Do the "Write" Thing for Genealogy: Be Honest, Be Ethical

As family historians, how can we write about ancestors in a way that is both honest and ethical?

After all, every family has a secret or a story that the current generation knows nothing about. Maybe an ancestor hid an early marriage or had some other hidden relationship . . . or committed a crime . . . or behaved in a manner considered, then or now, to be shameful or questionable or downright wicked.

Our genealogy research can turn up things that families never expected would be known. Especially if we want people to share stories and documents with us, I believe we have an obligation to use that information in a responsible way. It's a balancing act between the honesty we genealogists owe to future generations and the ethical responsibility we owe to those living today.

My personal approach is: If disclosing something about an ancestor would be truly harmful to someone living today, I don't write about it, either on my blog or in any "public" family history.

This has been a real issue only once in my 20 years of genealogy research. In that instance, I put the information into my private genealogy files so the story won't be lost forever. This allows me to be honest with future generations and act responsibly by avoiding potential damage today.

My "genealogical will" leaves my files to relatives who will safeguard them for the sake of descendants. Years from now, when these genealogical heirs sift through the files, they can weigh the consequences of disclosure in light of how much time has passed and whether anyone would be harmed if the story is told then, not now.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts on this delicate balancing act.

A Close-up Look at One Brick-Wall Mother

Combining two #52Ancestors challenges ("Close Up" and "Mother's Day") with this month's Genealogy Blog Party theme of "Marvelous Mothers," I thought it would be fun to take a closer look at a particular brick-wall mother on my husband's tree.

Eleanor Kenny (1762-1841) was hubby's 4th great-grandma. She is intriguing because, according to some family trees, she is shown as the daughter of James Kenny, a private in the Cumberland County (PA) militia who died during the Revolutionary War in 1784. He served in the 7th Co., 1st Battalion of this militia.

Eleanor's father (hubby's 5th great-grandpa) would be the first direct family connection to that war, if this is the right Eleanor and right James Kenny.

Now, before you say "grain of salt," this James Kenny's will specifically lists his daughter "Elinor Kenny" (she wasn't yet married). That's not enough, of course, but consider that one of the witnesses was . . . Brice Smith, who married Eleanor Kenny one year after her father died. Seems more likely that this is hubby's family after all.

The only other clues I currently have about Eleanor Kenny are:

• Her marriage to Brice Smith took place on Aug. 23, 1785 in Carlisle, Cumberland county, PA. The Family Search transcription of the original ledger is shown above.
• She is mentioned (as "Elenor") in her husband's will of 1828. So she was clearly alive when he died.
• She is buried in Driver Cemetery, Bremen, Fairfield county, Ohio, alongside her husband. The Find A Grave memorial provided her birth/death dates and shows her as "Ellen Smith."

So very possibly this James Kenny is hubby's 5th great-granddaddy and his only ancestor who we know fought in the Revolutionary War. And I discovered this link by taking a closer look at his probable daughter Eleanor, an elusive brick-wall mother on my husband's tree.

Remembering Little Sis with Love

On what would have been my youngest sister's birthday ...

 ... remembering her with love.

War Memorial Honor Roll Project: Woodbury, Connecticut

Memorial Day is only a month away, which means it's time to photograph and transcribe war memorials so I can participate in Heather Wilkinson Rojo's Honor Roll Project.

This year, I'm paying tribute to the service of men and women from Woodbury, Connecticut. The neat little town green is the setting for plaques honoring those who served during three wars.

At top, the memorial that honors those from Woodbury, CT who served in Vietnam. Their names, as inscribed above, are:

Alba, Louis G.                   Anderson, Mark E.            Bacon, William Jr.
Barry, Kevin G.                 Benjamin, John D.             Brown, Edward C.
Brown, Thomas M.           Brownell, Thomas D.        Burmeister, Richard R.
Cacy, Thomas E.               Carroll, Peter J.                  Cassidy, Brian J.
Castings, Walter J.            Churchill, James H.            Cole, Arthur R.
Cole, Donald E.                Connelly, Joseph F.            Coppola, Andrew F.
Creighton, David B.         Curtiss, Alan C.                  Daury, James P.
Eyre, Harry D., Jr.            Eyre, Stephen B.                 Faraci, William S.
Garrick, Edmund J.          Geraci, Joe L.                     Geraci, Richard J.
Green, Kenneth G.           Hoffman, Theodore A.        Hollister, Gordon E.
Hotchkiss, Berkeley W.    Hoxley, Martin D.               Huff, Harold C.
Jasper, Carl S.                   Jefferson, David W.            Jensen, Linda S.
Jones, K. Nickerson          Jones, Steven W.                Judson, David P.
Judson, Donald H.            Judson, Ronald P.               Kelleher, Robert D.
Koeppel, Robert A.          Leavenworth, Jeffrey M.    Leigh, David F.
Lonegan, Daniel P.           Marquis, Gene D.               Maxwell, Barry W.
Maxwell, Philip D.           Neal, Harris G.                   Neal, Leslie R.
Newell, Charles R.            Newell, Edward W.           Newell, Wales A.
Norton, Frank L.               Peck, Hiram W.                 Pond, J. Lawrence
Quint, Donald P.               Quint, Michael G.              Rehkamp, George M.
Rehkamp, Ronald D.        Richards, Donald W.          Roberts, Dennis A.
Rogers, Christopher C.     Rowell, James P.                Ryan, Robert F.
Scherer, Celester C.          Scherer, Martin A.             Seymour, Terry R.
Shanny, David E.              Taff, Frederick S.              Talarico, Thomas J.
White, John F.                   Winus, Richard J.              Woodward, Charles S.
Woodward, Lawrence S.   Woodward, Thomas M.

Nearby is the plaque paying tribute to the men and women of Woodbury, CT, who were in the Korean War. Their names are:

Abbott, Frank K.                                Clark, John E.
Cole, Norman F.                                 Cole, Walter H.
Cowles, Robert B.                              Creighton, E. Donald
Deschino, John J.                               Drakeley, George M.   
Fawcett, Edward F.                            Hardisty, Chester C.
Hellwinkle, Ronald F.                        Judson, Melvin P.
Metcalf, Fred L.                                 Phillips, Edward W.
Rehkamp, Dr. Charles J.                    Robinson, Kenneth L.
Robinson, Richard H.                         Terrell, Donald W.
Warner, Thomas H.

The plaque above is one of two honoring people from Woodbury, CT who served during World War II. This is A through N, with an asterick denoting those who were killed in action.

On this plaque are listed:

Abbott, H. Ellsworth                 Atwood, Gilbert               Atwood, Henry S.
Atwood, Kenneth                      Balch, George F.              Barnes, Randall C.
Bassett, George G.                    Bassett, Harold E.            Beauregard, Howard F.
Belz, Mary E. (nurse)               Bennett, Sherwood           Bergensten, L.J.
Bowker, Ruth N. (nurse)          Bradley, Kenneth A.         Brown, Charles E.
Brunet, Richard D.                   Brunet, William M.           Bull, David
Burdick, Elward C.                   Burdick, Harold              Burton, William J. Jr. *
Bynack, Joseph G.                    Cable, George                  Cable, Louis D.
Carlisle, David                          Cassidy, J. Donald           Cassidy, Joseph J.
Cassidy, Marjorie E. (WAC)    Cassidy, Paul F.                Chatfield, Robert E.
Churchill, Howard                   Coats, John E.                   Coey, Albert L.
Cole, Ferris E.                           Cole, Francis P.               Cooper, Ralph E.
Cooper, Earl D.                        Cooper, James R.              Cowles, Paul G.
Crane, Robert T.                      Crighton, David B.           Cunningham, Harold W.
Daury, Vincent P.                     Davidson, James H.          Dawson, John
Dawson, Richard                      Decker, E. Norton, Jr.      Decker, Robert S.
Dillon, James *                        Dillon, Richard                  Drake, Arthur W.
Drakeley, Robert I.,  Jr.            Duda, Casimir J. *            Duda, Peter A.
Dyer, Carroll L.                       Elting, Charles E.               Elting, Stewart E.
Eyre, Alfred G.                        Eyre, Harry D.                    Eyre, Stanley B.
Ferrell, John W.                        Fegen, Charles W. * .        Fleming, William P.
Fray, Ralph                            Fray, Robert                       Frazier, Charlotte (nurse)
Freeman, Arthur                    Gardiner, Shirley B.            Giggey, Kempton L.
Gillis, Carter E. (chaplain)    Goodrich, Ruth H.               Graham, Leslie W. *
Green, Ernest H.                    Green, George A.                 Green, Robert
Griswold, Hobart W.              Hahn, William A., Jr.          Harriman, Charles S. Jr.
Harriman, Ellen                      Hirsch, Arthur Z.                Hirsch, Charles E.
Hirsch, Clifford B.                  Hogan, Michael J.              Hohimer, Ernest
Hower, William D.                  Johnson, Clifford M.         Judson, Donald F.
Kalesky, John C. *                  Karagulla, Selim M.           Kenny, John *
King, Arthur C.                     King, Charles W.               Klatka, Catherine (nurse)
Knox, Delmar A.                  Koch, Edgar M.                  Kozenieski, Lloyd M.
Laukaitis, Anthony               Lavery, James                     Leach, John
Leesemann, Frederick W.     Lewis, Warren                    Lizauskas, Stanley
Lundin, David J.                   Lundin, Frank G.                Lucas, Frances A.
Lyon, Frank C.                      Lyon, James G.                  Macbeth, S. Alexander
MacCallum, John *               Mansfield, Paul H.            Manzi, Edward J.
Manzi, Roland                       Manzi, Vincent D.           Markham, Fred. A. Jr.
Markham, Hurlburt A.        Markle, Raymond D. MD  Martinson, William F.
Marvin, Everett D., Jr.         Mason, Howard F.R. Jr.     May, Russell C.
Michaels, Richard W.          Miller, Robert E.                 Miller, Vincent A.
Minor, Emerson *                Minor, Lewis R.                  Morgan, Addis W.
Morgan, Henry                   Morris, Hobart D.               Morris, Vernon H.
Mosevage, Anthony J.       Mosevage, George W.         Munson, Richard S.
Munson, William L., Jr      Murphy, Franklin                Nichols, Joel L.
Nutting, Parker B.

The WWII plaque honoring those who served from Woodbury, with surnames P through Z, lists the following servicemen and servicewomen:

Pagano, Anthony            Pastore, William E.            Pearson, James E.
Pearson, Robert R.          Peck, Hiram W., Jr.            Petruzzi, Marco
Petruzzi, Michael             Phelan, Robert L.               Phillips, John M.
Phillips, Thomas J.           Pinard, Alton H.                  Platt, Alfred H.
Pond, Sebastian L.           Quint, Carmen G. (nurse)  Quint, Carleton L.
Quint, Donald H. *          Quint, Franklin E.               Racenet, Amelie H. (nurse)
Racenet, J. Ernest           Reichenbach, Frank (MD) *  Reichenbach, Herbert I.
Rice, Roy E.                     Richards, David K.               Richards, James H. Jr.
Richards, Robert K.         Richardson, Phillip E.            Riese, Frederick K.
Robinson, Walter A.        Savage, David W.                  Schmidt, Clifford
Scott, Joseph M.              Sears, Richard A.                  Sharp, Charles M.
Shaw, Raymond W.          Sherwood, Albert C.          Sherwood, Charles C.
Shippee, Harold E.           Slattery, Frances P.             Slattery, James J.
Smith, Allen G.               Smith, Carleton E.               Smith, Edward
Smith, Robert G.              Smith, Walter E.                 Snyder, Melvin L.
Somers, Harold               Starr, Robert F.                   Stevens, Fannie P. (Marines)
Stockwell, Charles         Strattman, Dwight              Strever, Charles W.
Sturges, Edward B.         Sturges, George R.             Sweeney, Bernard J. *
Sweeney, Lawrence W.   Talarico, Joseph                  Talarico, Louis
Talarico, Thomas             Taylor, Raymond                 Thomas, Ferris F.
Thompson, David        Thompson, Louise J. (WAVE)   Titus, Howard
Tomlinson, James H.      Towne, Ernest H. Jr.               Travers, Sherwood W.
Underwood, H. Gilbert   Underwood, Homer R.         Voytershark, Frank P.
Walcott, C. James           Wallace, Raymond D. *      Walston, Harvey D.
Weeden, Willis M.           Weeks, Carnes, Jr.              Weeks, Robert
Westerlund, Charles H.   Westerlund, Harry F.        Weymer, Russell W.
Wilson, Herbert R.          Wilson, Robert L.            Wolcott, George
Wooden, Paul M.           Yurkunas, Kasimir           
Farrell, John J.
McConville, Marion
Weeks, Carnes
Cam, John H.
Coe, Albert B.

Sad Family History Buried in Oceola #2

A few years ago, hubby and I took a genealogy trip to Ohio to see where his Steiner ancestors lived and pay our respects at their burial sites.

Tucked away in a less-traveled part of Crawford County, Ohio, was Oceola #2 Cemetery, shown above. Since this week's #52Ancestors challenge by Amy Johnson Crow is all about cemeteries, I'm looking back at our time there.

Edward George Steiner (1830-1880) and Elizabeth Jane Rinehart (1834-1905) were my husband's maternal great-grandparents. They were born, married, and lived their entire lives in Ohio. Both are buried in historic Old Mission Cemetery, Nevada, Wyandot county, OH, a couple of miles away from Oceola #2.

Most but not all of Edward and Elizabeth Steiner's 9 children are also buried in Old Mission Cemetery. And yes, that's the cemetery where the famous gravestone for Christiana Haag is located--the stone showing her death date as February 31. (Of course, like everybody else, I took a photo as a reminder that gravestones are not necessarily correct!)

Once we left Old Mission Cemetery and located Oceola #2 (a bit off the beaten track), we found the gravestones for two other children born to Edward and Elizabeth. Sad to say, their eldest, "infant son Steiner," was born and died on October 23, 1852. Their second child, Elvaretta, was born some time in 1854 and unfortunately died on February 17, 1855.

As heartbreaking as those little grave sites were, we already knew that, thankfully, the next child born to the Steiner family was a son who lived to be 80 years old!

Celtic Connections Conference in Boston, Aug 10-11

If only my hubby's Irish and Scots-Irish ancestors had been more considerate about leaving clues! Identifying who, what, when, and where is why we need genealogy events like the Celtic Connections Conference in Boston, scheduled for August 10-11 at the Boston Newton Marriott Hotel.

Sponsored by the Irish Ancestral Research Association and the Irish Genealogical Society International, this star-studded conference features two days of lectures about Irish, Scots-Irish, Scottish, and Welsh genealogy, DNA, and culture. Arrive on Friday and stay till Saturday for the 33 lectures, and the chance to network with other genealogy researchers.

Among the many experts who will be speaking are:

• Audrey Collins: "Tracing Irish Ancestors in The National Archives – in England"
• Dr. Bruce Durie: "Scottish Records You Cannot Get on Ancestry.com"
• Nora Galvin: "Mapping Your Ancestral Home in Ireland Using Google Earth"
• Maurice Gleeson: "Using Y-DNA to Research Your Surname"
• Christine Woodcock: "In Search of Your Scottish Ancestors: Search Your Roots, Discover Your Heritage"

The early-bird registration discount ends on June 4th, so click over to the conference website to take a look. And as a bonus, conference registration includes a ticket to the New England Historical Genealogical Society in Boston!

Do the "Write" Thing for Genealogy: Set the Stage

Harold Burk proposed to Daisy Schwartz on the last day of 1945 - a wintery, snowy day!

When writing family history, we can help our readers envision the lives of our ancestors (and what influenced their actions and decisions) by "setting the stage."

This week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by Amy Johnson Crow, about "storms," is a perfect prompt for setting the stage. I've been researching how weather affected my ancestors, to make the everyday lives of my ancestors more vivid and add drama to my family history.

Setting the Stage for My Parents' Engagement

I wanted to know what the weather was like on the final evening of 1945, when my parents (Harold Burk and Daisy Schwartz) got engaged. They had been dating since mid-October--just a couple weeks after Harold got out of the Army. Daisy hoped and believed that he would pop the question soon, and he chose that special night to propose.

Because both my parents were living in New York City, I researched the weather by clicking on Weather Underground's history tab. I entered the location (you can enter any city) and then the date of December 31, 1945. The result: It was a cold day (low of 28, high of 39 degrees F), but not windy. Just under a quarter-inch of snow fell that day. I can use this info when writing about my father proposing to my mother on a wintery New Year's Eve, with a dusting of snow all around. Sounds like a romantic setting, doesn't it?

Who Lived Through the Blizzard of 1888?

Another way to "set the stage" in family history is to consider who might have been affected by a terrible storm like the Blizzard of 1888. It came on suddenly, and dumped lots of snow on my ancestors who lived in New York City on Sunday, March 11, 1888. In fact, the city was paralyzed. Who in my family's past got caught in this snowstorm?

My paternal great-grandparents, Meyer Elias Mahler and Tillie Jacobs Mahler, were then living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, in a tenement on Chrystie Street. Their second son, Morris Mahler, was born on Sunday, February 27, 1888--exactly two weeks before the Blizzard.

Did the heat stay on as the snow piled up? Did the family have enough food? How many days were they forced to stay inside until the city got the streets cleared? I don't know the answers to these questions, but raising them is a good way to show how ancestors were real people coping with real (and very challenging) situations.

The Hail Storm That Brought My Family to New York

Moritz Farkas

My maternal great-grandpa, Moritz Farkas, supervised farmland and vineyards for his family and in-laws in Hungary. One year, he saved money by not buying crop insurance. That was the year a big hail storm destroyed the crops. Financially ruined, Moritz left for America and never returned. His wife followed him to New York City a year later, and they sent for their children to join them.

So a huge hail storm in Hungary set the stage for my family's journey across the ocean. If not for hail, I might not be here today to keep these family memories alive for the next generation.

For more ideas about bringing family history to life and sharing with relatives, please see my book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past, available from Amazon in US, UK, Canada, and Europe.

Do the "Write" Thing for Genealogy, Part 3: Find the Drama

When you think about writing your family's history, look for the drama that may be below the surface (or in plain sight).

Remember: You know more than you think you know! Gather your Census data, vital records, Bible entries, photo albums, news clippings, and whatever else pertains to the person or people in the story you want to tell.

Jot notes about your memories and ask relatives what they remember about a particular ancestor or couple, a family occasion or situation, or a special photo (wedding portrait, for instance).

All of this will help you identify key points and people in your family's history, and uncover the drama that you can play up in your narrative.

If you're lucky enough to have letters, diaries, or interviews, go through and select quotes that add color and personality to your ancestors and reflect the drama in their lives.

Above, a quote from my late father-in-law, Edgar J. Wood, who said this 30+ years ago when my husband interviewed him about his earlier life and his love of playing the piano. The quote hints at the conflict between Ed and his father. It also explains why Ed had to play in so many jazz bands to make money for tuition, room, and board at Tufts, where he was in college during the 1920s.

The conflict came to a boiling point when Ed's mother, Mary Slatter Wood, died unexpectedly near the end of Ed's senior year. After Ed returned home for the funeral, he never lived at home again. He left college a few weeks later, not able to pass a language course needed for graduation. Then he moved to New York City and tried to make a living through his music. More drama!

What dramatic moments or conflicts are in your family's past? Look for them and use them to "hook" your readers.

This is an excerpt from my latest genealogy presentation, "Do the 'Write' Thing for Genealogy."

Mind the Gap--Between Children

NYC death cert of Wolf Mahler, who died at age 3

Only two weeks ago, I learned that my paternal great-grandparents (Tillie Jacobs Mahler and Meyer Mahler) had a young son (Wolf Mahler) who sadly died in 1894 in New York City.

Of course, Wolf's short life shouldn't have been entirely "new" news, since Tillie said on the 1900 US Census that she had 9 children in all, with 7 alive at the time. But I suspected the two children might have been born and died in Latvia, before Meyer came to America in 1885, followed by Tillie in 1886. Take a look at the gaps between children:

Henrietta, b. 1881 in Latvia
David, b. 1882 in Latvia
-------6-year GAP----- Children born/died before move to America?
Morris, b. 1888 in NYC
Sarah, b. 1889 in NYC
-------2-year GAP-----
Ida, b. 1891 in NYC
-------2-year GAP-----
Dora, b. 1893 in NYC
-------3-year GAP------
Mary, b. 1896 in NYC

Now I have Wolf Mahler's death cert in hand. I can confirm he was definitely part of my family. Sorry to say, he died of "acute Bright's disease" (meaning liver problems).

The next step was to place little Wolf in the correct gap between children born to his parents.

No birth date was given on Wolf's death cert, so I used Steve Morse's very handy page for determining the time between two events "in one step." As shown above, I plugged in the date of death as January 13, 1894. The cert said Wolf's age was 3 years, 4 months, and 3 days old. Thanks to Morse's calculator, I now know the boy was born on September 10, 1890. Ta-da, one gap accounted for, between Sarah and Ida.

While I look for clues to the second baby who died, I'll also make a Find a Grave memorial for Wolf and link him to his parents. Luckily, I can still use the old interface to do this!

One Memorable Tax Day in Family History

April 15th was a special day for Theodore Wilson McClure (1834-1927), the eldest son of hubby's great-great-grandpa, Benjamin McClure (1812-1896).

On April 15, 1858, Theodore was married to Louisa Jane Austin (1837-1924), in Wabash county, Indiana. Actually, this was Louisa's second marriage. (What happened to her first husband, John Donalson/Donaldson? They were married on May 17, 1855, but I haven't yet found his death record and of course no divorce record. Maybe a newspaper search will give me clues...)

One hundred years ago today, on April 15, 1918, the Wabash Plan Dealer published a front-page account of Louisa and Theodore's 60th wedding anniversary. The newspaper wrote about the original 1858 ceremony:

"The Rev. Cooper of the M.E. [Methodist] Church was the officiating minister, and conducted the service at 5 o'clock. The wedding feast was one of the bountiful ones, read about more often than seen in present times, and included venison, wild turkeys, and ducks."

By 1918, Theodore and Louisa might well have been paying federal income tax...his occupation was "justice of the peace" according to the Wabash, Indiana city directory. Earlier in his career, he had been a farmer and storekeeper. His 1927 death cert says he was a miller.

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow's #52 Ancestors challenge, I looked up when Tax Day first took place (March 1, 1914)--and noted two other years when new tax deadlines took effect (March 15, 1918 and April 15, 1955). Family history brings American history alive!

Search for Maiden Aunt Dora Leads to New Discovery

For years I tried to identify every single person in the dozens of photos taken at the 1946 wedding of my parents, Harold Burk (1909-1978) and Daisy Schwartz (1919-1981).

However, one tall and elegant lady wasn't familiar. She appeared in all the photos of my father's Mahler family, but neither I nor the Mahler cousins I knew could identify this lady. Then I was lucky enough to hear from another Mahler second cousin interested in genealogy! He immediately recognized this fashionably-dressed lady as a favorite maiden aunt: Dora Lillie Mahler.

Now I'm trying to pinpoint Dora's birth date. Here are her ages as recorded in each Census:

• 1900 US census: 6 years old
• 1905 NY census: 11
• 1910 US census: 15
• 1915 NY census: 20
• 1920 US census: 24
• 1925 NY census: 30
• 1930 US census: 35
• 1940 US census: ?? - FOUND! 45 years old 

Where was Dora in 1940? I tried several sources for the 1940 Census, knowing that each site indexes records differently. Tillie was long widowed and Dora was unmarried and had health problems. I'm certain they were sharing an apartment in the Bronx. Well, I haven't yet found the records I expected, but I'll search by location and expect to find them very shortly.**

Meantime, in researching Dora, I did stumble across a surprising discovery:

As this transcription shows, great-grandma Tillie and great-grandpa Meyer Elias Mahler seem to have had a son named Wolf who was born in 1891 and died, sadly, at the age of 3 in 1894. I've just sent notes to two cousins, asking whether they ever heard any family stories about this boy who died so young.

I might not have uncovered this clue to a previously unknown Mahler child if not for my research into Dora's background! (Of course I'm going to send for little Wolf's death cert to learn more.) So the lesson learned is: Keep plugging in the names of key ancestors (such as those in the direct line) because new records are posted and indexed every day.

Honoring Dora, here is the death notice that appeared in the New York Times on June 11, 1950 to announce the funeral of this much-loved maiden aunt:

Mahler, Dora Lillie, devoted daughter of Tillie and late Meyer Mahler, dear sister of Henrietta Burk, David Mahler, Sarah Smith, Morris Mahler, Ida Volk and Mary Markell. Services Sunday 1 pm, Gutterman's, Broadway/66 St. 

My "Maiden Aunt" post is #14 in the 2018 #52Ancestors challenge by Amy Johnson Crow. Thank you to Amy for a fun and rewarding #Genealogy challenge.

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** Unable to find Dora and Tillie in 1940 Census using Ancestry, Family Search, or Heritage Quest's indexes, I used Steve Morse's ED Finder for 1940, which listed 15 Census Enumeration Districts into which the address 1933 Marmion Ave., Bronx, NY would be categorized. Then I clicked through to manually search each page, address by address, until on the 6th ED I tried, I found Tillie and "Dorothy" at their Bronx address (see excerpt above). They were indexed as "Tellie Mehler" and "Dorothy Mehler" in Ancestry. I submitted corrections right away.

Doing the "Write" Thing for Family History

In my first post about writing family history, I suggested picking one ancestor/surname, one occasion, or one photo as the focus for writing something.

When possible, try to turn any family history writing project into a family-wide activity. Use materials from your genealogy collection to get relatives excited about documenting that person or occasion and to stimulate their memories. The more stories they hear, the more stories they can recall, the better!

Here's the special occasion I'm using as the focus of my next family history writing project: a 1972 Venice trip taken by all the adult children, spouses, and young grandchildren of Marian McClure Wood (1909-1983) & Edgar James Wood (1903-1986). UPDATE 2023: This was postponed indefinitely but may be picked up in the future.

The family trip was intended as a reunion for the entire family, then scattered across the country. Marian paid for everyone's travel, hotel, and meals, using the modest inheritance she received when her father (Brice Larimer McClure, 1878-1970) died.

My first step was to photocopy Edgar Wood's diary entries from that period in 1972 and send to my husband's siblings and the grown children. These day-by-day notes helped spark memories as they thought back to the reunion 46 years in the past.

Next, my hubby sorted through several binders and a file box to select several dozen 35mm slides to transfer into digital images as possible illustrations for this booklet. Naturally, he concentrated on finding slides featuring family members, with just one or two famous landmarks to set the scene.

Before doing any writing, we'll print the images four or six to a page and send to the family for more comments and memories. Then we'll organize the booklet itself, devoting the majority of pages to the weeklong reunion.

Each of Marian & Edgar's adult children went on to other European cities after the family reunion in Venice. So I'm going to devote a page or two to each of those post-reunion adventures, to personalize the booklet even further and encourage story-telling within the family.

Stay tuned for more about doing the "write" thing for family history!

Born on March 31: Charles Francis Elton Wood

March 31, 1891 was the birthdate of my husband's 1st cousin, 1x removed: Charles Francis Elton Wood (1891-1951). Charles's birthdate is on both of his wartime draft records and on his death cert.

The son of a painter, Charles was a farmer originally. Then he went to work as a baker for the Jersey Bread Company in Toledo, Ohio. He continued to work as a baker until he died, suddenly and tragically, in the fall of 1951, as a result of a traffic accident in Salt Lake City.

But Charles has a second family connection on the tree. His mother-in-law, Carolina "Carey" Foltz Cragg (1871-?), became my husband's step-grandma for nearly a decade by marrying James Edgar Wood (1871-1939) in 1928. The marriage was arranged by the families to put widowed Carey together with widowed/divorced James in Jackson, MI. By the time Grandpa James died in 1939, however, he was living in Cleveland, OH, and Carey was not with him. Did she die first? Still searching for her death info. Not April fooling, either.

This post was inspired by Randy Seaver's prompt of "which ancestors were born on this date" for his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. 

History Gets Personal in Family History

Everyone's family history is influenced by (and can influence) the course of history. That's what makes history so personal in our family's history.

I'm struck by this again and again as I transcribe letters written by Farkas cousins to the family tree association during WWII. These cousins were in the service (some in the US Army, some in Army Air Corps, some in Navy, some in WAC) and their letters home are filled with observations that bring history alive and illuminate how the war experiences affected them personally. The letters also reveal personality and, often, a dry sense of humor.

Above, the letterhead from a cousin's letter written in January, 1943. Notice the words running along the ribbon at bottom of the image--"Prepare for Combat."

Cousin G enlisted to fly but he couldn't land the way the Army Air Force wanted, he wrote home in a 1942 letter. At that point, he chose to train as a navigator/bombardier.

In this 1943 letter, written from an Army Air Field in Monroe, LA, cousin G is "waiting around for shipment to Advanced [training] which will be in Coral Gables, Florida." He mentions that the school is run by Pan-American (Airways) and he has to satisfy a tougher standard. Why does he care which school he attends?

"The main reason I decided upon the Gables was that most of the navigation is over water and from what I hear that is pretty important when you have to pick an island out of the whole Pacific."

Cousin G understands that he has a role to play in history and takes it seriously, even when his letters make the family smile. His role in history affects his family history too, and I'm proud to document what he wrote to the family during these critical years. Plus I'm learning more about historical details as I add explanatory endnotes to the letters, ensuring that future generations will get the full picture of our family's contributions to and experiences in World War II.

Three Sites Are Better Than One: Finding Uncle Joe in the Census?

Family Search, Heritage Quest, Ancestry each indexes federal and state Census records independently. If one site doesn't seem to turn up an ancestor in a Census, always--always!--try the other two. Between the three sites, I've learned where most of my ancestors were during a Census period.

This week, I was looking at the timeline gaps in my research into the early life of Uncle Joseph A. Markell (1895?-1975). For some reason, he didn't show up in Ancestry when searching the 1905 New York State Census, so I tried Family Search. Immediately, a Joseph Markell popped up. In a very unlikely setting, I might add. The name and the age are what I expected, not the place. Is this the right person?

As shown in the NY Census excerpt at top, a Joseph Markell was age 12 and living at boarding school in 1905, at the Weingart Institute.

What was this school all about? I located several references. Here's a reference from an 1893 handbook to NYC, explaining that this school was K-12, including college prep.



Another mention of this school was in a NY Times ad from 1908. In both of the references, the Weingart Institute's gymnasium was a selling point. One more online search turned up a piece about this school's summer camp in Highmount, NY--a camp attended by young Oscar Hammerstein, among other luminaries.

Where exactly the money came from to send Joseph to a posh private school is quite a mystery, which is why I have to dig deeper to be sure this is MY family's Joseph. So far, I haven't located the whereabouts of Joseph's parents in 1905. Very possibly they weren't living together; she could have been in PA while he was in NYC. I say this because I know Joseph's mother, Rosa Lebowitz Markell, died young in 1909 in Allegheny county, PA. I have her death cert and this is definitely the right Rosa.

That left his father, "Barney" Benjamin Isaac Enoch Markell (1874-1944), who was working as a "driver" in 1902 in NYC, according to his citizenship papers, responsible for Joseph. Both Barney and son Joseph were living in Rosa's mother's NYC apartment, according to the 1910 Census (found on all three sites).

Once Barney remarried in 1914, however, Joe didn't get along with his new step-mom and left as soon as he could. By the time of the US Census in 1920, Joe was in the Navy, a yeoman serving on the U.S.S. Niagara off Tampico, Mexico. In 1921, he was out of the service and married to Mary Mahler (1896-1979). The newlyweds first settled in New York City, later moving to New Rochelle, just north of the city.

Their neighbors around the corner in New Rochelle were Rose Farkas Freedman (1901-1993) and her husband, George M. Freedman (1900-1989). Rose, my mother's aunt, and her neighbor Mary Markell (my father's aunt) were BFFs . . . and they introduced my parents to each other. The rest is #familyhistory! Now to round out the stories, I'll be looking more closely at Uncle Joe and the possibility that he went to private school in 1905. And where his parents were at the time....?