A Tale of Two Sisters

Comparing photos from my cousins' collections with photos from my family

I've been collaborating with cousins on my father's side of the family to compare photos of Hinda Mitav Chazan with Necke Gelle Mitav? Shuham.

This is, we believe, a tale of two sisters.

Hinda and Isaac Left Lithuania

Three of the above photos come from the collection of my UK/South African cousins. They can positively identify their grandma Hinda in the two left-hand photos. Hinda (1864-1940) married Isaac Chazan (1863-1921) in Lithuania and moved with him to Manchester, England, around early 1888. The couple settled in Manchester and there raised their family.

These same cousins, descendants of Hinda, also have the photo of a seated man and woman, at far right above. According to family lore, this shows Hinda's sister who remained in Lithuania, with her husband. My cousins remember hearing this story and seeing the photo in a place of honor.

Necke and Solomon Stayed in Lithuania

The photo in the center features, we think, Necke Gelle, my paternal great-grandma, mother of my paternal grandpa Isaac Burk. Necke's maiden name is shown as Shuham on Isaac's Social Security application.

There are two similar versions of this photo. I have one, and one is owned by another cousin who descends from Isaac's brother, Meyer Berg. No identifications are on any of the Necke photos, but having similar photos inherited by two Burk/Berg cousins strengthens the case that this is the ancestral family in Lithuania.

Another reason to believe this is Necke: The man in the center photo and, older in the right photo, is unquestionably my father's ancestor. Dad's face and this ancestor's face are eerily similar. Dad's first cousins also resembled this man quite closely.

I'm identifying the gentleman as Solomon Elias (or Eliyash) Birck. He and Necke remained in Lithuania when six of their children left for North America around the turn of the 20th century.

Strong Similarities, Strong Family Ties

After studying these four photos, we cousins agree that Hinda (both younger and older) looks uncannily like Necke (both younger and older). Look at the faces circled in the photos and you'll see what my cousins and I saw! Eyes, nose, ears, shape of face, there are lots of similarities between the woman in the orange circle and the woman in the purple circle. Sisters or half-sisters, they are closely related.

Why Necke remained in Lithuania while Hinda left for a new life in England, we'll never know. We do know that Hinda and her husband Isaac welcomed Necke's two sons Isaac and Abraham to stay with them as they journeyed from Lithuania to England and then onward across the Atlantic. My grandpa Isaac ultimately went to New York City, and my great uncle Abraham Berk settled in Montreal.

Happily for us, we have photos, letters, and family stories demonstrating that Hinda and Necke's descendants remained in touch over the years even though the sisters were separated for the rest of their lives.

As a result of this tale of two sisters, I am now describing myself as the second cousin, once removed, of the descendants of Hinda who so kindly shared the photos above.

And yes, there are centimorgans linking our families!

Remembering Fathers in Our Family Trees

Brice Larimer McClure (left), Edgar James Wood (right)

Today is Father's Day! To celebrate, I'm remembering the fathers and grandfathers in my husband's family tree and in my family tree.

Hubby's Father and Grandfathers

James Edgar Wood

At top: Edgar James Wood (1903-1986), my hubby's father, very much enjoyed the company of his father-in-law, Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970). They got along well and after Brice was widowed, he was included in Wood family dinners nearly every weekend and for every holiday.

I'm grateful to Brice, my husband's maternal grandfather, because he made notes of names and dates in the family tree--giving me a head-start on my genealogy research.

My husband's paternal grandfather was James Edgar Wood (1871-1939), a carpenter and home builder who came from a long, long line of carpenters. His father had been a carpenter and a coach-builder with the railroad. None of James's sons took up carpentry--all became white-collar professionals.

My Father and Grandfathers

Harold Burk

My Dad was Harold Burk (1909-1978). He was on his way to becoming a travel agent when World War II interrupted his plans.

Enlisting in the US Army, he was stationed in Europe and returned home in October of 1945, after the war ended.

Back in civilian life, Dad settled down with my Mom and pursued his dream of being a travel agent. He quickly opened his own travel agency in the lobby of New York City's swanky Savoy Plaza Hotel, and remained there until the hotel was torn down.

Harold's father, my paternal grandfather, was Isaac Burk (1881-1943). At the very start of the 20th century, Isaac and five of his siblings left their home in Gargzdai, Lithuania, making their way to new lives in North America.

Isaac Burk

Isaac and his older brother Abraham were both trained cabinetmakers. Unfortunately, Isaac died of a heart attack while his two sons were serving abroad in World War II. It was my quest for Isaac's death date, place, and cert that started me in genealogy some 22 years ago. That was my very first blog post in August of 2008.

Theodore Schwartz

My maternal grandfather was Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz (1887-1965). He left his bustling home town of Ungvar, Hungary to settle in New York City early in the 1900s. He worked as an agent for steamship lines and other jobs before marrying and beginning a family.

At that point, Teddy opened his own dairy store in the South Bronx. That store is one reason the family weathered the Great Depression fairly well (except for the day Teddy's store was robbed).

In the wake of the Depression and WWII, Teddy was a great admirer of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. I recall seeing a newspaper photo of FDR pinned up in the apartment for many years.

Remembering these fathers and grandfathers with love and keeping their memory alive on this Father's Day of 2020.

Who's Hidden in That Tintype?

Mystery tintype, before
and after enhancing

My first adventure in mystery photo land has turned up an unexpected discovery!

This adventure combined the sharpening power of the new MyHeritage.com photo enhancement tool with the cleanup and lightening capabilities of Restore software from Vivid-Pix.

Scanning and Cleaning Up The Tintype

It all started with a dark tintype, which I inherited without any frame or identification. I despaired of getting anything from it, and had never even tried to scan it.

Yesterday, I scanned it at high resolution (with my trusty CanoScan 8400F flatbed). Top right is the result. At this point, I could see the shadow of a seated woman and a standing man in a bowler hat. Of course I had to continue!

My next step was to lighten the scan slightly with my Picasa image management software (alas, no longer offered by or supported by Google). More of the people could be seen. I was feeling encouraged to continue with an even more powerful tool.

Vivid-Pix and My Heritage to the Rescue

The image was still so badly degraded that the faces were not visible. So I put the digital image through Restore by Vivid-Pix.

Restore gave me 9 possible images from which to choose when it fixed the image. I chose the one in which the people were most delineated. After a bit of tinkering with the software's tools, I could definitely see where a frame used to be over the tintype, and more of the faces. That's the bottom image above.

Finally, I imported the fixed image into MyHeritage's photo enhancement tool. The result was much clearer faces and clothing. The tintype had been rescued!

Comparing Known Faces for Identification

Look at the man's face--long and lean, with ears sticking out a bit. The woman's face has distinctive eyes and eyebrows. I had a suspicion now.

I uploaded to MyHeritage two photos of my paternal grandparents, Henrietta Mahler (below left, just before their marriage) and Isaac Burk (below right, 25 years after their marriage).

After sharpening their facial features, and comparing with the super-enhanced scanned tintype, I found myself unexpectedly staring into the younger faces of my grandparents, probably around the time of their marriage, pre-1910. That's my best guess on identification.

Wow. Very unexpected to be able to finally tease out recognizable faces from this degraded tintype, well more than a century old. For me, it's also a great demonstration of how combining new tech tools can help my genealogy efforts.




This week's prompt from #52Ancestors is  "unexpected." We're already at week 25, nearly halfway through the year of Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy prompts.

Sharpening the Focus on Mystery Faces

1915 photo of Schwartz siblings, enhanced via MyHeritage.com

The recent announcement that MyHeritage.com is offering a new photo enhancement tool gave me an idea.

After testing photo enhancement on some century-old family photos, I realized that sharper faces will help me with my mystery photos.

Known Faces in Focus

As shown above, the MyHeritage tool not only sharpens faces, but also provides small vignettes of each person in the photo. The features are much clearer!

These are my Schwartz great aunts and a great uncle in Ungvar, Hungary (now Uzhhorod, Ukraine), siblings of my maternal grandpa Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz.

Mystery Faces in Focus

My next step is to dig through the "mystery ancestor" box for my Schwartz line* and upload photos to MyHeritage. After I've used the photo enhancement tool, those mystery faces should be much clearer and distinct!

By comparing enhanced faces of mystery ancestors with enhanced faces of known ancestors, I hope to more confidently identify people as being in a particular branch of my family tree. At the very least, I can write a caption explaining a tentative identification for the sake of future generations.

Let's see what happens as I get some mystery faces in focus!

* I've sorted my mystery photos into "best guess" families, with possible ancestors of my mother's family separate from possible ancestors of my father's family. Also I've separated mystery ancestors from my husband's family tree, to avoid having the mystery photos mixed up in the distant future when I someday join my ancestors. This is a tip from my book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

Sifting Through Hints for Cousin Bait

Use surname filtering to focus on cousin bait

If you're looking for cousin bait, you have to focus your attention on the most productive possibilities when sifting through family-tree hints on Ancestry.

At left, the hint summary for my husband's family tree on Ancestry. There are 3,200 people on this tree, so it's not surprising that I have so many total hints.

Stories and photos are often very good cousin bait, especially if you filter the hints by surname as you focus on specific ancestral lines. Then you can look at the contributor's profile and tree (if public) to see how he or she fits into your family tree. (I'm not going to talk about DNA or ThruLines in this post--topics for another time!)

Stories as Cousin Bait

In this case, I looked at all 21 of the "stories" to see what they are, who posted them, and how many were personal vs. transcribed documents or records. Most could be seen without downloading any files (which I won't do unless I know the person, just in case).

Many of the stories were summaries of family histories with footnotes leading to county histories or other books. Two were transcriptions of will/probate materials for distant ancestors. All useful in my research, but not specifically cousin bait, although of course I checked to see how the contributors might fit into the family tree.

A good number of these 21 stories were transcriptions of oral history from someone who actually knew one of my husband's ancestors! Great cousin bait. I've now invited that contributor to see my public family tree, and he has invited me to see his public family tree. There is a distant cousin connection here, and the oral history posted as stories served as effective cousin bait to reel me in.

Photos as Cousin Bait

Ineffective as cousin bait

My favorite cousin bait (to leave as bait or to follow as bait) is a personal photo of an ancestor.

With 627 photo hints to sift through, I narrowed the focus by specifying a particular surname for searching photo hints.

Within the photo hints for McClure were dozens of flags, patriotic images, DNA symbols, and other non-personal images.

These are NOT effective cousin bait. Folks like to use such images to tag certain categories of ancestors, but they don't work well for cousin bait.

On the other hand, the photo shown below is top-notch cousin bait I discovered when searching photo hints for Larimer, another of my husband's ancestral surnames.

Effective cousin bait: A personal photo with a title

Not only is it a real photo, it has a title that indicates who and what the photo is about (I masked some info for privacy). I've confirmed that the person who posted the photo is actually a cousin. He has meticulously researched his branch of the tree and we are now guests on each other's family trees, sharing info about the Larimer line.

For all the other record hints, I will filter by surname and work down the list. I don't generally check family tree hints this way, by the way. Instead, I look at them when I'm researching a particular ancestor.

Have fun with #CousinBait! 

Tricking the Search System into Finding Thomas and Mary

Thomas H. Wood and son Alfred, son Charles, son Frank, daughter Jane
in the 1881 city directory for Toledo, Ohio (wife Mary isn't mentioned, grrrrr)

As I continue my Genealogy Go-Over and fill in missing details for ancestors on my husband's tree and my tree, I can't always find what I'm seeking with a simple search.

Case in point: my husband's great-grandpa, Thomas Haskell Wood (1809-1890), and great-grandma, Mary Amanda Demarest Wood (1831-1897). I have their US Census records for 1850, 1860, and 1870.

But even trying Ancestry, Family Search, and My Heritage, Thomas and Mary couldn't be found in the 1880 US Census via indexed search of transcribed names.

Where Are You, Wood Family?

For many years, great-grandpa Thomas and his family were at 170 South Street in Toledo. That's the address shown in the page from the 1881 Toledo city directory (see image at top). The family lived on South Street in the 1880 city directory and in earlier years.

Thomas didn't die until 1890, and his wife outlived him. They were definitely on South Street at the time of the 1880 Census. I guessed that they were not transcribed and indexed properly by any of the major genealogy sites.

Although I knew I would find Thomas and family if I searched page by page through the 1880 Census, there was a faster way to find them--a favorite search technique I learned from my friend, Toni McKeen.

Search for First Names Only

Searching by first name, birth year/location, residence

Toni suggests searching a specific database by first names, no last name, in a particular location. The key is to search for more than one name in that household. This "tricks" the search system into ignoring the last name, which was mistranscribed, and only focusing on first names.

I went to the Ancestry catalog and selected the database for the 1880 US Census. As shown in this screen shot, I then entered first name "Thomas" (no last name), included his birth year and birth state, and listed his spouse "Mary" with no last name. I inserted "Toledo, Lucas, Ohio" in the "lived in" section.

The very first result for this search showed a "Thomas Ward" born about 1809 in Massachusetts, with wife "Mary A" in Toledo. It's not "Wood" but it is a really close match. Next step, look at the image.

Correct Result, Correct the Transcription 

1880 Census entry for the Wood family, mistranscribed as Ward

As soon as I saw who was in this household, I recognized that it was, in fact, my husband's great-grandpa and family. The first names were correct, the residence on South Street matched, the birth places and occupations and children/ages were as expected in 1880.

Submitting a correction so future researchers
find Thomas and Mary Wood and family

Obviously, "Wood" looked a lot like "Ward" to all the transcribers. I submitted a correction for every member of that household (on all three genealogy websites).

Now I will review the pages before and after Thomas and Mary's Census entry in search of the FAN club, specifically any future spouses of the Wood children who were of marriage age in 1880.

"Everything Came Intact Except for . . . "

Letter from Manchester, England to Bronx, New York, 30 Dec 1947

In 1901, my paternal grandfather, Isaac Burk (1882-1943) was en route from his hometown of Gargzdai, Lithuania to a new life in North America. He and his brother, Abraham Burk (1877-1962), stayed with their aunt Hinda Anna Mitav Chazan and her husband, Isaac Chazan in Manchester, England for a time. No doubt they were learning English and saving money for the journey across the Atlantic.

The Burk and Chazan families remained close throughout the first half of the 20th century, we know from photos exchanged and family stories, as well as memories of relatives who were youngsters when my father and uncle visited Manchester after World War II. Even after my Grandpa Isaac Burk died in 1943, the families corresponded and occasionally visited for the next decade.

Letters Handed Down for 70+ Years

Some letters written in the late 1940s from the Manchester cousins to my Grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk (1881-1954) in the Bronx, New York, were handed down to her son, Sidney Burk (1914-1995). In turn, the letters were later handed down to my first cousin E, who has been scanning and sharing with me and with our Manchester family.

How grateful I am that these letters were actually handed down instead of being tossed. The personalities of the letter-writers really shine through! And the contemporaneous experiences of the families are helpful in understanding ancestors and their lives.

At top, an excerpt from a letter sent from the Manchester family to my Grandma on December 30, 1947. I found this letter particularly interesting because it listed the exact contents of a parcel of food sent by Grandma to the Manchester cousins. This must have been quite a large box.

And I know it was not the first food parcel sent from New York City to Manchester, because other letters mention other parcels. It adds a personal, family history dimension to the continuing food shortages experienced in England even two and a half years after WWII ended.

Reading the letter, I was impressed at how the adults made a show of opening the parcel to heighten the pleasure their young children (cousins I've now met) felt at being able to taste some highly-coveted foods after years of scarcity.

Which Foods Crossed the Pond?

In this excerpt from the letter, note that two important items did not arrive in the parcel, even though they were packed and shipped properly! Hmmm...*

"Well I think this about all the family news up to date and now I must write to you the exciting news that the food parcel sent to Sadie [Grandpa's first cousin] has arrived. It really is a most magnificent parcel and Sadie and Sol and Solly and I [Grandpa's first cousins and their spouses] made a united ceremony of opening it and the excitement and happiness grew greater and greater as we drew package after package of the, to us, most exciting things. 

"Everything came intact, except for 2 cans meat listed on the label, these were missing, but the sugar (4 lbs), cheese, 3 pieces soap, box raisins, box of tea, 2 bars chocolate, box dried milk, box dried soup, packet chewing gum, can butter, can orange juice, can oil, can Spry [vegetable shortening], can lemon juice, box cocoa, 2 boxes crackers, can pineapple were all there." 

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this week's #52Ancestors prompt of "handed down."

*Wendy's comment (below) asks whether some foods (like the cans of meat) weren't allowed into the UK from other countries or whether the meat might have been pilfered. I don't know exact details from that time period, but my guess is that canned foods of all sorts would be allowed, simply because they're not fresh and not unwrapped. That leaves the possibility that the two cans of meat were pilfered. My thought is yes.

Great-Great-Grandpa Was Illiterate and Other Insights from 1870 Census

1870 US Census, Salem township, Steuben county, Indiana

Because of incorrect transcription, I had a bit of a time finding my hubby's 2nd great-grandpa Joseph W. Rinehart (1806-1888) and 2d great-grandma Margaret Shank Rinehart (1807-1873) in the 1870 US Census. It was worth the trouble because of what I learned about these ancestors of my husband.

Ohio Fever?

Born in Pennsylvania in October of 1806, Joseph seems to have been part of the "Ohio Fever" movement toward the western frontier. By 1850, he was married to Margaret and he was farming in Tod township, Crawford County, Ohio. How they met, where they married, I don't yet know.

Their oldest child was 16 in the 1850 Census, and he was born in Ohio, which implies that the family had arrived in the Buckeye State by 1834. This time-frame fits with the Ohio fever movement.

Ohio to Indiana

When I finally found Joseph and Margaret in the 1870 Census, they were no longer living in Ohio. They were living in their son Hugh Rinehart's household in Salem township, Steuben county, Indiana. That's 150 miles northwest of their previous home in Ohio.

Joseph was 64, Margaret was 63. He told the Census he was a tailor. He also said his real estate was worth $3,600, while son Hugh (a carpenter) didn't own any real estate.

1870 Insights

Then my eyes moved toward the righthand columns on the 1870 Census page. And I learned a lot more!

Literacy: Joseph Rinehart was the only person in the household unable to read or write. Every other person in the household, his wife included, was able to read and write, according to this Census.

Parents of Foreign Birth: Margaret Shank Rinehart's parents were both born outside the United States. Sadly, the Census didn't ask what country. Margaret herself was born in Delaware, she told enumerators in multiple Census years. I'm still trying to pick up her trail before Ohio.

Constitutional Relations: Not unexpectedly, only Joseph (age 64) and his son Hugh (age 31) had marks in the far-righthand column asking about male citizens over the age of 21. Their right to vote was not denied or abridged. Naturally, none of the women were eligible to vote at that time.

There are small but key insights to be gained by looking at ALL the answers to questions asked in the Census, not just the basics.

Crafting, Heirlooms, and the Pandemic

Crewel embroidery on velvet
by Daisy Schwartz Burk, 1950s

The coronavirus pandemic has people crafting like crazy, me included.

This reminded me to continue documenting handcrafted items in my possession that will be heirlooms for the next generation.

At top, a pretty crewel embroidery picture stitched on velvet by my Mom, Daisy Schwartz Burk (1919-1981). She loved needlework like embroidery, petit point, and crochet.

Her mother, my grandma Hermina Farkas Schwartz (1886-1964), was a really expert seamstress and careful embroiderer. I have an embroidered bureau topper made by her that will be passed to the next generation. Grandma was such a perfectionist that the front and back of the topper look nearly identical. (Grandma wouldn't have approved of the messy wrong side of my embroideries!)

 Afghan made for me by my oldest niece. 2000s

The tradition of needlework has continued throughout my family. My sisters and I learned to crochet at an early age and we taught that skill to the kids when they were in kindergarten.

Here's a much-used, very colorful afghan made for me during the early 2000s by my oldest niece.

Afghan I'm stitching for my oldest niece, 2020

With the pandemic keeping me at home, I'm beginning to crochet an afghan for this same wonderful niece.

She picked out the pattern, my Sis bought the tweedy yarn, and I'm stitching while listening to genealogy podcasts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are more heirlooms to be documented and I see more crafting in my future as we play it safe and remain home, for now. 

PS: I wanted to include this lacy knit baby afghan, now in the hands of the little girl who slept under it decades ago and has grown up to love needlework herself!

The 1903 Marriage of Mary Amanda and August Jacob

Marriage record of Mary Amanda Wood and August Jacob Carsten

My husband's first cousin, once removed, married exactly 117 years ago today.

Mary Amanda Wood (1884-1917) married August Jacob Carsten (1884-1975) on June 3, 1903, in Toledo, Ohio. Above, their marriage record, indicating that the groom had his father's consent to marry. (Mary Amanda was named for her grandmother, Mary Amanda Demarest, who was married to Thomas Haskell Wood.)

Mary Amanda was the daughter of a house painter and granddaughter of a carpenter/coach builder. Her intended husband was a carpenter, the son of a carpenter. Both bride and groom were over the age of 18.

Why Did August Jacob Need Consent?

In Ohio at the time of Mary Amanda's marriage, females over 18 were allowed to marry without parents' consent but males needed parents' consent until the age of 21.

That's why August Jacob Carsten's father actually made the marriage application on behalf of the son!

How Many Children Ever Born?

Often I've said how much I love the 1910 US Census, which asks women how many children they have ever had and how many are still living. That year, Census Day was in April.

Interestingly, in the 1910 Census, Mary is shown with her husband (married 7 years, they told the enumerator) and two of their children. However, she didn't answer the question about how many children she's ever had and how many were still living.

Mary's first child had been born in 1904, her second child in 1906. Now, in April of 1910, child number three was on the way (born before Christmas of 1910). 

Were other babies born in between, and did they die young? A search on Ancestry, Family Search, and Find a Grave turned up no infant deaths for Mary Amanda and August Jacob.

Why they didn't answer the "how many children ever born/how many now living" questions, I simply don't know. Everyone else on that page answered in 1910.

Mary Amanda's Death

Sadly, Mary Amanda Wood died while pregnant with her fifth child in January of 1917. Later that year, August Jacob remarried, giving his four young children a step-mother. He and his new bride, Matilda Kohne, had two children together.

Today, I'm remembering my hubby's 1c1r, Mary Amanda Wood Carsten, on her wedding day of 117 years ago.

The #52Ancestors prompt for this week is "wedding."

June 1 = Backup Day

Old backup technology

Today is backup day.

After a computer glitch deleted hundreds of my photos a few years ago, I restored most of them by rummaging in my old backup CDs. Old-fashioned by 2020 standards, but they worked exactly as they were intended!

These days, I safeguard my 22 years of genealogy research with automated backups and backups of my backups.

Plus, on the first of every month, another backup ritual.

Automated:  My Mac's Time Machine backs up every day to a dedicated external hard drive. In addition, I have a BackBlaze account that backs up files and photos and letters (not applications) to the cloud on a daily basis.

Not automated: Every time I open my RootsMagic 7 genealogy software, I first sync with my multiple Ancestry trees. Then I backup these trees to my external hard drive before I close the software.

On the first day of every month, I manually download my Ancestry trees as Gedcoms and back them up on my Mac and in the cloud.

Plus I have a separate external hard drive backup just for photos, scanned images, and other genealogy data.

When I prepare a family history booklet or scan an album or some old letters, I put copies (works in progress and finished products) on this drive.

How do you backup your #FamilyHistory?

Ancestors in 19th Century Mortality Schedules

Looking for the deaths of 19th century ancestors in America?

Check the U.S. Census Mortality Schedule, one of the non-population schedules.

In 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880, enumerators asked about people who died in the 12 months before Census Day (which at that time was June 1st).

Not all of these schedules still exist for every state. Where they exist, some mortality schedules are in state archives and state libraries. Many are available via Ancestry and Family Search. Just as one example, it's easy to browse or search the 1850 Mortality Schedules for many states at Family Search and at Ancestry.

The best part is--if you find an ancestor in one of these mortality schedules, you'll learn a lot about that person.

Above, the 1880 Mortality Schedule for Fairfield county, Ohio, where the very first line has my husband's ancestor, Abel Everitt. He was a farmer, born in Pennsylvania, father born in New Jersey and mother born in ... Ireland (no county named, alas). I found out his month of death (April, 1880), cause of death (apoplexy), and even more details from this page.

Knowing the place and date, I soon located the ancestor's burial place and from there, I was able to add a few more names to the family tree.

Dara asks whether Mortality Schedules are usually indexed. I've found most are . . . but still I may browse if I haven't found an ancestor who I suspect should be there. Unfortunately even if an ancestor did die in the 12 months prior to Census Day that person may not always be listed on the Mortality Schedule.

Ancestors Who Served in the Military, Honored on This Memorial Day 2020

Capt. John Daniel Slatter
World War I, Camp Borden

In my husband's family tree, many ancestors served in the military during wartime.

Searching for clues to their service, I've checked enlistment records, pension files, 1910 Census (which asked about Civil War participation), 1930 Census (which asked which war served in), Fold3, obituaries, death certs, newspaper articles, and beyond.

On this Memorial Day 2020, I'm honoring these military veterans and continuing to look for additional clues to other ancestors who served. I'll add names as I locate more veterans in hubby's family tree.

War of 1812
* Isaac M. Larimer - hubby's 4th g-grandfather
* Robert Larimer - hubby's 4th great-uncle
* John Larimer - hubby's 3d g-grandfather
* Daniel Denning - hubby's 3d great-uncle
* Elihu Wood Jr. - hubby's 3d great-uncle

Union Army, Civil War
* James Elmer Larimer - hubby's 1c4r

* John Wright Larimer - hubby's 1c4r
* Isaac Larimer Work - hubby's 1c4r
* John Wright Work - hubby's 1c4r
* Train Caldwell McClure - hubby's 2d great uncle
* Benjamin Franklin Steiner - hubby's 2d great uncle
* Samuel D. Steiner - hubby's 2d great uncle
* Hugh Rinehart - hubby's 2d great uncle
* Ira Caldwell - hubby's 1c3x
* John N. McClure - hubby's 2d great uncle
* George H. Handy - hubby's 1c2r

World War I
* John Daniel Slatter - hubby's great uncle
* Albert William Slatter - hubby's great uncle
* Arthur Albert Slatter - hubby's 1c1r
* Albert James Slatter - hubby's 1c1r
* Ernest Slatter - hubby's 1c1r
* Albert Matthew Slatter - hubby's 1c1r
* Frederick William Slatter - hubby's 1c1r

World War II
* John Hutson Slatter - hubby's 2d cousin
* John Albert Slatter - hubby's 2d cousin
* Albert Henry Harvey - hubby's 2d cousin
* Harold McClure Forde - hubby's 2c1r
* Albert Lloyd Forde - hubby's 2c1r
* Joseph Miles Bradford - hubby's 2c1r

The WWII Military Service of the Burk Brothers

Pvt. Harold Burk & Sgt. Sidney Burk

For Memorial Day weekend, I'm so happy to have this "new" photo of my father on the left, Harold Burk (1909-1978) and his brother on the right, Sidney Burk (1914-1995).

It was just rediscovered by Harold and Sidney's nephew, my first cousin E, who kindly scanned it for me. He found it with Sidney's papers, and I've never seen it.

Dad was in Europe, Uncle in Hawaii

I know a good deal about Harold's WWII activities with the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Below are his dog tags, his US Army buttons, and his Army Signal Corps patch.

Harold Burk World War II insignia, dog tags

However, I know a lot less about Sidney's WWII activities with the U.S. Army at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. Cousin E thinks Sidney worked in the JAG office there.*

A cursory search turned up very little, because the vast majority of U.S. military records from the 20th century burned up in a devastating fire in 1973.

*Update: Sidney Burk was actually in the Army Air Force, a Staff Sgt with the HQ Squadron, 6th Air Svc Area Command, stationed near Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. Cousin E found Sidney's DD214 Honorable Discharge document!

Obtaining a WWII Army Vet's Records

During this week's #OurAncestors chat on Twitter, the American Ancestors experts and Jan Murphy suggested I look into alternative record sources that might help me piece together Sidney's military career. On this rainy day, I'll start by watching this video from NARA.

Update: After seeing the informative video, I visited the NARA website to learn more about obtaining official military personnel files. More specifically, I know now I'll need particular details in order to identify the correct veteran, including exact name used in the military, service number, and more.

Honoring Harold and Sidney Burk's World War II military service on Memorial Day weekend, 2020.

How Lucy Helped Me Name Her Mother

Lucy Emeline Bentley Larimer and
Brice Larimer are buried in Brown Cemetery,
Elkhart County, Indiana

Who was my hubby's 3d great-grandmother? His 3d great-granddaddy was William Tyler Bentley (1795-1873). William was born in Oswego County, New York, and pioneered in Elkhart County, Indiana during the 1830s.

The earliest two Census records I found for William, in 1830 and 1840, named him as head of household and listed how many others were in the household, categorized by age and gender. As was usual in Census records from those years, there were no names for wife and children.

Clues in Lucy's Obit

One break came when I found an obituary for my husband's second great-grandmother, Lucy Emeline Bentley Larimer (1826-1900). At top is Lucy's tombstone, shared with her husband, Brice Larimer (1819-1906). They are buried in Brown Cemetery, Elkhart County, Indiana.

The obit didn't actually name Lucy's mother. But it did say the mother died in 1838 in Elkhart County, Indiana, where they were pioneer settlers. The obit also said Lucy's father had left for California in 1848. Following that trail, I found the exceedingly brief obit for William Tyler Bentley, who died in 1873 in Tulare County, California. This obit said the deceased was the father of "E.M. Bentley of this place [Tulare]." I filled in the family tree with Elisha Morgan Bentley and his family, which led me to even more siblings and descendants.

Names in Death Certs

The next big break came when I received Lucy's Indiana death cert, packed with information supplied by her husband. He said Lucy was born in Oswego County, New York, the daughter of Wm T Bentley (b. in NY) and Olive Morgan (birthplace unknown).

I also obtained the Indiana death cert of Lucy's sister, Lucinda Helen Bentley Shank (1825-1903). This cert, with information by Lucinda's husband, named the mother as Olivia Morgan (b. in New York) and the father as Wm T Bently (b. in New York). It said Lucinda was also born in New York.

Thanks to great-great-grandma Lucy and her sister, Lucinda, my husband's great-great-great grandmother finally had a name: Olivia Morgan (b. ?- d. 1838).

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"Tombstone" is the week 21 prompt for Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge.