:: C R E A T I V E G E N E ::

Polish Vital Records Online, Coming Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:26:00 PST

Well here's an update to my previous post that I wasn't expecting to be posting this soon. Check it out. Good news indeed!

From the National Digital Archives of Poland website:

In the first half of 2013, we plan to publish more than 2.3 million scans in two rounds - in March and June. The attached list archives, which are derived from the digitized resource materials, together with the number and name of the team. Due to the still ongoing cleanup of the whole immense material, we can not at this stage provide specific signatures. We reserve the right to minor adjustments of these statements. Any changes will be announced on our website.

(translation provided by Google Translate)

Unfortunately for me, none of my ancestral parishes are on this list. However, I am very excited to see that the process of digitizing the vital records of Poland is well underway and the first batch of records should be viewable online in just a few weeks! Yay!

**Hat tip to my friend Valerie who shared this info on her FB page this morning!

Polish Vital Records and My Family History

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 08:43:35 PST

A couple weeks ago I read the following excerpt in the PGSA Notebook (Newsletter from the Polish Genealogical Society of America, January 2013).

RI-Poland and Polish State Archives Plan New Agreement

Jewish Records Indexing - Poland (JRI-P) and the Polish State Archives (PSA) plan to sign an agreement that will define future cooperation between the two groups. It includes:

Access to data that will allow JRI-P to index all vital records that are more than 100-years old which have been transferred to PSA branches in the last six years

During the next four to five years, PSA will digitize all vital records (Jewish and non-Jewish) and make them available on the PSA National Digital Archives (NDA) or Regional Archives website. There will be no charge for directly accessing the records.

As these records are added to the PSA site, JRI-P will be provided with the information necessary to enable it to link its search results to digital images of Jewish records. JRI-P currently has 4.5 million records indexed. This will be done by volunteers or paid professionals. Currently the one town that is complete is Gora Kalwaria.

JRI-Poland will re-launch its Order Processing System that operated from 2003 to 2006, which simplified the process of getting copies of records from PSA. During that period, JRI-P had a shopping cart system where clicking on a button next to one of their index entries would create an order to the PSA to provide a copy of the record. This system will phase out as digitized records become available online but the total project will take a good number of years.

The indexing/linking of the records is a massive project that will include towns in Poland and the former Galician towns that were part of Poland between the wars. Donations are being accepted at http://www.jri-poland.org. Click on "support/donations" toward the top of the page.
From Nu?What's New? - Vol. 13, No. 52 - December 30, 2012

Upon reading this I said to myself, "Self, this is the best news we've heard in a long time!" I was particularly excited about the second bullet point... During the next four to five years, PSA will digitize all vital records (Jewish and non-Jewish) and make them available on the PSA National Digital Archives (NDA) or Regional Archives website. The will be no charge for directly accessing the records.

My heart rate accelerated a bit on learning about this project and I had to remind myself not to get too excited about it yet. After all, this is an agreement yet to be signed by the parties involved. But still, it holds such promise!

I've tried to be patient in waiting for FamilySearch.org to get the vital records for my ancestral villages in Poland uploaded. I've checked their list of indexing projects from time to time in hopes of helping out the cause. But FamilySearch.org is trying to get records uploaded for, well, a gazillion villages in hundreds of countries. It will be a while before they get around to mine. Some baptismal indexes for two of my ancestral villages are available but I have no idea when the actual images for those indexes will be made available online. If they ever are. There are no marriage or death records available online for those two ancestral villages. And it's anyone's guess when the images for my other ancestral villages will be made available. Patience, I tell myself. Patience.

Now it appears there may be another source option for online Polish vital records in the future. That's a really nice thought!

I've been toying around with the idea of writing a family history for a least one branch of my family this year. I'm basically done with my research (have been for a while) except for a few names here and there that I need to search for in neighboring villages. I wonder if I should just put a hold on that idea for another 4-5 years and see what becomes available online. Or am I just procrastinating? Perhaps the thing to do is write a history now and add an addendum when I'm able to fill in the few missing names and dates. Decision, decisions. I'm glad I have found as many of my ancestors as I have but at the same time I miss the days of research, discovery, and happy dancing.

Can I possibly think of enough things to say about my family history research to keep this blog going for another 4-5 years? Doubtful. Hmmm.

[[ Update: The agreement I referenced above was officially signed on February 15, 2013. ]]

Carnival of Genealogy, 123rd Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 04:00:02 PST

Welcome to the November 4th, 2012 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic of today's edition is: birthday party! November is the month of my birth and I thought it would be a good time to visit the topic of birthday celebrations and perhaps honor family members born in the month of November. Please join us in this birthday celebration with a nice slice of cake and a glass of champagne! Sto Lat to all!

Pauleen presents 123rd Carnival of Genealogy: Birthday Parties posted at Family history across the seas.

Nancy Messier presents Nine Turning Ten posted at My Ancestors and Me, saying, "Every 9-year-old girl looks forward to her next birthday. Read what happened on mine."

Jasia presents Birthday Party Memories posted at Creative Gene. "I'm remembering the birthday parties of my childhood with great fondness."

Joan Hill presents 123rd COG: A Magical Birthday posted at Roots'n'Leaves, saying, "Autumn is a beautiful time of the year for a birthday -- and I want to share a most magical birthday experience."

Dorene Paul presents The "Birthday Four" posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, saying, "Dorene from Ohio's great great grandfathers shared a birthday with two other friends, and they celebrated together for many years."

Carol presents 123rd Carnival of Genealogy :: Gonna Have a Birthday Party posted at Reflections From the Fence, saying, "Let's just cut to the chase: Happy Birthday Jasia!"

Cheryl Schulte presents, My Tenth Birthday posted at Two Sides of the Ocean, saying, "A 10th birthday party in Pomerania remembered many years later."

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. I hope you enjoyed the birthday party! And thank you all for the lovely birthday wishes!!!

The Carnival of Genealogy is going on hiatus for a while. If you'd like to access previous editions of the COG you can do so here. Thank you to all the participants and devoted readers of the COG. You are the best!

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Technorati tags: carnival of genealogy, blog carnival.

Birthday Party Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 08:40:38 PDT

When I think back to the birthdays of my youth I remember only two birthday parties where friends were invited. The first party was held when I was 6 years old. The bottom two photos on my scrapbook page were taken at that party. The friends were all girls from the neighborhood and from my first grade class. I remember feeling really special that day because my mom bought me a little crown to wear at the party and everybody else got regular old cone hats. You can see my little crown better in the picture on the right.

Do you see the girl with blonde hair to my right in the photo on the bottom left? Her name was Mary Furman. She used to live two doors down from us. Her mother died and she and her father and sister moved away when I was in the second grade. I still think of her from time to time and wonder if we were related. I didn't know it at the time but my great grandmother's surname was Furman, Karolina Furman. Furman is a common surname so it's not likely that we were related, but still I wonder...

The second friends-only birthday party I remember was a surprise party thrown for me by my best friend Valerie for my 15th birthday. It was held in the basement of her home and all of my close friends were there. It was a sleepover party and we all had a great time. I even got a kiss (on the cheek) from Val's older brother who at the time all of us girls thought was super hunky. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from that party. It was fun though!

The rest of the years of my youth my family remembered my birthday with a birthday cake and gifts. It was always just a small after-dinner affair. On occasion my Aunt Ceily or Helen and George joined us. That made it feel a little more special. We lived in a small house with no dining room and the basement wasn't finished back then. Dinners with company presented a real challenge for my mom. You couldn't fit many people in the kitchen and going out to dinner was out of the question.

I always used to think of myself as lucky to have a birthday just a few days after Halloween. As a child, Halloween was always a big deal, long anticipated, and great fun. But there was sort of a let down when it was all over, for my friends that is. I still had my birthday to look forward to! :-) November in Michigan is usually cold, damp, and grey so any excuse for a party is a good one!

These days I usually celebrate my birthday with a couple of parties (one with my immediate family and one with my in-laws) and a couple of lunches with friends. It's nice to have a November birthday!

[Written for the 123rd Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.]

Creative Gene, Doors of Faith

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 17:29:50 PDT

Over on the Catholic Gene blog there is a project going on where people have been asked to write about the Catholic churches their family and ancestors have attended to celebrate the Year of Faith 2012-2013. This wonderful project is the brain child of Lisa and is called Doors of Faith. I've written about my family's churches many times in the past so I will simply do a round-up here for anyone interested who may have missed these articles.

St Lawrence Church in Wojnicz, Poland is the ancestral church of many generations of my Mizera/Bober family lines. You can read about it here. You can't see the Doors of Faith very well in my scrapbook page below but you can see them better from the links in my article.

St Mikolaj Church in Zgorsko, Poland is the ancestral church of many generations of my Laska/Furman family lines. You can read about it here. You can see the Doors of Faith pretty good in the picture below.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Przeclaw, Poland is the ancestral church of many generations of my Lipa/Knot family lines (they lived in the nearby village of Bobrowa but it didn't have a church of it's own). You can read about it here. Below is the only photo I have of the old church from Przeclaw.

I have a cousin who is a priest at the Lodz Cathedral pictured below (I haven't written about this church on my blog). Doors of Faith are small but visible.

Moving on to churches on this side of the ocean...

When my Lipa family members first arrived in Detroit in 1881 they attended St Albertus Church in Detroit. You can read about it here. The Doors of Faith are a bit hidden here.

Later the Lipa family were founding members of Sweetest Heart of Mary Church in Detroit. You can read about it here. The Doors of Faith are barely visible. Sorry about that. They are really beautiful.

The Laska/Lipa family branched off to Detroit's west side and were members of St Francis D'Assisi Church. You can read about it here. Lots of Doors of Faith pictured here but from a distance.

And the Lisowski/Mizera branch of my family also moved to the west side of Detroit and attended Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church. You can read about it here. Finally, some Doors of Faith you can really see.

I thought about sharing all the churches I have attended but this blog post would go on for far too long. So we'll just leave it at this. I've enjoyed sharing the Doors of Faith of my family. I hope you enjoy reading about them.

[Written for the Doors of Faith project on the Catholic Gene blog.]

Carnival of Genealogy, 122nd Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 03:00:14 PDT

Welcome to the October 4, 2012 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for today's edition is: School Humor! I must admit I thought this would be a more popular topic than it was. But then, I'm often surprised which topics get a lot of submissions and which ones just a few. Gee, I hope people weren't put off by the need to register on the new BlogCarnival.com web site in order to submit an article. It isn't hard. Really!

We only have a few submissions today but they are good ones, guaranteed to make you smile if not laugh out loud. So pour yourself a cold glass of milk and put a couple cookies on a plate (that was your usual after school snack, right?) and come enjoy the humor of our school days!

Charles Hansen presents Missing Locker for the 122nd Carnival of Genealogy posted at Mikkel's Hus, saying, "You would think a locker built into a wall would not come up missing, but my locker did."

Dorene Paul presents When Mom Forgot It Was "Picture Day" posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, saying, "Dorene recalls a time long ago when her mother forgot it was school picture day."

Donna Pointkouski presents I Was a Teenage Car Thief posted at What's Past is Prologue, saying, "My high school partner-in-crime and I weren't very good thieves, but we were excellent pranksters!"

Frances Ellsworth presents CreativeGene Carnival, 122nd Edition "School Humor" posted at Joyous Tomorrows, saying, "I am posting a story set in the time I was a school nurse and my daughter was a sophmore in High School."

Jasia presents It's Humorous Now, But It Sure Wasn't Back Then! posted at : : C R E A T I V E G E N E : : , saying "Some memories will be with you for as long as you live. These two funny ones fall into that category for me. Come share a laugh!

Cynthia Shenette presents Confessions of a Lunch Box Trader... posted at Heritage Zen:, saying, "What was in your lunch box? I really want to know..."

That concludes this edition of the COG. I hope our humor put a bright spot in your day! Maybe it reminded you of some humorous incidents from your own childhood. Please feel free to share in the comments below if you like.

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: A Birthday Party! Yep, we're having a birthday party here at the COG and you're all invited! Whose birthday is it? Mine. :-) November is the month of my birthday and in honor of me I'd like to invite you to share a birthday story. (Yes, I know this is only October but the COG deadline and publish date for the next edition will be in November. ;-) Your story can be about a birthday party you hosted or was held for you. It can be a tribute to someone on your family tree who has a November birthday. Or, it can be a fantasy about your dream birthday! Please write up your birthday stories and submit them by the deadline of November 1st.

[[New Info! Please Read!]]
Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using the COG submission form. Please note, the blogcarnival.com website has a new look and new management and they have made some changes to the way they do things. You will need to login to the blogcarnival.com web site to submit your articles. If you don't have an account with them you will need to set one up. (I know this seems like an annoyance but it's a good thing because it will cut down on the tremendous amount of spam submissions received.) Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link.

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Technorati tags: carnival of genealogy, blog carnival.

It's Humorous Now, But It Sure Wasn't Back Then!

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:22:18 PDT

When I think back to my K/12 school years, I have many fond memories. I enjoyed school and I was a good student. I had lots of friends but I wasn't in the clique with the "cool" kids. My friends and I were not "jocks" or "nerds" or "frats". We were pretty much nobodies who hung with our friends from elementary school and those that lived in our immediate neighborhoods. One of my best friends throughout my school years was Pam, who lived next door to me when we were little. Her family moved about 4 blocks away at some point in our upper elementary school years but we remained good friends all through high school.

Back in my K/12 years, "middle school" was known as "junior high" and it consisted of 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. I attended Thomas Edison Junior High School for the years 1967-1970. (Don't bother to Google it. The school building was razed years ago and you won't find anything of interest about it.) Yep, those were the years of Hippies, peace signs, free love, the Vietnam conflict, mini skirts, and the budding years of feminists and much political activism.

Like most kids in the pre-teen years, Pam and I couldn't wait to grow up. We were boy crazy from a really young age. Our hormones had us bubbling over with our budding sexuality. By the time we entered junior high we were excited to go to football games and Friday night dances like the high school kids did. And like most kids at that age we were very self conscious.

I had very few classes with my friends. We were at the tail end of the baby boom generation and there were a lot of us in school at that time. (There were over 600 in my high school graduating class.) However, I was lucky and happy to have Pam in my 7th grade Social Studies class. We sat next to each other and competed, in a friendly way, for top grades in that class. And when we weren't competing for grades we were getting into mischief.

Mr. John Cotter was our Social Studies teacher. As I remember him, Mr. Cotter was tall and stocky and had an ordinary face until he was pissed off at which time he appeared very intimidating. He had a commanding personality when he was conducting class and he didn't tolerate much nonsense from his students. He wasn't one to crack jokes but he did throw around a bit of sarcasm that made us smile from time to time. All in all he was a pretty serious guy.

I have a couple very precious and comical memories from Mr. Cotter's class and they both include Pam. The first one was really Pam's comical moment, not mine. The second one was the most embarrassing/horrifying incident of my K/12 years. These aren't the kind of incidents where you had to be there to "get it". These are the kinds of situations anyone can relate to. And smile about.

One day, when we were having a class discussion about the meaning of democracy, Mr. Cotter asked a question. When no one raised their hand with the answer he called on me. As you would expect, everyone in class turned to look at me. And just at that exact moment Pam, sitting right next to me, sneezed. She tried to cover her mouth but she wasn't fast enough. Big long strands of mucus shot out from her nose to our desk/table and her hand, which was still quite a ways from her face. And those strands were still attached to her nose too! What a mess! She was mortified, of course, but couldn't really move without dragging the mucus with her. The class erupted in laughter. Gales and gales of laughter!!! Mr. Cotter, in his most commanding voice said, "Don't just stare at her! Get something to clean her up!" I reached down for my purse, which was under our table, and grabbed a couple tissues for her. But it was obvious she needed more than that. This was a super booger explosion! Pam ran out in the hall, and I went after her, to the nearest girl's restroom to clean her up. Thankfully, by the time we were done the bell had rung and that class was over. Once she was out of the classroom, Pam could see the humor in the situation and we laughed long and hard about that one! I've never forgotten it and I'll bet Pam hasn't either.

And then there was my moment of mortification in Mr. Cotter's class... and after school. Pam and I were sitting next to each other, as usual, and I passed her a note during class. A paper note. You know, the old fashioned kind that kids used to use to communicate before cell phones and text messages. Mind you, he had warned us that if he caught anyone passing notes he would confiscate said note and read it aloud to the class. So I should have known better! But I didn't think I'd get caught!!! (famous last words before your goose is cooked ;-) He saw me pass the note and got up from his desk and walked over and stood in front of the table where Pam and I sat. He didn't say a word he just reached out his hand, palm up. Pam looked totally embarrassed as she handed him the note. I looked like I wanted to die because I did want to die. He opened up the note and opened his mouth to read it then thought better of it and said, "I'll see the both of you after school in my office." I knew I was in big trouble at that point because I had written something good Catholic girls didn't write in notes. What did the note say? "Mr. Cotter is T.S.T.S.A."

Most of the kids in class groaned and encouraged Mr. Cotter to read the note but he refused and said he'd deal with it later. When we walked out of class after the bell had rung Pam asked me what the heck T.S.T.S.A. meant. I told her and she said, "I can't believe you wrote that! We're in big trouble now. What are we going to tell him?" To which I said, "You just tell him you don't know what it means because I didn't tell you and you won't get in any trouble. I'll think of some kind of explanation by the time we get to the meeting after school." That class was our first period after lunch so I had to worry about that after school meeting all afternoon. I couldn't concentrate on anything the teachers were saying in my other classes because I kept trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for T.S.T.S.A. It was all I could think about because there was no way I could tell him the truth.

All too soon the school day ended and I had to go back to Mr. Cotter's classroom and face the music (his office was in the back of the classroom). I was so scared I was shaking. I hadn't come up with anything that T.S.T.S.A. could stand for besides what it stood for. Remember, I was only 12 years old when this happened. ;-) When I got to his office I could see that Pam was already in there and the door was open. I walked in and sat down and looked at Pam and she looked as scared as me. Mr. Cotter addressed us both and said, "Who wrote the note?" I admitted I did and he looked at Pam and said, "You can go." She got up and practically ran from the room. I'm sure she was hugely relieved that her time with him was over. I was hoping and praying a hole would open up in the floor and I would fall through it. No such luck.

Mr. Cotter produced the note from his pocket, opened it up, and laid it on his desk. You know what came next... "What does T.S.T.S.A. stand for?" he boomed.

My heart was beating so hard I thought I was going to have a heart attack on the spot. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I looked down for a moment and one tear rolled down my cheek. I was absolutely mortified. I wiped the tear off my face, looked up at Mr. Cotter, and told him the truth because I couldn't think of anything else to say. "Too Sexy To Sleep Alone."

I don't know what he was expecting to hear but it certainly wasn't that. He didn't say anything. He just stared at me for what felt like forever. He was probably trying to decide if I had the gall to be telling the truth. And he was trying desperately to keep his face from cracking a smile. He was pretty successful but I could sense his mirth just the same. Finally, he cleared his throat and said, "I'm not going to punish you any more than you're already punishing yourself. I think we're about done here." And with that he stood up and I stood up and I turned to leave the room thinking, "I can't believe that's all he's going to say!" He did give me one admonishment as I was leaving the room, "I don't want to see you passing any more notes!" "Okay!", I shouted back as I ran out into the hall to find Pam and share my mortification. But Pam wasn't there. She had gone on home and left me to face the wolf alone. I didn't blame her. I'm not sure I would have waited around if she'd been the one to write the note. It was a long walk home and I was a nervous wreck the whole time. I kept wondering what I would say if my mom saw how upset I was and asked me what was wrong. Telling her the truth would be even worse than telling Mr. Cotter. But I wasn't comfortable lying to her either.

I guess I managed to pull off a serene face because I have no memory of talking to my mom about the incident. And I'm sure I would have remembered that!

So how did I come up with the T.S.T.S.A.? It was something I'd overheard one of older girls in my neighborhood say in a conversation with my older brother. She was referencing a high school teacher she had. I thought it sounded cool and mature to be talking about a teacher that way. I was sooo naive. ;-)

Looking back, I think Mr. Cotter was a pretty cool dude. He could have dealt much more harshly with me than he did. I was never able to look him in the face again without feeling my humiliation. And I had him again for Social Studies for all of 9th grade! He was a good teacher though and I remember more of my assignments and class discussions from his class than from any other classes I had in my formative years.

I can't help but smile when I think back to that note though. T.S.T.S.A.! What was I thinking, LOL!!!

[Written for the 122nd Carnival of Genealogy]

Carnival of Genealogy, 121st Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:32:38 PDT

Welcome to the September 4, 2012 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for this edition is: Great Discoveries! We're writing about those things that have made us do the "happy dance", amazed and astounded us, or perhaps caused us to shed a tear. These are significant finds and we just had to share them with you! I know you'll be amazed at where and how we have come across the information that led us to these discoveries about our family members.

Summer is over. It's time to put away the beach umbrellas and bikinis. Pour yourself a glass of fresh apple cider and pull up a chair. The Carnival is back in town!

Mel Lassalle presents My Very First Deed posted at The Research Journal, saying, "My first attempt at land research has lead to an original deed and a dying husband's wish."

Joan Hill presents 121st COGs Great Discoveries; Discovering J.P. McPherson's Diary posted at Roots'n'Leaves, saying, "Discovering the diary of my great-great grandfather should have been much easier, if I had only taken in all the information available --- but not so."

Margie A. Rennick presents Carnival of Genealogy: Emotional Discovery in My Research posted at Ancestor Chase, saying, "I am always excited to make discoveries about my great grandfather Eugene Lammay, my biggest brick wall. What I did not expect was to have one of those discoveries upset me and actually make me mad at Eugene!"

Ellie presents How I Found the Mysterious McGarrs of Ballyraggan posted at Ellie's Ancestors.

Smallest Leaf presents Found! A small clue to my family's Jewish connection posted at 100 Years in America, saying, "The legend of a young Jewish orphan raised by Catholic religious sisters who grew up to be mayor of my ancestral village in Croatia has intrigued me for years. Now I've found a clue that might help to shed light on the truth of this tale. Make a stop over at 100 Years in America for the story."

Chery Kinnick presents The 95% Baard Johnson posted at Nordic Blue, saying, "For years, Chery consulted with relatives in search of a single image of an unaccounted-for great great grandfather who died in 1872. Using a little intuition and some deductive reasoning, Chery finally discovers his unmarked photograph hiding in "plain sight.""

Donna presents A Great Discovery posted at What's Past is Prologue, saying, "Donna Pointkouski presents "A Great Discovery" about surprises she found in her great-grandmother's alien registration and naturalization documents."

Julie Goucher presents Anglers Rest: Carnival Of Genealogy 121 - Great Discoveries posted at Anglers Rest, saying, "Great Discoveries"

Katie presents On ordering every record of everyone, ever. posted at You Are Where You Came From, saying, "When I was least expecting it, I found a maiden name on a collateral line, and it changed everything!"

Carol presents 121st Carnival Of Genealogy, Great Discoveries: The Lashbrook Book posted at Reflections From the Fence, saying, "My greatest discovery, 12 pages stuck in the back of a surname book. Twelve pages that continues to drive my research 20 years later."

Leah presents My Greatest Discovery (COG 121) posted at The Internet Genealogist, saying, "Who would have thought an obscure little book with a boring title would be the key to cracking the mysteries of my great-great-grandfather?!"

Dorene Paul presents Old photo of Aunt Bertie and Great Aunt Hilda posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, saying, "I did a "Happy Dance" when my cousin in Florida emailed me this great photo of my aunt and great aunt. I had never seen Aunt Hilda's picture before, and since she died so young, it was a wonderful blessing to see this image!"

Cheryl Schulte presents The 30 Year Search posted at Two Sides of the Ocean, saying, "It only took 30 years of hard work and determination, culminating in a wonderful find, to take me back on one line into the mid-1400's. What a thrill!"

Jasia presents September Remembrance posted at :: C R E A T I V E G E N E ::, saying, "The clue came out of nowhere, in an email from an unknown person. Come see what I discovered about members of my family!"

Jessica A. Stern presents Brick Wall Breakthroughs: Theresa Kommer Schmidt Kneisel posted at The Brick Wall Climber, saying, "This is the story of how I quite accidentally broke through a brick wall - of one of my most interesting ancestors, Theresa Kommer, whose husband Joseph was murdered in one of Appleton, Wisconsin's most infamous crimes."

Charles Hansen presents Carnival of Genealogy #121 Discovery posted at Mikkel's Hus, saying, "Well I finally found a Civil War Ancestor, I knew his obit said he was a Civil War veteran, but when he applied for a pension they said he had not been in the Civil War! Maybe a month is not long enough to get a pension?"

That concludes this edition of the COG. Weren't you amazed at all the great discoveries? You just never know where you'll find the clue that will reveal some great information about your family. So keep an open mind and look everywhere, lol!

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: School Humor! It's back to school time and we all have a few memories from our school days that never fail to bring a smile or chuckle to us. For the next edition of the COG I challenge you to share one (or more) humorous or embarrassing moments you remember from your school days. Feel free to use fictional names to protect the identity of those involved. It can be something that happened to you or to someone else. You can even share one of those dreadful school pictures of yourself if you dare. We hear so much about school bullying in the news these days and examples are all over YouTube. I thought it would be fun to go in the other direction and share some school laughter. Bring on the humor and share the good ole schools days with generations to come! The deadline for submissions will be October 1st.

[[New Info! Please Read!]]
Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using the COG submission form. Please note, the blogcarnival.com website has a new look and new management and they have made some changes to the way they do things. You will need to login to the blogcarnival.com web site to submit your articles. If you don't have an account with them you will need to set one up. (I know this seems like an annoyance but it's a good thing because it will cut down on the tremendous amount of spam submissions received.) Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link.

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September Remembrance

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:44:06 PDT

Some people touch your life in big ways, some in little. Most people don’t even realize the impact they have on your life, especially those who only touch it briefly and then are gone. Such is the case with Natalia who sent me an email a few weeks ago. I don’t know her, never met her, and probably never will. I may be related to her. I think the odds are pretty good but at this point I can’t prove it. She contacted me because of information she found on my blog regarding the village of Podborze, Poland. Her grandparents are from that village. We share surnames in common.

The most interesting part of her email was the information she shared with me about a document she found online. The document told of a tragedy that happened in Podborze in WWII that resulted in 23 family’s homes being burned to the ground by the Nazis. She listed the names of those families and most of those surnames are on my family tree. I was at once grateful that she had shared that info with me, curious to see the actual document she was referencing, and haunted at the thought of the tragedy.

Can you guess what happened next? I wrote back to her asking for more information, specifically about the document she mentioned as well as about our possible connections. She never replied.

That left me with no choice but to go out and do an internet search and find that document myself. Curiosity was eating away at me. My mind kept recalling her email and all the names she’d listed. Below is that list of names. I’ve highlighted those I’m certain I’m related to.

Dudek, Jan and Karolina (first home burned down)
Kilian, Antoni, and Weryński, Antoni (Antoni and his father-in-law living in one home)
Dereń, Kazimierz and Bronisława
Kilian, Stanisław and Anna
Pietras, Piotr
Pająk, Michał and Maria (mayor of the village at the time)
Froncz, Wiktor and Maria
Rzegocki, Stanisław and Apolonia
Michoń, Jan and Józefa; and living with them was Dziekan, Jan, brother of Józefa.
Rzegocki, Adam and Maria [Maria and her husband Adam were my 1st cousines 3 times removed]
Kołacz, Adam and Apolonia [Adam and his wife Apolonia were my 2nd cousins twice removed]
Koźlik, Adam and Bronisława [Adam and his wife Bronislawa were my 2nd cousins twice removed]
Furman, Jan and Julia
Kużdzał, Jan
Golec, Franciszek and Maria; who lived in the home of their son Rzegocki, Błażej
Lasek, Tomasz and Agnieszka
Sierosławska, Apolonia [Apolonia was my Great-Grandaunt]
Ryś, Sebastian and Anna; living with them was Laska, Michał, brother of Anna. [Sebastian’s wife Anna was my Grandaunt, Michał my Granduncle]
Furman, Antoni and Elżbieta [Elzbieta and Antoni were my 2nd cousins twice removed]
Skowron, Julian and Józefa
Furman, Franciszek and son-in-law Stanisław Midurą.
Leśniowski, Jan and Maria [Jan and Maria are my 2nd cousins twice removed]
Laska, Karolina (known as Zygmoniak); [Karolina was the widow of Zygmunt, my 1st cousin 3 times removed]

I suspect another one or two of the people on this list are my family members as well but I need to do more research to verify that. The long and the short of it is, the story of what went on in Podborze becomes very personal with this many of my family members affected!

So, on with the search. My gut told me I wouldn’t find out anything about the village of Podborze doing a typical Google search but I tried it just the same and came up with nothing. Next I tried a search using Google.pl (Polish Google). Bingo! It wasn’t the first item to come up in the search but I found it eventually. I kept trying “Podborze” plus one of the surnames from the list. I don’t remember how many different surnames I tried before I found it but it took a while. And when I found the document I sent a mental thank you across the miles to the folks at Google headquarters for having created the Google Translate program. I would never have found it or read it if they hadn’t.

It turns out that the document was an 80+ page academic paper written for a regional conference on the topic of the Holocaust and Jewish/Polish relations. It was edited by Dr. Maria Przybysewska and presented in the nearby town of Radomsył Wielka in September 2007. The document tells of Polish/Jewish relations over the centuries and ends with stories of heroism of villagers from several Polish towns and villages during WWII, one of which was Podborze. On September 22 and 23, 2007, there were celebrations held to honor the heroes of Podborze and an obelisk that was erected in the town was unveiled.

I’m not going to try to condense an 80+ page translated academic document here. If you are interested in reading it in its entirety you can download it here. However, I will share with you a condensed version of the section that pertains specifically to Podborze and my family members.

In 1943, the Nazis were all about annihilating the Jews in Poland and had been doing such for years. There was a large population of Jewish families living in nearby Radomsył Wielka. They were killed, virtually all of them. However, one Jewish family escaped to Podborze when the Nazis had taken away their buildings and land 2 years earlier. From 1941-1943 the members of that family survived by living in the neighboring forests when weather permitted and were given sanctuary by a number of villagers much of the time as well. This was at a time when the Nazis had decreed that any Polish citizen who harbored a Jew would be killed for doing so. So the villagers of Podborze were putting their own lives at risk to help this Jewish family.

On April 23, 1943, the Nazis returned to Podborze looking for the Jewish family. Their intelligence information told them the family was living with Jan and Karolina Dudek. They went to the Dudek home but only their children were there. Jan and Karolina were gone for the day. One of the Jewish family members had been there but he escaped to the woods. The Gestapo went to a neighbor, Antoni Kilian, and tortured him in an effort to learn where the Jewish family was. But he did not tell them. The Nazis would not leave the situation at that. They set fire to the Dudek farm and set self-igniting devices in several other homes knowing that one after another they would go up in flames. And not only the homes but the out-buildings too. The home owners tried to salvage what they could from their burning homes but most lost everything. It was a tremendous fire and the Nazis also burned the building housing the fire fighting equipment so the villagers couldn’t even fight it. When the smoke cleared, 23 farms were destroyed along with the fire house. The homeowners had a very difficult time surviving afterwards. Most lived with extended family for a time and built straw huts to live in during temperate months. Years later evidence of the fire was still visible. The true miracle is that none of the villagers were killed in the incident.

And what of the Jewish family? Some of them survived, some did not.

So, what a find, eh? I was gobsmacked. Twenty-three families in the small, poor farming village of Podborze lost their homes and all of their worldly possessions because they were blamed by the Gestapo for harboring one Jewish family. Some of them undoubtedly did give shelter to the Jewish family, but did all of them? They all paid a high price nonetheless. Putting it in perspective, they didn’t pay with their lives as did so very, very many Jewish families but it is an example of how the Polish people suffered at the hands of the Nazis for trying to protect their good neighbors. I’m so glad that the memory of these residents of Podborze was honored. Their quiet acts of heroism are worthy of that at least.

This was the latest “find” related to my family history. I don’t come across this sort of information often so it is really valued when I do. How I wish I could search the last hundred years of newspapers near the villages in Poland where my ancestors lived. But I don’t believe such newspapers exist. Certainly there was no such thing as a “free press” during Poland’s long occupation by the Soviets. A few of Poland’s larger cities had newspapers but that wouldn’t help me. My family came from obscure farming villages in the middle of nowhere. Their names are not likely to be mentioned in any big city newspapers. Just another of the many challenges of researching family history in Poland.

The photo below is of Michał Laska (#18 on the list), my Granduncle, the only one of my relatives listed that I have a photograph of. This photo of Michał was taken in the 1980s. He was born September 27, 1906 in Podborze and died September 16, 1994 in nearby Zgórsko. Sadly, he didn't live long enough to know he was one of those honored for his sacrifice in Podborze. It was very fitting that he was remembered at the ceremony in Radomsył Wielka in September 2007 (September being the month of his birth and death) and is again being remembered in the September edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. Rest in peace, dear Michał.

Carnival of Genealogy, 120th Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 08:18:05 PDT

Welcome to the August 4, 2012 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for this edition is: business and commerce! This time around we are writing about the entrepreneurial spirit in our families. We dedicate this edition to those gutsy folks on our family trees who preferred to take a chance on being their own boss rather than work for someone else. Big corporations may be better known but "mom and pop" small businesses are the heart and soul of our world. Hat's off to all the entrepreneurs in our families!

I think you'll enjoy reading about the small business owners in our families. There are some wonderful period photos included in our articles too. Please pour yourself a cool refreshing libation and pull up a chair in the shade, by the beach, or in your comfortable air conditioned home. The Carnival is back in town!

Geniaus presents Geniaus: 120th Carnival of Genealogy - Business and Commerce posted at Geniaus, saying, "Aussie battler, Frank Duncan, tried his hand at a few businesses and was spectacularly unsuccessful."

Sherry Stocking Kline presents Carnival of Genealogy – Our Family Business Was a Wheat and Dairy Farm posted at Family Tree Writer, saying, "Our family farm might have been a family business, but it was a part of all of us, our heritage, our lives, our home."

Donna presents The Iceman Cometh posted at What's Past is Prologue, saying, "Donna Pointkouski presents "The Iceman Cometh" to tell - and show - her grand-uncle's beginnings as a businessman."

Julie Goucher presents Anglers Rest: Carnival Of Genealogy 120 - Business and Commerce posted at Anglers Rest, saying, "The first steps in researching the business of an ancestor"

Kristin Cleage Williams presents Cleage Printers posted at Finding Eliza, saying, "My uncles Henry and Hugh Cleage owned and operated Cleage Printers on the West Side of Detroit for a decade during the 1950s and 1960, printing handbills for stores and whatever else they wanted to print."

Cynthia Shenette presents Business Profile: Helen's, 39/41 Millbury St., Worcester, MA posted at Heritage Zen:, saying, "My great-aunt, Helen Bulak, opened a millinery shop in Worcester, MA in November of 1918 with a $100 investment. She remained in business at the same location until she retired on October 30, 1973, 55 years later!"

Cheryl Schulte presents Two Generations of General Store Owners posted at Two Sides of the Ocean.

Nancy Messier presents Meinzen Confectionery, Steubenville, Ohio posted at My Ancestors and Me, saying, "Candy store or cigar store? I hope it was a candy store!"

Dawn Westfall presents COG: Timmer = Hammer; Eight Generations of Building posted at Wisteria, saying, "We have a proud heritage of nearly two hundred years and eight generations of building in our family. Come see the beautiful work that's been done."

Jasia presents The Family Bakery posted at Creative Gene. I grew up hearing stories about my grandparent's bakery. I grew up eating bakery bread and pastries too. To this day all it takes is the scent of freshly baked bread to take me back to my childhood...

Carol presents 120th Carnival of Genealogy :: Business and Commerce :: Donald E Bowen the Entrepreneur posted at Reflections From the Fence, saying, "Spotlighting one of my father's entrepreneurial escapades."

Jessica Stern presents The Family Business: Electric Motor Service Co., Appleton, WI. posted at The Brick Wall Climber, saying, "This is my first contribution to one of the carnivals. I wrote about my grandfather's Electric Motor Repair business, which I was inspired to research after finding photos of it that he had taken."

Joan Hill presents 120th COG's Business and Commerce: A Life To Be Dreamed posted at Roots 'n' Leaves, saying, "My McPherson family seem to have an affinity for building, nurturing and owning their own businesses. This story is about one aunt and her dream."

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. I hope you enjoyed reading about the business-minded folks on our family trees. I'm shamelessly going to plug small businesses here by encouraging you to support (shop at... don't just look!) your local small businesses on "Small Business Saturday" (and year 'round too).

From Wikipedia: Small Business Saturday is an American shopping holiday created by American Express, held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. First celebrated on November 27, 2010, it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local.

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the COG will be: Great Discoveries. We've written about the Happy Dance before in the Carnival of Genealogy but it has been 3.5 years since then. I figure it's time to once again share your latest discoveries, the ones that put a smile on your face, brought a tear to your eye, or for whatever reason made you say, "wow"! Write up your exciting discoveries and share them with us in the COG. The deadline for submissions is September 1st.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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The Family Bakery

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:49:33 PDT

The Founders
My grandfather, Wincenty Lisowski, immigrated to the U.S. from Poland in 1912. Something about his life, pre-immigration, was upsetting to him and for that reason he never talked about life back in "the old country". He wasn't a young man when he came to America. At age 28, he was certainly old enough to have had some kind of job before he left Poland but no one in the family knows what that might have been.

The Lisowski family members were peasant farmers and they did own their own land. Wincenty was the oldest son and by tradition should have and would have inherited the family farm. But he didn't. Or perhaps he did but didn't want it. Just a few months after his father died, he left Poland for the land of the free and the home of the brave and made his new home in the then bustling city of Detroit, Michigan.

Once in Michigan, Wincenty worked at a couple different places. He is known to have worked at the Michigan Milling and Beverage Company on Military Avenue in Detroit and for an "auto plant" prior to 1916. In January 1916 Wincenty married Zofia Mizera, also an immigrant from Poland, who was working as a seamstress.

Wincenty had a friend, Feliks Jaruga, who was also from Poland. Feliks immigrated in 1913 and was a baker by trade. In February 1917, Wincenty and Feliks went into business together buying a bakery owned by Louis Robakiewicz and his son Stanley. It was just a small, two-story frame building located on the corner of 30th and Herbert Streets in their west-side Polish neighborhood. A short time after Wincenty and Zofia's first child was born, the family moved into the apartment above the bakery and Wincenty and Feliks' entrepreneurship began with their new enterprise, the Polonia Baking Company (PBC).

Setting Up Business
Wincenty must have learned the baking business from Feliks because I can find no evidence of him working in the baking trade before he and Feliks established the PBC. He would come to learn that owning and running a bakery wasn't an easy life, especially after Feliks wanted out of the business less than a year after they started it.

The PBC operated 6 days a week. Wincenty's only day off was Saturdays. The rest of the time he arose in the early hours of the night and made his way to the kitchen to begin the process of making the dough for the fresh bread and pastries that they would begin selling in the store front at 7am. After she fed and clothed their infant daughter, Zofia would come downstairs and run the front counter while Wincenty and Feliks worked their magic back in the kitchen.

Before long (just a few months), Feliks wanted out of the baking business. He'd met a nice girl who lived on the east side of town and he wanted to marry her. But she didn't want to move away from her family to the west side of town. I'm not sure if Wincenty and Feliks' parting was amiable or not but I believe it was. Bad business relations tend to be the kind of thing that gets whispered about among family members in the retelling of the "old days" but I never heard about any ill will towards Feliks. In any event, Wincenty bought out Feliks' share of the business and he became President and Zofia became the secretary-treasurer of the PBC. Feliks married in April 1918, just over a year from the time he and Wincenty went into business together. By then he was working as a machinist, presumably somewhere on the east side of Detroit. Before the year was out, Feliks and his bride would have a daughter of their own.

Expanding the Business and Family
Meanwhile, Wincenty had big ideas for his little bakery. Business was going well enough that in 1919 he hired an architectural firm to draw up plans for expansion. And they were pretty ambitious plans! He bought out the two houses next door to the bakery and began construction of a substantial two-story brick addition with hopes of eventually buying more land and expanding even more. The new addition was completed in 1920 and the PBC business grew and grew. So did Wincenty's family.

Another daughter was born to Wincenty and Zofia in 1918 (My mom, Lucyna, was born in the apartment above the bakery.) In 1920, two of Zofia's sisters immigrated to the U.S. and came to live with them also. And in early 1921 Zofia gave birth to a son. In 1919 the family moved out of the bakery apartment to a small home kitty corner from the bakery. In 1920 they moved again to a larger home 4 doors down 30th Street from the bakery. Whew! What an exciting time that must have been for the Lisowski family... expanding their business, their family, and their residence in the span of just 3 years! Life was good for this immigrant family.

Sadly, it wasn't so good for Wincenty's friend and former business partner. Feliks was killed in May 1920, hit by a train while trying to outrun it in his car. Feliks' brother, Maryan, was also in the car at the time but he survived the accident. He married Feliks' widow and raised their daughter as his own. Maryan owned a music store and sold musical instruments and sheet music.

The "Roaring Twenties" were a time of robust business in Detroit, Michigan, and throughout the U.S. Wincenty hired more and more employees, mostly family members, neighbors, and friends, until he had 30+ people working for him. He bought 7 delivery vans so that he could deliver his baked goods to neighborhood grocery stores throughout Detroit, Hamtramck, and the Delray areas. He was a well known businessman in the west-side Polish community and the family had a prosperous life.

And then came the stock market crash of 1929.

And the Great Depression.

The Difficult Years
The Depression years were difficult for the PBC. People had no money. Those who were employed could afford fresh bread (at $.10 a loaf) but most people stood in long lines for day-old bread (at $.05 a loaf). Very few people had money for pastries or cakes, not even for special occasions. Wincenty struggled to keep the bakery going but it wasn't easy.

By 1934-1935 Wincenty knew he had to do something. He didn't want to let any of his employees go because they were almost all his family members, neighbors, and friends. He came up with the idea to have half the employees work the first 3 days of the week and the other half work the other 3 days of the week that the bakery was open. That way no one would be jobless. Unfortunately, the employees didn't like his idea.

The disenchanted employees of the PBC demanded full-time employment and when Wincenty told them he couldn't keep them on full-time they organized and joined a local union. Compared to some of the violent union activities at the time, the discontent aimed at the PBC was relatively mild. But it was enough to put it out of business. Some union sympathizers released smoke bombs in the back of the delivery vans when the drivers were unloading baked goods. Police reports were made but there was little that could be done to repair the damage or prevent further incidents. The stinky smoke filled the vans and no amount of cleaning would remove it. No baked goods could be transported in the vans without also taking on the stinky smell. The financial loss of the vans was more than the business could handle.

In 1935-36, Wincenty and Zofia sold the bakery to a Greek family. They weren't in business long before they closed up shop as well.

Looking Back
The PBC had a substantial impact on my grandparent's lives as well as the lives of their children, extended family members, their neighbors and community. It was the focus of Wincenty and Zofia's world for the 20 years they owned it. It provided a very good standard of living for most of those years and I believe they would have been labeled a success by their family back in Poland as well as their fellow immigrants to this great nation. A lot of hard work, long hours, and prayer went into their success. I greatly admire their determination and dedication.

As is often the case with family history, I still have many questions. Where did Wincenty, Zofia, and Feliks come up with money to buy the small bakery in the first place? Did Feliks' widow regret her husband selling out his share of the bakery and moving to the east side of the city to be with her? Are there any records of incorporation or solvency available on the bakery and if so, where? Why didn't Wincenty go forward with his grand plans to expand the bakery? Were my grandparents and the bakery employees on speaking terms when he sold the bakery or were the employees too bitter at that point?

A hundred times or more I have imagined the scent and taste of the Polish rye bread my grandfather was famous for. I've daydreamed about the pastries, cakes, babkas, cheesecakes, cinnamon rolls, egg bread, chrusciki, poppy seed and nut rolls I know they made there. No doubt about where I got my sweet tooth!

Pictured above, my grandfather stands on the sidewalk outside his bakery. You can see the bay windows of the apartment upstairs where my mother was born. On the left side of the image you can see part of the brick addition Wincenty added after buying the two houses next door to the bakery. I wish I had more old photos of the bakery. There are never enough old photos!!!

Carnival of Genealogy, 119th Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:30:00 PDT

Welcome to the July 4, 2012 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. Happy Independence Day to my friends across America, a belated Happy Canada Day to my friends up north, and to my friends in other parts of the world, I hope you are enjoying summer! This edition of the COG is especially timely for summertime reading because this is the very popular annual swimsuit edition! We have a wide variety of fun summertime pictures that I know you will enjoy. And you will once again be amazed at how swimsuit fashions have evolved over the years. There are some really, really good period photos featured here!

Much of the U.S. is currently experiencing a doozy of a heat wave and many folks will be heading out to the pool or beach to cool off. Good for you! Make some great memories with your family and friends, take lots of pictures, and don't forget the sunscreen! For those of you staying home, I invite you to pour yourself a tall glass of lemonade, grab a seat in the shade (or better yet in the air conditioning if you have it), and come along and be transported to another day and time when there was no air conditioning and summer heat waves could be as brutal as the one we're having now. Let's take a peek at those who headed for the beach... the Carnival is back in town!

Linda Gartz presents Swimsuit Issue - The Mankini posted at Family Archaeologist, saying, "The Swimsuit Issue for 2012 at Family Archaeologist features two young men in the latest beach fashion circa 1928-30 -- The Mankini!"

Dorene Paul presents John and Linda Paul with sonTommy at the Beach posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, saying, "Dorene from Ohio shows us a photo of her in laws, and her future husband, as they enjoy the beach in northern Ohio."

J.M. presents A Day at the Beach, Not Quite During Summertime posted at Tracing My Roots, saying, "A remembrance of a day spent at the beach, in a swimsuit, but not quite in summertime!"

Colleen Pasquale presents Carnival of Genealogy - Swimsuits posted at Leaves & Branches, saying, "My mother loved swimming. On hot summer's day my parents went on a picnic and before the day ended my mother saved my father's life."

Carol presents The 119th Carnival of Genealogy, The 5th Annual Swimsuit Edition! posted at Reflections From the Fence, saying, "I had to close my eyes when I hit the publish button on this post. Really, I did!"

Jasia presents I'm No Kate Upton But I Was Cute! posted at Creative Gene. Oh the magic of summer for children at the beach. I have lots of happy memories of playing at the beach when I was a child but not a lot of photos. Come see this rare one of me posing for the camera on a beach in Canada!

Julie Hogston presents Pictures from the 1930's check out those suites! posted at Wandering Roots, saying, "Some old suites from the past!"

Heather Wilkinson Rojo presents 2012 Annual Swimsuit Edition of Genealogy posted at Nutfield Genealogy, saying, "Last year I complained that I didn't have any photos of ancestors in swimsuits, but then this year I remembered this collection of photos of my Dad and his buddies at their favorite swimming beach in Beverly, Massachusetts in the 1940s when they were just kids."

Jenny Lanctot presents Gramma was a Hottie! posted at Are My Roots Showing?.

Kristin Cleage Williams presents Swim Suit Edition – Carnival of Genealogy #119 posted at Finding Eliza, saying, "Four generations of family swimmers in pools, lakes and oceans participate in this years COG swim suit edition."

Charles Hansen presents Carnival of Genealogy #119 Swimsuit Edition posted at Mikkel's Hus, saying, "Well my swimsuit is hard to see under water, but we collected a lot of lake weeds for mulch in the garden."

Dawn Westfall presents COG: Wading Beauties in the Willamette posted at Wisteria, saying, "Wading beauties instead of bathing beauties, but I think these photographs still fit the theme. Taken in the early 1900s of cousins in Oregon, they were sent back home to relatives in Kentucky."

John Newmark presents Carnival of Genealogy: 2012 Swimsuit Edition posted at TransylvanianDutch, saying, "For this year's edition I submit the swimsuit fashion of 75 years ago, as presented by my paternal grandparents on their honeymoon."

Cynthia Shenette presents Taking A Dip posted at Heritage Zen:, saying, "Last year the girls got to have all the fun. This year the guys get their turn. The weather is HOT, and it's time to take a dip!"

Cynthia Shenette presents Bathing Beauty (Mystery Photo #12) - Mystery Monday posted at Faces of Worcester Polonia, saying, "Can you help me to identify the bathing beauty in this mystery photograph? I've started a new blog, Faces of Worcester Polonia, to try to identify the people in the "mystery photographs" in my collection. If you know someone of Polish descent with ties to Worcester, MA send them my way!"

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. Did you enjoy it? I hope so. And I hope when you are done reading here you will put on your Speedo or bikini and go out and enjoy the summer weather!

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: Business and Commerce. Did someone in your family own a small business? Was there a favorite clothing store, ice cream shop, shoe store, restaurant, gas station, etc. that your family frequented? Did you operate a lemonade stand when you were a child? This time around we are going to be researching small businesses and recording family memories of such. Bring all your stories of neighborhood businesses, as well as tales about your uncle who was a snake oil salesmen, your grandma who used to sell her apple pies at the fair, and your cousin who got rich selling pet rocks! Write 'em up and submit them to the COG... who knows, maybe we can kick start this sagging economy with some inspirational (or humorous ;-) stories! The deadline for submissions is August 1st.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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I'm No Kate Upton But I Was Cute!

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:55:09 PDT

I don't have a lot of pictures of myself in a swimsuit. This one is from a handful of pics taken by my mom on the beach of Lake Huron at Kincardine, Ontario. All of the pics are blurry, slightly out of focus. My mom wasn't much of a photographer but bless her heart she tried. Fortunately for me, the image is just clear enough for me to recognize the who, what, when, where, and why of it. And that brings back happy memories of family vacations spent in Kincardine.

I've written about the family vacations at Kincardine before. You can read about them here.

[Written for the 119th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.]

Carnival of Genealogy, 118th Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:03:56 PDT

Welcome to the June 4, 2012 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for this edition is: Reading! If you count reading among your hobbies you'll be absolutely delighted with all the submissions we have. We get it. We are just like you in that we all love reading. It's fascinating to discover the books that influenced our early lives and how our taste in reading material changed over the years. Come read all the cherished memories we have of books we've read. I'll bet it will bring back memories of books you've read too.

I found it endearing, how many people admit to reading in bed under the covers as a child, or in a tree, or while on vacation. Who do you think spent time reading at the bowling alley or while doing dishes? And who appreciates just holding the old books handed down to her from her ancestors? The answers to those questions and more are in the submissions for this edition of the COG. Come along then, pour yourself a nice tall glass of ice tea... perhaps with a sprig of mint, and pull up chair. The Carnival is back in town!

Dorene Paul presents My Family Has Always Loved Reading! posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, saying, "Dorene from Ohio's family enjoyed reading so much that her brother now writes books for children."

Margie A. Rennick presents Reading! A Family History of Books posted at Ancestor Chase.

Carol presents 118th Carnival Of Genealogy :: Reading! posted at Reflections From the Fence, saying, "Summer reading, well, research books, of course. I share a bit of how some of them come to be on the library shelves, and more."

Kristin Cleage Williams presents We Read, We Write, We Print and We Publish. posted at Finding Eliza, saying, "We read together, we read to each other, we read on our own and we take photographs of it. A giant montage of reading family members for this COG."

Julie Hogston presents Reading! Almost an Addiction! posted at Wandering Roots, saying, "I think I must be a book worm! Looking over what I have read, I might even be a book geek! Where did my enjoyment of reading come from? Read on and find out!"

Jasia presents Reading, Then and Now posted at Creative Gene. I was an anomaly in my family, the only one who liked to read for pleasure. Fortunately, I had supportive parents. They didn't understand my love for books but they supported my reading habit in their own way. Come see what I read as a child, a teenager, and as an adult...

Dawn Westfall presents COG: The Love of Reading posted at Wisteria, saying, "Ah, reading! One of my absolute favorite pastimes. And Jasia wants to know my family’s history of reading? How ironic that on the third anniversary of my father’s death, I am asked that question, for he was influential in the development of my love of reading."

Katie presents 118th Carnival of Genealogy: Reading! posted at You Are Where You Came From, saying, "Writing about how my love of reading has connected me to the grandmother I barely remember."

Charles Hansen presents Carnival of Genealogy Reading posted at Mikkel's Hus, saying, "Well I don't have a lot of time to read books anymore, but do read a lot of blogs every day, over 300 in my Google Reader now."

Pauleen Cass presents Carnival of Genealogy 118th edition: Reading posted at Family history across the seas.

Joan Hill presents 118th COG: Memories of Two Books posted at Roots'n'Leaves, saying, "Once nudged onto this pathway of reading, these two books impacted me throughout my life. How I write, what I like, how I see the world have been molded an elocution book and a book of poetry."

Julie Goucher presents Anglers Rest: Carnival Of Genealogy 118:Reading posted at Anglers Rest, saying, "The beginnings of my love of books"

Cheryl Schulte presents The Library is my Friend posted at Two Sides of the Ocean, saying, "My love of books has been life long and has given me many lasting memories."

Cynthia Shenette presents Books, Books, Books! posted at Heritage Zen:, saying, "My taste in "literature" may have changed over the years, but my love for books has remained the same!"

J. M. presents, Three Generations of Books posted at Tracing My Roots, saying, "Three generations of women, three very special books."

Janet Iles presents Reading and books for the 118th Carnival of Genealogy posted at Janet the researcher, saying, "Janet felt she would be remiss if she didn't talk about reading as she worked for over thirty years in the local public library."

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. I truly hope you enjoyed reading about reading! I'm giving a shout out here to my dear friend, footnoteMaven, who I know would have participated in this edition if she were able. She is a true lover of books, a reader at heart, and has quite a collection of books, so I hear. ;-) Dear friend, we're thinking of you and sending along our hopes and prayers that you will heal well and soon. In the mean time, come entertain yourself by reading about our reading habits! We miss you!

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: The 5th Annual Swimsuit Edition! Yes folks, it's that time again. It's time to think of summer and lazy days spent at the pool or beach. Dig out those wonderful swimsuit pictures of days gone by and share them with us! The deadline for submissions will be July 1st.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Reading, Then and Now

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:16:46 PDT

I'd love to say I come from a long line of readers, but nothing could be further from the truth. I was an anomaly in my family, the only one who enjoyed reading for pleasure as opposed to reading for information.

I never knew either of my parents to read a novel. Not the bible either. They both knew how to read and read quite well... the daily newspaper, repair manuals, cookbooks, the church bulletin, and select magazines (Popular Science for my dad, Ladies Home Journal for my mom). But I don't ever remember them reading a fictional book.

My brothers weren't really readers either. My older brother had a small book shelf of Zane Grey paperbacks back in his high school days but I never saw him read one. My younger brother had a nice collection of comic books including Archie's Girls, Betty and Veronica and a few Batman books, but that's about it. Oh, and we had a set of Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedias too. My mom bought those from one of the local grocery stores. I think they featured a different volume every couple weeks so it was easy for her to pick one up with the week's groceries.

And then there was me. I learned to read early and loved it. I had a few Golden Books when I was a small child which I read and reread a zillion times. When I was school age I would beg my mom to let me buy Scholastic books when they were sold at school. She would relent and let me buy one a couple times a year but she always thought buying books was a waste of money. Why buy books when you can borrow them from the public library for free? (Remnants of her Great Depression-era upbringing... frugality!) Especially since you'll never read them again anyway (she sooo didn't get it). Which is not to say my mom didn't encourage me to read, she did. She was always more than willing to drive me up to the local library to get some books to read after my dad got home from work with the car.

One of the things I liked best about summer vacation was the long hours available for reading books. Especially on rainy days. It was my secret, you know. The girls I played with in my neighborhood weren't readers either so I kept my reading habit to myself... didn't want to risk getting teased. I loved books about animals, particularly books about horses and dogs. The Black Stallion and Lad A Dog were hardcover books I remember owning and reading over and over again.

I also remember accompanying my dad to the Salvation Army thrift store when I was about 10-12 years old. We'd go down on Saturday mornings and he'd be off to look for lawn mowers and old TV sets and I'd head for the books. My favorite was the Cherry Ames (nurse) series. I'm not sure what it was that appealed to me about those books but I remember reading quite a few of them.

During my junior high years (12-14), I was done with animal stories and nurses. I was boy crazy and all I wanted to read were books about teenage girls chasing teenage boys. The Gidget series was a favorite of mine... Gidget In Love, Gidget Goes Parisienne, etc. And when I wanted advice about boys and dating, my go-to book was, For Every Young Heart by Connie Francis (yeah, the singing star from the 1950s). I still own Connie's book and a couple of the Gidget ones too. One never knows when one will need to consult an expert about social situations...

The most important requirement on a date is good grooming. First impressions count, and since there's not enough time on a first date for him to find out the exact depth of your mind or how sensitive, understanding, and lovable you are, you have to make sure he likes what he sees enough to call back a second time.
For casual dates, wear your prettiest skirt and sweater combo. Big Saturday nights call for special finery, and when you're not sure whether it's dancing, a show, dinner, or all three, a basic outfit, dressed up with pearls or a wispy scarf, should do fine.
What you wear always depends on what you'll do and how the other kids dress. The only absolute "don't" in my book is slacks. Never wear slacks on a date, unless it's a rugged out-door picnic or an evening at an amusement park. Otherwise, I think slacks are an insult to a boy. [From "For Every Young Heart" by Connie Francis, c. 1962 by Prentice-Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, N. J. p.79]

The hilarious part is that by the time I actually started dating, along about 1970 or so, the Hippie generation was making love not war, loving the one they were with, and both the girls and guys were wearing peace symbols, tie-died t-shirts, and jeans for every occasion they could get away with, lol!

Which brings me to my high school years. During high school I had my nose in a book an awful lot but mostly those books were text books. The few novels (not assigned by teachers) I remember reading were, Gone With the Wind, Love Story, Chocolate Days Popsicle Weeks, The Godfather, and California Generation. I'm sure there were others but those are the ones that come to mind.

During my college years and for many, many years thereafter, I was hooked on romances. Not the serial romances by Harlequin but romances by the likes of Nora Roberts, Judith McNaught, Amanda Quick, Jude Devereaux, and Kathleen Woodiwiss... it all started with Kathleen in the 1970s. I preferred historical romances for many years and then switched to contemporary romances sometime in the 1990s. In the early 2000s I started reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and that's when I started really appreciating romantic humor.

I married a man who is the reader anomaly in his family too. We have two kids, one is a voracious reader like we are and the other is a read-for-information only person. We love them both! ;-)

These days I will still pick up a summer romance story to read when I'm laying on the beach but not so much otherwise. Sadly, I read more Facebook updates and genealogy and photography blogs than anything else (only so many hours in a day and something had to give). I do have a couple of non-fiction ebooks going right now... Natural Light by Mitchell Kanashkevich and Women Writing on Family : Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Carol Smallwood and Suzann Holland. I can recommend Natural Light. I'm not finished with it but I'm most of the way through it and its taught me a lot about how to make the most of natural light when shooting pictures. I've just barely started Women Writing on Family so I hesitate to recommend it yet, but it looks good. It's a collection of essays on subjects relevant to writing and publishing a family history.

And I always read the Carnival of Genealogy, of course!

It has been interesting, the march of technology from traditional printing to ebooks. I'm becoming more fond of ebooks as time goes by. I'm very grateful to have reading as a hobby. It has entertained me on long winter nights and boring rainy days and amused me while laying on the beach or poolside on bucolic summer days. And then there are the sleepless nights... where would I be without books???

[Written for the 118th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.]

I've Become One Of Them...

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:24:54 PDT

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Or laugh if that suits you better. ;-)

After indexing thousands of records for FamilySearch, I took the plunge. Yes, I've become a FamilySearch arbitrator. As of today I've arbitrated just over a thousand names. That's not a lot compared to those who have been arbitrating for years or even months. But I feel like I'm out of the "newbie" category now. I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts and observations on the 1940 Census project since that's entirely what my indexing and arbitrating efforts are focused on at this point.

Indexing

I suspect there will be more "errors" in the finished product (the index for the 1940 Census that will appear on FamilySearch.org, FindMyPast.com and Archives.com) than for previous Census years. The reason for this is the poor image quality we indexers are working with. In addition to having to decipher a zillion different enumerators' handwriting, as is always the case with census records, we also have to try to read unfocused camera images. As someone who never leaves the house without a camera, I'm very attuned to focus issues. When handwriting is out of focus it creates ghosting. It's almost like having double vision. It complicates deciphering even the most precise printing and can make sloppy handwriting beyond difficult to decipher. I find deciphering ghosted handwriting much more difficult than deciphering sloppy handwriting or handwriting using "old" letter forms. There are samples galore of "old" handwriting styles to reference but I've not seen any for deciphering ghosted images. Fortunately, not all the pages are out of focus. But I would go so far as to say that most pages have some soft or blurred sections and some pages have focus issues throughout. If you've tried to look for family members among the 1940 Census images posted online you know what I mean.

Fortunately, the folks at FamilySearch have a procedure for dealing with indexing errors. When you find one (after the indexes are published) you will be able to send them a correct/alternative spelling. I suspect there will be a lot of that going on. Hey, we're all doing the best that we can but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Arbitrating

I erroneously assumed that the most common errors I would be correcting as an arbitrator would be differences of opinion on letters within a name/location. But my experience has been that the most common errors I'm correcting are typos. Sure, sure I'm doing my share of correcting spelling but I'm doing way more correction that has to do with keyboard entry errors.

It's nice and productive to get a rhythm going when you're entering data but sometimes that "efficiency" comes at the cost of accuracy. I'm finding that folks are often missing column changes due to the auto-fill feature. Auto-fill is really handy. It will fill a given cell with the content from the previous time you typed a word starting with a given letter in that same column saving time and typing. That's a good thing. Sometimes. But often people don't catch that the last time they typed the letter "S" to start the relationship column it was for "sister" but this time they meant "son". They type the letter "S" and hit the tab to the next column assuming the auto-fill filled in "Son" like they've typed several times on that page already. But! The last time they typed it, it was for "sister" and that's what the auto-fill remembers. It's an easy mistake to make when you've got a rhythm going.

Probably the next most common error has to do with the city location for where people were living in 1935. Specifically, the letter "R" is the issue. "R" is an abbreviation for "Rural". The instructions to the indexers for this column of information reads as follows... (emphasis is mine)

The entry in column 17 may be a place-name, or the census taker may have written 'Same house,' 'Same place,' or 'Rural' or some abbreviation of those terms, such as 'R,' 'SH,' or 'Same H,' in this column or across multiple columns.
If a place-name was entered in this column, then index the place-name in this field. If the place-name was misspelled, spell it correctly. If it was abbreviated and you can determine what the abbreviation stands for, type the complete name instead of the abbreviation. Use the lookup list for assistance. If you are not sure what the abbreviation stands for, index what was written, excluding punctuation.
If 'Same house' or 'Same place' or some abbreviation of those terms, such as 'SH' or 'Same H,' was entered in any of the three residence columns for April 1, 1935, then index the term, as it was written, in this field.
If 'Rural' or 'R' was entered in this column, then index the term, as it was written, in this field.

It's so easy to overlook that last instruction! When it comes to an actual place-name (name of a city, village, town, etc.) you are supposed to correct spelling and type the complete name instead of the abbreviation. However, when it comes to the R/Rural designation you are to "index the term, as it was written". Which means, if you see an "R" you type an "R". You do not write out the complete word "Rural" instead of the abbreviation. I've had arbitrators miss this too and erroneously change "R" to "Rural" on several pages that I have indexed. It's frustrating and it brings your accuracy score down. And you know that's not what the instructions say to do. And you so want to send a little note along to the arbitrator to point out their misunderstanding, but you can't.

What can you do? Chin up. Carry on. Keep the big picture in mind and don't sweat the small stuff. Don't let the letter "R" issue keep you up at night, lol!

My Part
I'm a part of the Michigan Genealogical Council group, the third most productive group of indexers according to the latest statistics. At this point, I am indexing and arbitrating the 1940 Census for the state of Michigan only. I've indexed census sheets from 21 counties so far, Alcona, Allegan, Arenac, Baraga, Barry, Bay, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Charlevoix, Chippewa, Clinton, Delta, Dickinson, Eaton, Emmet, Genesee, Gladwin, Gogebic, and Grand Traverse. More counties have been done but I skipped indexing for several days last week when I was out of town. There are a total of 83 counties in Michigan.

I've come across a good number of Polish surnames with all their many consonants. It must be a nightmare for those indexers and arbitrators who aren't familiar with them. And for the enumerators too for that matter. For me, when I see them, it brings familiarity. Not that I haven't come across some unique Polish surnames, I have. But most of the names I've some across have common letter combinations.

The indexing for Michigan has been moving along at a good pace. However, we haven't gotten to the really densely populated counties yet (Wayne/Detroit, Oakland and Macomb/Detroit suburbs, Ingham/Lansing, and Kent/Grand Rapids). I'm sure the rate at which we move through the counties will slow down when we do.

It feels good to be contributing to the cause and knowing that I will be helping others find their family members in the 1940 Census. Have you thought about helping out with 1940 Census indexing? It's not too late! We can always use more help. You can download the software to get started here.

Carnival of Genealogy, 117th Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:00:08 PDT

Welcome to the May 4, 2012 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for this edition is: 1940! What a year 1940 was. The United States was coming out of the Great Depression and on the verge of WWII. It was a presidential election year, one in which Franklin D. Roosevelt (incumbent) ran for an unprecedented 3rd term as president. He won by a comfortable margin over Wendell Willkie, his Republican opponent, and became the only president in U.S. history to serve a third term. Of course there were many other significant events that happened in the year 1940, including the 1940 U.S. Census which occurred in April of that year. Participants in this edition of the COG were challenged to write something about their families in 1940.

To set the mood for this edition of the COG you may want to turn on the radio to your favorite oldies radio station from 1940 (or listen over the internet), enjoy a Sloe Gin Fizz or a Tom Collins which were popular cocktails in 1940, and reflect on what impact the year/decade 1940 had on your family. Come along with us back in time to 1940... the Carnival is back in town!

Charles Hansen presents 1940 Census for the Carnival of Genealogy #117 posted at Mikkel's Hus, saying, "Since I live close to where my dad lived in 1940 finding him in the 1940 census was pretty easy. Not too many surprises, but well worth the time to find him."

Amanda presents Tombstone Tuesday: Levi Marion Shelton on the 1940 Census posted at ABT UNK, saying, "Levi Marion Shelton (1863-1941) is one of my maternal great-great-grandfathers and the only g-g-g still alive in 1940. He was the third search I did in the 1940 Census (after finding my parents and grandparents) and I was lucky that he was asked the supplemental questions."

Bill West presents THE 1940 U.S. CENSUS: THE WHITES posted at West in New England, saying, "I know very little about the family of my Mom's father. I was hoping that the release of the 1940 Census would help me find out more."

Jasia presents My Family in the 1940 U.S. Census, Part 1, My Family in the 1940 U.S. Census, Part 2, and My Family in the 1940s, posted at Creative Gene. Seldom have I been as inspired to write a blog post for the COG as I was for this 1940s edition. I was so inspired I had to write 2 about my family and one that features scrapbook pages I created over the years about the decade of the 1940s. What fun it was to look back at that time and my family in that context! I learned more about my family than I expected to in the 1940 Census and answered a nagging question I had, once and for all.

Jasia presents Assumption Sisters in the 1940 U.S. Census posted at The Catholic Gene. In looking for my own family in the 1940 Census, I came across a listing of the nuns for Assumption BVM parish, the neighborhood church and school my mom and her family attended. I was a little surprised to see the sisters enumerated by their birth names as I'd always seen them listed by their chosen religious names in past censuses. I decided right then and there that I wanted to extract their names and publish them on the blog so that others searching for them might find them through search engines. Here's to the good sisters of Assumption BVM!

Dorene Paul presents I Found My Parents and Grandparents in the 1940 Census! posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, saying, "Dorene from Ohio found her parents and grandparents all in the same Ohio county in the 1940 Census."

Donna presents Time Travel to 1940 posted at What's Past is Prologue, saying, "(Jasia, use my full name in the post...) What if we had a time machine to go back to 1940? With a little imagination, we do! I travelled back to 1940 to find my young parents and grandparents in "Time Travel to 1940"."

Deb Ruth presents Doing the 1940 U.S. Census Victory Dance! posted at Adventures in Genealogy, saying, "Family mystery solved with 1940 Census record. Still doing the happy dance!"

Julie Hogston presents Oh Where Oh Where can my Nana be in 1940? posted at Wandering Roots, saying, "After doing some indexing I thought I would try and find my Grandparents in the 1940 Census. What did I find? Everything but Nana!"

Shelley Bishop presents Finding Reeb's Restaurant in the 1940 Census posted at A Sense of Family, saying, "On my census journey into my grandparents' 1940 Columbus neighborhood, I found the restaurant and friends who were a big part of their lives--and mine."

Nancy Messier presents It Was Ironing Day, the Day the Census Taker Came posted at My Ancestors and Me, saying, "What day of the week did the census taker go to your ancestor's home in 1940, and what might your ancestor have been doing? Read about census day in the home of the Doyle family."

Julie Goucher presents Anglers Rest: Carnival Of Genealogy 117 - 1940! posted at Anglers Rest, saying, "Better luck next time!"

Kristin Cleage Williams presents 1940 Census – The Grahams | Finding Eliza posted at Finding Eliza, saying, "My mother's family and her east side Detroit neighborhood as described in the 1940 Census. What I learned, what I already knew and what questions it raised. With timely family photos."

Kristin Cleage Williams presents 1940 Census – The Albert B. and Pearl (Reed) Cleages | Finding Eliza posted at Finding Eliza, saying, "My father's family on the old west side of Detroit in the 1940 census. The last census before the children were grown and with families and lives of their own. It surprised me how close all the extended Cleage family lived to each other."

Kristin Cleage Williams presents 1940 Census – Chester and Theola (Davenport) Williams posted at Finding Eliza, saying, "Found my in-laws in rural Bowie Arkansas in the 1940 Census. They were just starting their family. Costs were low and so were wages."

Nancy Fermazin presents What I Learned from the 1940 Census about My Mom and Dad posted at CASH SEEKER 2.

Joan Hill presents Carnival of Genealogy, #117: 1940! posted at Roots'n'Leaves, saying, "Fanciful Jasmine Jasia, secret head of Cog, lays on an assignment that goes Pouf!"

Janet Iles presents Janet the researcher: Carnival of Genealogy - Finds on the 1940 US census posted at Janet the researcher, saying, "Not wanting to be left out of the excitement about the release of the 1940 United States census, Janet decided to find two great uncles on the census. This led her to learning more about each of them."

Susan A. Kitchens presents Articles | 1940 Census and an interview with Mama posted at Family Oral History Using Digital Tools, saying, "Who knew that those two little boxes could elicit SO many stories? I used the 1940 Census as an oral history conversation sparker with my mother. This post describes the entire process — from working with the census, interview set-up, recording on an iPad, to some of the topics that came up. And, of course, the amazing wealth of info that emerged from those two little boxes on the census."

Carol presents 117th Carnival of Genealogy, 1940! Fibbin' Fun posted at Reflections From the Fence, saying, "I have barely had time to search the 1940, but, I have managed to find a few of our direct ancestors. So, my submission ends up being a study of my finds so far from the 1940 census. Rather, it is a study of the fibs I have found in the 1940 census, so far."

Sherry Stocking Kline presents Carnival of Genealogy – Carrie Breneman Jones posted at Family Tree Writer, saying, "This photo of my grandmother, Carrie Esther Breneman Jones is one of my favorites, as it looks like my grandma as I remember her looking. And, she looks like she was having a good time with whoever was taking the photograph as well. My Grandma Carrie was a very 'crafty' lady who loved to crochet, paint, and make things with her hands!"

Cynthia Shenette presents A Window in Time, April 11, 1940 posted at Heritage Zen:, saying, "Have you ever wished you could travel back in time? Dust off your saddlebacks, and return with me to the day in 1940 when the census enumerator came to call..."

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. Wasn't it wonderful? I really enjoyed it and was quite entertained by the fictional entries we had this time around too. If you haven't looked for your family in the 1940 Census yet, maybe you'll be inspired to now. Great writing everyone!

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: Reading! Do you come from a family of readers? What kinds of reading material was typically found around your house when you were growing up... fiction books, comic books, poetry, the Bible, magazines, cookbooks, prayer books??? What do you like to read now? Do you give books as gifts? Are you a fan of eBooks? The lazy, hazy days of summer are right around the corner and many of us will be reaching for a good book to read on the hammock or on the beach. What do you recommend? Write up your thoughts and your family's history of reading and submit your article to the Carnival of Genealogy... that will give us all some good reading for the summer days ahead! Deadline for submissions is June 1st.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Feast Day of St Wojciech

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:32:06 PDT

I have an article posted on The Catholic Gene today in honor of St Wojciech, the first patron saint of Poland. I have several family ties to the saint, a church founded under his patronage, and his feast day. An article, written by Rev. Mark A. Borkowski, tells of the history of the saint and the church founded in his honor here in Detroit. You can read about it here.

Shades: Birthday Edition--Captured Moments of FootnoteMaven

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:16:17 PDT

It's a Holiday! Today is the birthday of footnoteMaven, editor/publisher of the award-winning Shades of the Departed Online Magazine. The Shadettes and Shades-dudes Staff Writers are pleased to present this Special Birthday Edition of the magazine as a tribute to their dear friend. Long may your tiara sparkle, fM!

Captured Moments of footnoteMaven

When creating a scrapbook page for a dear friend, such as my dear friend fM, one must make every attempt to capture their personality as well as significant events in their lives. Of course you can't expect to capture all their significant life events or truly convey a rich personality on just one page but here are a few tricks I used in putting together my birthday tribute page to fM.

Research. I spent hours re-reading the early blog posts on footnotemaven.com to pull photos and key words from her childhood years. She manages to write great stories without revealing much about herself so she didn't make it easy. But I persisted.
Decide on a theme. Here again, fM didn't make this easy. She's quite a dichotomy, you see. She was born a country girl and grew up on a farm but she evolved into quite the glamour gal... one who favors Victorian fashions. Now how ya gonna combine those images??? I did it by choosing a background paper and added a border effect (with scrolls like she favors on her blog) from the digital scrapbook kit, "Vintage Farm". Then I selected frames for the photos I chose to use, antique wooden frames for her childhood pics and gold filigree frames for the Victorian years. I know, it sounds weird but it all works if you use color to unify everything.
Create Wordles. A picture is worth a thousand words, that's true, and every picture tells a story. But sometimes you don't have the right pictures to convey the words to write the story that you want to tell. That's where Wordles come in handy. I made 2 lists of words, one for her Missouri life and one for her glamorous blogging life. I created a Wordle for each set of words and picked colors and a font that worked with the background image and both the farm and glamour lifestyle... silver, gold, pewter, bronze.
Assemble the page. The next step is just a matter of putting the photos in the frames and placing them on the page with the Wordles. I also dropped in fM's logo from her blog and put in drop shadows on the elements and voila! One birthday tribute scrapbook page for a very dear friend.

Happy Birthday, fM! I hope you like the page. Hugs and kisses to your on your birthday and prayers for healing are on the way too!

Visit the blogs linked below to read more and feel free to join the party by posting a tribute on your blog and adding the link in the comments.

The Educated Genealogist, by Sheri Fenley
The Family Curator by Denise Levenick

For Your Family Story, by Caroline Pointer

Geneablogie, by Craig Manson

Healing Brush, by Janine Smith

A Sense of Face, by Rebecca Fenning

Shades: Birthday Edition -- A Teacup Throne at Moultrie Creek, by Denise Olson

What's Past is Prologue, by Donna Pointkouski

A great big thanks goes out to all my fellow conspirators in this. I'm so glad you included me in your little plot!

Sources:
Swirly Frames from Happyscrappy
Page background, border, and wooden frames from "Vintage Farm", Studio Manu Scrapbook Graphics
Word graphics from Wordle.net
Photos: FootnoteMaven blog (www.footnotemaven.com), used without her permission (I hope she doesn't kill me for this ;-)
Birthday graphic: footonoteMaven. "Earth Day - Birthday Graphic." footnoteMaven, 22 April 2009.www.footnotemaven.com/2009/04/earth-day-birthday.html

My Family in the 1940s

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:00:12 PDT

The decade of the 1940s was significant for many reasons, not the least of which was WWII. But there were other significant events that occurred in my family during that decade too. I've created scrapbook pages for some of these events over the years. In fact, I think I've created more scrapbook pages for 1940s events than for any other decade. Here is a video showcase of my pages (no audio)...

The 1940 Census provides us with much information about our families and the neighborhoods they lived in. I look forward to learning more about my extended family members as I come across them in the weeks and months to come.

My Family in the 1940 U.S. Census, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:00:04 PDT

Right after I downloaded the images for the 1940 Census ED for my father's family, I did the same for my mother's family. I wasn't looking for any particular information for this family but what I learned from the census record I found amazed me.

At first I was a bit disappointed that my Aunt Helen was the person designated as the one providing the information. I was really hoping it would be my grandmother. But upon further refection, it was probably better that it was Helen. My grandmother spoke very broken English and I'm not sure how well she understood the spoken word.

As the census record indicates, my mom and her sister Helen and brother Sigmund all completed the 12th grade. I knew this so it came as no surprise. The surprise for me was seeing the educational level of my grandparents. Grandma Sophie completed 8 years of school. I don't know what I expected to see here because I have no idea what school options were available to her in the village she came from in Poland. It is a bit sobering to think that someone with only an 8th grade education would leave her family and friends and immigrate to a foreign land (at age 19) where they didn't know the customs or speak the language. My hat was off to her long ago for her bravery, now I'm saluting her, bowing out of respect, and shaking my head in amazement at how well she survived and prospered in this foreign land given her meager education.

Even more astonishing to me was the educational level of my Grandpa Wicek. FIVE years of schooling! This explains some things, raises new questions, and makes me all the more admiring of him. He was the president of one of the city's largest baking companies of the time. How did he do it with so little education? He didn't speak English and he could barely read. I recently listened to an audio recording I made of my mom several years ago. On that recording she talked about reading the newspaper to her father. I assumed she did that because he couldn't read English. It never occurred to me that he might not have been able to read much at all. Now I think that might have been the case. Wow. How he became such a successful entrepreneur is beyond me. Long hours, hard work... sure, sure. That goes without saying. But you can't build a baking company by just spending long hours kneading bread.

Grandpa, you rocked.

Here is a scrapbook page I created of my mom's family with photos taken as close to the year 1940 as I could find.

I've created scrapbook pages for other family events from the 1940s. Those will be coming up next...

My Family in the 1940 U.S. Census, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:42:51 PDT

Like all my genealogy friends, I was excited for the launch of the 1940 U.S. Census. I didn't really expect to discover any new family members but I did have one question that I was hoping to have answered for me. That question was, "How much education did my dad have?" All in all, it doesn't really matter. It's just that education is a subject near and dear to my heart and I've long wondered about his.

My dad died when I was just 17 years old and as a kid I never thought to ask him how many years of schooling he had. I just assumed he graduated from high school. Didn't everybody? (It was expected of me and the rest of the kids in my neighborhood.) Years later, my mom told me that my dad told her he only went to school through the 6th grade and then he had to drop out of school to sell newspapers on a street corner to help support the family. I found this a little hard to believe. My dad wasn't exactly a scholar but he read the newspaper daily, checked repair manuals out of the library whenever necessary (and used them!), and for all the years I can remember he subscribed to and enjoyed reading Popular Science magazine. That is not exactly scholarly stuff but it's more than most 6th graders I know could handle.

Before she died, I interviewed my Aunt Mary Jane, my dad's youngest sister and the only one of the siblings to graduate from high school. She insisted that my dad finished the 8th grade before he dropped out of school. And she confirmed the story about him selling newspapers on the street corner to support the family.

Then I remembered my mom telling me that after she graduated from the 8th grade at Assumption BVM Catholic School she went on to 9th grade at Condon Junior High, a Detroit Public School. She'd said she was bored most of that year because the curriculum in the Catholic school was so much harder and that she already knew everything they were teaching at the 9th grade level in the public school. I'm fairly certain that my dad attended a Catholic school as well so if he did finish the 8th grade he might have had more like an average 9th grader's education. Now that would make more more sense to me.

So April 2nd arrives and the first ED I downloaded was my dad's family. I was hoping that someone reliable was giving information to the census taker and I was in luck. My Grandma Carrie was designated as the person providing the information. Moms know how much education their kids have. Even a mom of 11 would know that information for each of her children. Of that I'm certain.

So what did I find? My Aunt Mary Jane was right. My dad is listed as having completed 8 years of school. That makes sense to me and I was pleased to finally have an answer to my question. As usual, when genealogists find one bit of new information it generates even more questions and such is the case for me. I know how much education my dad had but what about his siblings? There was a wide range of education levels among them. Why was that?

Uncle Eddie and Aunt Genevieve completed the 10th grade. Wow, I would never have guessed that they were the most educated members of the family. (Three other siblings had already moved out of the house. One of them completed 8 years of school, one 9 years, and one sibling I still haven't found.) Auntie Florence, who went on to have a rough life, only completed 5 years of school and was working as a waitress in a beer garden. Sadly, that pretty much sums up her life. Auntie Ceily's education was equal to my dad's. She completed the 8th grade as well. One also would have guessed she had more education than that based on how she lived her life. I was only a little surprised that my Grandma Carrie completed 7 years of school. She attended a Catholic school which begs the question, why didn't she complete the 8th grade? And then there's my paternal grandfather. He had no formal schooling at all growing up in Poland. I also found his sister in the 1940 Census and she didn't have any formal schooling either. Perhaps they didn't have a school in their little village.

All this information was quite enlightening. I didn't think I'd learn all that much from the records in this census but I'm pleasantly surprised by what I've found. Below is a scrapbook page I created about my dad. One photo of him was taken the year before he dropped out of school. The other photo of him is the closest I have to the year 1940 when the census was taken.

So much for my dad and his family. Next up I'll take a look at my mom and her family...

Carnival of Genealogy, 116th Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:06:28 PDT

Welcome to the April 4, 2012 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for this edition is: Women's History Month! This has become an annual tradition here at the COG, to honor and remember women from our family trees. This month you will meet some more amazing women who are fondly remembered and greatly admired. This is such a great way to pay tribute to the women who came before us. Come along now and meet the women we've chosen to share with you. I think you'll like them! Pour yourself a... let's see, Spring is here so let's launch the season with an Arnold Palmer. Come on then. Bring your drink. The carnival is back in town!

Dorene presents Augusta Florentine Jaensch Piehl, 1858-1906 posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, saying, "Dorene from Ohio tells us about her great great grandmother, Augusta Piehl, who came to the U.S. from Germany in 1880."

Carol presents Lorena Estelle Eley Norsworthy Dews Harlow Lenahan Collins::116th COG posted at Reflections From the Fence, saying, "Come on over to Reflections and meet my great grandmother, married 5, yes FIVE times. She outlived 3, divorced one and no one knows what happened to hubby # 5. And, even after researching her since 1991, I just this week discovered a little surprise while writing this COG entry. Who says your research is done?? HAHA. Lorena is waiting, come meet her."

Pauleen Cass presents Carnival of Genealogy – 116th edition – Catherine McCorkindale posted at Family history across the seas.

Frances Owen presents What did Mary do on Monday? Women’s work (Picture/Story for Women's History Month.) posted at A Rebel Hand, saying, "My great-grandmother smiles at the camera as she hangs out the washing. But washday was 'the most hated task' most women had to carry out in the 19th century. I can machine wash a load of dirty clothes in less than an hour. What was it women had to do that took up the whole day? And what equipment did they use?"

Susan Clark presents Lives Entwined - A Friend of the Family posted at Nolichucky Roots, saying, "While reflecting about women's lives this month I realized how key friendships had been in my own life and those of many of my female relatives. While I hold my family most dear, I could not have managed the challenging times of my life without the support and love of friends. I suspect my grandmother felt that way about her friend."

Linda McCauley presents Documenting the Details: Aunt Harriet posted at Documenting the Details, saying, "Harriet married later in life and had no children. I wanted to tell her story because she has no descendants to do it."

Lisa Wallen Logsdon presents COG 116 - Women's History Month: Levina Newby posted at Old Stones Undeciphered, saying, "If I have an ancestor who wants very much to be remembered by her descendants, Levina is certainly that ancestor! This is the second time I've had to ask myself, concerning my 3rd great grandmother Levina, "Just what are the chances of THAT?"."

Jasia presents Ceily, My Role Model posted at :: C R E A T I V E G E N E ::, saying, "Come meet this woman who played a special role in my life. I looked up to her and admired her and wanted to be just like her when I grew up. She brought sunshine and every kind of happiness to my childhood."

Janet Iles presents Janet the researcher: Carnival of Genealogy: Women's History Month 2012 posted at Janet the researcher, saying, "While sharing what she knows about her great-grandmother Sarah Dudley, nee Mucklow, Janet realizes that there are some records that she needs to obtain. Will she ever be able to prove that Sarah had 22 children?"

Nancy presents A Biography from the Heart: Emma Bickerstaff Meinzen posted at My Ancestors and Me, saying, "Sometimes we write bare bones biographies with names, dates, and locations. Sometimes - the best times - we write biographies from the heart."

Cynthia Shenette presents The Opal Ring posted at Heritage Zen:, saying, "My Aunt Helen was a successful business woman, but I wonder what her life would have been like if she had chosen a different path and been allowed to follow her heart..."

Joan Hill presents Carnival of Genealogy, #116: Picture and Memories of Elizabeth foss McPherson posted at Roots'n'Leaves, saying, "The ever changing mist of childhood memories merge with family stories to bring life and form to my grandmother Elizabeth Alfreda McPherson, nee Foss."

Julie Goucher presents Anglers Rest: Carnival Of Genealogy 116 - Picture/Story for Women's History Month. posted at Anglers Rest, saying, "The story of Emma Jane West."

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. I sure hope you enjoyed meeting these wonderful women as much as I did! This is one of my favorite editions of the COG each year because the participants always do such a fantastic job of making the women they honor come to life. They are born again on the pages of our blogs and somewhere in the heavens they are no doubt blushing over the fuss being made of them. Here's to you, ladies, we honor you and we won't let you be forgotten!

Once again I find myself having to apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced in submitting your articles via the blogcarnival.com web site. It appears they are still having technical difficulties over there. If you are ever in doubt about whether your submission has been received, please don't hesitate to send me an email to give me a head's up (imjasia at yahoo dot com). So far, the articles all seem to be coming through even though there are no emails going out to confirm that. I appreciate your patience through this difficult (and hopefully SOON to be over) time.

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: 1940! Have you found a family member in the newly released 1940 U.S. Census? If so, what have you learned about them? No family member in the 1940 Census? No problem. Write what you know of your family back in 1940 anyway. Let's take the COG back to 1940 and create a history lesson that brings our families to life! The deadline for submissions will be May 1st.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Ceily, My Role Model

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:32:20 PDT

My Auntie Ceily was my favorite aunt. I've mentioned her before in posts on this blog and others but I decided it was time to honor her with an article all her own for Women's History Month. November 2012 will mark 100 years since her birth. I'd say that's a good reason to make this her year to be recognized and remembered.

Cecilia was born on November 18, 1912 to Jozef and Karolina Laska in Detroit, Michigan. She was baptized a few days later, on November 23, at St Francis D'Assisi Catholic Church, in Detroit's west side Polish neighborhood. Her Godparents were Jan Lipa (1st cousin once removed), and Sophia Lipa Soldatek (her mother's sister). She was the 4th of Jozef and Karolina's 11 children, having 2 older brothers and 1 older sister. My father would be born 21 months after her.

Cecilia, affectionately known as Ceily, attended St Francis grade school, presumably through the 8th grade. Like all of her siblings except one (Mary Jane, the baby), she did not graduate from high school. I don't know if she even went beyond the 8th grade in terms of formal schooling. With so many siblings in the house, she was no doubt expected to help out with domestic chores. At the time of the 1930 U.S. Census, she was 17 years old and still living at home. There was no occupation listed for her at that time.

Ceily met the love of her life right in her own neighborhood and she married him in 1935. John Sagovac was born August 11, 1911 in Chippawa, Welland, Ontario, Canada to his parents Eli and Cadie (nee Segecie) Sagovac. He was the second born of their 12 children. The parents immigrated from Nova Gradiska, Yugoslavia, which means they weren't Polish. And they weren't Catholic either. This must have made for a difficult situation for Ceily. She and John applied for a marriage license on September 20, 1935 and were married in a civil ceremony a short time later. I was told by other family members that she and John eloped but I haven't been able to verify that. John was employed as a pattern maker apprentice according to the 1930 U.S. Census. I believe he was in the pattern making business all of his life.

In 1939, Ceily and John had a son (living) and in 1942 they had a daughter, Carolyn (1942-2002). In between the births of their two children, Ceily's mother, Karolina died (September 1940) unexpectedly from a heart attack. A few years later, in January 1949, her father died of heart attack as well. So the 1940s were a decade of births and deaths for Ceily as well as time spent at home raising her family. In March of 1955, Ceily and John had their marriage blessed at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Dearborn, Michigan. Shortly after that, I was born and Ceily became my Godmother.

The 1960s were a decade of marriages and grandchildren for Ceily. Her son married in 1962 and I believe her daughter married in 1963. From 1963 through 1966 she became the proud grandmother of 4 grandchildren. I believe it was about that same time that she sold some of their property for a high school to be built and she became a city council member. Some of the streets in her residential neighborhood were named for her grandchildren. How cool is that!

In addition to her civic and family activities, Ceily was also a member of the Polish Falcons. She liked to dance and was a good dancer.

Ceily's husband John died in 1977. A few years later, in 1982, she was blessed with her 5th grandchild, a second grandson. Sadly, her first grandson died in 1987. A couple years after that, in April 1989, Ceily herself died of lung cancer.

I have nothing but fond memories of Auntie Ceily. She was my Godmother and to me she was almost like a fairy Godmother, granting my special wishes. She would always phone my mother before Christmas or my birthday to see what special gift I might like. She gave me some of the best gifts; fancy dresses from Macy's or Nordstrom's in Chicago, the biggest and best Easter basket filled to over flowing with lots of candy... especially chocolate, and one year for Christmas she even gave me a Barbie Dream House! I absolutely adored her.

I remember Ceily as an elegant woman. She had more refined taste than anyone else in the family. My mom said that Ceily once told her that if she saw 2 similar items for sale she would always buy the more expensive one because there was something better about that one. She was a lady who valued quality. She dressed very well and even wore a signature fragrance, Chanel No.5. To this day whenever I smell that scent I think of her. But for all her refinement, she was very down to earth and kind to all. I have nothing but happy memories of her.

Dear Auntie Ceily, I honor you this Women's History Month for being thoughtful, generous, inspiring, and a real class act. You had a positive influence on those around you, especially me, and left us with wonderful memories. You were the woman I most admired when I was growing up. What a wonderful role model you were. God bless you.

I'm In!

noreply@blogger.com (Jasia) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:45:08 PDT

Yesterday I mailed in my state income tax return and with that I am officially done with my taxes for another year. Yeah!

D'ya know what that means? It means I am now free to work on the 1940 Census indexing project when it starts in just 12 days. Knowing myself, as I do, I knew that the indexing would become my distraction to procrastinate from working on my tax return. I knew I would inevitably end up doing my taxes April 16 & 17 (deadline is April 17 this year) and sweating it out. Never a good way to do things. This is much better. Now I can index to my heart's content and not worry about running up to the tax filing deadline. :-) So, I'm in!

I am looking forward to finding some of my family members in the 1940 Census. I don't anticipate learning anything all that earth shattering but there are few questions I'd like answers to and I think the census just might help me out.

I have another genealogy project in process. It's the one I identified as my New Year's Resolution... to transcribe some of the audio recordings I have of my mom. I struggled with this one from the beginning. The transcription work was T E D I O U S to say the least. It was very time consuming and I felt like I would never get it done. Then, after a great suggestion from some of my Google+ friends, I borrowed a foot pedal from my dear friend and that has made all the difference. I wouldn't exactly say I'm zooming through it now but the project is moving along at a reasonable pace and I hope to finish with the recordings in the next month or so.

I haven't been doing a lot of genealogy research lately but I do occasionally do an online look-up here and there hoping to find and fill in some holes in the family tree. I haven't had a lot of success but then I haven't put in a great deal of effort either. The weather here in Michigan has been soooo nice for the last week or so that I've found it hard to sit at my desk to work on my taxes, write a blog post, or do transcription. In fact, the sun is shining and it's in the 70s right now. I think I'll head outside and take Kaj for a walk and enjoy this lovely day.

Cześć!