want family history to fade away--I want to perpetuate it for future researchers and descendants.

Book Review: Storytelling for Genealogists

Since my emphasis these days is on writing family history for the sake of future generations, I was drawn to this concise and affordable new book by Doug Tattershall, Storytelling for Genealogists.

Tattershall packs a lot of ideas and info into nine chapters plus a humdinger of a worksheet, and an index. The table of contents includes:

1. Why Family Story? - "We work hard to discover our family tree," writes the author. "But what we really want to know is our family story." So true. Names and dates don't illuminate ancestors' lives. That's why this book is so helpful.
2. How to Tell a Good Story - Engage readers. Then plot a course and find a theme to keep readers interested.
3. The Stuff - Put meat on the bones by researching and interpreting history, biography, and "affective history."
4. Puzzle Pieces - We have facts, but we may also have fiction. How to put the puzzle pieces together in the right way and in the wider context.
5. The Value of Things - Going beyond words to tell the story with images, heirlooms, places, and more.
6. Format - Text, audio, and/or video? Considerations as you choose a format to tell your ancestor's story.
7. True and Good - "You've done fact-finding. Now it's time to spin a tale," the author says, and he goes on to explain how to make the story interesting without getting bogged down.
8. Before You Write - Tattershall recommends outlining first to establish how to organize and present your story, with examples. Yes, outlining really works.
9. Conclusion - "Your family history is a story worth telling, and therefore a story worth telling well." 

Although I would have preferred a little more elaboration on the key points in this slender book, I appreciate and agree with Tattershall's emphasis on telling an engaging story, well beyond names and dates with sources. 

In particular, I recommend his Family Story Worksheet, shown on p. 81. The worksheet serves as a quick-start guide to completing the components needed to spin a tale that will interest the next generation and beyond. 

Storytelling for Genealogists is an excellent, practical, readable book for anyone who wants to bring family history alive through storytelling.

Please note: The Genealogical Publishing Company sent me a free review copy of this book, and it has previously provided free review copies of other books. My reviews always reflect my honest opinions, without regard to any outside influence.

Honor Roll: World War II Veterans from Woodbury, Connecticut

In this second of two blog posts, I'm honoring the men and women from Woodbury, Connecticut who served their nation during the two world wars. This post names those who served during World War II. On Veterans Day, I salute their service with respect and appreciation.

Abbott, H. Ellsworth

Atwood, Gilbert

Atwood, Henry S.

Balch, George F.

Barnes, Randall

Bassett, George C.

Beaurgard, Howard F.

Bennett, Sherwood

Bergensten, L.W.

Bowker, Ruth N.

Bradley, Kenneth A.

Brown, Charles E.

Brunet, Richard D.

Bull, David

Burdick, Edward C.

Burdick, Harold

Burton, William J. Jr.

Bynack, Joseph G.

Cable, George

Cable, Lewis

Carlisle, David

Cassidy, John

Cassidy, Joseph L. 

Cassidy, Marjorie

Cassidy, Paul

Chatfield, Robert

Churchill, Howard

Coats, John E.

Coddington, John

Coey, Albert L.

Cole, Ferris E.

Cole, Ralph E.

Cooper, Earl D.

Cooper, James

Cowles, Paul G.

Crighton, David B.

Cunningham, Harold W.

Daury, Vincent P.

Davidson, James H.

Dawson, John

Decker, E. Norton Jr.

Decker, Robert S.

Dillon, James

Dillon, Richard

Drake, Arthur

Drakeley, Robert L. Jr.

Duda, Casimer

Duda, Peter A.

Dyer, Carroll L.

Elting, Chalres E.

Elting, Stewart E.

Eyre, Alfred O.

Eyre, Harry D.

Eyre, Stanley B.

Farrell, John W.

Faye, Lesley

Fegen, Charles W.

Fray, Robert

Frazier, Charlotte

Freeman, Arthur

Fleming, William

Gardiner, Shirley

Giggey, Kempton L.

Gillis, Carter S.

Graham, Leslie W.

Green Ernest H.

Green, George A.

Green, Robert W.

Griswold, Hobart W.

Hahn, William A Jr.

Harriman, Charles S. Jr.

Harriman, Ellen

Hirsch, Arthur Z.

Hirsch, Charles E.

Hirsch, Clifford B.

Hogan, Michel

Hohimer, Ernest

Hower, William D.

Johnson, Clifford M.

Judson, Donald F.

Karagulla, Selim M.

Kenny, John

King, Arthur C.

Knox, Delmar A.

Koch, Edgar M.

Kozenieski, Llyod

Laukaitis, Anthony

Lavery, James

Leach, John

Leesemann, Frederick W.

Lizauskas, Stanley

Lundin, David J.

Lundin, Frank G.

Lucas, Francis A.

Lyon, Frank O.

Lyon, James G.

Macbeth, S. Alexander

MacCallum, John

Markle, Raymond D.

Mansfield, Paul H.

Manzi, Edward J.

Manzi, Roland

Manzi, Vincent D.

Markham, Fred A.

Markham, Hurlburt A.

Martinson, William F.

Mrvin, Everett D. Jr.

Mason, Howard F. R. Jr.

May, Russell C.

Michaels, Richard W.

Miller, Robert E.

Miller, Vincent A.

Minor, Emerson

Minor, Lewis R.

Morgan, Addis

Morgan, Henry

Morris, George

Morris, Hobart D.

Morris, Vernon H.

Mosavage, Anthony J.

Mosavage, George W.

Munson, Richard

Murphy, Franklin

Nadel, Mortimer J.

Nichols, Joel L.

Nutting, Parker B.

Pastore, William S.

Pearson, James E.

Pearson, Robert R.

Peck, Hiram W.

Petruzzi, Marco

Petruzzi, Michael

Phillips, John

Phillips, Thomas J.

Pinard, Alton H.

Platt, Alfred H.

Pond, Sebastian L.

Pagano, Anthony

Racenet, Amelie H.

Rice, Roy E.

Richards, David K.

Richards, James H. Jr.

Richards, Robert K.

Richardson, Phillip E.

Riese, Frederick K.

Robinson, Waltyer A.

Savage, David W.

Scott, Joseph

Schmidt, Clifford

Sears, Richard A.

Sharp, Charles M.

Shaw, Raymond W.

Sherwood, Albert C.

Sherwood, Charles C.

Shippee, Harold E.

Slattery, Frances R.

Slattery, James J.

Smith, Allen G.

Smith, Burton C.

Smith, Carlton E.

Smith, Edward

Smith, Robert G.

Smith, Walter E.

Snyder, Melvin L.

Somers, Harold

Starr, Robert F.

Stevens, Fannie R.

Strattman, Dwight

Stever, Charles W.

Sturges, Edward B.

Sturges, George R.

Sweeney, Bernard J.

Sweeney, Lawrence

Stockwell, Charle

Taylor, Raymond Jr.

Thomas, Ferris F.

Thompson, David

Thompson, Louise J.

Tomlinson, James H.

Towne, Ernest H. Jr.

Titus, Howard

Travers, Sherwood W.

Underwood, Hiram A.

Underwood, Home R.

Voytershark, Frank

Wallace, Raymond D.

Walston, Harvey D.

Weeden, Willis M.

Weeks, Carnes

Weeks, Carnes Jr.

Westerland, Charles H.

Westerland, Harry F.

Weymer, Russell

Wilson, Herbert R.

Wilson, Robert L.

Walcott, C. James

Wooden, Paul M.

Yurkunas, Kasimir

Honor Roll: World War I Veterans from Woodbury, Connecticut

This dignified memorial plaque honors military veterans from Woodbury, Connecticut who served in the two world wars.

In this first of two blog posts, I'm transcribing the names of men and women who served during World War I, as listed on this memorial. 

Adams, Ralph C.

Adams, William M.

Anderson, Gustave Daniel

Barnes, George H.

Bauch, Harry J.

Beardsley, Howard D.

Bennett, Edson J.

Bennett, William B. Jr.

Bradley, Hubert L.

Brotherton, Frederick L.

Cahill, William P.

Carroll, James P.

Carroll, William J. 

Charter, Legrand F.

Crowley, Jeremiah J.

Dawson, James S.

Drakeley, George M.

Dunlap, Collier W.

Eyre, Alfred G.

Fitzsimons, Dwight

Fitzsimons, Thomas

Foster, Leroy E.

Foster, Ralph E.

Fox, John Jr.

Gibson, Asahel R. Jr.

Gibson, Philo A.

Gorman, Joseph M.

Halstead, Leo D.

Harvey, Robert W.

Harvey, Samuel C.

Hawes, Charles L.

Jackson, Pearlie C.

Karrman, Milton A.

Lathrop, Leslie E.

Leavenworth, Raymond R.

Main, Arthur G.

Mason, Archie D.

Mason, William A.

McDonald, Floyd J.

McDonald, Paul L.

Nelson, Frederick

Parker, Sterling

Parkin, Ernest

Randall, Henry S.

Randall, Louis L.

Reichenbauch, Alfred

Reichenbach, Auguste

Reilly, Bernard

Ross, Frank A.

Roswell, Hubert M.

Salmon, John S.

St. Pierre, Alphonse

Terrell, Eli B.

Terrill, William Gladston

Thompson, Louis F.

Tracy, George F.

Turner, Charles Norman

Tyler, Walter Jr.

Walker, Czar E.

Walker, Edward C. Jr.

Walker, Harold

Walker, Lillian

Willner, Abraham L.

Willner, Ralph L.

Wolfe, Joseph O.

Wooden, Ralph V.

With sincere appreciation for their service to country.

Now on BlueSky Social as Well as Mastodon

I'm transitioning away from Twitter after the US election. 

I'm already posting about genealogy and family history on Mastodon at @MarianBWood@genealysis.social.

Or we can meet on the BlueSky platform where I just began posting at: @climbingfamilytree.bsky.social‬. Very active genealogy community on BlueSky! Below is my profile on that fast-growing social media platform.

Genealogy chats on three platforms

#GenChat continues on Twitter two Friday evenings a month (10 pm Eastern for US genies), plus two Saturday mornings on Mastodon (9 am Eastern). UPDATE: #GenChat will leave Twitter at end of 2024 and relaunch on BlueSky! 

#AncestryHour continues informally on Twitter every Tuesday (2 pm Eastern for US genies, 7 pm for UK genies) but has set up an account on BlueSky at: @ancestryhour.bsky.social.

#GenHour has begun on BlueSky at 8 pm GMT every Thursday--that's 3 pm Eastern for US genies. Hashtag is from @oneplacestudies.bsky.social‬.

Looking forward to staying connected with my genealogy buddies!

Remembering Grandma Minnie 123 Years After Her Immigration

Born on November 10, 1886, my maternal grandma Hermina Farkas Schwartz was the second child (oldest daughter) of 11 children of Moritz Farkas and Lena Kunstler Farkas. She celebrated her 15th birthday on the SS Amsterdam in 1901, en route from Hungary to her future home in New York City.

Growing up in Hungary

Minnie and seven of her siblings were born in Hungary, in an area now known as Berehove, Ukraine. Minnie was sent to school to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, plus fine needlework. 

Her father Moritz supervised vineyard plantings for his wife's family and also leased land for his own crops. Minnie sometimes rode along with him on his rounds of the vineyard--she loved the outdoors. The family wasn't wealthy but they weren't poor either.

Weather changed everything

One year, Moritz failed to insure his crops and a heavy hail storm destroyed everything before the harvest. He was financially ruined. To make a fresh start (and probably to avoid creditors), Moritz sailed to New York City in 1899. He found work in the garment district, like many Jewish immigrants, and always lived in a tenement or an apartment building, very unlike his former life.

At the end of 1900, Moritz's wife Lena sailed to New York City, leaving their eight children with her family. One year later, Minnie and three siblings were put on a ship to rejoin their parents in New York. The last group of four children who waited in Hungary were finally reunited with their family in New York in 1903. Moritz and Lena had three more children born in the Big Apple. The baby of the family was 20 years younger than the oldest.

Where Minnie lived in the big city

In 1910, Minnie lived with her parents and siblings at 645 E. 6th Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. According to the 1940 New York City tax photo, which I found using Steve Morse's One-Step search form, it was a large apartment building on a street corner, with stores on the ground floor.

In 1920 and 1930, married to immigrant Theodore Schwartz (1887-1965) and the mother of three children, she lived at 651 Fox Street in the Bronx, NY. It was a smaller apartment building located in a more residential area. Grandpa Teddy owned and operated a small neighborhood dairy store, which helped them get through the Great Depression.

In 1940, Minnie and Teddy and their children lived at 672 Beck Street in the Bronx, a nicer apartment building. All their children had graduated high school and the oldest two were in college and working part-time, their youngest child working as well. The couple stood on their feet helping customers at the dairy store day after day, including weekends.

In 1950, Minnie and Teddy lived at 600 East 178th Street in the Bronx, an apartment building with the main entrance on the side street. Two children were married and had families of their own. By this time, Minnie had heart problems and Teddy had hired an assistant for the store. This man eventually bought them out so the couple could retire after a lifetime of standing on their feet for long hours.

Minnie's life and legacy

Minnie grew up to be a capable, complicated woman who defied her parents in order to marry the man of her choice. In a later era, she herself would have had many more opportunities to use her intelligence, talents, and determination. She was an expert with a sewing machine, and made fabulous Hungarian dishes from scratch, including apple strudel with an impossibly thin pastry crust. Though she lacked a warm and fuzzy way with her grandchildren, she worked extremely hard, made her children's education a high priority, and always put family first.

Grandma Minnie died 60 years ago, in 1964. Saddened and physically weakened, Grandpa Teddy died the year after. May their memories be for a blessing.

Where Joseph Jacobs Lived in 1888?

My great-grand uncle Joseph Jacobs (1864-1918) was born in Lithuania and became a naturalized citizen in New York City in 1888. He (and his sister Tillie and his mother Rachel) all lived in tenements after coming to the Big Apple in the mid-1880s.

When Joe became a US citizen in October of 1888, his address was 49 Clinton Street, on Manhattan's Lower East Side, an area crammed with immigrants living in row after row of attached tenements. Many of those tenements are now gone. What about Joe's place?

49 Clinton Street, circa 1940

I used Steve Morse's One-Step tool to quickly and conveniently search the NYC Records & Information Department database of building photos taken for tax purposes, 1939-1941. I wondered whether Joe's tenement was still standing in about 1940.

Shown above is the search form, completed to show the address I was seeking. I specified the year as 1939-1941, selected Manhattan as the borough, and entered the house number "49" and the street "Clinton." Then I clicked to show block and lot, and finally clicked "display single house." The black and white tax photo is at top of this blog post, tenements with stores at street level. The full page of results is here.

Alas, I may not be looking at Joe's actual residence but a replacement. His original residence could very well have been torn down to make way for taller buildings. Current real estate listings for the address suggest the tenement shown at top was built about 1910.

If you're looking for a New York City address from the past, try the Steve Morse search form and also check Google for info about the current status of the building.

49 Clinton Street, circa 2024

Then I pasted the address "49 Clinton Street, New York City" into the Google search box. Up popped a map and a street-level photo. 

Surprisingly, the tenement is still standing and recognizable, as shown by this photo from September of 2024! Fire escapes and stores at street level, similar to the 1940 photo.

Remembering my immigrant ancestor Joe Jacobs on the 106th anniversary of his death in 1918. 

Happy Sweet Sixteen to WikiTree - Free Genealogy Talks!

It's WikiTree's 16th birthday and the celebration includes a constellation of genealogy stars giving terrific, free talks for three days, beginning today.

To see the speaker lineup, click here. 

For more fun activities, see the schedule here.

And a happy sweet sixteen to WikiTree.