Grandpa Teddy: Born in Ungvar, Hungary

My immigrant grandpa, Theodore "Teddy" Tivador Schwartz was born on May 12, 1887 in what was then the bustling market town of Ungvar, Hungary. Today that town is known as Uzhhorod, Ukraine.

Teddy was the first in his family to leave their hometown and cross the Atlantic to New York City, in 1902. He encouraged his older brother Sam to come through Ellis Island in 1904. The two brothers saved their nickels and brought a younger sister, Mary, to New York soon afterward.

So often, documents list only a country as birthplace. A surprising number of Teddy's documents specifically name his actual hometown, including the passenger manifest for the SS Moltke, his Declaration of Intention to become a naturalized US citizen (left), his NY State affidavit for license to marry, his Social Security application, and his WWI and WWII draft registration cards. Dated from 1902 through 1951, all of these documents show Teddy's birthplace as Ungvar, Hungary.

[Note: The document shown here has the incorrect year for Teddy's travel across the Atlantic. The actual passenger manifest is dated 1902. Always look at the original if possible!]

I knew and loved this Grandpa, who lived with our family after his wife (my Grandma Hermina Farkas Schwartz) died in 1964. Teddy died just before his 78th birthday, on May 12, 1965. You're in my thoughts, dear Grandpa, and I'm doing everything I can to keep your memory alive for the future--including putting your photo and name in a family history coloring book for the youngest descendants.

Prepping for the 1931 Canadian Census Release on June 1

More Census excitement for genealogists! The release of the 1931 Canadian Census is scheduled for June 1, 2023. Embargoed for 92 years, this Census will give us a window into so many demographic changes in Canada between the post-war 1921 Census and the Depression-era 1931 Census. 

Dave Obee, Canadian Census expert

Dave Obee, author of Counting Canada: A Genealogical Guide to the Canadian Census, is prepping for the 1931 release and helping us with posts on his informative website, CanGenealogy.com. For instance, he lists all the Census questions on his site here. 

Initially, there will be NO index. But Dave shows how to get ready by finding a residential address and district for each ancestor, so we'll be able to browse the Census documents by location when released. 

Of course, if you want to wait for the index, Canada is working with Ancestry and FamilySearch to index by AI technology. This will take months, but we'll eventually be able to search the 1931 Census the same way we can already search earlier Census documents.

Hubby's ancestors, by residence and in context

My husband had three great uncles in Canada (the three Slatter brothers, all military band masters), and I had a great uncle and cousins in Canada during that period. You know I'll be browsing for them by address, based on my notes about addresses found in city directories and their 1921 Census locations.

Once you find your ancestor in Canada, and record all the relevant details from the Census form, don't forget to put the ancestor into social and historical context. If your ancestor is working, that would be in contrast to the growing unemployment problem triggered by the Depression, for example.

I'm looking at the Dominion Bureau of Statistics Publication here (pdf in French or English), which summarizes findings of the 1931 Census and compares results to earlier Censuses. Since most of hubby's Slatter ancestors were in Canada by 1901, I can see context decade by decade and in 1931 specifically.

Above, one table showing the number and percentage of males and females who were single, married, widowed, or divorced as reported in the Canadian Censuses from 1871-1931. The number and percentage of divorced men and women began to rise after 1901, as shown. Also, the number of single individuals dropped as the number of married individuals increased steadily over the years. I'll compare my hubby's ancestors to these statistics for a bit of context.

I'm looking forward to Thursday, June 1st, when the 1931 Canadian Census is made public.

More great tips are on Ken McKinlay's blog as well, with links to resources that will help us prep for the release. Don't miss his take on this exciting Census release.

UPDATE: Since Ancestry indexed this Census very quickly, I haven't yet had to use addresses to locate my ancestors. Plus hints are now showing up on my Ancestry trees!

Really Brief Bite-Sized Bios From WikiTree Connect-A-Thon

During the weekend of April 21-24, I was one of 749 people who participated in the WikiTree Connect-A-Thon. The goal was to add as many ancestors as possible to WikiTree's free shared family tree, with a minimum of one source and a bit of biographical content. The camaraderie was wonderful and I enjoyed the opportunity to really concentrate on documenting ancestors during a defined time period. This is part of my plan to share family history across multiple platforms.

An amazing 76,995 ancestors total were added to WikiTree during the weekend. I added 107 ancestors, mostly from the paternal side of my family--especially in-laws of in-laws who were not represented at all on WikiTree but now are there.

Given the limited time I could spend on each profile, the bios were brief, more like a teeny nibble than bite-sized ;). It helps that WikiTree automatically weaves together a few facts into a narrative biography, based on what the user inputs on each profile.

The bio in the image above is representative of what I had time to write during a busy weekend of genealogy: This man was born in ___, son of ___ and ___, WWII military service, occupation, name of wife, number of children with her, death. Plus two specific sources, including one with a link to this ancestor's Find a Grave memorial page. WikiTree shows, at a glance, the names of his parents and his wife and sibling.

In the coming weeks, I'll be revisiting the new profiles to flesh them out with better bios and additional sources/links. And of course I'm continuing my bite-sized family history bio projects with posts on other genealogy websites. 

So Many Sites to Memorialize Ancestors

After 25 years of genealogy research, I've learned a lot about my ancestors--and I want to be sure this information isn't lost in the years to come.

For the past few years, I've been writing bite-sized ancestor bios and posting on key genealogy sites. The idea is to share family history more widely, and bios are also possible cousin bait. 

Above, four websites where I've posted the same bio and photo of my paternal grandmother, Henrietta "Yetta" Mahler Burk (1881-1954). 

Clockwise, from top left:

WikiTree is a free collaborative tree site that's growing fast and has the added benefits of sources and (if you wish) DNA connections. I also appreciate the ability to link to profile pages for each parent, each child, each spouse, each sibling. Plus WikiTreers are a friendly bunch!

MyHeritage.com is a subscription site that designates a place on each ancestor profile for a biography. If you want to learn more about how to post a bite-sized bio on MyHeritage, please read my article in the Knowledge Base. Bonus: MyHeritage has many nifty photo tools for enhancing/repairing/colorizing old family photos.

FamilySearch.org came online in 1999 and is the world's largest free collaborative tree site. Grandma Henrietta is well represented with photo, bio, research. A great site, and I'm glad that MyHeritage includes FamilySearch tree results when I research my ancestors.

Find a Grave, now owned by Ancestry, is another free place to post ancestor bios. I especially like that the 226 million+ memorial pages from this site are indexed and appear in search results on Ancestry, Family Search, Fold3, and more. 

Reader Diane asks whether I'm going to use Ancestry's new Storymaker Studio or MyHeritage's DeepStory for telling ancestors' stories. I tried DeepStory, and found it engaging but I do need more experimentation to refine the story and choose the right ancestor photo. It would intrigue the younger generation, but it can't be put on the bookshelf like a photobook, ready at any time for any audience. So far, I haven't yet tried Storymaker Studio but it's on my list to investigate this year.

PLUS: On Ancestry, there is a convenient space under "LifeStory" to type or paste in a full bio! I just did that for Henrietta Mahler Burk, as shown above. Another great way to share family history in narrative form.

Happy 142d birthday, Grandma Yetta, on May 9th. Your name, face, and life story are not forgotten! I'm currently creating a professional photobook about you and Grandpa Isaac, as a keepsake for your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Bird-Brain Pets in Family History

Living in a New York City apartment, my parents felt we had no space or time for four-legged pets. But we did have a parakeet, always blue, always a boy! 

Directly above, Maxie, sitting on the shoulder of "Aunt" Lee Wallace, the life partner of my Auntie Dorothy Schwartz.

At top of post, you can see Tyrone, another parakeet pet, sitting on "Sha," the favorite doll of my niece. That niece, now grown up with a family of her own, has two big dogs she dearly loves.

Back in the day, my sisters and I got a kick out of our bird-brain pets, teaching them to speak intelligent phrases like "Stupid birdie." 

"Pets" is the week 18 prompt from Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy challenge, #52Ancestors.