Unique Ancestor Images on Public Trees Are Cousin Bait

83 people have saved Brice Larimer McClure's
note about his ancestry, which I originally posted.

Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970), hubby's long-lived granddaddy, wrote a few notes about his ancestry on tiny slips of paper. Years ago, I scanned those notes and uploaded them to my public Ancestry tree, along with a full transcription. You can see the beginning of the transcription above ("I am Brice McClure a Son of Margaret Larimer McCure and Wm. McClure...").

Every year or so, I return to images I originally posted, and check to see who has saved each one. By now, more than 80 people have saved this unique, one-of-a-kind note, which I attached to 8 people in my husband's public family tree.

Clicking on the tree of each person who saved one of my unique images shows me where Brice or Brice's ancestors might fit into that tree.

It doesn't matter whether I believe the other person's tree to be accurate or not. My objective is to see who's on the tree and how these people might be related to my husband. Potential clues, in other words, to possible cousins.

Occasionally, I'm able to identify a solid cousin possibility. I double-check what's on the other person's tree and reexamine my tree's connection to that ancestor. Then I send a message about this possible cousin connection and offer to exchange additional genealogical info. And, thankfully, a few people have responded and continued to correspond about mutual research interests!

I know there are more cousins out there to be found via family trees and paper trails (DNA is not my primary focus at this point). If someone has saved a unique image or note that I originally uploaded, it's worth a few minutes of my time to check that person's tree.

Those unique images are cousin bait!

The Farkas Family Tree's Grave Decisions

Threshold of Kossuth Association plot in Mount Hebron Cemetery, Queens, NY

My mother's Farkas Family Tree believed in planning ahead for final resting places. The tree was founded in 1933 in New York City by all the adult children of my maternal great-grandparents, Moritz Farkas and Leni Kunstler Farkas.

Kossuth Association Buys Plots in Mount Hebron Cemetery

Gates of Kossuth plot in Mt. Hebron Cemetery

Even before the tree association was formed, many Farkas relatives had purchased plots in Mount Hebron Cemetery, Queens, New York, through the Kossuth Ferencz Hungarian Literary, Sick & Benevolent Association.

Alex Farkas (oldest son of Moritz and Leni) helped to found the Kossuth Association in 1904. When Mount Hebron began as a cemetery in 1909, many members of the Kossuth Association bought grave sites and paid for special pillars, threshold, and gates to distinguish the association's plot (see photos at top and at right).

Alex and most of his siblings were eventually buried in the Kossuth plot. Among the first to be buried there were both my great-grandparents (Moritz in 1936, Leni in 1938).

As the younger Farkas Family Tree members grew older, however, they faced their own grave decisions.

New Farkas Generation Buys Plots in New Montefiore Cemetery

In 1937, the family tree formed a committee to choose another cemetery in the New York metropolitan area. Nearly all the tree's members lived in the five boroughs of New York City, on Long Island, or in Westchester, and they wanted a cemetery within driving distance or accessible by train. They decided on New Montefiore Cemetery, which began operating in 1928 and had plenty of plots available.

Quoting from the minutes of the family tree meeting on October 2, 1937: 

"The Cemetery headed by Alex Farkas bought six plots in the name of the Tree in the New Montefiore Cemetery - Block 2, 265 to 270 inclusive. Five of these were subscribed for by individual members and the sixth is the exclusive property of the Tree. A motion made by Albert Farkas and seconded was to the effect that full payment be made immediately for the Farkas Family Tree plot amounting to $165..."

On September 12, 1938, when the subject of annual member dues came up during a tree meeting, one member recommended reducing dues because the money was used mainly to pay for the cemetery plot and to buy small gifts for family occasions (weddings, births, etc.). At the time, each member paid $5 per year. The proposal was to cut dues to $3 per year (remember, this was still in the depths of the Depression.)

Great uncle Albert Farkas objected, reminding the tree "that the cemetery expenses were not yet completed" and urging that dues be kept constant. The motion to reduce dues was defeated and members continued to pay $5 per year.

Thanks to the careful planning of the Farkas Family Tree, many of my beloved relatives were buried in New Montefiore years after the plots were first purchased.

Let me again thank Amy Johnson Crow for her #52Ancestors prompts, including this week's "cemetery" prompt.

Great Uncle Abraham Burk Sailed From . . . ?

Unsourced page - BIG rookie mistake!

Years ago, when I was starting out in genealogy, I somehow found the passenger list showing when my paternal grandfather's older brother left England and arrived in Canada.

Great-uncle Abraham Burk (1877-1962) was born in Gargzdai, Lithuania. In his early 20s, he and my Grandpa Isaac Burk (1882-1943) came to live with an aunt and uncle in Manchester, England. I found them there in the 1901 UK Census, in the household of Isaac Chazan and his wife, Hinde Ann. They were learning English and earning money to pay for their journey to North America.

My great-uncle Abraham married Annie Hurwitch (or Horwich) in Manchester in June, 1903. The next time I spotted a record for Abraham, he was living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1904. How did he get there? When did he leave, when did he arrive? I rushed ahead to find out more, leaving no paper trail.

Avoid My Rookie Mistake

My research at that time led me to the page at top. It has no ship's name, and no date, but there is Abraham Burk, age 26, married, a cabinetmaker, "Russian Jew," with $2 in his pocket. He had left "Lancashire," and his destination was "Montreal." Yup, it's Great Uncle Abraham.

I excitedly saved only this image of a single page of the passenger list, with the quick note "April, 1904."

My big rookie mistake was not citing any sources. What ship was this page from? When, exactly, did it sail, where did it leave from, and when/where did it arrive? Where else did I search (with or without success)? Without a source or a research log, I couldn't easily retrace my steps. For years, I didn't even try. I had lots of other ancestors to chase. But this rookie mistake (not an isolated incident) has come back to haunt me during my ongoing Genealogy Go-Over.

Looking for Abraham, Page by Page

Today I spent two hours on the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) website, researching Abraham's voyage to find out where this passenger list came from so I can note a complete source and get a better picture of my ancestor's travels.

The LAC website has a key database titled Passenger lists, 1865-1922, which includes 26 ship arrivals for the month of April, 1904. Clicking page by page, I examined every ship's passenger list, in search of Abraham.

You can guess that Abraham did NOT arrive early in the month. Of course not. But eventually, after looking at many dozens of pages, I struck gold.

Liverpool to Halifax in 11 Days 

Abraham arrived on April 30th aboard the S.S. Lake Champlain from Liverpool, England, to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Compared with many of my immigrant ancestors' voyages, this was relatively brief--Abraham crossed the Atlantic in only 11 days. Leaving from Liverpool makes a lot of sense, since it is convenient to get there from Manchester, where Abraham was living.

A bit more research revealed that the S.S. Lake Champlain often sailed directly to Quebec. Why Abraham didn't go there, instead of Halifax, I simply don't know.

Genealogy Go-Over

Today, I strive to save two versions of any image I download as a source. The one directly above shows my source, typed onto the image. On my family tree, I include additional details such as web addresses so I can retrace my steps quickly and easily. Little by little, I'm cleaning up these kinds of mistakes and omissions as I go over each ancestor in my tree and hubby's tree.

Don't make my big rookie mistake. Cite your sources and add them to your family tree as you go.

Cousin Frank Morris Jacob Was a Marine in WWI

Military service of Frank M. Jacob in WWI

On this Memorial Day weekend, I want to honor the military service of a cousin on my father's side of the family tree, who enlisted in the U.S. Marines during WWI.

Frank Morris "Maurice" Jacob was born on October 3, 1896, in New York City. He went by "Frank" and used "Maurice," the Americanized version of his given name Morris, as his middle name. He was my first cousin, twice removed.

Frank's father Joseph Jacobs (1864-1918) was the brother of my long-lived paternal great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler (she was nearly 100 when she died). Frank's mother was Eva Michalovsky Jacobs (1869-1941).

Finding Frank in the NY State Census

1905 New York State Census, Manhattan, NY

1915 New York State Census, Brooklyn, NY

In 1905, Frank (enumerated as Morris) was living with his parents and siblings at 88 Chrystie Street in a large tenement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, NY, an area crowded with immigrants. He was at school, his father was a janitor, his mother was a saleswoman.

In 1915, Frank (again, as Morris) was living with his mother Eva and siblings Flora, Louis, and Hilda in Brooklyn, NY. Eva was shown the head of the household. Where was Joseph Jacobs, Eva's husband and the father of these children? Sadly, he was in the hospital and he died late in 1918 as a result of Parkinson's disease.

By 1925, Frank was living with his widowed mother on Gerard Avenue in the Bronx, NY, and working in advertising (his profession for the rest of his life). Eva was, indeed, born in "Russia" but not Frank, who was definitely not an alien.

Frank Became a Marine in WWI

Frank enlisted in the U.S. Marines on April 18, 1917. Less than three months later, he was fighting in France. As shown at top on his service record, Frank was involved in four major engagements during WWI: in the Toulon Sector, the Aisne Defensive, the Chateau-Thierry Sector, and the Aisne-Marne Offensive.

I found lots of interesting historical background on the Marines in WWI on the U.S. WWI Centennial Commission website here. Clearly, Frank and his units saw some fierce fighting. Frank was wounded on July 19, 1918, during a major battle in which Germany's machine guns took a very heavy toll on the Marines.

Frank was returned to the States in August, 1918, and continued to serve in the Marines until he left the military on June 13, 1919, more than two years after his enlistment. He supported his mother and lived with her in New York City until she died in the 1940s. Frank died on July 5, 1974, in Brooklyn, NY.

Cousin Frank, although I never met you, I salute and admire your courageous military service!

Thanks, as always, to Amy Johnson Crow for this week's #52Ancestors prompt of military.

"Old Settlers" Benjamin McClure and Sarah Denning McClure

Hubby's great-great-grandparents, Benjamin McClure (1812-1896) and Sarah Denning McClure (1811-1888), moved to Wabash, Indiana, in September, 1844.

By the time they arrived, settlers had been clearing thick forests of sturdy timber to make way for family farms for nearly two decades, according to History of Wabash County, Indiana by C.W. Weesner (published in 1914). Swaths of walnut, hickory, oak, and ash trees were steadily being replaced by fields of corn, wheat, and oats.

Pioneer Farmers and Leaders

Like their pioneering neighbors, the McClure family owned a farm. And like their neighbors, they got involved in the community. As shown above, Benjamin was one of the organizers of the "old settlers" organization that recognized and documented the names (and dates) of early Wabash pioneers.

The book actually includes lists of names, birth dates, and settlement dates. That's how I can pinpoint the month and year when Benjamin, Sarah, and their oldest son Theodore Wilson McClure (1834-1927) came to Wabash.

Benjamin also served as master at arms for the Knights of Pythias lodge organized in 1886, according to the book.

By the time Benjamin passed away in 1896, the natural landscape of Wabash had been significantly transformed, with electricity in evidence and other modern conveniences. He was considered one of the last great "old settlers" from pioneer days.

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for the #52Ancestors prompt of "nature."