Sepia Saturday: Theodore Schwartz in the Bronx

Theodore Schwartz and his youngest granddaughter

For Sepia Saturday, a photo that my niece found, showing her mother with our Grandpa Teddy (Theodore Schwartz, 1887-1965). This was taken on Carpenter Avenue in the Bronx, a block west of White Plains Road, where the elevated subway ran. Teddy loved playing checkers with his youngest granddaughter, in particular. The look of love on Teddy's face makes me smile!

This month is the 130th anniversary of Teddy's birth (and the 52nd anniversary of his death). Even though I have lots of info on Teddy, I recently searched Reclaim the Record's index of marriages from NYC and sent for the three-page marriage document for my grandparents from the Municipal Archives. The check has been cashed and I hope the papers are on the way.

In addition,  Reclaim the Records has posted printed (unindexed) lists of NYC voters from 1924. Of the 8 Bronx districts covered by the lists made available, Teddy lived in one. I found him at 651 Fox Street, registered along with several of his neighbors.

Interestingly, Grandma Hermina Farkas (1886-1964) was eligible to vote by this time, but she wasn't yet registered.

Wordless Wednesday: Postcard to Wallis at Age 7

Another colorful postcard sent to my hubby's uncle, Wallis W. Wood. The date is March 27, 1912, and the Wood family was living in the Lancelot Avenue home in Cleveland built by James Edgar Wood, which still stands today. Wallis was 7 when this postcard arrived. His older brother Edgar (my late dad-in-law) was 9, younger brother John was 4, and youngest brother Ted was 2.

This postcard was sent from Columbus Ohio and signed from "Uncle Jim," James Sills Baker (1866-1937), the husband of "Aunt Ada," meaning Adelaide Mary Ann Slatter (1868-1947). Jim and Ada lived in Toledo for years, but moved to the Cleveland area sometime between 1910 and 1920. "Aunt Ada" was the sister of Wallis's mother, and as usual, this postcard indicates that the family was focused on remaining in touch despite living miles apart.

NERGC 2017 Last day

My last day of #NERGC2017 featured a New York City double-header. First: Susan Miller's 8:30 session on "NYC Municipal Archives." Susan offered a virtual tour of the many valuable records available at the archives, including some (like the Almshouse Records) not well-known but useful.

I scribbled lots of notes on my syllabus page! Top tip: Remember that NYC became a five-borough city only in 1898, and Bronx County wasn't formed till 1914 (before, it was part of NY County, meaning lumped with Manhattan).

Next, Jane Wilcox's session on "New York Gateway," all about immigration, emigration, and migration to and through New York, city and state. Not records, but really interesting historical context about who came when and where, also why.

Top tip: consider how ancestors got from point A to point B. Hubby's Bentley ancestors, for instance, were in Oswego in the 1800s but wound up in Indiana. How? I need to look at waterways, which many used to go to the midwest.

Thank you to the NERGC volunteers and committee and speakers! And a safe trip home to my gen blogger friends, whose company I enjoyed.

NERGC 2017 Day 2

Well what a wonderful day 2 here at NERGC. My first session was Maureen Taylor's talk about dating photos using fashion tips.

Wonderful 8:30 talk and lots of fun guessing "why" as well as "when" the fashions were from. Top tip: remember that older folks (ladies in particular) may be wearing clothes from a few years earlier, not the more daring fashions of contemporary time. Motivated me to look more closely at my "mystery" photos!

Next session I attended was Michael Strauss's fascinating session on 1930s-1940s records that aren't well known but are available (usually via NARA).

Top tip from that session was--check the finding aids and try to conceive of where/when your ancestor would have come in contact with one of the government programs of that time, whether unemployment or CCC or even as a business hiring unemployed folks vis NRA. Really intriguing session!

Lunch: Table topics were fascinating, and after deliberating, I sat at a DNA discussion table. We chatted about Gedmatch.com, DNA testing older relatives, considering more indepth testing, and everyone's pet peeve--people who test but post no trees and answer no emails about matching.

The afternoon began with Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer's "Grandma Married Whom?!" all about evaluating gen info on the Internet. She showed some great examples illustrating why it's important to question stuff posted online. You mean I'm not really descended from Charlemagne? Bummer.

I had just a few minutes to skip over to Warren Bittner's talk, "Writing to Engage," which was still going on, lucky me! He had some great suggestions for vivid and active writing. Our choice of words can really bring our ancestors alive, in a literary sense, for future generations.

Next was Pam Stone Eagleson's interesting presentation about resolving conflicting evidence. Rarely does every source agree on every point. So how do we decide which name is correct or which date is correct? Consider the quality of the evidence (original/derivative source, direct/indirect source, etc). Think about when the document was created and why. Excellent advice.

Finally, I enjoyed Juliana Szucs' talk about Ancestry's arrival records. Very practical, "how to" review of what records are available, how to search (wildcards and all), and the human dimension of immigration. Top tip: Search in the specific record collection and vary spellings and dates to find elusive immigrant ancestors.

Stay tuned for day 3. Can't believe the conference is nearing its end.

NERGC 2017 - Thursday

My Day 1 of #NERGC2017 began by meeting some blogging buddies (in person!) and then Mary Tedesco's inspirational opening talk. Genealogy is more popular than ever and we have so many more tools than when I began 19 years ago.

Mary pointed out that microfilm technology revolutionized genealogy by unlocking documents that were once only available in person.

Now DNA is revolutionizing our way of thinking about building family trees as well as expanding our knowledge of ancestors. The conference was buzzing about DNA!

I attended Carol McCoy's excellent talk on finding elusive ancestors who seem to be missing from the census. She showed that some ancestors are really there, simply misindexed or not on the correct page. Top tip: Compare the census images and indexes from multiple sources (Family Search and Ancestry and Heritage Quest, for example).

My wonderful friends Mary and Ray helped me set up the projector in room 3 for my talk Planning a Future for Your Family's Past. Lots of good questions from the audience about protecting photos, in particular, and how to resolve potential fights over family artifacts when more than one person wants them. My top tip: Start now to caption your photos so the next generation will know who's who!

Next, I attended Kathryn Smith Black's presentation, "Lawyer or Sawyer? Using the British Census." Good techniques for finding my hubby's UK ancestors. Especially liked audience participation guessing what the handwriting says on these old census forms!

Then my conference day ended with the blogging SIG, led by Heather Rojo. Great fun to visit with bloggers from around New England and swap stories, tips, plans. And the conference is in full swing...more posts to come as the sessions continue.