Bite-Sized Family History from World War II

It seems my relatives like to learn about family history in small doses. Not for them a big data dump about dozens of ancestors or multiple generations. Keep it focused, keep it simple, they'll pay attention for at least a little while.

This week, I created a bite-sized photo book with snippets of what some ancestors did during World War II--in the military and on the home front. (Photo of photobook will be posted soon!)

Many served in the armed forces. I selected four to profile in some detail: my Dad (US Army), his brother (US Army Air Corps), my aunt (WAC), and my uncle (US Army). Lots of photos and bits of documents brought their stories alive.

I also briefly touched on the military service of Dad's and Mom's first cousins, including one in the US Navy and one in the US Marines Corps. Another of Dad's cousins served in the New York Guard. Nearly every branch of the armed forces was represented in the family tree, and mentioned in the bite-sized book!

Supporting the war on the home front

Beyond the military, our Farkas family had its very own Rosie the Riveter. My great aunt Freda, younger sister of my Grandma Minnie, worked long hours in the Grumman aircraft factory on Long Island. 

Other women in the family tree were supporting the war effort on the home front, as well. My Mom and her twin, plus two cousins, joined the American Woman's Voluntary Services, volunteering for a range of activities including selling war bonds. 

My maternal grandma's Farkas Family Tree association often held war-bond sales during monthly meetings, raising a couple thousand dollars at a clip. Mom was also involved with New York City's civilian Air Warden Service during 1943, checking that curtains were closed for blackouts in case of overnight enemy bombing raids. 

Does your family tree include any Rosie the Riveters? Women's History Month is a great time to show pride in these ancestors by telling their stories in a bite-sized family history project.

Looking Back at 2022 Genealogy Milestones

 

Now that 2022 is nearly over, it's time to look back at milestones in this 24th year of my genealogy journey.

• Fun with the 1950 US Census release. On April 1st, this mid-century US Census was made public, and the race was on to find ancestors! Between navigating the US National Archives Census site (with its rudimentary index) and checking FamilySearch.org, MyHeritage.com, and Ancestry.com, I found just about everyone I wanted to locate in 1950. I blogged frequently leading up to the release and afterward as well with tips, techniques, and resources. Only a few stragglers remain to be found...like my paternal 1c2r Frank Morris Jacobs, a WWI veteran who in WWII was working in advertising. 
• Presented 25 genealogy programs. A new one-year record for me! I presented a dozen how-to talks about finding ancestors in the 1950 US Census, including one in-person program. Among my other popular talks were "Planning a Future for Your Family's Past" and "Bite-Sized Family History Projects." It was an honor to present at the WikiTree Symposium, and record talks for The Genealogy Show and Virtual Genealogy Association anniversary. In addition, I was interviewed for two podcasts about preserving family history for future generations. 
• Active in genealogy blogging and social media. This year, I've written 140 blog posts. Some were related to Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors in 52 Weeks genealogy prompts, some were for Elizabeth Swanay O’Neal's Genealogy Blog Party. I've been active in many Facebook genealogy groups, also active in Twitter chats such as #AncestryHour and #GenChat, with occasional #ArchivesHashtagParty posts. Given Twitter's problems, I hedged my bets by joining a genealogy-oriented Mastodon server (where I post as @MarianBWood@genealysis.social). I appreciate the growing genealogy community there! 
• LOCKSS and NaGenWriMo. During 2022, I was increasingly focused on sharing what I know about ancestors, because LOCKSS (lots of copies keep stuff safe). I participated in National Genealogy Writing Month and wrote 70 bite-sized bios of ancestors during November alone. My most popular blog post of 2022 was "Go Ahead and Save My Stuff to Your Tree," part of my plan for LOCKSS. 
• Cousin connections and elusive ancestors. I 💗 my cousins! It's been a joy to get to know so many during the course of my 24-year genealogy journey, even connecting with a few fairly distant cousins this year. We've shared a couple of photos and confirmed basic dates for mutual ancestors. I hope we can pool our knowledge to make even more progress in fleshing out the lives of elusive ancestors, particularly those who stayed behind in Eastern Europe. 

With the coronavirus pandemic still keeping me close to home for most of 2022, I watched dozens and dozens of informative (often inspiring) genealogy webinars, including at the all-virtual RootsTech (which will be hybrid in 2023), plus the Virtual Genealogy Association and WikiTree, among others. As a member of multiple genealogy societies, I learned a lot from speakers and from discussions with members at virtual meetings throughout the year.  

In all, 2022 was jam-packed and I won't be slowing down in 2023. I have lots of genealogy plans in the works...more about that soon! 

Eyeballing a New York Birth Cert from 1885

I'm writing a bite-sized bio of Carrie Julia Etschel Mahler (1885-1962), who in 1932 married my great uncle Morris Mahler (1888-1958). Those who marry in deserve their own bios on my family tree!

I already knew Carrie's parents' names, from her marriage license...but I didn't have Carrie's birth certificate, and I did hope to harvest a few more details about her early life to include in the bio I'm preparing. Since she was born in New York City, I knew just where to look for her actual birth cert--for free.

New York City Vital Records online

For months, I've enjoyed the convenience of searching for birth, marriage, and death certificates on the New York City Municipal Archives site. The trick is to have an actual cert number to conduct a search and receive a result. 

As it happens, Ancestry has a searchable index to New York City births, 1878-1909, which includes the birth record number. But this isn't always the case. Many times, Italiangen.org is my first stop for a NYC ancestor's vital records number. 

First stop: Italiangen.org

The Italian Genealogical Group has done an incredible job of creating searchable index databases for a variety of New York vital records. To go directly to the databases, use this link. I selected the birth database, included a range of years for Carrie's birth (in case there was a delay in recording her birth), and didn't indicate a specific borough because I wanted to search throughout the city.

Happily, this returned one index result: Carrie J. Etschel, born on April 25, 1885, in Manhattan. This matches what I knew from Carrie's marriage license. The key element on this index result is the CertNbr (meaning cert number), 426034.

Next stop: search historical vital records for NYC

Armed with the cert number, year, and borough, I went to the NYC Muni Archives site and plugged it all into the search function, as shown above. Then I clicked the search button.

Immediately I was able to eyeball Carrie Julia Etschel's birth record from 1885, as shown here. There's a choice of downloading the cert or printing, and of course I downloaded to add to my own files. 

By the way, the cert numbers do not always line up exactly with the search function. So if my result doesn't fit what I expect, I do a new search with a cert number that is one digit higher and one digit lower than the cert number I think is correct. Usually this gets me to the correct image.

Read the cert!

Reading the above cert carefully, not only did I learn the exact address where Carrie was born on First Avenue in Manhattan, but also the birthplace and age of both parents, father's occupation, mother's maiden name, plus how many children the mother had in all (8) and how many were now living (only 3). 

Now I have lots of interesting details about Carrie's family that I can include in her bite-sized bio to be posted on multiple genealogy websites.

NaGenWriMo Continues

November is the time for NaGenWriMo--National Genealogy Writing Month. It's not too late to participate! 

Already this month, I've written bite-sized bios of 14 ancestors on my husband's family tree. I'll finish his great aunts and great uncles, then move on to write about my grandparents' siblings--which will keep me busy since they each had many sisters and brothers.

Focusing on one branch at a time allows me to see these people in context and proceed systematically. As I write, I'm making tiny corrections and adding new research to my trees, plus I'm improving or adding Find a Grave memorials. 

Even those who died young can be memorialized with brief bios. I'm writing about the child's position in birth order, names of parents, birth place, any Census or baptism mention, illness, cause of death if known, burial place, any other details.

By posting ancestor bios in multiple places online, I want to keep as much family history as possible from being lost in the decades to come. Anything I write during November is more than was available before this year's NaGenWriMo!

November Is NaGenWriMo Time

A few years ago, my husband participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), writing fiction every day during November. The idea was to set goals, and make the time to write consistently throughout the month. He found the structure helpful and motivating. 

This year, I'm participating in NaGenWriMo, which stands for National Genealogy Writing Month. Taralyn Parker Pope (@KeepMovingTara on Twitter) is giving this a social media push and I'm jumping on the bandwagon! 

Today is the kickoff. 

My goal is to write and post bite-sized bios of more ancestors on my family tree and my husband's family tree. I've already completed and posted bios for nearly all of the ancestors in our direct lines: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and some great-greats. 

Now I'm branching out [pun intended] to write bios for aunts, uncles, and cousins in multiple generations--including spouses and partners, including infants who died young. 

I'll be posting the bios on sites like Family Search, Find a Grave, WikiTree, My Heritage, and so on. 

In the process, I'm sure I'll notice gaps in my knowledge of an ancestor and need to do a bit of additional research and attach sources before polishing a bio. That's great! 

But my main focus in November will be writing family history that I haven't written before and sharing widely because LOTS OF COPIES KEEP STUFF SAFE. 

Tuesday, day #1 of NaGenWriMo, I wrote about my hubby's great aunts and great uncles, including Carrie E. Steiner Traxler (1870-1963) and her husband John Newtown Traxler (1862-1924). 

On day #2, I wrote about two other Steiner ancestors, Etta Blanche Steiner Rhuark (1864-1956) and Minnie Estella Steiner Halbedel (1867-1947), and their husbands. Also I wrote about Lola A. McClure Lower (1877-1948) and her husband, Edward A. Lower (1873-1920).

On day #3, I wrote briefly about milliner Lucille Ethel McClure De Velde (1880-1926) and her husband, John Everett De Velde (1874-1947), a plumber. Also I added a memorial page for him on Find a Grave, based on the burial place listed on his death cert.

On day #4, after participating in the WikiTree Symposium, I wrote about Hugh Benjamin McClure (1882-1960) and his first wife, Olivette Georgianna Van Roe McClure (1885-1905). Next will be Hugh's second wife.

On day #5, while watching WikiTree Day festivities, I wrote about Rebekah V. Wilt McClure (1896-1975), the second of Hugh Benjamin McClure. Now moving on to siblings of hubby's other grandfather, Edgar James Wood.

On day #6, I wrote about Lucy Maria Kize Wood (1851-70) and her brother Alfred Olando Wood (1855-1895), and will continue with more of their Wood siblings. 

Day #7: Wrote about Francis "Frank" Ellery Wood (1857-1933) and his wife, Louisa Mary Schultz Wood (1860-1948), and continued with their descendants, partly based on genealogy researched by a Wood cousin and supplemented with additional details. Also corrected Find a Grave info and located vital records for some of the Wood ancestors. 

Day #8: Wrote and posted sad story of Robert Orrin Wood (1873-1933), who died of myocarditis in the Toledo State Hospital for the Insane. While hospitalized from 1925-1933, one of his children was placed in the Institute for the Feebleminded in Columbus, Ohio, where she remained for the rest of her life. The other two children were taken in by the Lutheran Orphans' Home until they were of age to work. One grew up to be a nurse, the other worked for an oil refinery for his entire career. Also finished other siblings in the Wood line, now ready to begin working on my grandparents' siblings on day #9.

Day #9: Wrote about my great uncle, Lithuanian-born Abraham Berk (1877-1962) and his English wife Anna, who crossed the pond to settle in Montreal and raise their family. Then I wrote about Abraham's sister Jennie Birk and her husband, Paul Salkowitz, who operated a citrus grove in Florida during the late 1940s/early 1950s.

Day #10: Wrote about Matel Max Birk (1892-1953), one of my grandpa's brothers, and about Matel's wife Rebecca. He was a jeweler, she was a bookkeeper, and they eventually left New York to live close to Matel's sister Jennie in Florida.

Day #11: Wrote about Meyer Berg (1883-1981) and his wife Anna Paris Berg (1888-1981). Meyer was my great uncle and lived for a short time as a boarder in the NYC apartment of his brother's in-laws. 

Day #11: Wrote about g-grandpa Meyer Eliyash Mahler's first marriage/divorce in Riga, Latvia and about his oldest son, Riga-born David Mahler (1882-1964), a black sheep of the family. 

Day #12: Revised bio of g-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler, whose exact birth year has long been in doubt. She's my longest-living ancestor, supposedly either 99 or 100 years old when she died in 1952.

Day #13: Revised bio of Tillie's mother, Rachel Shuham Jacobs, who is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens, NY, where her two children are also buried. 

Day #14: Enriched bio of Flora Jacobs, daughter of Joseph Jacobs & Eva Michalovsky Jacobs, granddaughter of Rachel Shuham Jacobs. She died at age 33, the third daughter of that family to die young. I added a gravestone photo to her bio.

Day #15: Corrected portion of Henry Arthur Slatter's bio on Find a Grave to include current link to photo of his gravestone, which also mentions his wife Alice and their son Arthur A. Slatter, a WWI casualty. Added Alice and Arthur's bios to various sites. The Slatters were part of my husband's family tree.

Day #16: Improving Mahler family bios, including Morris Mahler and his sister Sarah Mahler, who were siblings of my grandmother Henrietta Mahler.

Day #17: Finished Sarah (Sadie) Mahler Smith's biography. Will be documenting the military service of her sons.

Day #18: Wrote about Ida Mahler Volk (1892-1971), who was a favorite sister of my grandma Henrietta, and about Ida's husband Louis.

Day #19: I set up an account at Mastodon where I'll try tooting as @MarianBWood@genealysis.social so please say hello there! Wrote about my great aunt Mary Mahler Markell and her husband, Joseph A. Markell.

Day #20: More on Mastodon and writing about my uncle and aunt, Fred and Daisy, who were lifelong educators in New York City.

Day #21: Returning to my husband's family, beginning to write bite-sized bio of his Wood uncles.

Day #22: Wrote a blog post about Thanksgiving week weddings in my family tree, saved the info to plan future bite-sized bios. Created a Find a Grave memorial page for a cousin's baby born prematurely in 1924, who sadly died after only two days.

Day #23: Wrote bite-sized bio of Rosalind Ashby Wood, who was married to Theodore William Wood in 1949. 

Day #24: Wrote bite-sized bio of Leona "Lee" Zonna Wallace, my maternal aunt's life partner. Aunt Lee directed the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade for a number of years! Nov 24, 1903 was her birthdate so I wrote her bio on what would have been her 99th birthday.

Day #25: I blogged about Aunt Lee Wallace, an immigrant from Poland who rose through the ranks of Macy's to direct the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Day #26: I posted bite-sized bios of my great-grandparents, Leni Kunstler Farkas and Moritz Farkas. They were the journey-takers who left Hungary in search of a better life in New York City, after Moritz's harvest failed.

Day #27: I posted grandma & grandpa Schwartz's bios on additional genealogy websites and linked to their Find a Grave memorial pages. Here's Grandma Minnie's memorial page, for instance.

Day #28: Working on bios for Hermina Farkas's siblings and in-laws. Today I wrote and posted bios for Alexander Farkas and his wife, Jennie Katz Farkas. They were active in the Kossuth Society, a benevolent group helping Hungarian immigrants, founded in 1904.

Day #29: Wrote bios for Hermina's brother Bertalan Albert Farkas and his wife, Sadie Sari Klein Farkas, also active in the Kossuth Society. 

Day #30: Finished this month's write-ups with Albert & Sari's son George Eugene Farkas.

Wrapup: I wrote 70 bite-sized bios during the 30 days of #NaGenWriMo! 

Which ancestor(s) will you be writing about in November?

This is my blog post for the Genealogy Blog Party, November, 2022.

In Memory of Harold D. Burk, World War II Vet and Travel Agent

My Dad, Harold David Burk, was born on September 29, 1909, and died on August 18, 1978, sadly just weeks before his 69th birthday. In loving memory of Dad's life, I'm posting his bite-sized bio here (in addition to posts on Find a Grave, Fold3, Ancestry, and other sites). 

Harry was born in New York City, the second child of Lithuanian-born immigrant Isaac Burk (1882-1943) and Latvian-born immigrant Henrietta

Mahler Burk (1881-1954) [source: NYC birth cert].

Growing up, his ambition was to be a travel agent. He spent years learning the travel industry from the ground up in Manhattan, waiting for his big break to become a full-fledged agent.

During World War II, Harry interrupted his career to enlist in the U.S. Army on March 7, 1942 and was discharged on October 4, 1945 [source: Dept. of Veterans Affairs BIRLS death file]. His younger brother Sidney B. Burk (1914-1995) also enlisted and served during WWII. In this photo from the war years, Harry is at left and Sidney at right.

Because Harry had good typing skills, he served as a personnel clerk, Technician 5th grade, in the 3163d Signal Service Company of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. His official designation was Administrative NCO 502 [source: DD-214 discharge papers]. His unit served in Central Europe and Rhineland, maintaining communication lines in support of Allied military efforts [source: DD-214]. Toward the end of the war, Harry and his unit were stationed near Paris, in April 1945.

After his honorable discharge, Harry returned home and married Daisy Schwartz (1919-1981) on November 24, 1946, in New York City [source: NYC marriage cert]. They settled in the Bronx, New York, and raised three children. He founded a successful travel agency, Burk Travel Service, working with his brother in their lobby office at the luxurious Manhattan hotel, the Savoy Plaza [source: business documents].

Harry reluctantly retired after the hotel was torn down in 1965 to make way for construction of the General Motors Building. He died of a heart attack on August 18, 1978 in the Bronx, New York, and is buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, NY [source: NYC death cert].

Remembering Dad and missing him today.

Free Ancestor Memorial Pages on Fold3

I'm in the process of setting up or beefing up memorial pages on Fold3.com (owned by Ancestry) for ancestors who were military veterans. Memorial pages can be created for non-veterans--even for special events or organizations--but because Fold3 is heavily focused on military records, I'm prioritizing memorials for ancestors who had military service.

At top is a photo showing thumbnails of the 12 memorial pages I've created for vets in my family tree and my husband's family tree. Some were from the US, some from England, some from Canada. Some served in the US Civil War, some in World War I, some in World War II. But now all are searchable and findable on Fold3!

You don't have to be a Fold3 subscriber--just register for a free account. This will allow you to set up memorials, add bite-sized bios, and upload photos. 

But remember, you won't be able to conduct extensive research unless you subscribe, with the exception of using more than 200 free Fold3 databases.

Fold3 may have already given you a head start by creating a memorial page with your ancestor's name and, possibly, some details about his or her service. I discovered a few of my ancestors already had a memorial page with bare-bones about military service. Then I added a bite-sized bio, photos, etc. 

To start, register for a free account and then go to the "training center" page where you can learn more about memorials. From Stories Behind the Stars, here's a brief video that shows, step by step, how to create a new memorial. 

Just another way to keep our ancestors alive by sharing info on multiple sites.

This is my post for Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge, following this week's theme of service.

Posting Bite-Sized Bios For Canada Day

In honor of Canada Day on July 1, I'm focusing on my husband's great uncles who rose from grinding poverty in London's notorious Whitechapel district to become career military men and renowned bandmasters in Canada. 

• Albert William Slatter (1862-1935) - Bandmaster of the 7th London Fusiliers in Ontario, Canada. See bite-sized bio on his FindaGrave memorial here.
• John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954) - Bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders of Toronto, Canada, who popularized the Kiltie Band craze at the turn of the 20th century. Bite-sized bio on FindaGrave here.
• Henry Arthur Slatter (1866-1942) - Bandmaster of the 72d Seaforth Highlanders in Vancouver, Canada. Bio on his FindaGrave memorial here.

Currently, I'm widening my reach to post brief bios of each man on multiple sites. This week, I'm adding bios of Albert William Slatter and Henry Arthur Slatter to WikiTree, Fold3, and MyHeritage. 

All three of my husband's Slatter great uncles served Canada with distinction. I want to help keep their memories alive for future generations, not just within the family but far beyond.

My 2022 Genealogy Paper Chase

Here we are, halfway through 2022, and already it's been quite a year for family history! 

Thanks to the big Census releases, my genealogy paper chase has been extremely productive in the first half of this year. 

In fact, I'm making good progress on all my projects and plans:

• Find ancestors and the FAN club in the 1950 US Census (results: yay, lots and lots of info and really interesting clues).
• Look for hubby's ancestors in the 1921 Census of England (results: found some, will look for a couple more).
• Write and post bite-sized bios for aunts, uncles, and great-grandparents on genealogy websites (results: some completed, a few in draft stage)
• Reorganize family photos into archival albums (results: hundreds of 20th century snapshots reorganized, but oldest photos and negatives still to be reorganized--a big project to accomplished in small chunks). 
• Follow up on genealogy clues from Burk/Birk branch of my father's side and Schwartz/Winkler/Preisz branch of my mother's side (results: yay, made new cousin connections!).
• Continue making presentations on genealogy topics (results: talks scheduled July through autumn of this year).

Next steps

One top priority is to write more bite-sized bios, with the goal of keeping these ancestors' names alive for future generations. Currently, I'm finalizing details for bios of my hubby's great-grandparents and my great-grandparents (actually just posted hubby's great-grandpa's bio). Even when I know very little about these people, I can still write about milestones in their lives (BMD), number of children and/or siblings, where/when they lived, and the social/historical context of of their lifetimes.

Another priority for the second half of 2022 is reorganizing older photos, captioning, and maybe even writing brief narratives about a few of the series photos. I did this with one of my late dad-in-law's albums chronicling the summer of 1917, when his father drove the family from Cleveland to Chicago in a new 1917 Ford. 

I'll also be testing additional archival photo storage possibilities during the summer, to see which are best suited to the small and odd-shaped old photos and negatives inherited from my late dad-in-law. As I wrote in my book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past, life by the inch is a cinch--life by the yard is hard. I'm stretching out my photo reorganization and taking small steps to keep this project from becoming overwhelming. Digitizing these photos is only part of the process. It's just as important to keep the originals safe for decades to come.

Paper chase in my future

I'm still busy following the paper trail to trace more of my Eastern European ancestors. DNA has less helpful than I'd hoped. Yet there are documents and family tree clues about a few branches that came to America, some around the time of World War I and some after World War II.

In recent months, I found a couple of distant cousins I never knew about. Together, we're pooling information and coordinating research to try to connect with more descendants while documenting those who came before. 

The second half of 2022 promises to be as productive as the first half! And of course I'll be blogging about challenges, breakthroughs, techniques, issues, and more. More than 13 years of genealogy blogging, with more to come.

Bite-Sized Ancestor Bios on Find a Grave--Sometime Soon?

One of my passions is to keep family history alive for the sake of future generations and for future researchers. After years of research, I'm sharing what I know now by posting bite-sized ancestor biographies on multiple websites. 

This is part of the PASS process described in my updated book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past (available on Amazon, in the book store at American Ancestors.org, and in the book store at the Newberry Library).

Lots of copies keep stuff safe

At top, the bite-sized bio I wrote about my husband's maternal grandfather, Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970). After sharing within the family, I've posted this on Family Search, My Heritage, and WikiTree. The idea is to share this ancestor's story widely, in public, so those who come after can learn more about his life. 

I'm applying the LOCKSS principle--the concept that "lots of copies keep stuff safe." With lots of copies, it's less likely that genealogical and biographical information will be forgotten or lost or otherwise become inaccessible as time goes on.

Not yet on Find a Grave 

For the past year, I've been trying--unsuccessfully--to have this ancestor's bio posted to the memorial page on Find a Grave. 

Find a Grave is free, it's worldwide in scope, and it's another suitable place to share info about ancestors.

Image at right shows how the memorial page currently looks. Notice that I took the photo of Brice's grave and posted it years ago. 

The brief bio currently on the page was not written by me. It's not just incomplete, it's inaccurate.

I've posted other ancestral bios on Find a Grave, both on memorial pages that I manage and through the courtesy of non-relatives who manage my ancestors' pages. However, I haven't yet been able to get Brice's posted. 

Following Find a Grave's policies

Beginning in January of 2021, I submitted edits multiple times to the current manager of this memorial. Repeatedly. To date, I've had no response. I see the current manager has more than 440,000 memorials, and that person's profile mentions how much time it takes to plow through edits and requests for transfer.

Still, 13 months seems way too long to wait for edits to be posted or a transfer to be completed (with a click). I've even explained to the current manager, at least once, that Brice and Floyda are my husband's maternal grandparents. 

According to Find a Grave's policies, someone who manages a memorial page that is NOT of their ancestor is supposed to transfer to a relative, upon request. You can read those policies here. 

Now I'm giving Find a Grave an opportunity to stop the 13-month logjam and expedite the transfer of Brice's and Floyda's pages to me. I wrote the support folks, as Find a Grave says to do, and briefly explained why I want to manage those memorial pages and how I've attempted to have accurate bios posted for months, to no avail. 

(March 8 update: No response yet) (March 21 update: Find a Grave said, in a tweet: "We are processing a large backlog at this time. We apologize in advance for a delay in response; we are responding as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience while we process the mail we have received. Please know we are giving each request our full attention."

March 29 update: Partial success!! Find a Grave made me the manager of my Dad's memorial. Now I'm hoping they'll transfer hubby's grandparents in just as timely a manner. TY to Find a Grave.

My goal is to keep alive the memory of these ancestors, not just for descendants but also for other genealogical researchers. And I don't give up easily! Readers, I'll keep you posted about what happens. 

Just Curious: Did My Immigrant Ancestors Know English?

As I write bite-sized bios of my great-grandparents, who died long before I was born, I find I'm curious about their daily lives. 

For instance: Did great-grandma Leni Kunstler Farkas (1865-1938) and great-grandpa Moritz Farkas (1857-1936) become fluent enough to speak, read, and write in English? 

Both were born in Hungary (in an area now in Ukraine). Both were, I'm confident without any real proof, able to read and write in their native Hungarian language. Why? Because Leni was the daughter of a family that owned property and operated an inn...Moritz supervised his in-laws' vineyard and leased lands to farm. They interacted with officials, not just family members, and would have needed some level of proficiency in Hungarian.

Comparing family stories and research 

Research and family stories agree on many aspects of these immigrant ancestors' lives. Moritz arrived in New York City in August, 1899, Leni arrived in November, 1900, and their Hungarian-born children followed in two waves. Moritz worked as a presser and cloak maker within the New York City garment industry. Leni was in charge of their children and ruled the household. 

The youngest kids went to city public schools and picked up English quickly and naturally. The older children (mid-to-late teens) worked during the day and went to night school to learn English. At the end of the work week, they handed their pay packets to Leni. She doled out carfare and lunch money for the next week, and kept the rest for rent, food, and other expenses (including an occasional summer getaway of her own, according to family lore). 

Both Leni and Moritz lived in New York City for three decades. Moritz worked outside the family, while Leni may have had dealings with landlords, shopkeepers, school officials, and others in the neighborhood.

But how well could they speak, read, and/or write English? My oldest cousins, who were toddlers when these ancestors died, have distant memories that could only be based on actual conversations, in English, with Leni and Moritz. What other clues can I gather?

Start with the US Census

My first step was to return to the US Census, which often asked about proficiency in English. Interestingly inconsistent answers!

• 1900 Census: Moritz lived as a boarder in someone else's Lower East Side tenement apartment. For the question "speak English?" the enumerator had originally written YES but overwrote it and the answer is illegible.
• 1910 Census: YES, Moritz can speak English, according to this record, but NO, Leni's answer is "Magyar."  
• 1920 Census: NO, neither Moritz nor Leni is recorded as being able to speak English. Their native tongue is "Jewish," according to this Census.
• 1930 Census: YES, both Moritz and Leni are recorded as being able to speak English. The language spoken at home before coming to America is listed as "Magyar."

Next stop: naturalization documentation

Next, I looked at Moritz's Petition for Naturalization, dated June of 1906. He had been in America for nearly seven years at that point. 

As shown at top, the commissioner who signed this petition indicated that no, Moritz could NOT "read or write the English language intelligently."

So...yes or no?

My conclusion, based on this research, is that for the first decade in America, neither of these ancestors could do more than understand a bit of basic English and possibly answer with a stock phrase. 

I believe, based on my research and my cousins' dim memories, that eventually, both Leni and Moritz understood spoken English fairly well, and could converse in English with people outside the family, even if their vocabulary was not extensive or sophisticated.

I doubt either ancestor could read or write very much English by the time they passed away. Most likely, they (like so many immigrants) relied on their children all their lives to be interpreters and read/write English when necessary. 

-- This is my post for week 4 of Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors series, with the theme of "curious."

Favorite Photo That Led to a Breakthrough

 

This photo of a distinguished man in uniform was passed down in my husband's family for a century.

We had no idea who it was until 2011. 

After I posted the photo on my blog, two wonderful readers recognized the uniform, the big breakthrough I needed.

Capt. John Daniel Slatter

This is Captain John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954), in full regalia as Bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders of Toronto.

With a name and dates, I knew just where he should fit in the family tree.

Capt. Slatter is an older brother of hubby's grandma, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). Now I had a new research angle to explore!

Over the next few months, I corresponded with the 48th Highlanders' museum in Toronto. Later, hubby and I drove up for a visit. We learned a great deal about Capt. Slatter's military career from the curators. In turn, we left them a family tree and biographical information to supplement the military artifacts and records in the museum's possession.

Bite-Sized Bio

More recently, I wrote a bite-sized bio to memorialize this legendary bandmaster, posting it on Family Search, Find a Grave, and other sites. It wasn't easy to squeeze his personal life and professional accomplishments into four paragraphs (with sources summarized at the end--see below). 

Thanks to eagle-eyed readers getting me started with the initial identification, I've now traced the Slatter family further back in time and can memorialize more ancestors with bite-sized bios on multiple genealogy websites. 

* This is my week 3 post for Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge, with the theme of "favorite photo."

Bite-Sized Bios for Earlier vs Recent Ancestors

When I write a bite-sized bio for ancestor who was known to me or my relatives, I frequently have so much material that I have to pick and choose to make the bio both brief and informative. 

There are so many recent genealogical sources available, as well as family letters, diaries, and family photo albums, that I have a rich cache of content. Plus, older cousins who remember these people can share stories that make the bios more vivid and add personality well beyond the basic facts.

What can I learn about earlier ancestors?

However, writing a bio for an ancestor who died before the 20th century can be more of a challenge because nobody alive today knew that person and rarely do I have personalized sources. 

Still, my bio for someone who died more than a century ago usually includes: birth, marriage(s), and death dates and places (where known); parents' names; spouse(s) name(s); occupations; residence(s) and land ownership; military service (if applicable); children's names; geographical movements; and some social/historical context.

Sources for writing bios of earlier ancestors

I get these details from sources such as (but not limited to) multiple Census records, vital records, military records, naturalization records, city directories, newspapers, obits, and county histories. I use Wikipedia, history books, and other sources to add a bit of background, such as about immigration trends or frontier life, when I weave the basics into an interesting story told in my own words. 

Sometimes there are scant sources for a much earlier ancestor. Then I write what I can, emphasizing details that I do know--such as where that ancestor is in the birth order of siblings, how many of that ancestor's siblings survived to adulthood, what that ancestor did for a living, whether that ancestor married, and so on. These bios are not as long or rich as bios for more recent ancestors, but I do try to make them interesting and bring out the human angle.

Other times, I can dig up a considerable amount of content for an ancestor who died more than a century in the past. When my husband and I were in Indiana a few years ago, we cranked a local library's microfilm reader to research ancestors in 19th century newspapers. There we found a wonderfully detailed obituary for hubby's 2d great-grandfather, Benjamin McClure (1812-1896)--a truly great source for an ancestor bio!

The woodcut portrait of Benjamin McClure, shown at top, is also from a 19th century newspaper accessed via microfilm at that same local library.* I've posted the woodcut on FamilySearch and other sites where I post bios and images, to bring this ancestor to life.

*About copyright: The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, writes about copyright and newspapers from time to time--including this old but still informative post. Also see this brief Library of Congress post about newspaper databases. Note that I'm not an expert on the legalities of newspapers/books and copyright, so please do your own homework before using any published content, either words or images, from the past!

A Look Back at My Genealogy Projects in 2021

Staying close to home in 2021, as I did in 2020, it was a year chock-full of genealogy projects. 

Although I've been doing some research, I was particularly focused on documenting family history for descendants and to share more widely online. Genealogy is never complete...but anything I share is more than the family (and future researchers) had before. Why wait? I'm sharing now.

Also, I blogged, wrote, and gave talks about preserving family history, prepping for the 1950 US Census, perpetuating family history, and many other topics.

Highlights:

• I published a new edition of my best-selling book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past, receiving highly favorable reviews from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Family Tree Magazine (UK), as well as from genealogy societies and genealogy bloggers.
• It was a real honor to be a featured guest during the WikiTree Challenge. The remarkable WikiTree super-sleuths smashed several brick walls (Burk, Farkas, and Kunstler) and provided concrete clues to help me continue the research!  
• I made nearly two dozen live webinar presentations to US genealogy societies from coast to coast, plus one talk in person. In addition, I recorded talks for the New England Regional Genealogical Conference, THE Genealogy Show UK (summer and winter), and the Virtual Genealogy Association Conference. Wonderful audiences! 
• It was fun being a #GenChat guest expert, sparking discussion about finding ancestors when the 1950 US Census is released in April. Also I participated in lots of #GenChat and #AncestryHour chats, occasionally chiming in on #ANZAncestryTime chats.
• I wrote an article, "Finding Heirs for Your Family History," published in the December, 2021 issue of Internet Genealogy magazine.
• I wrote an article, "Free and Almost Free Genealogy," published in the winter 2021 issue of Avotaynu, the International Review of Jewish Genealogy.
• I found new homes (museums, libraries, historical societies) for artifacts such as theater programs collected by my late father-in-law from the 1920s to the 1980s. Family is so happy about donating these items. More to go!
• Consulting with relatives, I wrote and posted (on Find a Grave, Family Search, MyHeritage, WikiTree, and elsewhere) dozens of bite-sized ancestor bios from my tree and hubby's tree. Good progress, with more in the works.
• My late father-in-law left hundreds of photos and negatives, which I'm slowly scanning, captioning, and sharing with relatives. To be continued in 2022, along with scanning my childhood photos. Scanning is easy, captioning is key.
• I helped my hubby record several family-history videos and prepare a number of written reminiscences, complete with photos. Lesson learned: For our family audience, videos are watched once, but printed materials live on.
• I expanded my virtual cemeteries on Find a Grave to share with relatives and keep burial places from being forgotten in the future. More to go!
• I expanded my knowledge base by watching talks all year, not just those fantastic RootsTech talks but also programs hosted by national, regional, and local genealogical societies. In my bunny slippers and headset! (PS: I'm excited to be a RootsTech Influencer--aka Ambassador--for 2022.)

My next post will be a look ahead to 2022, when I will celebrate 14 years of genealogy blogging.

For the Holidays, a Bite-Sized Family History Project

With Christmas fast approaching, I asked my wonderful hubby to please write a few lines about his childhood memories of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. He thought for a few minutes about what stood out, both the good and the not-so-good, and he wrote half a page. As we talked, more details started flooding back. Pretty soon he had a full page of memories, ranging from putting up the tree to singing carols as his father played the piano.

Illustrating written memories

Next, my hubby browsed old 35mm slides from his childhood and chose seven to go along with his written memories. He found slides of his siblings next to the tree, one of himself in pjs and robe on Christmas Day, one of his father (Edgar James Wood) testing a Christmas toy, one of his mother (Marian McClure Wood) in holiday finery, and one of his grandfather (Brice Larimer McClure) chatting with a grandchild on Christmas. 

As a holiday surprise, we're sending family members these images along with the page of memories. Even in a busy season, we found a couple of hours to assemble the project--and I'm sure recipients will find a few minutes to read the story and smile at the photos from decades in the past.

Of course we've been sharing these and other memories around the dinner table during this year's holiday celebrations. And making new memories for the future.

Bonus: "spot the heirloom"

Among the images scanned from old slides, my eye was drawn to the one at top. It shows the living room in hubby's childhood home in Cleveland, Ohio, festively decorated for Christmas exactly as he saw in his mind's eye. 

Next to the piano keyboard, on the left edge of the image, the camera captured a special heirloom that has been passed down in the family: his mother's handmade ceramic sculpture of a zebra. I marked it with a red box in the image above. 

My heart was touched by seeing my late mom-in-law's favorite little zebra on display in her living room. Some distant day, this little zebra and her other ceramics will be inherited by descendants, along with the stories and photos.

- This is my Genealogy Blog Party post for December 2021.

Two More Reasons to Create Virtual Cemeteries on FindaGrave

So far, I've created five virtual cemeteries on the free, worldwide, Ancestry-owned website FindaGrave.com. 

See my detailed post here about how and why to create a virtual cemetery on FindaGrave.

I've named each virtual cemetery and for some, I've added a brief description ("Descendants of Solomon Elias Burk and..."). Others will get a description very soon.

Names and descriptions help relatives and researchers who want to browse these memorials.

Now I want to point out two more reasons--two very good reasons!--for creating a virtual cemetery on FindaGrave.

Reason 1: Quickly go to a memorial 

Often, I access an ancestor's FindaGrave by clicking a link on my Ancestry family tree. 

If I'm not working on my Ancestry tree at the moment, I just go to my listing of virtual cemeteries on FindaGrave and locate a particular memorial that way. Fast and easy! 

I'm accessing many more of my memorials these days as I compose and post brief, bite-sized bios on FindaGrave and other websites. How easy it is to simply click on my virtual cemetery, see a memorial, and note which still need bite-sized bios.

Reason 2: Return to a memorial to see what's new

Just today I returned to a memorial I haven't accessed in months...and discovered that someone left a flower two weeks ago! In fact, looking at linked memorials, I saw this person left a flower on more than one of my ancestor's pages. Cousin bait?!

I immediately checked that person's FindaGrave profile page, found no listing of surnames, and sent a polite message (saying thank you for leaving a flower, and please let me know whether you're related to my ancestor). Fingers crossed that perhaps this is a distant cousin or someone in the FAN Club (friends, associates, neighbors).

Note I don't manage every one of my ancestor memorials (nor all of my hubby's ancestor memorials). As long as they're in good hands, I'm usually content to simply submit edits, including bite-sized bios. Other people also submit edits to these memorials on occasion (Census data, maiden names, etc). 

That's why it's always worthwhile checking back to see what's new. With my virtual cemeteries, I'm only a click away from any ancestor memorial.

Remembering WWI Vet Frank M. Jacobs

My 1c2r, Frank M. Jacobs (1896-1974) enlisted in the US Marines on April 18, 1917, when he was 20 years old. While he was fighting in World War I, he left behind his mother (Eva Michalovsky Jacobs), his father (Joseph Jacobs), and his siblings in Brooklyn, New York. 

Fighting in France

After a brief period of training, Frank was sent to France on June 27, 1917, where he fought in the Toulon Sector, Aisne Defensive, Chateau-Thierry Sector, and Soissons (the Aisne-Marne Offensive). All this detail is on his New York "Abstracts of World War I Military Service" record, shown below. By June of 1918, he had been promoted to Corporal.

Sadly, Frank lost a leg on July 19, 1918 during fierce fighting at the Battle at Soissons. He received medical attention in France and was returned to the States for further treatment. Meanwhile, more tragedy in the family: His father Joseph, a chronic invalid, died in November of 1918, before Frank was formally discharged.

So far as I can determine, Frank never married or had children. He pursued a long career in advertising. On his WWII draft registration card, Frank showed his employer as the big Madison Avenue firm Young & Rubicam.

In Frank's own words

Frank wrote home quite regularly throughout his service in WWI. His family shared some of those letters with local newspapers, a common practice at the time. Thanks to the wonderful (and completely free!) newspaper site Fulton Search, I read a number of letter excerpts and interviews with Frank, supplementing the official records with my ancestor's own words.

Only a week before being wounded, he wrote to his family that "I am glad to be one of the lucky ones to come through without a scratch. Our regiment has been cited five times for conspicuous bravery." On July 19, the newspaper reported that letter along with the news of Frank's injury.

In an interview with the Daily Standard Union newspaper in Brooklyn, New York, Frank described what happened in the Battle of Soissons. He told the reporter that "a high explosive shell broke right beside me. A pebble hit me in the head and I put my hand there. It was then that I noticed that my leg was gone. I didn't lose consciousness then or afterward."

I'm currently writing Frank's bite-sized bio and posting on genealogy websites to keep his memory alive and share his war experiences in his own words.

Plus I'm pleased to post this on the Genealogy Blog Party for November of 2021!

Remembering WWI Veterans Julius and Peter Farkas

For Veterans Day 2021, I want to honor the World War I service of two great uncles: Julius Farkas (1892-1969) and Peter Farkas (1894-1961). They were among the 11 children born to my maternal great-grandparents, Moritz Farkas and Leni Kunstler Farkas, ancestors who left Hungary for America at the turn of the 20th century.

Because neither Julius nor Peter married, and they had no direct descendants, writing about them helps keep their memories alive for the future. That's why I'm working on bite-sized bios to post on various genealogy websites. But I'm always open to additional ways of memorializing ancestors. 

The "bachelor brothers" were laid to rest in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York. Turns out, this cemetery welcomes the submission of information about the military service of those who are buried there. I sent service details for both of these great uncles last year.

Now when someone searches that cemetery's database for Peter or Julius, they will see a special veteran line on the interment page. As shown above, the cemetery added a flag, the designation "Veteran," plus their years of service and the war in which they served.

I'm privileged to honor Peter, Julius, and the many other veterans in my family tree who served in the military over the years. Thank you sincerely for your service to country! 

PS: I posted their bite-sized bios on Fold3, Find a Grave, and the Wikitree site.

Public and Private Ancestor Bios

Do you find it more challenging to write a public biography of ancestors you knew--especially those closest to you? I do.

I want key ancestors' bios to be available to distant relatives and future researchers in some form, whether posted on Find a Grave, Family Search, MyHeritage, WikiTree, or other sites where they can be found today and tomorrow. 

But I do make a distinction between public and private bios.

Writing it all down for family

Over the past decade, I've created family histories intended just for family, not for public eyes. 

Whether lengthy or brief, these family history documents include personal photos and candid comments that might not necessarily be appropriate for the wider world. In a private bio, I can reveal unflattering quirks and other dimensions of an ancestor's life known only to the family at this point. 

Secrets aren't necessarily in these private bios, but they're in my genealogy files to be inherited by the next generation and therefore will not be lost to the family.

Private bios can be as long or short as I wish, and include minute details that would bore non-relatives. Only relatives are likely to care that my Dad (Harold D. Burk, 1909-1978) baked apple pies from scratch every autumn, trying for a perfectly golden brown, sky-high crust. 

I've blogged about these kinds of details because they're of interest to me and my generation, but I haven't included them in the bite-sized bio of Dad publicly posted on FindaGrave and other sites (see image above).

Public bios in brief

With a public bite-sized bio, my aim is to focus readers on the essence of who each ancestor was, in a few paragraphs rather than a few pages. For Dad's public bite-sized bio, I went a bit beyond the bare basics: "Growing up, his ambition was to be a travel agent..." is how I described his life goal--which he achieved.

In the final paragraph, I wrote about his disappointment at having to close his business, saying: "He reluctantly retired..." My entrepreneurial father would have kept his travel agency open if the building where it was housed had not been torn down. 

Currently, I'm drafting a bite-sized bio of my father-in-law, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986), a good family man, a career insurance adjustor, and a professional musician. Not to mention his travel adventures!

Keeping the public bio brief yet adding personality is a real challenge, both because I knew him and because his life was full of interesting twists and turns. Earlier family history booklets went into great detail--now I want to focus his bio for public eyes.

Save Family History with LOCKSS

To keep family history alive, start to share now within the family and, if you choose, outside the family.

The idea is LOCKSS: 

Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe

Genealogy guru Amy Johnson Crow writes about LOCKSS as a way to prevent genealogy from being lost due to disasters, etc.

Multiple copies within the family

Inside the family, I've been sharing bite-sized (and longer) writeups of family history for a few years. At top of this page are just a few pages from the many booklets I've created, focusing on Civil War ancestors and their spouses, special heirlooms created by ancestors, and an ancestor's military career. Even an ancestor coloring book is a simple way to keep key genealogy details from being lost.

Every descendant receives a colorful printed copy because, well, copies keep ancestors alive for the future. Recipients may flip through the booklet only once and put it on the shelf, but they have it. Some day, when they're more interested, they can take a closer look.

Also, I've digitized 500+ pages of minutes taken at family tree meetings from my mother's Farkas family, 1933-1964. Some cousins received a spiral-bound hard copy, at their request. Younger cousins requested a flash drive OR a PDF file to download. Perhaps the digital format will need upgrading in the future, but having multiple copies (digital/print) circulating in the family gives me more confidence that these documents will survive well into the future. 

Also, I've been experimenting with video-based family history. (I offer a few ideas in the new edition of my book.) Relatives do say they watch, and enjoy...but whether they will ever watch again, I truly don't know. The format is MP4 video and perhaps will be upgradable in the future, as needed. Meantime, multiple copies circulating = better chance the stories will survive, the ancestors will be remembered.

Multiple copies outside the family

Friends and cousins have already shared family history booklets with a variety of institutions that invite submissions, including the Family History Library and the Library of Congress, among others. One couple I know wrote family histories and had them professionally printed and bound for donation to history societies and libraries where their ancestors lived and worked. 

Consider whether a genealogy library, museum, archive, or another institution would be interested in having copies of some or all of your collection, and/or whether you can digitize your collection for yourself and possibly for others.

For instance, the Kentucky Genealogical Society offers special grants to help local museums, libraries, and archives digitize genealogical materials, such as old family letters and other documents of interest to Kentucky researchers. If you have Kentucky-related materials, do check this out--the clock is ticking on this year's grants.

DIY digitizing: The Dallas Genealogical Society highlights how family historians can digitize their own materials for free by going to the Heritage Lab at the Dallas Central Public Library. The Heritage Lab has an impressive array of equipment for use by the public. If you're in the area, this would be one way to transfer those old Super 8 home movies to MP4 video, and share widely within your own family.

However you decide to share, LOCKSS can help keep family history safe for the future.