Family History Month: TUVWXYZ Surnames

Edward Wirtschafter, Mary Schwartz Wirtschafter (front left), and her friend

In this last of 5 posts listing surnames being researched, I'm highlighting T-Z names in hubby's McClure/Wood tree and my Farkas/Schwartz (maternal line) and Mahler/Burk (paternal line) trees.

McClure/Wood tree:

• T is for Taber
• T is for Traxler
• V is for Van Roe
• V is for Velpel
• W is for Welburn
• W is for Wilt
• W is for Wood
• W is for Work
• W is for Wrona
• Z is for Zollinger

Farkas/Schwartz tree:

• W is for Weinberger
• W is for Weiss/Weisz
• W is for Wirtschafter

Mahler/Burk tree:

• V is for Venezky
• V is for Vinokur
• V is for Volk
• W is for Whitelaw
• W is for Wilner/Willner
• W is for Wolf

Family History Month: NOPQRS Surnames

Four Steiner sisters in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, late 1930s

This is my next-to-last post with alphabetical surnames being researched on hubby's McClure/Wood tree and my maternal tree (Farkas/Schwartz) and paternal tree (Mahler/Burk).

McClure/Wood tree:

• N is for Nitchie
• O is for O'Gallagher (possibly Gallagher)
• P is for Peabody
• P is for Piper
• P is for Post
• P is for Priest (as in Degory)
• R is for Rhuark
• R is for Rinehart
• R is for Rozelle
• S is for Shank
• S is for Shehen
• S is for Short
• S is for Slatter
• S is for Simmons
• S is for Smith
• S is for Steiner

Mahler/Burk tree:

• N is for Nemensinsky
• O is for Ohayon
• P is for Paris (or Peris)
• P for Pompionsky
• R is for Roth
• S is for Sacks/Sachs
• S is for Salkowitz
• S is for Schlanger
• S is for Schwartz
• S is for Segal
• S is for Shuham
• S is for Siegel/Siegal
• S is for Sobel

Farkas/Schwartz

• R is for Rethy
• R is for Roth
• S is for Schwartz
• S is for Simonowitz
• S is for Steinberger/Stanbury

Family History Month: IJKLM Surnames

Meyer Mahler, Tillie Jacobs Mahler, and their children

Now for the middle batch of the ABCs of surnames, beginning with I and ending with M. Above, an important M family on my tree: The Mahler family.

McClure/Wood tree:

• J is for Johnson
• K is for Kenny
• K is for Kirby
• L is for Larimer
• L is for Larkworthy
• L is for Le Gallais
• L is for Lervis
• L is for Lower
• M is for McClure
• M is for McKibbin/McKibben
• M is for Murray

Mahler/Burk tree:

• J is for Jacob
• K is for Kodritck
• L is for Lang
• L is for Lawrence
• L is for Leboff
• L is for Lebowitz
• L is for Levin
• L is for Luria
• M is for Mahler
• M is for Markell
• M is for Mikalovsky
• M is for Mitav

Farkas/Schwartz tree:

• K is for Katz
• K is for Keidansky
• K is for Klein
• K is for Kunstler
• L is for Levy
• L is for Lewis
• L is for Lipson
• M is for Mandel
• M is for Markovitz
• M is for Moscovitz

Family History Month: DEFGH Surnames

Lucille Ethel McClure de Velde with her husband, John Everett de Velde, and her mother, Margaret Jane Larimer McClure, before 1913

Today, more alphabetical surnames from three family trees I'm researching. These are D through H on each tree. Three more posts to go in the coming days as I complete the ABC surname meme.

McClure/Wood tree:

• D is for de Velde
• D is for Demarest
• D is for Denning
• D is for Devore
• E is for Eagle
• E is for Everitt
• F is for Forde
• F is for Fowler
• F is for Freeland
• G is for Grassley
• G is for Gregg
• H is for Haggarty/Haggerty
• H is for Haglind
• H is for Halbedel
• H is for Hathaway
• H is for Heemsoth
• H is for Herrold
• H is for Hilborn
• H is for Hopperton
• H is for Humrickhouse

Mahler/Burk tree:

• E is for Epstein
• E is for Etschel
• G is for Gaffin
• G is for Gennis
• G is for Goldfarb
• G is for Goodfield
• H is for Harris
• H is for Horwich

Farkas/Schwartz tree:

• E is for Ezrati
• F is for Farber
• F is for Farkas
• G is for Gelbman
• G is for Girson
• G is for Gutfried
• H is for Hurwitch/Hurwitz/Horwich

Family History Month: ABC Surnames

Nellie Block (middle), Jennie Birk Salkowitz (right), and a brother (which one?)

Over at Olive Tree Genealogy, Lorine McGinnis Schultze has adapted the ABC surname meme and I'm following her lead with the ABC surnames (spouses included) of hubby's McClure/Wood tree and my Mahler/Burk and Farkas/Schwartz trees. Four more alphabetical listings in the days to come!

McClure/Wood ABC surnames:

• A is for Adams
• A is for Allen
• A is for Allerton
• A is for Auld
• A is for Austin
• B is for Baker
• B is for Bentley
• B is for Bradford
• B is for Brown 
• C is for Caldwell
• C is for Carsten
• C is for Cloud
• C is for Coble
• C is for Cook
• C is for Coombs
• C is for Cornwell
• C is for Cragg
• C is for Curtis
• C is for Cushman

Mahler/Burk ABC surnames:

• A is for Ash
• B is for Berg/Berk/Birk/Burk/Burke/Block/Bloch
• B is for Berkman
• B is for Blauman
• B is for Bourstein
• B is for Burack
• C is for Caplan
• C is for Casson
• C is for Chazan
• C is for Cherry
• C is for Claman
• C is for Cohn

Farkas/Schwartz ABC surnames:

• A is for Adelman
• A is for Agata
• C is for Cohen

Family History Month: Three Belles in the Bronx

Until I wrote this blog post, I didn't know what to call the technique used in this reverse-glass-painted picture that graced the walls of my childhood bedroom for so long.

This appears to be a modern form of tinsel painting, a 19th-century folk art where people or objects are painted in reverse on glass, then embossed foils from cigar boxes or tea packages are placed behind the glass to add dimension and texture.

Sis and I remember that our parents knew the person who painted this mid-20th-century piece, which features three graceful Southern Belles. Her memory is that the guy was a dentist whose hobby was tinsel painting, and many people saved beautiful foil for him.

Maybe the painter didn't know it would be displayed in the bedroom of three little girls growing up in the Bronx, New York?

The photo above doesn't do justice to this heirloom. Each area of the glass has a different embossed foil behind it. The fashion details are painted just as carefully as the delicate facial features. Now these belles are being passed down to the next generation, along with the family story.

Family History Month: Ancestor Landing Pages as Cousin Bait

Yes, ancestor landing pages really work as cousin bait--attracting people (often real relatives!) whose online search for a particular surname brings them to my blog pages.

To see what I mean, you can click on one or two of the landing pages across the top of this blog page, the tabs with titles like "Wm Tyler Bentley's story" and "Abraham & Annie Berk's story." 

I first put up ancestor landing pages in January, 2013, after reading about the idea on Caroline Pointer's blog.

I use these to summarize what I know about each surname or family in the various family trees that I'm researching. I include not only photos and sometimes documents, but also links to specific blog posts about that person or family.

Six months after first setting up these landing pages, I had views but no cousin connections. In the nearly five years since I first posted these pages, I've gotten thousands of views and have actually connected with a number of cousins as well!

So if you have a blog or are thinking about creating one, consider landing pages or a similar mechanism. As you can see from the current statistics in the table at top, people keep clicking on my pages. Most aren't related to my ancestors or my husband's ancestors, but the few who are related (or researching a particular name) know how to get in touch via my blog now.

By the way, the McClure family from Donegal is by far my most popular landing page. Second-most popular is the page I created with free sample forms and templates from my genealogy book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.