Wordless Wednesday: What Happened to Cousin Phoebe

What a surprise to see the 1919 death of hubby's 2d cousin, 3x removed, announced in Indiana with this headline.

The obit continues below: "When her body was discovered yesterday, the crocheting thread was around her fingers and it was evident that she was just about to take another stitch when fatally stricken."

RIP, Phoebe Antoinette McKibbin Herrold, daughter of Harriet Larimer, hubby's 1st cousin 4x removed, part of the Larimer line we've been tracing.

Tuesday's Tip: Keep Black-and-White Negatives Separate from Color--Or Else

For decades, my family believed in a "one envelope" policy for dozens of large-format 1950s/1960s negatives from both black-and-white and color photos. Bad idea. Now I know, too late, that it's better to separate b/w from color negatives.

How did I find out, the hard way? I recently brought all the negatives to a professional photo firm to have contact sheets made. The idea was to see who and what are in the photos.

When I picked up the contact sheets today, the experts told me the chemical reaction between the color and b/w negatives had caused the color negatives to go nearly blank. Their advice: Store the color negatives separately from the b/w negatives to avoid further deterioration. Done.

Meanwhile, the experts printed all the b/w negatives on contact sheets. I scanned the photos from the contact sheets, and now I can print any photos I please.

The two photos above were taken just a week or two after my sister and I were born. Who's who? Who knows. But the bench supporting the twin at left is part of my parents' mahogany bedroom suite, which remains a treasured family heirloom to this day. 

Sentimental Sunday: In Memory of Moms on Mom's Day

 On Mother's Day, I'm posting to honor the memory of my Mom (Daisy Schwartz), and my husband's Mom (Marian McClure), with much love.

Ancestor Landing Pages Draw Visitors

Ancestor landing pages: How many visits as of today?

Ancestor landing pages were new to my genealogy blog as of January, 2013. Over the past two years, I've posted additional family landing pages, a Mayflower ancestor page, a mystery photo page, and pages to summarize my posts in the Genealogy Do-Over and 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

The goal is to attract visitors who are researching certain family names or members and make it easy for them to know what I know about the family trees I'm researching, with links to individual posts about particular people.

As of today, the most visited ancestor landing page here is "Schwartz family from Ungvar (608 visits)." The least visited page is the newest, "Rachel & Jonah Jacobs" (60 visits in just a couple of weeks).

Looking forward to more visits, more posts, and more cousin connections in 2015!

Sentimental Sunday: The Christmas Eve Wedding of Great-uncle Alex Farkas and Jennie Katz

On Sunday, December 24, 1916, Jennie Katz (daughter of Elias Katz and Sarah Lindenbaum Katz) married my great-uncle Alex (Sandor) Farkas (oldest son of Moritz Farkas and Lena Kunstler Farkas). Below is the transcribed record from their marriage license, clipped from Family Search. That's how I know Jennie's parents' names and her birthplace of Malomfalva, which is now in Romania but when Jennie was born, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Alex and Jennie met through the Kossuth Society in New York, where Alex was one of the founders. Alex was in the garment trade and Jennie was a dressmaker who could copy any fashion after seeing it once. Their wedding was quite an event, judging by the above photo. The bride and groom, both about 30 at the time, are at center.

Alex's sister Minnie (hi Grandma!) was the first of his siblings to marry, in 1911. Minnie married Ted Schwartz (hi Grandpa!), who's next to her in this photo, and their 4-year-old son Fred (hi Uncle!) is also in this photo.

Although the people are numbered on the photo for identification purposes, the list of names has been lost over time. All but one of Alex's 10 siblings are here, identified by my cousins. Younger brother Albert Farkas (born May 5, 1888) was in Vancouver at the time and doesn't appear in the photo.

Great-aunt Jennie Katz Farkas died on May 1, 1974, outliving her husband Alex by 26 years. He died on January 18, 1948.

Remembering these Farkas ancestors on Sentimental Sunday.

Sorting Saturday: Mom's Workbasket

On Sorting Saturday, I'm sorting memorabilia that reminds me of the needlework talents of my mother (Daisy Burk) and grandmother (Minnie Farkas Schwartz). Both were ace crocheters. Mom taught me and my two sisters to crochet when we each turned five, and from then on, we were--well, hooked [pun intended].

Mom embroidered and did needlepoint. Grandma used her treadle sewing machine to stitch up clothes; she also embroidered and crocheted with the tiniest hooks. Their needlework creations are being passed down in the family as treasured heirlooms, along with stories.

For about 10 years, my mother subscribed to The Workbasket, a needlecraft magazine filled with patterns. She saved a number of issues, including this one, and one even has a yarn bookmark in the place where she was following a pattern to crochet a baby sweater.

Remembering Li'l Sis

Remembering my younger sister Harriet today, with love.

She was pretty and witty, not to mention being passionate about social justice. She fought like a tiger for what she believed was right!

Miss you, li'l sis.