Surname Saturday: Birk or Birck from Lithuania (later: Burk)

Isaac Burk, my grandfather, was a carpenter/machinist who left Lithuania to live and work first in Canada and then in New York. According to his petition for naturalization, his original name was Itzchok Birck but I've also seen it listed as Birk or Berk on some documents. His declaration of intention (1939) included the above photo and signature. The two witnesses listed on Isaac's 1942 petition for naturalization were Ida Mahler Volk, his sister-in-law, and Ida's husband Louis Volk.

Exactly when and where Isaac was born is a mystery. He listed his birth date on the naturalization documents as June 5, 1881, but he told the WWI draft board that he was born on April 10, 1881 and he told the WWII draft board that he was born on June 5, 1882. On his marriage record, Isaac lists his father as Elias Burk and his mother as Necke Burk--but both names have been written over with some corrections, so the exact spelling isn't known.

When Isaac entered the United States in May 1904, he said his last permanent residence had been Gerst. My guess is this was a mangled version of Gorsk, known in Lithuanian as Gargzdai. This is 11 miles east of the Baltic port of Klaipeda, Lithuania. Before World War I, Gorsk was in Russia, Kovno province, Telsiai district.

Isaac and his wife Henrietta Mahler went back and forth between New York City (where they were married in 1906) and Montreal until about 1915, when they settled in the Bronx to raise their four children: Mildred, Harold (my Dad!), Miriam, and Sidney.

PS: I found Isaac and Henrietta in the 1940 Census, right where they should have been: 3044 Valentine Avenue in the Bronx.  Both of their sons, Harold (age 30) and Sidney (age 25), were living with them. Isaac's occupation was "manufacturer, dress forms" and son Harold's occupation was "clerk, baggage room." Now here's an interesting detail: Isaac's 1939 income had been ZERO but Harold's had been $1,000 and Sidney's had been $600. I have a suspicion that when Harold and Sidney went into the Army for WWII, they had their pay sent home to Isaac and Henrietta, who had no other income that I know of.

2022 update: Isaac was no longer alive for 1950 US Census but Henrietta, his widow, was alive and living with one of her sons, Sidney, in the Bronx. She died in 1954.

Sunday's Obituary: Sarah McClure, July 28, 1888

Hubby's g-grandma, Sarah Deming (or Denning) McClure, died on July 28, 1888, at age 76. She had been one of the earliest settlers of Wabash County, Indiana, and was the mother of 13 (according to her husband's obit). Her grave is in Wabash, Indiana's Falls Memorial Gardens. The obituary that appeared in the Wabash Times on August 3, 1888 (at left) was brief and focused on Sarah's religious life:

Mrs. Sarah McClure, wife of Benjamin McClure, died at her home four miles north of this city [Wabash] at an early hour last Saturday, July 28, of a spinal trouble of which she has been ill for several weeks. The funeral services were held at the late home of the deceased on Sunday afternoon at one o’clock and were very largely attended. The services were conducted by her pastor, Rev. Charles Little, who chose for his text the words, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” which was the text preached from when Mrs. McClure was converted at the age of eleven years. The burial took place at Falls Cemetery. 

Mrs. McClure was seventy years old [actually, she was 76] and leaves a husband, three sons and four daughters. She was noted for her devotion to the church and the cause of her Master. She was a firm believer in the Bible, and very fond of reading the good book. Consistent, sympathetic, and tender-hearted, she won the admiration of a wide circle of friends, and was to them a most worthy example. 

Mr. and Mrs. McClure were pioneers in Presbyterianism here in Wabash. They were among the little band which organized the old school church here, the edifice standing on the site of the present magnificent church building.

Society Saturday: Speaking to the Westchester County Genealogical Society

Photos by my sis :)

Today I spoke to the Westchester (NY) County Genealogical Society on the topic of Using Boards and Blogs for Genealogy. 

This society maintains a surname database with more than 1,000 member queries, publishes a monthly newsletter, and has a very active meeting schedule featuring all kinds of speakers. Last month, I attended the society's Irish-American genealogy meeting and heard an excellent presentation by Joe Buggy.

During today's presentation, I listed the following resources for genealogical message boards and blogs. How many do you use? (updated 2022 to remove links that no longer function--and note I spoke to this group a couple of weeks ago, almost exactly a decade after first speaking to them.)

·     RootsWeb/Ancestry message boards      

·     GenForum message boards on Genealogy.com

      

 ·    Cyndi’s List links to surname message board info

 ·    Genealogy blog finder

No Titanic for My Ancestors

The anniversary of the Titanic tragedy got me thinking about the ships my ancestors sailed from the Old World to the New World.

SS Moltke of Hamburg America Line

In my Schwartz family, my grandfather Theodore (Tivador) was the first to arrive in New York, aboard the S.S. Moltke from Hamburg in 1902 (above). He was listed as 14 years old, a student, hometown of Ungvar, Hungary, and supposedly he was going to be with a cousin in New York. Interestingly, Teddy became a runner for some of the steamship lines during his early years in New York City.

Teddy's older brother, Samuel Schwartz, arrived in New York aboard the S.S. Pretoria from Cuxhaven in 1904 (below). The manifest indicates he was a 20-year-old printer (an occupation he continued in Connecticut) and he was joining his brother Teodor (Theodore), living at 941 Second Avenue in New York City.

SS Pretoria of Hamburg America Line

Together, Teddy and Sam pooled their money to bring their youngest sister Mary Schwartz to New York in 1906 aboard the S.S. Statendam.

Sadly, their two other sisters, Etel and Paula, remained in Hungary, along with their mother, Hana Simonowitz Schwartz. Etel and Paula (2022 update), with other siblings, were killed in the Holocaust. Herman Schwartz, Teddy's dad, had died in Hungary sometime earlier.

Motivation Monday: Today Is the Yesterday of Tomorrow

You know how much time we spend trying to track down ancestors and figure out what motivated them? 

Tomorrow's genealogists will be asking the same questions about our generation! Today is the yesterday of tomorrow.

I consider myself the Chief Family Historian, chronicling what the family does each year--the memories of tomorrow. Sure, some relatives chuckle when out come the camera and tripod on Christmas or Thanksgiving for a group photo, but they're also glad to see everyone in the shot, pooches and kittens and all.

Every few months, I gather the best family photos taken on vacation and at get-togethers like birthdays and holidays, and upload them to create a photo book (my fave site is Shutterfly, but I've also used Snapfish and others). I include dates and at least first names; sometimes I show full names of everyone in at least one group shot. My hubby has gotten the bug as well, assembling photo books of special memories (such as a brotherly rafting trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon).

And I've written before about putting together a photo-heavy family calendar every year, with shots from the previous year plus photos of close friends and ancestors (on their birthdays for example). When we turn the page for a new month, we remember what we were doing last year at this time, see the faces of loved ones, and smile at the occasional surprise such as a high school photo I scan in just for fun.

Today will be yesterday by the time tomorrow arrives, and memories are short. Sure, being Chief Family Historian is work, but it's also pleasure. I'm making sure that the next generation will know about us and about the generations that came before. Quite motivating!

Those Places Thursday: Finding 13015 Edmonton, Cleveland

13015 Edmonton, Cleveland, Ohio

In the continuing saga of 1940 Census adventures, my husband has become very intrigued by the idea of finding ancestors and relatives.

He had to get creative when thinking about where in Cleveland his father and mother (Edgar James Wood and Marian Jane McClure Wood) were living in 1940, since we don't have documentation of that year's address.

So he thought about the elementary school he attended a little later, searched for it, found a photo of it (in terrible shape), and learned from a news item that it was razed. That gave him a street address to plot on Google Maps.

Next, he traced the route he would have taken in walking to and from school, looking on the map for a railroad underpass that was vivid in his memory. He found it, but just couldn't remember exactly which block or side of the street the house was on.  

I plugged the street name into Steve Morse's ED Finder, added two cross streets that hubby said were nearby intersections, and learned that the street straddled two EDs. That's not bad, considering that my Bronx ancestors lived on streets that straddled three or more EDs.

Then I downloaded all the images for both of the Cleveland EDs in the area of the railroad underpass, and began looking. Of course his family wasn't in the first ED. Halfway through the second ED, an hour after we began the search, we found the family at 13015 Edmonton. It was a neat little home in a quiet residential neighborhood in 1940, with broad treelawns and kids playing in the yard after school.

We went back to Google Maps and located the address (as you can see, above) and it was only one block from where hubby originally thought it might be located. The key was the railroad underpass, which is so clearly marked on Google Maps even now.

You could have rented this house for $45 in 1940, by the way :)

2022: 1950 US Census update, his family didn't live here because in 1941, they moved to their own home, where I found them easily.

Wordless Wednesday: April 5, 1940 (Census Day in the Bronx)

NY ED 3-390 for Beck St, Fox St in Bronx, NY

Yes, I was one of the millions of people who looked for ancestors in the 1940 Census. Here's the first page where my grandparents, Theodore & Hermina Schwartz, are listed at 672 Beck Street in Bronx, NY.

Their household begins at the bottom of this page and continues at the top of the next, where my Mom and Auntie, Daisy & Dorothy Schwartz, are listed.

To get started, I used Steve Morse's One-Step 1940 Census ED Finder, then checked a map to be sure I was looking at the ED with the correct boundaries. Time-consuming? Yes, but what a wonderful feeling to find the family just where I expected it to be!

Family Recipe Friday: Home Ec Taught Me Something

When I was a preteen, I bought this cookbook for Home Ec class (remember that?). The copyright date is 1960.

The cookbook is still on my kitchen bookshelf for nostalgia reasons. After all, I wrote my name and address in it (below). But most of the recipes were too complicated or time-consuming for me, and my mother used mixes anyway, which was fine with her daughters.

The book falls open to a page showing "Penny-Wise Cake" which I remember using as the basis of a pineapple upside down cake we baked in Home Ec class.

Here's the recipe for pineapple upside down cake:

2 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg, unbeaten
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Also have ready for "topping"--1/4 cup melted butter, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1 can of sliced pineapple rings (drain but reserve juice).

Preheat oven to 350.

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cream shortening thoroughly. Add sugar gradually, and cream together well. Add egg, beat very thoroughly. Add flour alternately with milk, beating after each addition until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Set aside.

2. Combine melted butter and brown sugar. Mix well, spread in 9 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Drain 1 can (8.5 oz) pineapple rings and sprinkle 2 TB of the juice over sugar mixture. Cut drained pineapple rings into quarters, arrange over mixture in pan. Pour cake batter over pineapple and bake at 350 for 45-50 min until done.

3. Cool in pan for 5 min, then invert on plate and let stand for a minute or two before gently removing the baking pan. Serve warm! A little vanilla ice cream wouldn't hurt either. Enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday: Mystery Burk-Mahler-Markell Celebration

These photos (scanned from negatives) were taken in the mid-1950s. My mother, baby sister, and we twins (shown above) are at a party where my father's Burk, Mahler, and Markell relatives are present.

I don't know who's who (except for Uncle Dave, at center of center photo below). Where are they celebrating, and why? Cousin Lois noticed birthday party things...whose birthday?

Update: Cousin Lois identified the couple above as Joan and Bob, with their son Andy.

Update: Above, the lady on the left is Lois's grandma, Ida. Below, lady on right is Ida's sister, Mary. Thank you for your sharp eyes, Lois!

Wordless Wednesday: Washington, D.C., 1966

Summer, 1966

My cousin Lois and I have been talking about the first time we met, when my father (her great-uncle) took my sister and me to Washington, D.C., where Lois lives. But I couldn't remember the exact year. Then these photos came to light in a forgotten album--and instantly I thought: 1966! I'm nearly positive that the shorts outfit I'm wearing (note the hip-hugger belt) and my Sassoon-inspired haircut were from that year. No more words needed...

Sympathy Saturday: Dora Lillie Mahler

My great-aunt Dora Lillie Mahler died on June 9, 1950, and her life and death remain a mystery. She was living in a nice area of the Bronx with her mother, Tillie, at this time...and possibly with her widowed sister Henrietta Mahler Burk, whose husband Isaac Burk had died unexpectedly in 1943. (Henrietta and Isaac were my paternal grandparents.)

Dora was a millinery saleslady, as this cert shows and as I also found in the 1930 Census. But apparently by 1950 she had been retired 10 years. (This is a good reason to check the 1940 Census when it comes out next month!) And this cert shows she had been under the doctor's care from April 1939 until her death. Did she have a chronic illness? 2022 update: Yes, a chronic illness confirmed by a cousin who remembered this ancestor.

Her June 10, 1950 obit in the New York Times was short and to the point: Dora Lillie Mahler was the "devoted daughter of Tillie and the late Meyer Mahler, dear sister of Henrietta Burk; David Mahler; Sarah Smith; Morris Mahler; Ida Volk; and Mary Markell." 

PS: Morris, Dora's brother, gave her birth date on the cert as July 11, 1905. Impossible: The New York Census shows her as 11 years old in 1905; the US Census shows her as 6 in 1900, 15 in 1910, and 24 in 1920. Locating her actual birth cert in 2022, I see her birth year is 1894. Mystery solved!

I Married Him for His Ancestors, St. Patrick's Day Edition

This is the first year since the start of my genealogical adventure that I know for certain that there are Irish ancestors in my hubby's family tree. This year, we can wear green and celebrate with specific ancestors in mind! (No Irish ancestors in my family tree . . . I had to marry into the shamrocks.)

Here's a summary of himself's Irish roots:

• John & Mary Shehen (or Shehan or Sheehan). According to the 1841 UK Census, John & Mary Shehan were both born in Ireland around 1801 (she might have been born as late as 1806, if later census records are correct). No trail yet to indicate when and how they came to London, but in 1841 they lived in Gray's Buildings, Marylebone, Middlesex county. They were married with three children, all born in London: Thomas (7), Mary (3), and Michael (8 mos). Mary grew up to marry John Slatter Sr., and become hubby's g-gma.
• Robert Larimer & Mary O'Gallagher Larimer. According to a Larimer family history, the young Robert Larimer sailed from Ireland in 1740 with a chest of Irish linen, bound for the new world. He was shipwrecked, then rescued by a man who made him an indentured servant to pay for his rescue. After many years, Robert decided he'd repaid his benefactor with enough years of his life and walked away from the man's land near Philadelphia, going west to Kishocoquillis Valley, PA. He married Mary O'Gallagher (or Gallagher), who was born in Northern Ireland about 1721, and together they settled in Fairfield county, Ohio. Robert & Mary were hubby's  5th g-grandpa.
• John McClure. Hubby's 3d g-grandpa was born from a line of McClures who probably came from County Donegal. John McClure married Ann McFall in 1801 and their son was Benjamin McClure, hubby's 2d g-gfather.

May the road rise up to meet you ...

Tombstone Tuesday: Wm Madison McClure & Margaret Larimer McClure of Wabash, IN

The Wabash Carnegie Public Library is a good source of genealogical info for folks like me, who are tracing ancestors in Indiana via long-distance. They're so busy that sometimes it takes a few months to process a request, but yesterday I was delighted to receive the obits for William Madison McClure (1849-1887) and Margaret Jane Larimer McClure (1854-1913), my husband's maternal g-grandparents. There was a bit of a surprise in William's obit when we learned he was a victim of typhoid fever.

Here's where Margaret Jane Larimer McClure is buried, in Wabash's Falls Memorial Gardens cemetery (Indiana).

Her obit, in a nutshell, says she died at the home of her son, H. B. (Hugh Benjamin) McClure on West Main Street, on Thursday, 15 May 1913 and burial was 17 May 1913.

William Madison McClure's obit, dated 7 October 1887, says he died of typhoid fever "after an illness of six weeks." He was a member of the Presbyterian church (his father was an Elder) and he was of the "Masonic fraternity."

A search on Google for "typhoid fever wabash indiana 1887" turns up 16,000 hits, most not actually in that year. Still, it was quite a deadly problem.

I've added both newspaper obits to these ancestors' Find-A-Grave pages, hoping to help other McClure researchers.

Amanuensis Monday: Who Uncle Fred Thanked in His Book

My mother's older brother, Frederick Shaw (1912-1991), was super-smart and one of a number of authors in the family. His book, History of the New York City Legislature, was a popular civics text in high schools and colleges during the 1950s and 1960s. His acknowledgements mention his wife and...

This volume would not have been possible without the indulgence and active cooperation of my wife, Daisy K. Shaw. For the preparation of the index and other invaluable assistance in the manuscript itself I am deeply obliged to Miss Dorothy H. Schwartz. For all matters of fact and opinion in the pages which follow I am personally responsible.

Only insiders reading these acknowledgements would recognize Dorothy H. Schwartz as one of his younger sisters (and my auntie, the twin of my Mom, Daisy Schwartz Burk). Dorothy wrote books of her own, a story for another day.

Fearless Females: Heirlooms--Grandma's Lavalier

Minnie (Hermina) Farkas may have brought this lavalier from Hungary when she took her long journey to America...but more likely, she received it as a gift from Teddy (Theodore) Schwartz, sometime after they were married in New York City on October 22, 1911.

Grandma and Grandpa both worked to help pay for relatives to come to New York. Minnie and her parents brought her siblings here; Teddy teamed up with his older brother, Samuel (Simon) Schwartz, to bring their youngest sister Mary Schwartz here.

Grandma was far from wealthy, but she left each of her grandchildren a bit of jewelry in her will. I received this gold lavalier and a cocktail ring, both of which remind me of her courage and perseverance. Thank you, Grandma!