Google Chrome  and Mozilla Firefox have a nice feature that allows you to add custom search engines to your browser that can be tied to a short-hand keyword. For example, in both my versions of Firefox and Chrome, I just need to type “w Poland” in my address bar and I will be taken to the “Poland” page on Wikipedia.

Here is how you set that up in both browsers:

Google Chrome

In Chrome, your first step is to click on the “wrench” icon at the top-right and select “Options.”  On the first tab, Basics, there is a section called “Search.” Inside of that section is a button named “Manage Search Engines…” Click on that button.

Once you’re inside the new settings tab, you will see a list of default search engines and then a list of “other” search engines. You will be adding Wikipedia to your “other” list. There are 3 boxes at the bottom of the “other” search engine list. One for Search Engine name, one for the browser keyword, and one to tell the browser how to search.

You can see I already have Wikipedia entered into my list along with some other sites. To add add Wikipedia’s quick search to your browser type these into the 3 boxes:

• In the first box, enter Wikipedia
• In the second box, enter a shorthand keyword you would like to use. I personally use “w”
• In the last box, enter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox’s process is, in most cases, much easier. Firefox, by default, comes with the English Wikipedia search engine installed. Though, to enable the keyword, you will need to add it. To do this, click on the drop-down arrow on Firefox’s search box and select “Manage Search Engines…”

Once you have the Search Engine window open, select the “Wikipedia (en)” entry and click “Edit Keyword…”

That opens the “Edit Keyword” window. Inside of that text box, type in your preferred keyword, such as “w”

Hit “Ok” and close the windows. Now when you type “w Poland” or ”w Milwaukee, Wisconsin” into your address bar, you should be taken to the correct Wikipedia page.

If you don’t currenty use either of these browsers, download them and give them a try.

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox

Me, preparing for future genealogy research.

I have sometimes thought about this question. Why does genealogy interest me so much? I was never really much into history classes. I usually did enough in them just to get by, even in college when I was already doing some genealogy research. I remember being bored out of my skull in my US History class and also my Western Civilization class. Now, I absorb as many history TV shows and documentaries that I can. The key for me seems to somehow tie the history to my family tree. I guess it makes the history seem more relatable.  Though, I have always had a small interest in “local” history, which is similar to history related to my family tree. Local history has to do with my local area, be it my hometown or even my house.

The other reason I think I enjoy genealogy so much is I get to problem solve and work with data. I’ve noticed over the last few years at my job that I’m a pretty good problem solver. I am able to think outside the box and rule out different possibilities until I come to pretty safe conclusion. With data, I’ve always been a data junkie. You can show me a collection of data on almost any mundane thing and I’ll be excited to graph that data and look at it in different ways. I seem to have a knack for noticing patterns and other small fluctuations in streams of data which allows me to pick out certain things. I’m pretty sure I get that ability from my dad. You could rarely get anything past him as he would notice even small changes in how things were on a normal day.

For example, there was this program I ran across many years ago called Moodstats. It doesn’t look to be active anymore since the main site isn’t working. It was primarily for tracking you mood using a number from 1 to 10. You do this everyday and then after awhile you could use that data to see how your mood changed. The cool thing was, you could also make your own tracking options like Creativity, Stress, and even Hours of Sleep. I was even excited to play around with that data. Sometimes I love opening up some old document or census data and just browsing through it and seeing all of the patterns. These patterns can sometimes tell a lot, like how groups of families spread out or how people immigrated together, etc.

The final reason is probably on everyone’s list. I love breaking down the mystery of myself, so to speak. Every piece of data I uncover and ancestor I discover creates a new picture of me or my wife and daughter. This life-long project will never end, but it never gets boring because every new item I find directly relates to me.

Why do you think genealogy interests you so much? If you do a post, link it in the comments and I’ll create a new post in the near future with a list of everyone’s entries.

I haven’t been posting much lately since I haven’t had a lot of time for research. The holidays are busy with work and..well..holiday stuff. There are a few other things going on that are making it hard to find the time. I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and a wonderful start to 2012.

FRANK ZALEWSKI

Frank Zalewski, 82, of 2630 N. Buffum st., was found dead on the floor of his home late Friday afternoon by his son, [my great-grandfather] Joseph, a police officer, who came to visit him. He had been living alone since his wife died two years ago. Death was due to natural causes, according to coroner’s assistants.

Mr. Zalewski was born in Germany and came to this country 51 years ago. He worked for the department of public works for 39 years, retiring six years ago. He and his wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1935. Funeral services will be held at 8:30 a.m. at St.  Casimir’s church, with burial in Holy Cross cemetery.

Survivors include two sons, Joseph and Frank, jr., and five daughters, Mrs. Angeline Pierzchalski, Mrs. Mary Gierszewski, Mrs. Frances Cybela, Mrs. Helen Stroinski and Mrs. Agnes Walczak.

You can actually view the obituary in the newspaper using Google’s News Archive website. I found it when I searched for “Zalewski” in their archives. Fortunately, he had a larger obituary that was picked up by Google’s character recognition software. Most of the normal obituaries aren’t picked up.

© 2011 - Kaja Gwincińska

After some research, I think I’ve traced the marriage of my great-great grandparents, Frank Zalewski & Anna Lindner, to Parafia św. Barbary w Świętem (or the Parish of St. Barbara at Święte.) According to a translation of their Polish Wikipedia entry:

The parish was founded in about 1300 by the Teutonic Knights. During the Thirteen Years’ War the church was destroyed and the parish declined. The present wooden church was built in 1723 on the land of the owner of the village – Waclaw Kozlowski. The last thorough renovation of the church took place in the 1990s.

Also according to their (wonderful) website, this church is the largest wooden structure in the area and one of the largest in Poland.

Their website has a great photo gallery of the church, inside & out, including the adjacent cemetery. They also have a very cool gallery of the cemetery on All Saints Day, November 1st, 2011. The photo above is from that gallery. Click on it to view more photos from that day.

It’s very cool to see the actual church from across the world that your somewhat distant ancestors were married in and baptised some of their children in.

Here is my translation. You can find the original entry by visiting the University of Warsaw’s website that allows you to view the original book with a Firefox plugin. You can also view it on this site, without a plugin, though the site is in Polish so you may need some translation.

The translation is a work-in-progress and is obviously not completely perfect. I am grateful for some help from Al at Al’s Polish-American Genealogy, who has translated many entries himself. I will mark the words or phrases that I am confident are wrong or are not even translated as I could not find any information on them, with italics. The rest, while they may not flow very well, are mostly right and just need some small tweaking. Some of the diacritics on the letters did not copy over, I plan to fix those once I have some time. Any errors in the translations are completely my own.

A few terms that may be confusing are: morg: a unit of land measurement; in this area 1 morg = 0.631 acres - wlók: a unit of land measurement used in Poland, was generally about 30 morgs, but this can vary, depending on what part of Poland and what time-frame one is concerned with. Generally 30 morgs was considered a full-sized farm, big enough to support a family. There are others, though you can find most definitions here if you get confused.

Święte, In German: Schwenten, documented as: Swenten, Hennyngesdorff, Hennigisdorf, Henningisdorg, Svente, about 1400 Heiligsdorf, Hoenigsdorf, a knightly estate with a Catholic parish church, Grudziądz district, post office Goczałki (about 2.5km), together with rectory (3 houses, 52 inhabitants), 605 hectares  (457 under cultivation, 40 meadow, 8 forest); in 1885 14 houses, 40 homes, 231 inhabitants (177 Catholic, 54 Evangelical Protestant). School with 3 classes symultanna (220 students and 2 teachers). Church building called by the name of Saint Barbary, private patronage; In 1867 the parish (Deanery of Lasin) had 1150 souls, and in 1889: 1347. The composition of the parish, shall enter: Święte, Huta, Kozlowo, Krzywki, Lessenwalde, Nowy Folwark, Waldówko, Szalasy, Babki, Dohnastaedt, Goczałki, Osówko, Tymawa, M. Tymawa, Bellingswalde, Goryn, Kisielice, Spikora, Waldowo, Sobiewola and Limza.

Święte already existed before the arrival of the Crusaders and, according to the legend, took its name from here, the locals, as zealous Christians, suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Gentiles. When the Crusaders on the court originally founded a new village here, the court removed its ancient name and took from his osadzcy Henning, the name of Hennyngesdorf. But the name was not accepted by the people (refer to Ketrzynski “The Nation of Poland”, str. 98). Therefore, during the time of Pawla of Russdorf (1422-1441) returned the name of Swiete.

For the first time in 1314 it mentions privilege w. m. Karl von Trier, issued for Łasin. In 1366 renews w. m. Winrich von Kniprode privilege of the village, having a cover with peat bog 101 wlok and 11 morg boundaries account for: Waldowo, Szonowo, Lasin i Rogozno. The mayor has 7 vloka free for Chelmno law and collects 1/3 of court fines, 2/3 the law. The pastor has 6 free wlók; the rest of the inhabitants of wlok also possess almost ohelm. hereditarily, however, have every year on the Saint Martin to levy rent half of the fine and 2 hens. If he showed more or less wlók, this applies to it and rent. Dan Rogoźno, which is komturship, or aldermanship owned Swiete.

In 1369, the Mayor gives Jan Rogozinski or Wichholz, commune head in Hennyngsdorf, 13 1/2 morgs in the woods in addition to the orchards. In 1376, Jeske or Swenten occurs, ie the Holy Jasko (Ketrz., 1 c., 124).

In 1414, loss of the Teutonic Knights sing of Scripture, the village suffered 2226 grzywny worth of damage, also 3 people were killed.

The rent book from the year 1435 shows 99 wlók, the Mayor of whom has 7, and parish has 6; rents were 88, also an inn. In the year 1442 there were 101 wlók; 7 office of village leader, 6 ​​parish priest, 22 empty.

In the year 1454, there is Jocusch or Swenten, ie the Holy Jakusz (Kętrz., 1 c.).

In the year 1599, Święte acquires and Wałdówko the widow of Starosta of Radzyń, Hugonie Dabrowskim, Katarzyna of Dzialynskich from the heirs after Mik. Kostce de Szembek.

Around 1667 Jan Dabrowski holds the goods, his father had before him, Feliks. Beware inspector found a church destroyed, does not know whether it was the only parish or chapel; claimed it was a brick foundation. By the lake lay a cemetery. It was said that the church had the title of Saint Barbara and that the parish had four wlók but no one knew how to mark their boundaries. On the spot of the church a cross stood tall (refer to p. 489). Already at that time the wlók was converted into a rural manor. According to the fare paid for the Święte simple 12 grzywny in the year 1722 was the heir of Kozlowski, who was committed for so long used the role of parish rectory. Łasin to pay annually in 60 florians by his son Waclaw K. heir to the Święte and Goczalkach, asked the bishop of the parish priest, appointed to him 4 wlok, partly overgrown chróstem, issued the church in 1736 and erected a wall of Prussia parsonage. The first priest Adempski was that in the year 1733 was institution.

After Kozłowski took over the goods in about the year 1741 the local judge of Chelmno Adam Kosowski took possession of the land. He is sued pomieniony parish process for the rest of the collected wlok and won it, such that once again included the rectory 6 wlok valued as a privilege of the Teutonic Order in the year 1366, for the parish, was then six peasants in the Field of Swiete, 8 in Krzywce, 6 in Wałdówku, 2 in Józefów, in addition to five homesteads in Lessenwalde.

In the year 1777 belonged to the local key: Święte , Huta, Kozlowo, Krzywka and Waldówko, 89 wlok total 6 1/2 morgs, between 20 morgs that of meadows, 20 wlok forest, a vegetable garden and fruit by 3 morgs, lake by 9 morgs, framing wilderness of a wlok and 24 morgs, an inn, windmill, in addition the judiciary, the right to hunting, brewing beer and patronage of the church. Święte itself included 57 wlok and 6 1/2 acres and brought in, together with the forest and garden, 596 talar 88 grzywny net profit.

In year 1786 Franciszek Leski owned Święte and the colony of (the same name) Święte. The same was purchased by them subhasty Karol Ferdynand of Gersdorff for 20,200 talar (refer to Gesch. d. Graud. Kr. v. Froehlich, str. 308—311). Ks. Fr.

Słownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego – Warsaw [1895, vol. 11, p.694]. Retrieved from http://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny/Tom_XI/694 on 8 Nov 2011.

MRS. AUGUSTA LAST

Mrs. Augusta Last died Sunday morning, July 14, just 11 days after observing her 100th birthday. She was in good health and was listening to church services on the radio at the home of her daughter at Grafton when she suddenly hemorrhaged. The rescue squad was called and she was transferred to St. Alphonsus hospital where she was pronounced dead at 9:30 Sunday morning.

Mrs. Last was a semi-invalid for the past five years after breaking her hip in a fall at her home at 312 Van Buren St., Port Washington. Since then she had been alternating her visits and living with her two daugthers, Mrs. Arthur (Dora) Thielke, 13th Ave., Grafton and Mrs. Leonard (Ella) Didier in Port Washington.

The deceased, nee Augusta Luedtke, was born in Germany on July 3, 1863. She and her husband, the late Carl Last, had farmed two miles south of Port Washington on the Lake Shore Rd. in the tow of Grafton until August of 1926 when they moved to the Van Buren St. home. Mr. Last died the following summer, on June 5, 1927. She continued to live at her home until suffering the hip injury. She had transferred from the Didier home to the Thielke residence last November.

Survivors in addition to Mrs. Thielke and Mrs. Last are three sons, William and August of Port Washington, and Walter of Milwaukee; two other daughters, Mrs. August (Ida) Schlueter of West Bend and Mrs. Helen Kibbel of Port Washington; one daughter-in-law, three sons-in-law, 24 grandchildren, 58 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren.

The Rev. Christopher Boland, pastor of Frieden’s Evangelical and Reformed church in Port Washington officiated at the funeral services at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16.

Burial was in Union Cemetery, Port Washington.

Funeral arrangements were handled by the Poole funeral home.

[Pinterest is] a “virtual pinboard.” Creative types often use actual pinboards or corkboards for inspiration on projects, adhering to it magazine clippings and printouts of images, quotations and typography; fabric swatches; cards; and other ephemera. In the business world, it’s more commonly referred to as a “vision board” but contains the same elements. With Pinterest, users – called “pinners” – can organize and “pin” photos of items they find on the Web to various boards on their page.

It may not sound exciting, but it can be pretty addicting like she says in her article. I think, for the genealogy folks, that it can be put to good use for inspiration or even collecting great old photos that you find around the web that you love. I’ve personally pinned some neat ideas for a family tree wall. I see a lot of other people using it (it seems to lean heavily female at the moment) for craft ideas, food ideas, and even fashion ideas. Another fun use is pinning places you’d love to visit or even people that inspire you. Maybe it will create some discussion on the site.

Here is my page if you’d like to browse around. The site looks to be invite-only right now, but I think I can invite you if you’d like. Just leave me a comment on here.

[Photo: AuntyCookie@flickr]

This is the obituary for my great-great grandmother, Emma Jane (FIRMENICH) CORRIGAN in from April 28, 1941. I’m not sure exactly which newspaper since I found the article in my grandmother’s collection and she didn’t note it. If I had to guess, it’s probably from a local Ashland, Wisconsin newspaper.

MRS. COOK, 67, OLD RESIDENT DIES MONDAY

Wife Of Former Street Commissioner Succumbs To Long Illness

Mrs. Emma Cook, 67, of 109 North Ellis avenue, a resident of Ashland and the Chequamegon region for the past 59 years and wife of the late George S. Cook, former city street commissioner, died Monday evening at her home following a lingering illness.

The former Emma Firmenich was born in Wrightstown, Wisconsin, on June 29, 1873, but moved with her parents to Ashland in 1882. The Firmenich family lived in Ashland for a few years and then moved to Sanborn.

She was married to Thomas Corrigan in 1892 at Sanborn where the couple lived until 1905. They then moved to Ashland and lived near the cemetery on Sanborn avenue for several years. Mr. Corrigan died in 1916, but his wife continued to live in their home until 1926 when she moved to Milwaukee. Six years later she returned to the city and in 1932 was married to Mr. Cook in Ashland. Mr. Cook died on December 5, 1940.

She was a member of the St. Agnes church, the Altar Society and the Old Settlers’ Club.

Survivors are twelve children, Edwin and Sadie of Ashland; Maurice, Clayton and Mrs. E. H. Olson of Iron Mountain, Michigan; Henry, Mrs. Norbert Enders (Lenore) and Mrs. Ed Strelka (Ethel) of Milwaukee; Mrs. Harry Nantais (Beatrice) of Dearborn, Michigan; Frank of Rivera, Florida; Mrs. Joseph Maurer and Mrs. Mary Foster of Detroit; four sisters, Mrs. A. F. Anderson and Mrs. Joe Fabro of Ashland, Mrs. William McKindley and Mrs. Thomas Gorman of Grand Coulee, Washington; and one brother, Henry Firmenich, Baudette, Minnesota.

Funeral services will be held at 8:30 a.m. Friday at the Cook home and at 9 a.m. at St. Agnes church. Interment will be in St. Agnes cemetery. The body will be removed from the Wartman Funeral Home to the Cook residence on Thursday where is will lie in state until time of services.

The site was created by Blanka Lednicka over at Czech Genealogy for Beginners, a site I didn’t know about until the other day. While the site is pretty new and doesn’t have a ton of content, yet, everything that’s posted so far is extremely helpful to anyone doing Czech research. I’m personally used it to find some really helpful translations and writing comparisons. Google Translate can only take me so far.

The blog is also currently being updated and Blanka even personally responded to some of my comments, which is very nice and has also been very helpful.

If you’re doing any Czech research, definitely bookmark Czech Genealogy for Beginners. I know I did.