Posting Bite-Sized Bios For Canada Day

In honor of Canada Day on July 1, I'm focusing on my husband's great uncles who rose from grinding poverty in London's notorious Whitechapel district to become career military men and renowned bandmasters in Canada. 

• Albert William Slatter (1862-1935) - Bandmaster of the 7th London Fusiliers in Ontario, Canada. See bite-sized bio on his FindaGrave memorial here.
• John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954) - Bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders of Toronto, Canada, who popularized the Kiltie Band craze at the turn of the 20th century. Bite-sized bio on FindaGrave here.
• Henry Arthur Slatter (1866-1942) - Bandmaster of the 72d Seaforth Highlanders in Vancouver, Canada. Bio on his FindaGrave memorial here.

Currently, I'm widening my reach to post brief bios of each man on multiple sites. This week, I'm adding bios of Albert William Slatter and Henry Arthur Slatter to WikiTree, Fold3, and MyHeritage. 

All three of my husband's Slatter great uncles served Canada with distinction. I want to help keep their memories alive for future generations, not just within the family but far beyond.

My 2022 Genealogy Paper Chase

Here we are, halfway through 2022, and already it's been quite a year for family history! 

Thanks to the big Census releases, my genealogy paper chase has been extremely productive in the first half of this year. 

In fact, I'm making good progress on all my projects and plans:

• Find ancestors and the FAN club in the 1950 US Census (results: yay, lots and lots of info and really interesting clues).
• Look for hubby's ancestors in the 1921 Census of England (results: found some, will look for a couple more).
• Write and post bite-sized bios for aunts, uncles, and great-grandparents on genealogy websites (results: some completed, a few in draft stage)
• Reorganize family photos into archival albums (results: hundreds of 20th century snapshots reorganized, but oldest photos and negatives still to be reorganized--a big project to accomplished in small chunks). 
• Follow up on genealogy clues from Burk/Birk branch of my father's side and Schwartz/Winkler/Preisz branch of my mother's side (results: yay, made new cousin connections!).
• Continue making presentations on genealogy topics (results: talks scheduled July through autumn of this year).

Next steps

One top priority is to write more bite-sized bios, with the goal of keeping these ancestors' names alive for future generations. Currently, I'm finalizing details for bios of my hubby's great-grandparents and my great-grandparents (actually just posted hubby's great-grandpa's bio). Even when I know very little about these people, I can still write about milestones in their lives (BMD), number of children and/or siblings, where/when they lived, and the social/historical context of of their lifetimes.

Another priority for the second half of 2022 is reorganizing older photos, captioning, and maybe even writing brief narratives about a few of the series photos. I did this with one of my late dad-in-law's albums chronicling the summer of 1917, when his father drove the family from Cleveland to Chicago in a new 1917 Ford. 

I'll also be testing additional archival photo storage possibilities during the summer, to see which are best suited to the small and odd-shaped old photos and negatives inherited from my late dad-in-law. As I wrote in my book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past, life by the inch is a cinch--life by the yard is hard. I'm stretching out my photo reorganization and taking small steps to keep this project from becoming overwhelming. Digitizing these photos is only part of the process. It's just as important to keep the originals safe for decades to come.

Paper chase in my future

I'm still busy following the paper trail to trace more of my Eastern European ancestors. DNA has less helpful than I'd hoped. Yet there are documents and family tree clues about a few branches that came to America, some around the time of World War I and some after World War II.

In recent months, I found a couple of distant cousins I never knew about. Together, we're pooling information and coordinating research to try to connect with more descendants while documenting those who came before. 

The second half of 2022 promises to be as productive as the first half! And of course I'll be blogging about challenges, breakthroughs, techniques, issues, and more. More than 13 years of genealogy blogging, with more to come.

Never Give Up! My Great Aunt Nellie Breakthrough

My heart holds a special place for ancestors who had no descendants. I try to research and memorialize them so their names and lives aren't forgotten.

This is the case with my paternal great aunt Nellie Block, born in Gargzdai, Lithuania (?-1950). She was the oldest sister of my grandfather Isaac Burk (1882-1943). It wasn't until I connected with second cousins a few years ago that I could even put a name to the face I found in my parents' wedding album and elsewhere. 

Cousins said they remember great aunt Nellie as kind and attentive, someone who enjoyed family gatherings. In the photo above, she is the elegantly-attired lady in lace, standing between a younger brother on one side and a younger sister on the other.  

Single or widowed?

For a long time, I thought Nellie was a maiden aunt. More than a decade of research had only turned up a Census where she was recorded as S (single). In fact, she wasn't coming up in my repeated searches of US Census documents from 1920, 1930, and 1940, even when I searched on multiple sites (because each indexes the Census in its own way).

A couple of years ago, I was able to obtain Nellie's death certificate. The informant was her brother, who said Nellie was widowed. That was news.

In April of this year, I found Nellie enumerated in the 1950 US Census, where she was shown as...widowed! Two sources said she was widowed. Hmm.

Curiously, Nellie Block's 1950 US Census entry and her death cert both refer to her surname as Block, with no married name ever mentioned. Even in the 1930s, when an English cousin invited Nellie to a wedding, she addressed the invite to "Nellie Block." 

But searching for years, I found no indication of any marriage. 

My secret weapon

Just the other day, one of my cousins asked about Nellie. We compare notes about brick walls from time to time, and he remembered Nellie as one of mine.

Because of his gentle nudge, I redid my search for Nellie. Lo and behold, up came a record transcription for a 1916 marriage to Samuel Kaplan in Manhattan, NY, in April of 1916, along with the cert number. There are a LOT of Nellie Block marriages in search results, but now I have a secret weapon to dig deeper into Big Apple records.

Since early this year, the New York City Municipal Archives has offered FREE access to digitized vital records from roughly the late 19th century to the Depression era. You should first try to find the cert number, borough, and year, otherwise you'll be browsing till the cows come home.

Because the actual digitized records are free to view, I had nothing to lose by searching for the Block-Kaplan marriage cert. I input the details and up came a pdf. I wanted to view the cert with my own eyes, not rely on the transcribed info.

My Nellie?

Reading the cert, I saw Nellie listed as single, 30 years old, born in Russia, her first marriage. Samuel Kaplan was 38, widowed, a jeweler born in Russia, son of Isaac Kaplan and Sarah Freedman, being married for the second time. 

I never heard of Samuel Kaplan, but it only took a moment to determine this was my Nellie's marriage cert. First, the mother's name was very close to what she said on other documents. Second, the father's name was a family surname I know. 

The clincher was the place where the ceremony took place: 7 East 105th Street in Manhattan. That's the apartment building where Nellie's sister-in-law lived. My Nellie!

Next step

I've just sent $18 to the NYC Municipal Archives to obtain the three documents related to Nellie's wedding: the marriage license application, affidavit executed by bride and groom, and actual marriage license original. You can learn more about how this works via the FAQs here.

Although I may have to wait a few weeks, I'll get lots more info on Nellie and her husband, especially from the affidavit. I hope to trace the life of Samuel Kaplan, who seems to have died before the 1950 US Census was taken.

So never give up! New records become available all the time and database indexing improves all the time. In this case, the bonus secret weapon of free NYC vital records helped me across the finish line for this breakthrough, confirming that my great aunt Nellie Block had, indeed, been married.

Genealogy Blogs: Read, Comment, Repeat!

Recently, blogger Mish Holman posted a poll on Twitter, asking "Do you think people actually read your #Genealogy blog posts?" 

The final results from 83 participants: 

• YES - 50.6%
• NO   - 32.5%
• THEY SAY THEY DO, BUT THEY LIE - 16.9%

I answered yes, people actually do read my blog. How do I know? Because some folks leave comments...and some get in touch via my "contact me" gadget on the blog's home page. Plus site statistics show me the number of views per post and page, another indicator that people are stopping by. 

Why I 💜 blogs 

Personally, I love reading genealogy blogs! Many bloggers post about new developments in the genealogy community...the latest database improvements by big genealogy sites...tricks and tips for technology...using specific resource sites/repositories. I learn a lot from these bloggers, and I leave a comment of thanks now and then. 

Blog entries about personal family history adventures are also fun and informative. Posts about creatively sharing genealogy with the next generation...finding ancestors in the most unexpected places...connecting with a long-lost cousin, all can teach me something. Again, I comment every so often to let the blogger know I've stopped by.

Finding genealogy blogs

One good place to find interesting blogs is at the GeneaBloggers site. You can also see bloggers in action on the Generations Cafe Facebook page where Amy Johnson Crow posts weekly blog prompts. Then there's the Genealogy Blog Party, which has a different theme every month. That's just for starters. 

A few bloggers list their picks for "best of the week" blog posts with links for easy access. To name just two: Linda Stufflebean posts her weekly roundup on Fridays on her blog, and Randy Seaver posts his weekly roundup on his blog. 

Of course, there's not enough time in the day to read every blog or every post, let alone comment every time. Just dip in and out, and have fun.

Finding Dads and Grandfathers in 1950 US Census

 

Happy Father's Day! Researching in the 1950 US Census, I enjoyed finding fathers and grandfathers in my direct line and my husband's direct line.

• My maternal grandfather Teddy Schwartz was living in the Bronx, New York, with my grandma Minnie Farkas Schwartz (given name written incorrectly). The Census correctly shows that Grandpa Teddy ran a small grocery store, working 70 hours per week. My paternal grandpa Isaac Burk was no longer alive.
• My Dad (Harold Burk) and Mom (Daisy Schwartz Burk) were enumerated a few miles away in the Bronx, in their first Census as a married couple. Dad was a travel agent in his own agency, as shown in the Census.
• Hubby's maternal grandfather  Brice L. Wood, by then widowed, was living in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. He was retired ("ot" stands for "other" because he's not working and not looking for work). My husband's paternal grandfather James Edgar Wood was no longer alive.
• Hubby's Dad (Edgar J. Wood) and Mom (Marian McClure Wood) were at home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Ed worked as a claims adjustor for a casualty insurance company, as shown on the questionnaire.

Now I'm remembering these fathers and grandfathers with love on Father's Day 2022. 

One Signature Changed My View of an Immigrant Ancestor

A single signature on a document I purchased this week has changed my view of the immigrant experience of one of my Schwartz ancestors. 

My grandpa Theodore Schwartz was from a large family in Ungvar, Hungary, a region that later was in Czechoslovakia and is now in Ukraine. 

Some documents from this region are available for free from JewishGen.org and Family Search.org, while others documents are available (some free, some at a fee) from the Sub-Carpathia Genealogy website

Grandpa's sister married a Winkler 

A quick recap: Last week, I bought a document from the Sub-Carpathia site that showed me the correct birth year of a 1c1r, Albert Bela "Voytech" Winkler (1912-1993). He was the son of Grandpa's oldest sister Rezi Schwartz and her husband, Moritz Winkler. Very sorry to say, Rezi was killed in the Holocaust--I found her son Albert's Yad Vashem testimony about her death, which led me to do more research. 

Following up on Albert, the birth document I purchased last week gave me sufficient clues to research his refugee status during World War II, find the passenger list showing his arrival, and locate his US naturalization papers. 

Connecting Winkler to Price

When Albert Winkler sailed into New York City in 1948, the passenger list showed a contact in New York City: Price, 182 E. 19th Street, in Brooklyn, New York (see excerpt here). New names I don't know.

Using the 1950 US Census, I discovered who was living at that Brooklyn address. It was Eugene Price, born in Czechoslovakia, and his wife Louise, also born in Czechoslovakia, with their 18-year-old daughter Edith Price, born in Belgium. 

Next, I opened my wallet and paid for another document from Sub-Carpathia, based on what I could see in a transcribed excerpt. The document was about the marriage of Leni Winklerova and Eugene Preisz in August of 1929. I suspected Louise Price's maiden name might be Leni Winkler, and her husband Eugene Price had been Eugene Preisz.

One document with so much significance

Once I received the document, I found the parents' names and the dates match what I already know. This proves the link between the Winkler and Price families, with Leni married to Eugene. 

The document is significant for two more reasons. One, I've found yet another branch of my family tree that survived the Holocaust, emotional in itself. Two, the document revealed a surprise witness to the marriage, a name I never expected to see.

As shown at the top, one of the two witnesses on the marriage document was Samuel Schwartz of New York in "Amerika." Maybe this was my grandpa's brother Samuel Schwartz (1883-1954), who left Hungary in 1904 to come to New York City? 

I compared the signature from the 1929 marriage document with Samuel Schwartz's signature on his own marriage document from 1909. They are nearly identical! My great uncle Samuel was at the wedding in Ungvar in 1929.

Changing my view 

Up till now, I envisioned all of my Schwartz ancestors making a one-way, one-time trip to America, seeking better economic opportunity. This was not a "birds of passage" family, with men leaving home to make money and sailing back to the homeland periodically. My Schwartz ancestors who left Ungvar settled permanently in America, became US citizens, and raised families.

My Grandpa (Theodore Schwartz, 1887-1965) ran a small grocery store in the Bronx, New York. There was little money to spare; everyone in the household worked hard to send two of the three children to college. Based on family documents and cousin recollections, it's highly unlikely Grandpa ever returned to his birthplace. He never again saw his parents or the siblings who stayed behind. His immigrant experience was a one-time trip, one-way to America.

Then I think about Grandpa's older brother, Samuel Schwartz. He also ran a small grocery store in Queens, New York, also put a son through college, became a citizen. Samuel definitely was not a bird of passage.

Yet his signature proves that he did, indeed, visit his hometown of Ungvar. (I've also found his passenger list for the return voyage.)

As a result, I now realize his immigration experience was different from that of my Grandpa. Before this, I never dreamed any Schwartz immigrant ancestors would be able to return to Ungvar after they left. Clearly, Samuel would have seen his mother, siblings, and nieces/nephews at this family wedding in 1929. A joyous reunion, I'm sure.

I'm continuing to trace the Price/Preisz family and also to try to match photo dates to these new documents! More soon.

1950 US Census: 9V Income Code

Did you have an ancestor or friend/associate/neighbor (FAN club) of an ancestor who was chosen to answer the sample questions on the 1950 US Census? I've been paying attention to the income questions, in particular, as I put my ancestors into context.

Above $10k? 

According to the 1950 US Census Enumerator's Training Manual, if someone reported income above $10,000, the answer would be listed as $10,000+ on the population schedule--regardless of how much higher their actual income might have been.

Income answers from the 1950 US Census were coded for data entry and analysis, as were a few other questions (such as birthplaces and occupations).

Decoding the code

As you can see from the code circled in image at top, the income listed was $10,000+. and the code was 9V.

Huh? Turns out, 9V is the code for more than $10,000, as I read on the History Hub page about decoding 1950 US Census answers for Column 31.

In this case, I'm willing to bet that the actual income was far above $10k. Why? Because this is the 1950 US Census entry for Jack Cohn, VP of the film giant Columbia Pictures. One of Jack's nieces married a first cousin of my father. Of course I'm looking at the answers given by these and other in-laws in the 1950 US Census 😉

1950 US Census Offers Sad Clue to John's Life

My late father-in-law, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986) was the oldest of four boys born to James Edgar Wood (1871-1939) and Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). After Ed came Wally, John, and Ted. I have family stories and research about Wally and Ted, but not much about John Arthur Wood (1908-1980).

Who remembers Uncle John?

My husband remembers his Uncle Wally and Uncle Ted coming to holiday dinners, but not Uncle John. Yet there was definitely contact over the years, because John and his wife Marguerite were mentioned several times in my father-in-law's diaries (written 1958-1986). 

Still, I had little to go on when trying to research this man. Then last year, my sister-in-law mentioned John might have been married twice. Her memory led me to confirming that he did have a first wife. 

John was just 20 in 1928 when he married Elsie Harder, who was 23. According to the news account of their wedding, John was working for Grasselli Chemical Company, which was soon merged into the chemical giant E.I. du Pont. (John remained with du Pont for his entire professional life.)

Through WWII draft card info and city directories, I can trace John Wood and his first wife, Elsie, up to 1945, when they're living together in Hammond, Indiana. 

New info from 1950

Now the 1950 US Census has given me a new clue about John and Elsie's married life. As shown in the image at top, Elsie was enumerated as a patient in Longcliff Logansport State Mental Hospital in Logansport, Indiana. This was unexpected and sad.

Of course medical records are sealed, so I don't know exactly why Elsie was in the hospital. When she passed away in 1960, her death cert said she was divorced and died of a cerebral hemorrhage, having had cerebral arteriosclerosis for some years. I wonder whether her health problems were part of the reason she and John divorced?

In April of 1951, John married Marguerite Goodin (1918-1988). She's in the 1950 US Census, enumerated as divorced, and working as a telephone operator in East Chicago, Indiana. When John had heart problems and died in 1980, Marguerite was the one who kept my father-in-law informed, according to the diaries. 

Where was John Wood in 1950?

One possibility is in Cleveland, Ohio, the city of his birth, living in a two-family home. It's not easy to tell one "John Wood" from another when the Census enumerator only notes that this John Wood is separated (probably correct), born in Ohio (correct), and is 43 years old (close enough). No occupation, no industry. Not a strong possibility, but maybe.

A better possibility is in East Chicago, Indiana (the same city where his soon-to-be second wife was living). This man was enumerated as "John Woods," a roomer, married (correct), 44 years old (about right), born in Ohio (correct), with occupation "engineer, planning and schedule, chemical lab" (close).  

I've put both of these Census records on John's family-tree profile until I can sort them out.