Mid-Year Progress on 2023 Genealogy Priorities

 

Here we are, halfway through 2023! Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun prompt is to write an update on the status of our goals and priorities for the year.

At the start of my 25th year as family historian, I said my priorities would be: 

• Continue writing bite-sized ancestor bios - I'm slowly but steadily writing and posting more bios, mainly short ones, on multiple genealogy platforms. When I come across an ancestor or ancestor-in-law without a FindaGrave memorial, I jot a memo to create one, as I did for my husband's 1c1r Edward Sherman Lower and his wife, Jeanette Jenkins Lower. NOTE: I don't mention living people in bios, for privacy reasons.
• Research ancestors and FAN club members of particular interest - Yes, moving ahead with this especially in-laws. Just this week I went down the rabbit hole researching the cousins of my hubby's 2c3r Elfie Asenath Mosse. Fascinating family background--collecting colorful stories that I know will engage the next generation.
• Genealogy presentations - It was a busy first half for presentations, including my new Fold3 program, which I presented six times. The most-requested talk remains Planning A Future for Your Family's Past, which I'll be giving again in September for the folks at WHAGS (West Houston Area Genealogy Society).
• Genealogy education - I've watched a ton of informative webinars so far in 2023, including live talks hosted by various genealogy clubs. TY to the many thoughtful presenters who provide detailed handouts, which guide me in applying what I've learned even weeks after the talk. 
• Resume moving photos into archival photo albums - um, no progress yet but my Sis will be helping me in coming months. For now, old family photos are stored safely in archival boxes.

A top priority I didn't even have at the start of 2023 is to create professional photo books of specific ancestors, families, and/or events. Early this year, a young relative asked about our family's participation during World War II. Oh yes, I know a lot about that topic and created a small (6 inch x 6 inch) photo book filled with photos and stories. Currently, I'm creating my fourth photo book of the year, the longest book because I knew these ancestors personally and have lots of photos and anecdotes. 

More family history photo books to come and more genealogical adventures to come, including my second WikiTree Connect-A-Thon of 2023, beginning on July 14th. 

Book Review: "Yours Truly"

 

Journalist and professional obit writer James R. Hagerty has read and written a lot of obits. In Yours Truly, he explains why and how each of us should write our own story, sooner rather than later. As Hagerty says in his intro:

"Someday the story of your life will be written. The only question is how well or how badly it will be written--what sort of picture it will leave behind for friends and family members, including those not yet born."

Every family historian who's ever researched an ancestor will appreciate the significance (even the thrill!) of discovering an obit in a newspaper or, these days, on a website. The best obits, in Hagerty's view, reveal more than just bare facts, giving a glimpse of the person's personality, attitudes, ambitions, struggles, dreams, accomplishments, and disappointments.

Yours Truly is a concise and engaging how-to book, an encouraging road map for writing a life story (whether in print or recorded). Chapter 6 includes specific questions to answer, including earliest memories, the best and worst periods of our lives, and more. "In life stories, generic will never do," Hagerty advises, because it's the details and quirks that give a real sense of the person. 

Chapter 17 covers sensitive issues about honesty, with the caveat: "When you write a life story you don't have to give away all your secrets or resurrect all your family feuds." Still, the author suggests acknowledging some of our shortcomings or at least admitting when our plans didn't work out as we'd hoped.

Be sure to include historical context, such as what was happening on the day of your birth, and verify oral history, says Hagerty. His own research showed that the day he was born was cool and rainy, even though his mother remembered it as a hot summer day.

In the end, there are a variety of reasons to take the time to tell our life story, Hagerty says: "It's a way to acknowledge your failures, explain a few things your friends and family could never understand, celebrate whatever good fortune you've had, and thank those who gave you a hand or a smile when you needed it."

Yours Truly is punctuated with dozens of readable, fascinating life stories that are anything but dry and generic, whether about someone famous or an ordinary person. Readers learn how to bring life to a life story, showing a bit about what makes each person tick, with touches of vivid imagery or an unexpected last-minute twist we never see coming. 

I enthusiastically recommend James R. Hagerty's book for ideas and motivation as we document the lives of our ancestors and tell the stories of our own lives.

Want to see the author interviewed about Yours Truly? Enjoy this YouTube interview conducted by Malaprop's Book store.

Ancestors Born on the 4th of July

My husband and I both have ancestors who were born on July 4th, Independence Day. I'm celebrating them with this penny postal greeting card sent to the Wood family 116 years ago.

In hubby's family tree, Thomas Jefferson Isaiah Haskell Wood was born on July 4, 1848 in Plaquemine, Iberville, Louisiana. He was the second of 17 children born to my husband's great-grandparents, Thomas Haskell Wood and Mary Amanda Demarest. Unfortunately, according to the Wood family bible, this young man drowned in 1861, at the age of 12, while the family was living in what is now Huntington, West Virginia. 

In my family tree, great uncle Samuel Schwartz was born on July 4, 1883, in Ungvar, Hungary, which is now Uzhhorod, Ukraine. His younger brother, my grandpa Theodore, was the first to leave for America. Sam followed in his footsteps three years later, in 1904. While researching his life, I was surprised that Sam returned home to Hungary 25 years after he left, to attend the wedding of his niece, Leni Winkler, who married Jeno "Eugene" Preisz (Price). Happy to know that Sam saw their family in person, since grandpa was never able to return to Hungary.

Happy Independence Day 2023!

Happy Canada Day! 1931 Census Shows Cousin Rose's Maiden Name Too

Happy Canada Day! Now that Ancestry has done an incredible job of quickly indexing the 1931 Canadian Census, I'm having fun finding records for the ancestors who lived there. As always, I compare Census info with what I already know, as a double-check on accuracy.

My 1c1r, Rose Berk (1904-1994), was the oldest child of my great-uncle Abraham Berk (1877-1962) and his wife, Anna Horwich Berk (1880?-1948).

Rose married Abraham Marks (originally Marcovitz) in Montreal on December 20, 1925, as shown at top in this excerpt from the Drouin Collection. The groom was born in Romania, bride born in England, and those birthplaces match other records I've found for them both.

When I researched Rose and Abraham in Montreal in the 1931 Canadian Census, I was surprised to see Rose's maiden name shown as her middle name! Not spelled as it was in her family (Berk was the usual spelling prior to marriage) but clearly recognizable.

However, as circled in red above, I also discovered an inaccuracy. According to this Census, Rose's father was born in England. Nope. Her father, Abraham Berk, was most definitely born in Gargzdai, Lithuania, along with all of his siblings (including my paternal grandfather, Isaac Burk--yes, he spelled his surname differently from his siblings). Yet Rose and her mother were, in fact, born in England, as noted by the enumerator.

Reading Ken McKinlay's decoding of the abbreviations shown next to parents' birthplaces, I see Rose's parents are coded as BB = father and mother born as British subjects. Nope. If Rose's father had been correctly listed as born in Lithuania or Russia, the coding should have been FB = father born in foreign country, mother born as a British subject. But as shown, the coding corresponds to what the enumerator was apparently told--both parents born in England, even though not true.

An interesting twist: Because Rose's maiden name is shown in this Census, I believe she was most likely the one to answer questions on behalf of the family. Either she didn't understand the question about father's birthplace or she misinterpreted the question to be about citizenship. This inaccuracy is why I like to compare Census answers to what I've already confirmed from other documentation.

Checking Page Two--Twice--for Great Uncle Albert

My great uncle Albert Farkas (1888-1956) died on this date, 67 years ago. I'm focusing on my Farkas ancestors as part of my series of family history photo books.

Albert and his wife, Sari Klein Farkas (1901-1982) often entertained dozens of Farkas relatives for big holidays, according to meeting minutes from the Farkas family tree association, 1933-on. Albert didn't marry Sari until he was in his early 30s, and I know from descendants that they were warm-hearted, generous people who put family first. 

Before Albert met Sari, he served in the U.S. Army during World War I. Two of Albert's military documents had significant info on the first and the second pages. Of course, not all info on every document is indexed, another reason to check page two (and beyond if a document has a page 3 or even more pages). One click beyond page 1 and I had even more of his story!

WWI Draft Registration - 2 pages

At top, page 1 of my great uncle's WWI draft registration paperwork. Relatives told me Albert was trying to establish a business in Canada in the 1910s. On this page, Albert says he's a manufacturer, living at the Rainier Grand Hotel in Seattle, Washington. 

Also he says he was naturalized on his father's naturalization. Interestingly, the town of birth is not listed, only Hungary as country of birth. 

On page 2 is the reason why Albert did not register when he was required to do so: "Was in Canada on June 5th, 1917 and arrived in Seattle this date" [meaning Jan 19, 1918, date of his registration]. I'm pretty sure he was aware of the legal requirement to register, just dragged his feet. And of course once registered...

WWI Abstract of Service - 2 pages 

Albert was inducted into the U.S. Army on Aug 26, 1918, as shown on page 1 of his Abstract of Service (U.S. Adjutant General's Office). Also shown on page 1 was his correct birth town (NagyBereg, Hungary).

This first page shows how Albert was moved from a Depot Brigade to Camp Gordon, GA, then to Company A, 329th Infantry on Dec 5, 1918. But since this page shows he was overseas from Oct 1918-May 1919, there must be more to the story. 

And there is more, on page 2, where I see he was placed in Company G of the 310th Infantry until his discharge.

Thinking of you, great uncle Albert, gone but definitely not forgotten.