Posted some musings this week over at Oh, Spusch, and I've started a subject-a-day language blog called Glossology at tumblr for Welsh, Danish, and German, with more to come if I actually manage to learn something out of it, particularly languages relevant to my genealogy search. There are two more things that I'm probably going to post over at Oh, Spusch, but given that it's 7:30, they'll probably wait until tomorrow, one about Genealogy software, and one about brick walls.
ETA: My major find today was looking up an address for Leon (and Mindel) Seneft in London based on the address their daughter Jennie gave at Ellis Island. The view of the house is here. I believe their house was the black door. #66 Lucas Street, London.
I've added that and the location of one of the other Seneft children, Jack (found on the back of a photo of my great-grandfather) to a map I'm slowly working up with all the locations I'm finding as I do my research. There's a lot I haven't added in yet, but if people are interested, here's the link.
Follow Friday:
From the Armchair Genealogist: Defining Today's Family, about how today's mixed families are even more confusing than those of the past. I'm not entirely sure I agree, except that these things are out in the open more than they were in the past, that's all.
Genealogy's Star wrote a Testimony against procrastination in genealogy that everyone should take to heart.
Olive Tree Genealogy had a great idea--You Tube & Genealogy--using You Tube (and similar sites) to see your ancestors' home towns.
The JewishGen Blog posted the final installment of the Cycle of Life: Natural Disasters series.
In my Family Tree this week:
Henrick Bergthon Bordewick and Leonharde Marie Bordewich married in Norway on the fourteenth of October, 1887.
Showing posts with label Surname-Senft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Surname-Senft. Show all posts
Friday, October 15, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Friday Genealogy Report
I spent a good portion of the day with my mother today, mostly going through old photos, and trying to "name" more of the older generation (her grandparents' siblings, mostly). It was nice to be able to spend time with her, and show her some of what I've discovered online--including the census form from 1900 that lists the Park family in Philadelphia, PA.
I also got to visit with dad, which was nice, because I found myself drawn into that side of the family tree yesterday--or rather, his dad's side. It's always been the side I've known the least about.
My grandfather was never a talkative man, specifically when it came to his childhood. And with the history his family has, I can't say I blame him. He and all his siblings were born in Frankfurt, Germany the 20's (except one), and they were Jewish. We're lucky. His dad got out and took the family with him in the early thirties, but it left a mark.
I've always known it was there, but the more I uncover in my research, the more I realize just how deep that mark goes.
* Sam, my grandfather, was only about ten or eleven when they left for France, but he remembers better than his (younger) sisters. Even his twin, Minna, says that he recalled more than she did. Likely a good thing, given the fact that the atmosphere against Jews at the time was already quite dark.
* Alex, their father, was born in what I now know was the state of Galicia. I've always known the family was from "Prussia" or thereabouts, but not much beyond that. Dora was born there, too. I'm still in the process of tracking down the names of the actual towns they were presumably from. In researching Galicia yesterday, I learned just how bad it must have been for them. The Polish nickname for the area was "Naked- and Hunger-land." Though I did learn that the Jewish towns were known for their increasing learning.
* Alex was in England during WWI, and was caught up in the anti-German movement of the time, and sent to a camp known as Camp Douglas, which was a place Germans and Prussians and other enemy aliens were kept. I had heard his family went together, but I'm not sure if that is true or not, as I have since found a picture of him alone at that camp, but addressed to his brother Jack.
I used to watch Fiddler on the Roof and think to myself, "Oh, but my Jewish family lived differently than that." After my research this week, I have to admit to being wrong all those times. The Galician Jews had a great deal of connection to their Ukraine neighbors. To the point where the Jews of both countries were probably closer to each other than their gentile neighbors. While my great-grandparents might not have been born in "Anatevka," it sounds as though their towns were probably not too far different.
It does make me sad that what they did to my family destroyed that religious conviction in my grandfather. Because of it, I lost things I know I can't even begin to understand. In going through my blogs this week, I learned something I never knew before. That yarmulke are actually labeled to record the gathering they were made for. It just makes me wonder how much else I don't know.
Just one more link for Follow Friday on somewhat the same note. The Accidental Anarchist wrote about Prejudice in his blog this week. How little we've changed...even if the names and locations have. Makes me wonder if we ever will.
Just one event in my Genealogical Calendar this week. This September 14th would have been my Hansen great-grandparents' 92nd wedding anniversary.
I also got to visit with dad, which was nice, because I found myself drawn into that side of the family tree yesterday--or rather, his dad's side. It's always been the side I've known the least about.
My grandfather was never a talkative man, specifically when it came to his childhood. And with the history his family has, I can't say I blame him. He and all his siblings were born in Frankfurt, Germany the 20's (except one), and they were Jewish. We're lucky. His dad got out and took the family with him in the early thirties, but it left a mark.
I've always known it was there, but the more I uncover in my research, the more I realize just how deep that mark goes.
* Sam, my grandfather, was only about ten or eleven when they left for France, but he remembers better than his (younger) sisters. Even his twin, Minna, says that he recalled more than she did. Likely a good thing, given the fact that the atmosphere against Jews at the time was already quite dark.
* Alex, their father, was born in what I now know was the state of Galicia. I've always known the family was from "Prussia" or thereabouts, but not much beyond that. Dora was born there, too. I'm still in the process of tracking down the names of the actual towns they were presumably from. In researching Galicia yesterday, I learned just how bad it must have been for them. The Polish nickname for the area was "Naked- and Hunger-land." Though I did learn that the Jewish towns were known for their increasing learning.
* Alex was in England during WWI, and was caught up in the anti-German movement of the time, and sent to a camp known as Camp Douglas, which was a place Germans and Prussians and other enemy aliens were kept. I had heard his family went together, but I'm not sure if that is true or not, as I have since found a picture of him alone at that camp, but addressed to his brother Jack.
I used to watch Fiddler on the Roof and think to myself, "Oh, but my Jewish family lived differently than that." After my research this week, I have to admit to being wrong all those times. The Galician Jews had a great deal of connection to their Ukraine neighbors. To the point where the Jews of both countries were probably closer to each other than their gentile neighbors. While my great-grandparents might not have been born in "Anatevka," it sounds as though their towns were probably not too far different.
It does make me sad that what they did to my family destroyed that religious conviction in my grandfather. Because of it, I lost things I know I can't even begin to understand. In going through my blogs this week, I learned something I never knew before. That yarmulke are actually labeled to record the gathering they were made for. It just makes me wonder how much else I don't know.
Just one more link for Follow Friday on somewhat the same note. The Accidental Anarchist wrote about Prejudice in his blog this week. How little we've changed...even if the names and locations have. Makes me wonder if we ever will.
Just one event in my Genealogical Calendar this week. This September 14th would have been my Hansen great-grandparents' 92nd wedding anniversary.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Genealogy Day
Well, it has been an interesting week, and an eventful day for me.
Started today by posting about an ancestor I knew little about, Gabriel Howells, over at Oh, Spusch. This is my mother's mother's mother's father, and all of the Welsh side is still more untidy than not. I've learned a few things in typing it up--mostly that it is very hard to resist the impulse to correct bad or boring writing. most of the paragraphs are two or three times longer than I would have otherwise done myself without major reason.
This part of the tree is all from Northern Wales, as far as I am aware. And the other two major things I learned about this branch are that apparently one of my Ancestors (Lewis or Lewys Edwart) was a Quaker, which I had not heard before, and that there are no women recorded in this family line before my great-great-great grandmother, Catherine Jones, Gabriel's mother.
So I set out today to try to remedy this in some way. And I may have succeeded. In looking for more information on Gabriel, I found information on his grandfather, Gabriel Hywel, and two possible children and a wife. The Family Search.org Beta site pulled up two separate records for two births to a Gabriel Howell and his wife Gwen, alternately Gwen, Gwen Howell, and Gwen Evan. All likely to be the same woman, and just variations of her name, as I have seen the same variation in things I have been sure of. The first was to an Evan Howel, and the second to a Howel Howel, who must be my g-g-g-g grandfather, because the date and location matches too well for it not to be. I need to look into it further, but I have no reason to believe the record wrong, given the date and location.
The other discovery this week is that I did more research on the paperwork I got from my dad's sister about their grandparents on their dad's side. This has always been the shortest part of my family tree because of the difficulty my grandfather had talking about his past, and the fact that none of the fathers in that line were particularly talkative about their pasts.
The paperwork is all in German (aside from the letters my grandfather wrote to get them), but they do include not only his own birth record, but also that of all his siblings, and their parents' marriage record, their birth dates and locations (I'm fairly certain of this now), and their parents (or at least three of them) names.
However, each time I glance through the papers, I can't resist, so when my friend was down on Wednesday, we decided to guess at what the name of the location was under my great-grandparents. We guessed at Galizien, which led me to this site about Galicia, an old Prussian state that covered some of the area to the East of Germany, south of Poland, and north of Austria. As I had heard through family lore that they were born in Prussia near or around where Poland is now, I'm pretty sure this is it. I'm still trying to figure out the names of the towns, though.
From what I can read on the sheets, the names look like Szdziszow or Rzdziszow; though the first letter doesn't look like the other capital Rs in the hand-written parts of the document; and Czuder or Czudei or something like that. I'm not sure that that one is a C, either, but It doesn't look like the G below it in Galizien.
So I'm one and a half steps closer to where they were born, at least. It's a big deal. Because it means I can actually possibly find them at JewishGen, because you have to have locations to look there.
No new follows for the day, but a few interesting links:
* An article on Surnames, focusing specifically on the development of English Surnames.
* Family Search.org has a site with area-specific genealogies in them called Community Trees, if you're focused on a specific area of research.
* And Genealogy's Star wrote a two part article on how proof gets incorporated into family trees which is a fascinating read, especially to someone who's trying to be more conscientious about those things these days. Part One - Part Two
And in my family tree this week:
8/23/1796 - Hans Heinrich Bordvick and Anna Magdallena Tiller were married in Norway
8/23/1919 - Margaret Hansen was born in Cleveland, Illinois
8/26/1818 - Christine Jensdatter died in Vejle, Denmark
8/27/1849 - Gabriel Howells was born in Towyn, Monmothshire, Wales (and I didn't even realize that when I typed it up, despite typing it up only yesterday, when the date should have meant something. ETA: Ah, apparently the manuscript had the wrong birth date on it, as the record I have from his death states his birth as 8/27, while the manuscript says 8/1.)
And I think I've rambled on enough, so I'll leave my recipe plans for another post.
Started today by posting about an ancestor I knew little about, Gabriel Howells, over at Oh, Spusch. This is my mother's mother's mother's father, and all of the Welsh side is still more untidy than not. I've learned a few things in typing it up--mostly that it is very hard to resist the impulse to correct bad or boring writing. most of the paragraphs are two or three times longer than I would have otherwise done myself without major reason.
This part of the tree is all from Northern Wales, as far as I am aware. And the other two major things I learned about this branch are that apparently one of my Ancestors (Lewis or Lewys Edwart) was a Quaker, which I had not heard before, and that there are no women recorded in this family line before my great-great-great grandmother, Catherine Jones, Gabriel's mother.
So I set out today to try to remedy this in some way. And I may have succeeded. In looking for more information on Gabriel, I found information on his grandfather, Gabriel Hywel, and two possible children and a wife. The Family Search.org Beta site pulled up two separate records for two births to a Gabriel Howell and his wife Gwen, alternately Gwen, Gwen Howell, and Gwen Evan. All likely to be the same woman, and just variations of her name, as I have seen the same variation in things I have been sure of. The first was to an Evan Howel, and the second to a Howel Howel, who must be my g-g-g-g grandfather, because the date and location matches too well for it not to be. I need to look into it further, but I have no reason to believe the record wrong, given the date and location.
The other discovery this week is that I did more research on the paperwork I got from my dad's sister about their grandparents on their dad's side. This has always been the shortest part of my family tree because of the difficulty my grandfather had talking about his past, and the fact that none of the fathers in that line were particularly talkative about their pasts.
The paperwork is all in German (aside from the letters my grandfather wrote to get them), but they do include not only his own birth record, but also that of all his siblings, and their parents' marriage record, their birth dates and locations (I'm fairly certain of this now), and their parents (or at least three of them) names.
However, each time I glance through the papers, I can't resist, so when my friend was down on Wednesday, we decided to guess at what the name of the location was under my great-grandparents. We guessed at Galizien, which led me to this site about Galicia, an old Prussian state that covered some of the area to the East of Germany, south of Poland, and north of Austria. As I had heard through family lore that they were born in Prussia near or around where Poland is now, I'm pretty sure this is it. I'm still trying to figure out the names of the towns, though.
From what I can read on the sheets, the names look like Szdziszow or Rzdziszow; though the first letter doesn't look like the other capital Rs in the hand-written parts of the document; and Czuder or Czudei or something like that. I'm not sure that that one is a C, either, but It doesn't look like the G below it in Galizien.
So I'm one and a half steps closer to where they were born, at least. It's a big deal. Because it means I can actually possibly find them at JewishGen, because you have to have locations to look there.
No new follows for the day, but a few interesting links:
* An article on Surnames, focusing specifically on the development of English Surnames.
* Family Search.org has a site with area-specific genealogies in them called Community Trees, if you're focused on a specific area of research.
* And Genealogy's Star wrote a two part article on how proof gets incorporated into family trees which is a fascinating read, especially to someone who's trying to be more conscientious about those things these days. Part One - Part Two
And in my family tree this week:
8/23/1796 - Hans Heinrich Bordvick and Anna Magdallena Tiller were married in Norway
8/23/1919 - Margaret Hansen was born in Cleveland, Illinois
8/26/1818 - Christine Jensdatter died in Vejle, Denmark
8/27/1849 - Gabriel Howells was born in Towyn, Monmothshire, Wales (and I didn't even realize that when I typed it up, despite typing it up only yesterday, when the date should have meant something. ETA: Ah, apparently the manuscript had the wrong birth date on it, as the record I have from his death states his birth as 8/27, while the manuscript says 8/1.)
And I think I've rambled on enough, so I'll leave my recipe plans for another post.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Friday Genealogy Update
It has been a crazy week, starting on Saturday with family photos with hubby's family, then a memorial for my Nana Sunday up on Mount Rainier. Yesterday sis and niece and I went to my Aunt's house to go through all of Nana's papers and things. It was a great visit, and I have a lot to think about. Even added a few notations to the family tree, and I now have a possible birthplace for my grandfather's parents--if I'm right. The paperwork's in German, and partially hand-written, not to mention the print being in a gothic font. All of which will make it especially interesting to translate. I might run it through hubby's scanner, see if that makes it any easier.
Highlights of my discoveries:
1- I've always heard about Nana's Tante Margrethe. I'm now certain I have her marked in the tree (I've heard of her several times in the past, but failed to figure out which Margrethe she was). When Nana's mother died when she and her siblings were still young, Tante Margrethe came to help out for a while. Apparently she was Holger's mother's sister, but was living in New York, so she was close by to help out until he moved himself and the kids in with one of his brothers who lived in Cleveland as well. The family lived there until he married his second wife Rose, I believe, or shortly before.
2- From the German paperwork, I've been able to understand a few things at least. Leon is listed nowhere in the papers (that I can see). This may be because Seneft (as the paperwork lists the name) was no longer recognized as Alex's surname because his parents were married only in a religious ceremony. His mother's name is listed in the paperwork, however. As Hilinger. One L, not two as we spell it now. I believe the double-L began to be used when they moved to the states, but I don't yet have a perfect grasp on that, so I could be wrong.
3-I also found the surname of a Hillinger cousin I did have, but had no surname listed. I'll have to sit my dad and his siblings down at some point and comb through that part of the tree with them, because I'm sure there's more I should know that I've just not connected correctly.
I now have a bag of paperwork and letters to go through. I can tell this is going to be a long process...but I think it will be worth it. So much to learn.
Once I got some of the paperwork sorted from yesterday, I put the more difficult bits aside. I figure I'll transcribe a few a week to get them out of the way. But for today, I focused on something I should have been doing from the start: I made a contact list. We've got a large family, but I've never been good about letters or phone calls, and only a bit more so about emails. But with all of Nana's old phone books, I decided it would be the perfect time to sort one out. I know I'm still missing a ton of people, but it's a good start. I even wrote down spouses (and whether they were dead or divorced, so that I didn't make *that* sort of boo boo), any kids (even if grown), and what side of the family tree they'd be most interested in. It's a pretty long list, but I know I've got a very long way to go--there are a bunch of second and possibly even third cousins I might be able to get in touch with through Facebook, or through first or second cousins. But I definitely need to do so NOW, before it's too late.
I've slowly been writing up research sheets (found here, with another interesting one here that I might need to play with) on each of my great and great-great grandparents with as much as I have on them. Some are a bit sparse (the Jewish line in particular), but I've tried to come up with as many questions as I could for each of them. Next step is to do the grandparents, but I think I might work differently with those, given that I knew them all personally. Might try to write out a timeline of their lives before writing up questions on what I still need.
And I've got a ton of posts I want to do, not even including the papers I want to transcribe:
* The Bordewick Visual Family Tree
* The Jones Visual Family Tree
* Brick Wall Update on the Seneft/Hilingers
* New Brick Wall post about the Welsh side of the family
* Software Comparison (IE, "Why Not to buy Family Tree Maker any more")
* New link list (with a possible focus on location)
* A Genealogist's Dictionary Pt 1 (something I have no doubt I'll be adding to quite a bit over the years)
And a few last bits:
I've added two more blogs to follow today - Greta's Genealogy Blog, a nice blog which I have been following for some time now, and Tracing the Tribe, which is specifically focused on Jewish Genealogy.
Highlights of my discoveries:
1- I've always heard about Nana's Tante Margrethe. I'm now certain I have her marked in the tree (I've heard of her several times in the past, but failed to figure out which Margrethe she was). When Nana's mother died when she and her siblings were still young, Tante Margrethe came to help out for a while. Apparently she was Holger's mother's sister, but was living in New York, so she was close by to help out until he moved himself and the kids in with one of his brothers who lived in Cleveland as well. The family lived there until he married his second wife Rose, I believe, or shortly before.
2- From the German paperwork, I've been able to understand a few things at least. Leon is listed nowhere in the papers (that I can see). This may be because Seneft (as the paperwork lists the name) was no longer recognized as Alex's surname because his parents were married only in a religious ceremony. His mother's name is listed in the paperwork, however. As Hilinger. One L, not two as we spell it now. I believe the double-L began to be used when they moved to the states, but I don't yet have a perfect grasp on that, so I could be wrong.
3-I also found the surname of a Hillinger cousin I did have, but had no surname listed. I'll have to sit my dad and his siblings down at some point and comb through that part of the tree with them, because I'm sure there's more I should know that I've just not connected correctly.
I now have a bag of paperwork and letters to go through. I can tell this is going to be a long process...but I think it will be worth it. So much to learn.
Once I got some of the paperwork sorted from yesterday, I put the more difficult bits aside. I figure I'll transcribe a few a week to get them out of the way. But for today, I focused on something I should have been doing from the start: I made a contact list. We've got a large family, but I've never been good about letters or phone calls, and only a bit more so about emails. But with all of Nana's old phone books, I decided it would be the perfect time to sort one out. I know I'm still missing a ton of people, but it's a good start. I even wrote down spouses (and whether they were dead or divorced, so that I didn't make *that* sort of boo boo), any kids (even if grown), and what side of the family tree they'd be most interested in. It's a pretty long list, but I know I've got a very long way to go--there are a bunch of second and possibly even third cousins I might be able to get in touch with through Facebook, or through first or second cousins. But I definitely need to do so NOW, before it's too late.
I've slowly been writing up research sheets (found here, with another interesting one here that I might need to play with) on each of my great and great-great grandparents with as much as I have on them. Some are a bit sparse (the Jewish line in particular), but I've tried to come up with as many questions as I could for each of them. Next step is to do the grandparents, but I think I might work differently with those, given that I knew them all personally. Might try to write out a timeline of their lives before writing up questions on what I still need.
And I've got a ton of posts I want to do, not even including the papers I want to transcribe:
* The Bordewick Visual Family Tree
* The Jones Visual Family Tree
* Brick Wall Update on the Seneft/Hilingers
* New Brick Wall post about the Welsh side of the family
* Software Comparison (IE, "Why Not to buy Family Tree Maker any more")
* New link list (with a possible focus on location)
* A Genealogist's Dictionary Pt 1 (something I have no doubt I'll be adding to quite a bit over the years)
And a few last bits:
I've added two more blogs to follow today - Greta's Genealogy Blog, a nice blog which I have been following for some time now, and Tracing the Tribe, which is specifically focused on Jewish Genealogy.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Follow Friday and Genealogy Frustrations
Today I focused on one of the shortest sections of my family tree--my father's father's side. As Jewish Germans, it is one of those places that has always been a dead-end for me. My grandfather never liked talking much about his early life, and so I only had what had already been written down by he and his siblings.
After I began to post information at Oh, Spusch, my father sent me a copy of a letter my grandfather sent to someone who had contacted our family about more information on the Hillinger surname. It gave me a few more tidbits, but I still have no clue where his father was born, and I'm not even certain the name he was born under. The family story has been detailed at Oh, Spusch here, here and here.
Because of all the family moves (somewhere in the Prussian states to England, back to Germany for my great-grandfather, then France, then the US), the name confusion because of the change from Senft to Hillinger in the late ninteen-teens, and the fact that likely many of the records I need were destroyed during World War II because the family is Jewish, sometimes I wonder if we'll ever find anything.
I've glanced through JewishGen, but with the minimal information I know, it seems almost impossible for me to find anything there. I did make a copy of what little I had and posted it there. All I can hope now is that someone else will be able to make a connection to my tree and contact me.
For Follow Friday this week, I've started following these three Genealogy blogs: Genealogy's Star, Anglo-Celtic Connections, and the Armchair Genealogist.
After I began to post information at Oh, Spusch, my father sent me a copy of a letter my grandfather sent to someone who had contacted our family about more information on the Hillinger surname. It gave me a few more tidbits, but I still have no clue where his father was born, and I'm not even certain the name he was born under. The family story has been detailed at Oh, Spusch here, here and here.
Because of all the family moves (somewhere in the Prussian states to England, back to Germany for my great-grandfather, then France, then the US), the name confusion because of the change from Senft to Hillinger in the late ninteen-teens, and the fact that likely many of the records I need were destroyed during World War II because the family is Jewish, sometimes I wonder if we'll ever find anything.
I've glanced through JewishGen, but with the minimal information I know, it seems almost impossible for me to find anything there. I did make a copy of what little I had and posted it there. All I can hope now is that someone else will be able to make a connection to my tree and contact me.
For Follow Friday this week, I've started following these three Genealogy blogs: Genealogy's Star, Anglo-Celtic Connections, and the Armchair Genealogist.
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