Sentimental Sunday: Mayflower Day

Thanks to Heather Wilkinson Rojo for pointing out that today is Mayflower Day, the day in 1620 when the Mayflower sailed away from Plymouth, England to the New World.

Hubby had five ancestors on the Mayflower:

• Degory Priest (whose line led through the Coombs family to Sarah Hatch, who married James Cushman; their granddaughter Lydia was the mother of Harriet Taber, who married Isaiah Wood Sr. in Massachusetts in 1806. Harriet and Isaiah were hubby's g-g-grandparents).
• Isaac Allerton, Mary Norris, and Mary Allerton (Mary Allerton Cushman's son Eleazer Cushman married Elizabeth Royal Coombs, g-grandaughter of Degory Priest, linking these ancestors to the family tree of Degory Priest).
• Francis Cooke 

Wedding Wednesday: Great-Grand-Uncle Joe Marries Eva

Joe Jacobs and Eva Michalovsky marriage certificate, 1890

My great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler had a brother, Joe Jacobs, and thanks to my great-aunt Ida's handwritten records of "Who's Who to Me," I found out that Joe's wife was Eva (Michalovsky). They married on March 2, 1890 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Faster than you can say "New York minute," I checked the Italian Genealogical Group's vital records index and sent to the NYC authorities for Joe and Eva's marriage certificate.

Now I'm able to confirm that Joe and Tillie's mother was Rachel Jacobs--and Tillie's maiden name was Shuham. Joe and Tillie's father was Jona Jacob, according to the cert, but other documents show the father's given names as "Julius Yainu." Whether the name was actually Jacob or Jacobs depends on which records I look at...Still, progress!

REAL progress because one of the two witnesses listed on Joe and Eva's marriage cert is "M. Mahler." That's Meyer Mahler, Tillie's husband (my great-grandpa). Woo hoo!

Now a surprise. The bride, groom, and one witness signed with X.

Presumably that means Joe, Eva, and Meyer couldn't write in English. Hmm. And who was "H. Kassel," the second witness?

By the way, Joe and Eva had five children: Flora Jacobs (b. 1890), Louis Jacobs (b. 1891), Morris Jacobs (1895), Frank Jacobs (1897), and Hilda Jacobs* (1899). Any Jacobs cousins out there? Please get in touch!

*Cuz Lois remembered that Hilda married a man with the last name of Wilner. That one name helped me trace some of her family! Thank you, cuz :)

Remembering September 11, 2001, 11 Years Later

(I wrote the following post on September 11, 2009, and I'm repeating with a few small changes because the images and feelings are still as vivid as they were 11 years ago...)

Newspapers in Rome on September 12, 2001

On a 2-week tour of Italy, I was sitting in the public room of a small hotel in Rome during afternoon siesta hours on September 11th. The TV was on in the corner, showing an Italian soap opera, and I was stitching a needlepoint stocking for my niece's baby son, who had been born just a month earlier.

Suddenly the TV picture switched to a jet slamming into one of the Twin Towers, and the station replayed that clip several times as Italian newscasters discussed what was happening. The crawl at bottom of the screen credited CNN for the footage, and I quickly realized that any English-language commentary was being replaced by Italian commentary. But I did notice the word "live" and it became clear that the picture of the damaged Twin Towers was being broadcast in real time.

I found my husband and we found one of the tour guides, who joined the group gathered by the small TV. As we watched in shock, the second jet rammed the Twin Towers and our guide translated what the news anchors were saying. We sat numb and horrified as the first Tower collapsed.

By now many tour members were already on the phone trying to call friends and relatives in NYC, even though we'd already heard that the lines were jammed and calls weren't getting through. Instead many of us went to the nearest Internet point to check online news sites and send e-mails to our NY connections.

The rest of that day is a blur, although I know the guides suggested a quiet walking tour of one of the seven hills. For the next few days, whenever our group was in public, Italians would come up to us, ask if we were American, and express their shock over the attacks and their support for us in our sorrow.

We were visiting the Vatican that Friday during the time when the worldwide period of silence was observed. Everyone in the Vatican stopped what they were doing and stood up, respectfully standing in place for three minutes with heads bowed, in silent prayer or contemplation or sorrow. Standing quietly in Rome with the world taking a break from everyday life to mourn with our country, I felt a comforting sense of peace and solidarity.

Today, the anniversary of that tragic day still brings sadness but it also brings remembrance about the lives saved and the shared feeling of joining with mourners in Italy during that moment of silence.

Sentimental Sunday: Sunday in Central Park

Digitizing photos has brought me face to face with family faces as I've never seen them. An example: a photo of my hubby, without a beard. And interestingly, my late father-in-law Edgar James Wood's diary for Tuesday, September 22, when this photo was taken, says: "W & I took the children to the Children's Zoo in Central Park for the afternoon." ("W" is Edgar's abbreviation for his son.)

Surname Saturday: The Slatter family

Today I'm back on the genealogy trail of the Slatters of England, Canada, and Ohio, including John Slatter (b. 1838 in Oxfordshire, England, d. 1901 in Cleveland, OH) and Mary Shehen (b. 1801? in Marylebone, England, d. ?). These are hubby's great-grandfather and great-grandmother

Captain John Slatter, 48th Highlanders

John and Mary had 4 sons and 2 daughters. I've found no trace of the adult life of Thomas John Slatter, the oldest child--but I do know where the other 5 children settled down and lived their lives.

Albert William Slatter (1862-1935) moved to London, Ontario, Canada and became bandmaster of the 7th London Fusiliers. He and his wife Eleanor N. Slatter (1866-?) had 6 children: Maud, Ada, Albert, Earnest [sic], Glynn, and John. 

John Daniel Slatter* (1864-1954) moved to Toronto, Canada and became the celebrated bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders (see photo). John married Sophie Mary Elizabeth LeGallais and they had 6 children who survived infancy: Albert Matthew, Frederick William, Edith Sophie (who, sadly, died in her 20s), Bessie Louise, Walter John, and Mabel Alice. When Captain Jack died in 1954, his obit listed as survivors: Mabel Davidson, Bert Slatter, Walter Slatter, and Fred Slatter. 

Henry Arthur Slatter (1866-1942), John's younger brother, was in military bands in London, England, and later moved to Vancouver, where he was bandmaster of the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders. Henry and wife Alice Good had 3 children who survived infancy: Arthur Albert, John Henry, and Dorothy Florence. 

Dorothy Baker Nicholas (?) and Edith Baker Wise (?) with Edgar James Wood

Adelaide Mary Ann Slatter (1868-1947) moved to Ohio and married James Sills Baker. They had 2 children, Dorothy Louise and Edith Eleanor. The photo above shows cousins Dorothy and Edith, with my late father-in-law Edgar James Wood. We haven't yet reconnected with Dorothy's children (Madelyn Nicholas, Joan Nicholas, and Alfred Nicholas).

The baby sister of the Slatter family was Mary Slatter (1869-1925), hubby's grandma, who married grandpa James Edgar Wood on September 21, 1898 in Toledo, Ohio. 2022 update: I now know a lot about the Slatters, summarized on my ancestor landing page here!

*Jack Shea recently left a comment on one of my posts about Capt. Jack, saying: "The Dileas, the Regimental history, says that he was as ramrod-straight the day he retired as the day he joined the Regiment." Also he mentioned that Capt. Jack received the Member of the Order of the British Empire, a meritorious service medal, and a King George V Silver Jubilee Medal, all of which are in the Regimental Museum, I believe.

Tuesday's Tip: Scan BIG, Then Fiddle Around

My niece had never seen her paternal grandfather (he died before she was born) so when I had an opportunity to borrow a photo of him for scanning, I jumped at the chance. Here's the way the snapshot looked when scanned at 1200 dots per inch on my home scanner (a Canon, with accessories for scanning slides as well as photos/documents):

This file is 2MB, big enough to allow some detail once I crop. Using the free photo management program Picasa, I cropped to show just Grandpa's head and the baby he's holding.

Picasa has a button marked "I'm feeling lucky" that automatically adjusts color and contrast. Click on it, and the result is Grandpa and baby as shown here. I made one small additional adjustment: I sharpened the image. And that's it.

I was actually lucky: This photo had no thumb-tack holes, dust fluffs, or smudges to be retouched out. Now future generations will know what Grandpa looked like while holding his first grandchild, only 4 months old! And the whole process took just a couple of minutes, with freebie software.

Motivation Monday: Doin' the Digital!

I'm doin' the digital--scanning some slides and photos for two projects: (1) to create a photo book of the trips that hubby and I have taken over the years and (2) to add to the photos illustrating the annual family calendar for 2013.

Trouble is, I keep rediscovering photos that bring back great memories and motivate me to scan more and more. At this rate, the "travel" book will have 300 pages and the family calendar will be 29 months long :) Here are some of the gems I unearthed while doin' the digital.

Wood cousins reunion, 1998

Above, a 1998 photo of a very special reunion of hubby's Wood first cousins, the first time he can remember that all the cousins were together at one time in one place. This event will be a two-page spread in the photo book.

Glamorous sis :)

The b/w photo is a forgotten gem: My sister in her gorgeous movie-star haircut, which lasted only a week or two because it was just too high maintenance. Sis, isn't it lucky this glam photo survives (and is now digital)?

Happy birthday, Aunt Lindy!

Finally, I scanned a 1988 photo of hubby with his favorite Aunt Lindy, standing in front of her ecofriendly home in Michigan. She's celebrating a special birthday this month. Great relatives, great memories!

Those Places Thursday: Plaquemine, Where Thomas Married Mary

Hurricane Isaac is pounding Plaquemine Parish, LA today...and my heart goes out to the folks who are evacuating or flooded out.

The Wood family has a strong genealogical connection to Plaquemine: It's the place  where Thomas Haskell Wood (b. 1809) married Mary Amanda Demarest (b. 1831 in NYC) on 14 May 1845. Thomas (hubby's g-grandpa) was a carpenter (according to the 1850 Census), one of many in the Wood family tree.

The first of their 17 children, Jane Ann Wood, arrived in 1846 (and was baptized in 1847 at St. Gabriel Church, shown above). After Jane came Thomas Jefferson Isaiah Haskell Wood, born in Plaquemine in 1848, and John Marshall Taber Wood, born in Plaquemine in 1850.

By 1851, Thomas and Mary and their three children had left Plaquemine...but a family mystery remains: How did Mary, a 14-year-old from Manhattan, meet Thomas, who was from New England, and manage to travel to Plaquemine to be married in 1845??

Sentimental Sunday: Sweet Souvenirs

Although hubby and I are NOT collectors of sugar packets, occasionally we'll pocket one that reminds us of a sweet experience.

Clockwise from top:

12 o'clock position: We were in Salzburg for our honeymoon and picked up the Restaurant Cafe Winkler's sugar packet.

3 o'clock position: We were in Oregon for a niece's bat mitzvah and went to Mt Hood's Timberline Lodge. (That year, the snow was so high that it covered most of the windows of rooms on the 2d floor of the lodge!)

6 and 9 o'clock: Hubby was in Italy and picked up these packets at small cafes where he ate, just for fun. (Great memories!)

The tradition in hubby's family is to save ticket stubs and other ephemera from trips, so these are part of the haul we brought home once in a while.

Blogoversary #4 - Thank you, readers and cousins

Today is the 4th anniversary of starting Climbing My Family Tree. I'd been tracing my roots since 1998 or so, but it took 10 years for me to decide to blog about genealogy. Now, 327 posts later, I've learned a lot from the many bloggers who've been kind enough to comment on my blog entries, and even more by reading blogs written by fellow Geneabloggers. What a journey--and it's only just begun.

My very first post was about a family mystery: "When did great-grandpa die?" I found his death date by using the excellent NYC vital records indexes on the Italian Genealogy Group's site, sent for his death cert, and immediately had more leads to follow.

I've had many wonderful breakthroughs since then, but what I treasure the most is connecting with cousins, on both sides of my family tree and my husband's trees, sometimes with the help of you, my dear readers. Among the genealogical high points chronicled in this blog are:

Cousin Larry and his wife, Maureen, with my hubby

• Cousin Larry's visit in 2008, when we saw the family bible for the first time. He and I connected through Ancestry surname message board queries about Thomas Haskell Wood, hubby's g-grandfather.
• Using tips in Dan Lynch's Google Your Family Tree book to locate my 1st cousin Ira, who I hadn't seen for many years before our reunion in 2009. Together we've reminisced about our Mahler ancestors and tried to identify old photos. Hi Ira, see you tomorrow (really!).
• Researching "sideways" to get new insights led me, in 2009, to two 2d cousins I never knew I had. Plus I gained an "honorary" cousin and together we're researching the Gelbman and Schwartz families.
• Staying in touch with 1st cousins, once removed, from my mother's side of the family, with genealogical discussions every few months. Cuz Betty has traced the Farkas Family Tree, and Cuz Harriet helped me with recollections of the Schwartz side (quite intensively in 2010).



Great-aunt Ida, Dad, and Mom







• Having a 2d cousin from the Mahler side find ME through this blog in 2010 was very exciting! Cuz Lois and her family are delightful and we see each other a couple of times a year now. Above, a photo of her mom, Ida, with my parents just before they were married.
• Thanks to my blog readers, I found out in 2011 that the tall man in the military uniform was hubby's great-uncle, Captain John D. Slatter, of the 48th Highlanders in Toronto (who we in the family now call "Capt. Jack"). See photo below right!
• In 2012, I was able to determine, conclusively, that my husband's Larimer and McClure family connections lead back to Ireland, a discovery I wrote about in my blog post "I married him for his ancestors, St. Paddy's Day edition."

Great-uncle Capt. Jack Slatter

I'm gonna keep on bloggin'. It's fun and has brought me many smiles.

Happy blogoversary to me and my family trees!

2022 update: Still blogging after all these years!

Workday Wednesday: Ancestors Who Worked in Wood

James Edgar Wood and crew building in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, February 1915

With a surname like Wood, it's not surprising how many of hubby's ancestors worked in wood. His grandfather, James Edgar Wood, built homes in Cleveland Heights, Ohio for many years. Above is only one of several we have photos of!

James Edgar's father, Thomas Haskell Wood, was a railroad carpenter when he lived in Toledo, Ohio (1870 Census says so). James Edgar's older brothers, Francis Ellery Wood and Marion Elton Wood, were both carpenters (1900 Census).

My grandfather, Isaac Burk (or Birk), was a cabinetmaker and carpenter, according to his immigration and Census records. Birk is related to birch, so his family probably had other craftsmen who worked in wood.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy: Ancestor Legends--"Our Larimer Family"

My husband is descended from Robert Larimer, whose arrival in the New World is the stuff of legends.

According to John Clarence Work of Lancaster, Ohio, who compiled "Our Larimer Family" as part of Colonial & Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania, Vol 3, pg 1508, the legend goes like this:

Rober Larimer came from the North of Ireland in the year 1740. His father fitted him out with a stock of Irish linen, and with some money he left the 'old country' to seek his fortune in the new.

That was before the days of steam navigation, the passage by sailing vessels was slow and often fraught with great danger. The vessel on which he embarked was wrecked and most of the crew and passengers were lost. Our great-grandfather [sic] lost everything but his life, he and a few others (tradition records only one other man) were cast upon an island, and were picked up by a French or Spanish vessel and brought to our American shore.

The Captain of the vessel sold great-great-grandfather's time for his fare; this was contrary to the law and custom. He was sold to a farmer who lived up the river not far from Philadelphia. He was a heartless fellow and treated our g-g-grandfather like a slave. He served this man for some time, history does not record how long.

One frosty morning he was sent by the river route to the mill, started in a skiff or canoe without hat, coat or shoes. On the way he stopped at the home of a brother of his "master" to warm. The brother had a different thought. He gave the young man a coat, hat and shoes and remarked, he thought his brother was a hog for sending a man out dressed like that on such a cold morning.

Our ancestor thought he had served long enough time and decided from that time to be on his own. He never returned, made his way to the interior of Pennsylvania "Kishocoquillas Valley" and later married Marry Gallagher or O'Gallagher, born in the North of Ireland, 1721. She died in Pa. in 1800, before any of the Larimer family moved to Ohio.

They were the parents of four children, all born in Pennsylvania: Isaac, Ebenezer, Phoebe, and Grizell. 

Hubby is descended from Isaac Larimer Sr, 1771-1823, the son of Robert Larimer and Mary Gallagher or O'Gallagher. His line runs: Isaac Larimer Sr. & Rachel Smith...John Larimer & Elizabeth Woods...Brice Larimer & Lucy Bentley...Margaret Jane Larimer & William Madison McClure...Brice Larimer McClure & Floyda Mabel Steiner. And so on!

  

Sunday's Obituary: Two Steiner Sisters

Some of the obituaries I've collected have been extremely helpful in tracing family histories. Others, not so much.

Above, the informative obituary for Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure, husband of Brice Larimer McClure. Floyda's parents' names are included--and her mother's maiden name. That seems progressive for 1948 in the small town of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. (The obit doesn't spell her husband's name correctly, but I knew who he was!)

At right, the skimpy obit for Margaret Mary Steiner Post, wife of Elroy D. Post. She died in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1913. Her first name isn't mentioned, and her husband's name has been modernized from Elroy to Edward. The writer didn't even get the name of her burial town correct--it's Upper Sandusky, Ohio. I know little about Maggie's life, except that she lived with husband Elroy in Knoxville for years, where he owned and operated a sign painting company. No children. On Findagrave.com, she's listed as Margaret Elizabeth Post, and her maiden name of Steiner is listed too.

Now here's a bit of a mystery: Elroy Post remarried after his first wife Margaret died, and he had one child with his second wife, a daughter named Margaret. When Elroy died in 1929, he was living in Knoxville and still married to his second wife, Merida. However, he was buried in Old Mission Cemetery in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, right next to his first wife, Margaret Mary Steiner Post. Hmmmm?!

Military Monday: Sgt. Dorothy Schwartz's WWII Adventures

From April 1943 to August 1945, my aunt Dorothy H. Schwartz was a member of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps serving overseas. She enlisted in Sept 1942 and was a top stenographer, training first with the 16th company, 3d regiment, Fort Des Moines U.S. Army post branch in Ft Des Moines, Iowa. She complained in a letter back home that during the fall of 1942, WAACs had not yet gotten winter uniforms. Des Moines was cold and snowy and yet "we're still in seersuckers."

Within months, she was serving overseas in support of a bombardment unit "somewhere in England," as this April 18, 1944 clipping from the Home News (Bronx, NY) indicates. It describes Sgt. Dorothy Schwartz as "daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Schwartz, 600 E. 178 St" and mentions that an old-fashioned coal stove furnishes heat for her hut, which looks like corrugated metal to me.

In 1945, Sgt. Schwartz received the Bronze Star Medal for "meritorious service in direct support of operations against the enemy."

During 17 months of bombardment leading up to V-E Day, she took shorthand listening in on the phone as commanders discussed when and where to bomb the enemy.

Her function was vitally important for ensuring that bombers received the correct orders and for coordinating military actions so our Allied troops stayed out of the way of our bombs.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy: Cousins, Cousins, Cousins!

Climbing my family tree has brought me cousin connections I truly treasure. In chronological order of these cousin discoveries:

I identified and located my mother's 1st cousin Harriet in 2007, having seen only a baby photo of her and knowing that she was somehow related to my maternal grandfather. Luckily, her maiden name was uncommon enough that it popped up in my Census searches! Harriet is the last of the cousins of that generation and we've had several wonderful visits, including the one shown here (2008).

Next, I found my husband's 2d cousin Larry via his posts on surname message boards. Larry had been searching for info about my husband's grandfather for years, and once I stumbled on his messages, I answered. Alas, he'd changed his e-mail and moved since posting!

After a few weeks of trying snail mail and such, I posted my own message in the forum where he'd been most active. He responded the same day, and we began a partnership in research that illuminated several limbs of the shared family tree. He'd done 30 years of research into the Wood line, which he shared! Larry and his lovely wife visited in 2009.


That same year, I attended a talk by Dan Lynch, author of Google Your Family Tree, and tried one of his techniques (try "last name, first" and "first + last" in the "News" search). Instantly, a casual comment on a blog showed up in the results, a comment written by my 1st cousin Ira. I e-mailed him, and within hours, he wrote back. Here I am with my sis, reunited with Ira decades after we'd last been in contact--even though he lived only 70 miles away. If we'd only known!

One day in 2010, I blogged about trying to find descendants of my great-uncle Louis, at whose home my paternal grandfather died.

Six weeks later, I received an e-mail titled, "Another cousin has surfaced." Louis's lovely granddaughter Lois had found me while doing online searches to help her daughter with a genealogy project for school! This photo shows Lois and hubby Mark with my sis and me at a family wedding in 2011.

Lois is very close to Lil, another cousin on my father's side (see photo at left). I never knew a thing about her branch of the family tree and it's been a delight getting to know her.







After attending a talk by Toni McKeen, I followed her expert advice about tracing the spouses of my ancestors' siblings with the goal of uncovering promising leads to pursue. I searched for Anna, who married my great-uncle Sam, and through surname message boards, I found Art, who was looking for a family with Anna's last name. I posted a note for Art and he wrote back. He's related to Anna's family and we consider ourselves "honorary cousins" and partners in genealogy research. Together, we've tracked down more info about Anna's family and had a jolly good time doing it.

But wait, that's not the end of my cousin connections. I was lucky enough to find two 2d cousins on my mother's side because of my research into Anna's past. And I've located a number of 2d cousins from my father's side, who I've enjoyed getting to know via e-mail and Facebook. Are there more cousins in my future? I'm sure there will be! Especially since I've tagged this post with some of the surnames I'm researching :)