Friday Genealogy update

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was very nice. Got to see my Uncle's remodeled place. Very roomy, and a lovely warm gas fireplace.

Have a lot of Genealogy stuff to catch up on, and I need to make a to-do list, really, because this month has left me quite behind. Got a bunch of information from my aunt, and I need to add that to the information I already have. At least now I have the family trees in some form for all sides of the family. I also plan on taking a trip to Office Max and getting fresh supplies so that I can keep track of things better. The current system I have really isn't working.

Forgot to post last week, so I'll do two weeks of calendar here today, though it's only adding one more event to an already short list:
November 18, 1757, Ana Maria Andersdatter Brunn was born in Bergen, Norway.
November 19, 1863, Jorgen Larsen and Ivare Christensen were married in Vejle, Denmark.
November 23, 1754, Anna Margretha Sorensen was born in Gelting, Germany.

Genealogy update for the week

Not a whole lot going on this week, Genealogy-wise.

I made an earlier post this week on my great-uncle, my grandfather's brother, for Veteran's Day. And I've got my usual post for tomorrow, but the one after it will be out of the order I usually do because of a new discovery I found for my paternal grandmother's side recently.

While I was writing it up, I realized I don't have his birthdate, so I did a search for his birth record, but nothing yet, though I did find a few copies of records for other people on that branch of the family.

Nothing for Follow Friday today, but Randy Seaver's challenge for last week was tempting, so I decided to play today:
1) If you found a bottle on the shore, and it had a genea-genie in it, and rubbed it and you had ONE WISH to make about your genealogy and family history research, what would it be?

2) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a comment or note on Facebook.

For me? This has changed a number of times over the years, but right now, my answer would have to be meeting my paternal grandfather's parents to be able to interview them about their lives so that I could get more information about where our family came from.

For Alex, I'd want to clarify his names. He went through a number in his life, both first and surname, and I'm not even certain what his birthname truly was. And I'd also want to ask about his family's time in England, and if he was the only one who went to Camp Douglas, or if others in the family went as well.

For Dora, I'd want to know more about her sister Minna, and whether she had other siblings, and I'd want to know more about her family, and where she grew up.

I've felt the loss of both of them very strongly lately. Alex died shortly before my father was born, and Dora months before I was. And because this is the side of my family that I have the least on, it's also the side I have the most questions about. I'd love to fill that gap.

I know I was lucky in the fact that I had not only all my grandparents, but three of my great-grandparents who were still around when I was born, but I still wish I could have met more of my great-grandparents. Especially now as I am the family genealogist.

Calendar for the week:
Unfortunately, all deaths this week. :S
Lauge Nilsen died November 8, 1661
Mathias Frandsen died November 9, 1827 in Vejle, Denmark
Mathias Frandson (his grandfather) died November 13, 1796 in Vejle, Denmark

Friday Genealogy update

So, I know I didn't do one of these last week, but I was a little Genealogied-out from spending the weekend with my sister and working on a lot of Genealogy stuff while I was there. It was great, though.

We discovered that we have not one, but two pictures of my great-grandmother Dora with her sister Minna. Seems I'd seen the shot a number of times, but it was only scanning in the shot of the two of them as young women that made me realize I'd seen her face before. So that was fun. A lot of other minor discoveries as well, including a shot of Dora's eldest, Ben, who died in the mid eighties. I remembered him, but it had been so long since I'd seen his face that I'd forgotten what he'd looked like until I saw the shot. He and Grumpy were so much alike, they should have been the twins. ;)

Made a post about my great-grandfather Holger today over at Oh, Spusch. His is the best-researched line in my tree, mostly because my grandmother and her sister were so desperate to find information about their mother. I'm glad they were. I love having so much detail, though I'm coming to find that there are gaps in that, as well.

My main focus since Monday, however, has been NaNoWriMo. I've done it every year but one since 2006. For those who don't know (and/or don't want to follow the link), NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write a 50k word novel in the month of November. It's great fun, with lots of support from the site and the forums at the site, though it's not for those who aren't used to writing every day, or who can't write enough per day (about 1700 words per day). I've enjoyed it every time I've done it. And won each time, too. This year I'm doing something that most would consider breaking the rules--I'm playing in someone else's universe. Now I just have to hope I have enough story to make it through 50k. I've managed 10k already, so I'm doing pretty good.

Nothing for Follow Friday today, since I've been so out of it the past two weeks.

Really need to update this calendar, as I know I have some new dates to add, but here's the stuff from the past two weeks:
10/25/1846 - Leonharde Marine Linkhausen died in the Lofoten Islands in Norway from complications of childbirth.
10/27/1765 - Maren Mathiasdatter died in Vejle, Denmark at the age of 84.
11/02/1822 - Jens Pedersen and Mette Matisdatter were married in Vejle, Denmark.
11/07/1826 - Abalone Mortensdatter died in Vejle, Denmark at the age of 82.

ETA: Just went through my program, and it turns out there are a whole ton more dates than I had before, and there's one that I just have to share, because I'm so very glad I have it now -
10/30/1919 - Alex Hillinger and Dora Kresch were married in Frankfurt, Germany.


And I've an idea for this December for Oh, Spusch that I hope people will enjoy--I'm going to do an advent calendar of three generations of my family--my grandparents through great-great grandparents. Wish me luck!

Friday Genealogy update

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.

Friday Genealogy update

September went so fast... And now it's October, and I've at least a half-dozen more things planned this coming month, when I usually tend to have one or two things planned in a month max. Oh, well, at least they're fun things.

This past week I spent a day with my sister and niece, and yesterday with a family friend down from Vancouver, and come Monday, mom, sis, niece and I will be heading up to my aunt's cabin to have a "Bordewick girls get together," never mind that none of us actually use the surname. ;) I've been trying to decide what paperwork to bring with me...hopefully I won't forget anything.

I made two posts on Oh, Spusch this week, not including the Surname post I'll be putting up tomorrow. The first was an experiment in birth order position in one line of my tree (the longest I could find). It was interesting. The second was a piece about all the names for "grandmother" my family has used, complete with photos.

So much going on that I didn't do a whole lot of actual Genealogy work on the tree itself today, but I did find an interesting article for Follow Friday about keeping track of name variations.

Three events in my Family Tree Calendar this week, all weddings:
Johan Bordewick married Henrikke Roness in Nordland, Norway 0n September 27, 1860 (his second marriage, and third woman to bear his children)
Jens Hansen married Else Larsen in Vejle, Denmark on October 1, 1885
and Mathias Frandsen married Kristen Poulsdatter in Ringkobing, Denmark on October 2, 1796.

And I had a rant on American Genealogists and Heraldry, but I'll save that for a week when I can think.

Friday Genealogy round-up

Distracted last night, so I never got around to this. It's been an odd week, starting with brother-in-law's wedding, which was nice enough. The new couple seems very happy.

Not a whole lot accomplished on my Family Tree this week. I transcribed a series of notes from the visit my grandmother and her brother and sister took to see their mother's brother before his death in 1987 and posted that to Oh Spusch. As I say at the bottom of the piece, I actually have four great-great uncle Hanses, of which this Hans is one.

I may have found another connection to the Bordewick side in the Bordewich branch in this tree. Harald Bordewich is listed as Johan Petter's grandson in my tree, though the father listed doesn't match, and there is no grandfather on the tree, so I'm not sure where the differences came in. But having Bordewich as a last name is already unusual--having Tiller as a middle name kind of seals it for me, because that's Johan's mother's maiden name. I've sent off an email to the creator of the tree. Here's hoping he'll email back.

I also discovered that one of my distant cousins is a historian and published writer: Fergus M Bordewich. Saw his name a number of times, so I looked him up on Amazon. His story about his mother sounds fascinating, if horrifying. I may have to buy a copy and pass it around the family. He's also written several historical texts about American history. Definitely take a glance.

No new follows this week. Been too distracted to do more than glance at other blogs, though I did read a bit.

Family Calender for the week has one event:
9/12/1834 - Christine Jensdatter born in Vejle, Denmark.

And a more present-day set of birthdays--this weekend my husband celebrates his 42nd birthday, and mine follows the day after. I'll be 41.

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.

Friday Update

Got a cold this week, so I took it pretty easy today.

I've been going through the blogs I read on Google reader each Thursday and double-checking to see if they've been updated, and I finally got to the point where I could tell some hadn't been updated in at least a month, so I ended up unsubscribing to a dozen or so blogs, which should decrease the excess a little. We'll see.

Made two posts today at Oh, Spusch.

The first was part three of my Visual Family Tree, the Bordewicks. It was a bit odd doing that one, because unlike the others, that one feels like two trees merging--mostly because my great-grandfather was Norwegian, and my great-grandmother was Irish. There's at least one more picture I want to add to that one, though I'd love to find a shot of Heinrich and Harde to post as well. I also added a shot of Dad and his siblings with their parents to the Hillinger tree, and I'll be doing the same with Grumpy's family when we get a shot I got from my aunt scanned in and posted.

The other was a Disclosure Statement, because I found an article talking about why they're important to Genealogy Bloggers. I highly recommend any blogger out there read it. Even if you don't think you're making money for yourself, anything you say in your blog could be construed as an endorsement.

Not following any new blogs today.

No events this week in my family tree (before 1920, anyway...).

I'm thinking about playing with the sheets I found last week before I move on to doing timelines and question sheets for each of my grandparents, just so that I have a few more ideas of what I want and what I need for them.

Genealogy Day

Didn't follow any new blogs today. Nothing particularly caught my eye that I wasn't already following.

Wrote today in Oh, Spusch about some new discoveries I made last on the Hansen side. Might lead to some interesting finds down the road.
Tried to do some more research on my Jewish family. Think the best bet I have right now is trying to get Dora Hillinger nee Kresch's citizenship papers or her Social Security application. So I guess that's my next step. And possibly picking my dad's head and seeing if he has anything else hidden away that I don't know about.

Looked into Drop Box, but it doesn't look like you can make the folders private, so I don't think that will be a solution for me, even though it looked like it might be.

Put together a Calendar of all the full dates I have in my family tree--not much yet, as most of what I have are either uncertain dates or only years. So I thought I'd do a little week-to-week calendar each Friday.
This week in my family tree:
August 1 -
Johan Petter Bordevick in Sor-Trondelag, Norway in 1802
August 3 -
Jorgen Larsen born in Vejle, Denmark in 1837
Bjarne Bordewick born in the Lofoten Islands, Norway in 1888
August 5 -
Mette Matiasdatter born in Vejle, Denmark in 1804

More Genealogy

So, after getting fed up and whining about my Jewish Genealogy yesterday, I shifted gears and decided to go through the old family trees to make sure I had everything in my computer that was on paper.

Several years ago, I got in contact with someone who also had the Bordewick name, though they spelled it Bordewich, and he gave me a copy of his version of the family tree. Then I lost it all, including his email address, in a computer crash. Turns out I had quite a bit of it in a descendancy print-out I'd made, so I spent a lot of time going through that and comparing it to what I have now.

In doing so, I found a new tidbit. It seems that the progenitor of the Bordevick/Bordewick/Bordewich clan, Hans Heinrich, was born in Bardoweick, Germany. I knew the name had come from there, but not when or how. I'd assumed it was much further back than that. So definitely an interesting discovery. He had quite a fascinating life, too. Moved up to Norway when he was 21, and became a citizen so that he could be a shipmaster there.

It's amazing how much I'm learning, now that I'm paying attention to the little details. And how much it's finally starting to make sense.