Light Blogging Ahead!

I just want to let everyone know that posting on this blog will be light for the next month or so as I will be very busy with school work. I do plan on posting a couple of few articles in the upcoming weeks, but I don't believe I will be able to do much. I still plan to host the December edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, but I haven't set up the dates yet. Stay tuned ...

Saturday Night Fun - My Most Memorable Halloween Memories

For this Saturday Night Fun, Randy has challenged other genealogy bloggers to write about their most memorable Halloween memories, and I've decided to post mine. In fact, I have so many memories that it is difficult for me to decide which were the most memorable, so I'll probably post several of my most memorable ones.

I can remember several of the costumes that I wore for Halloween as a kid over the years. In Kindergarten, I dressed up as a cross between a princess and Cinderella, and I wore a costume that my mom made for me. (She did a wonderful job.) In the first grade, I dressed up as Belle (from Beauty and the Beast), and in the second grade, I dressed up as Jasmine from Aladdin. Halloween was more memorable in third grade primarily because of the family reunion my family attended shortly before Halloween. For that Halloween, I dressed up as a cross between a cowgirl and Annie Oakley. In the fourth grade, I dressed up a Southern Belle because I wanted to dress up in a historical style costume and because I liked the design of the dress. (I've always like fancy dresses and I've always loved seeing the dresses in historical movies. As you can see, I've had an interest in history since I was a child.) As for my costume in fifth grade, I believe I wore my mom's prom dress (I was pretending to be an early movie star), but I'm not completely sure. In the sixth grade, I dressed up as a bride, and in seventh grade, I dressed up as a sailor. In eighth grade, I dressed up as a cross between a ghost and a vampire. (There was no gore, though). In addition to the black costume I wore, I also wore a silver wig, and painted my face white. By the time I entered high school, though, I wasn't able to do as much trick-or-treating as I had been able to do in the past. (I've only dressed up a few times for Halloween since the ninth grade as a result of having a heavier schoolwork load.)

One of my most memorable Halloween memories that I have comes from my first year of high school. It was memorable not only because it was one of the last few times that I have gone trick-or-treating but also because I went trick-or-treating with my brother and his friends. I wore a traditional German dress, that my family had bought earlier that year when we visited Germany, and my brother was dressed up as the Grim Reaper. We went around to numerous houses, and my brother and I were back at home after trick-or-treating for a couple of hours. As soon as we arrived back at home, another one of my brother's friends stopped by the house, and wanted to go trick-or-treating. Our parents gave us permission, and my brother's friend called his parents to get permission to go with my brother and I. He got permission to go, and we were allowed to be out until 8 pm, for my brother's friend, and 8:30 pm, for my brother and I.

Since we had already gone to the houses nearest to our homes, we decided to go trick-or-treating in areas of the neighborhood where we had not yet gone. To get to one of the block's we had to walk down a dimly-lit area past a bunch of bushes. Looking back now, I should have realized what could happen, since I was oldest, but I didn't think about what it. As we walked through this area, a couple of me dressed in camouflage came out of the bushes, and scared all three of us. After recovering from the shock, I thought one of the men looked familiar, and I asked if he happened to be in a class. The guy denied it, and I decided that my brother, his friend, and I continue to trick-or-treat. (I think the guy was telling the truth, but who knows?) So, we continued on, finished trick-or-treating, and returned home by our curfews.

Since that time, I've only gone trick-or-treating a couple more times, so I think that happens to be the most memorable Halloween experience I've had. I hope you've enjoyed reading my Halloween memories. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

I just want to wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween! Enjoy!

A Reminder: Carnival Submissions Due in a Week-and-a-Half!

I just want to remind everyone that submissions for the upcoming Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy will be due on November 8th. Al will be hosting this edition, and you can read more about the topic here. Enjoy!

Saturday Night Fun - Unusual Ancestor's Name

For this Saturday Night Fun Randy has challenged other genealogy bloggers to post the weirdest name of one of their ancestors. I'll try to play along as best as I can.

At the moment, I cannot think of any ancestors with strange surnames, but I can think of a couple of unusual first names for a couple of my female ancestors. The two unusual first names that I can think of off the top of my head are Tryphena and Euphrosyne. The ancestor named Tryphena was from the U. K., and the ancestor with the name Euphrosyne was from Germany. Both names are quite unusual to me, and I've never heard of these names before discovering these ancestors. Does anyone else have female ancestors with either of these two first names? Thanks!

Looking for Hosts - 2010 and a Reminder

I realize that this probably a little early, but I wanted to start listing some of the months I am seeking a host for the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy. I will be hosting December's edition, but I don't know how many of 2010's editions I will be able to host. A few of the months that are open are:

• January
• February
• March
• April

I've just decided to list the first four months because it is still early. If anyone is interested in hosting an future edition, please contact me at jess_history at yahoo dot com. Thanks!

Also, I just want to remind everyone that the deadline for the November edition of submissions is November 8. Al will be hosting this edition, and his instructions for the edition are here. Enjoy!

Music in the Family ...

For this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, I am supposed to write about musical instruments that I or family members might play. Instead of focusing only on musical instruments, I've decided to expand the idea to write not only about family members who play instruments but also about ancestors who were involved in music as well.

The members of my family who are primarily musically inclined are my mom and her brother, my uncle, and I believe they have been in involved in music in some way for most of their lives. My mom played the flute and piano from childhood through college, and she still plays the piano (as a member of our church's band). I grew up listening to my mom play the piano, and that is probably how I acquired a love for classical music. My mom was also active in her high school choir as well. I believe my uncle plays the saxophone, although I am not completely sure. Either way, he was involved in music as a child, and at one point, he served as the music director for the church he and his family attend.

Other members who have played an instrument, play an instrument or were involved in choir were my dad, grandma, brother and I. My dad sang in his high school choir, and my grandma also sang in the choir at the church she was a member. She also started to learn how to play the piano. My brother is learning how to play the guitar, and I've taken piano lessons at various times in my life. Of course, I'll probably never be as good as my mom, but I still enjoy learning how to play and playing the piano.

Outside of those family members, I cannot think of any other family members who are or were involved in music. I did have a couple of ancestors, as I learned earlier this year, who were musicians. Marianne Pyrker (or Anna Maria) was a famous Eighteenth Century Opera singer and her husband, Franz Joseph Karl Pyrker played the violin. I briefly wrote about Marianne Pyrker here, but I don't believe I mentioned that her husband was also a musician. Of course, at the moment, I only have secondary sources to prove my connection to them, but as I continue researching I hope to obtain primary documents as sources. As I continue my research, I'll probably uncover more information about them and maybe other ancestors who were musically inclined.

Outside of the people mentioned above, I cannot think of any other family members or ancestors at the moment who were involved in music. I hope, though, as I continue researching my ancestors that I will learn more about them. Enjoy!

82nd Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 82nd edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on:

"Musical Instruments! Do you play a musical instrument or did one of your family members? What instrument did you or they play? If no one in the family played an instrument, tell what is your favorite instrument or band and what is your least favorite one. The deadline for submissions is November 1st. This edition of the COG will be guest hosted by Janet Iles who authors the blog, Janet the Researcher."

Enjoy!

Trippstadt, Germany Civil Death Records, Part One: 1806-1829

(Note: Originally I had planned only to do one post on the subject of Trippstadt's death records, but since I haven't had the time to write a long post, I've decided to split the topic into multiple posts so that I can actually get around to writing about the civil death records as I promised months ago.)

As you may or may not remember, over this past summer and the summer before I began researching my Kees and Cotta ancestors in the death records of Trippstadt, Germany. Of course, when I started, I ended up going through the 1860s death records first, and that was by accident because I ordered the wrong microfilm. (I seem to have a habit of doing that sometimes.) I did eventually work back to the earlier records since most of the Kees and Cotta relatives I was searching for were in the earlier records. Unlike how I started going through the death records, I will be starting from the earliest to later records in this post and future posts.

For this first post in the series, I will be focusing on the years between 1806 and 1829. From 1806 through 1816, the death records were recorded in French. Most of the death records consisted of a document with typed text that left space for the information on the deceased to be handwritten in, although there were a few death records at the ends of each death register book that were only in handwriting. Each year had a separate book, and at the end of the book, a handwritten index listing the names of the deceased was included with the record number of the death record. Additionally, the index also included the town the person had died because at that time, the death records for a few other villages or towns were recorded in Trippstadt's death records. Unfortunately, I did not copy any images of death records or indexes before the 1820s in Trippstadt since I did not have any ancestors living in Trippstadt before 1823. (At least that is what I know at the moment. Adolph Kees and Amelia Cotta's first child was born in Trippstadt in 1823 according to the Protestant church's baptismal records.)

In 1817, the language used to record deaths was switched from French to German. The preprinted forms were kept, and each year had its own book as it did when the records were kept in French. Handwritten indexes were also kept at the ends of the record books with the only difference being that the language was changed. Other towns and villages from the area near Trippstadt were still included in the record books, but unfortunately, I forgot to not when the death records stopped including death records from other towns and villages outside of Trippstadt.

After 1817 through the 1860s, the death records stayed the same, except for changes in the index and some of the wording in the pre-printed forms. The death record below is an example of the death records in the 1820s.
In 1828, Amelia gave birth to a set of twins, but unfortunately, one twin was stillborn and the other died within a few minutes after birth. Adolph and Amelia did not name the children, and as you can see from the above image, the area for the name is crossed out. Although there are two death records, one for each child, I have only posted one of them since the records were the same. Each death record took up half a page in the record book, so two records are listed on each page. In the upper left corner, the record number is listed, and the first portion of the typed text records when, where (down to the district and town of death), and who was reporting the death to the registrar. (In the 1820s, the providence Trippstadt was located was listed as Rheinkreise, but that would change by the 1830s.) Two people were required to inform the registrar of a death, and Adolph Kees and another man were the ones who gave the information on the death of the twins. Additionally, the age, occupation and relationship of the informants to the deceased was recorded in the death records. The name of the parents of the deceased, their occupations, the occupation of the deceased, and the house number of where the deceased died are recorded in the second half of the document. At the bottom, the informants and registrar had to sign their names attesting to accuracy of the information, and as you can see, the signatures for all three men are at the bottom. Strangely, the gender of the children, in lieu of names, were not recorded despite the amount of information the records required.

I did not copy the image of the index for these death records, and thus, I haven't included an image of the index for the 1820s. I did copy images of the indexes in the 1830s, 1840s, 1850s and 1860s, and I will include those in future posts. Stay tuned for a post on Trippstadt's death records in the 1830s! Enjoy!

Three Book Reviews Posted!

Within the past week or so, I just finished writing and posting the last three book reviews of books I read for the Summer Reading Challenge. These three reviews are shorter than the other reviews because I just wanted to get the reviews posted, so here are the links for these reviews:

• Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 7
• Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 8
• Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 9

I hope you enjoy reading this books as much as I did. Enjoy!

Genealogy Societies - My Thoughts

For this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, I am supposed to write about my favorite genealogy society (or societies), or why I would or would not join a genealogy society.

I did write about my thoughts in regards to membership in genealogy societies over a year ago, but it is probably time for me to update my thoughts on the subject. At that time of that writing, I wasn't a member of a genealogy society, and I am still not a member over a year later. (Thus, I cannot list my favorite genealogy societies because I'm not a member of any society.) I'm not against or adverse to joining a society; it's just that I haven't joined a society yet for several different reasons.

My primary reason for not joining a genealogy society yet is that I am attending school. Over a year ago, when I first posted my thoughts, I was an undergraduate, and now I am a graduate student. My main focus, of course, is on my school work, so I really do not have much very spare time to go to genealogy meetings. If I were to become a member of a genealogy society, I would feel obligated to try to make as many meetings as I could, and at the moment, I would not be able to do so. Even though, I do have a job as a graduate assistant and could probably afford to join a genealogy society, I would not feel like I am getting my money's worth by not attending very many meetings (if I could even attend a meeting). Of course, I probably do not have to attend meetings to be a member; I just feel as though I should be active in any group or society that I join.

Secondly, I still do not have my own car, and thus, my ability to travel to a society's meeting is limited. If I were to attend a meeting, I would probably have to have a family member take me to the meeting because I don't have a car. Additionally, I am living out of the state of Michigan now, and once I am at school, I am pretty much stuck in the city. (The city does have mass transportation, but it is only for the city and is limited compared to the mass transportation of the area of my undergraduate university. There are also shuttles for the campus.) Again, though, unless the society met on campus of the university, it would be inconvenience for me to make a meeting away from campus.

So, as you can see, I would like to join a genealogy society, but as you can see, I either don't have the time or would have difficulty attending meetings. So, what do you think? As always, you can leave a comment. Thanks!

Saturday Night Fun - My Most Satisfying Research Moments

For this Saturday Night Fun, Randy has challenged other genealogists to come up with their most satisfying moments in genealogy research, and I've decided to post my best moments.

So, what are my most satisfying moments? Well, one of them happens to be when I was able to find the burial place of one my ancestors. I won't go into much more detail about the search because I have posted parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 on my cemetery blog, and I don't want to give away too much. I haven't written a post on the search in quite a while, but I do plan on eventually finishing the series. So, if you're interested in that story, I have at least part of it posted.

Other satisfying moments were connecting with cousins and non-relatives who were willing to share the information they had. I've not only made contact with cousins in the U. S., I have also connected with cousins in the U. K. and Argentina. As for non-relatives, a woman in Germany sent me information on my Kees ancestors, and if she had not kindly shared that information with me, I would probably be still struggling to uncover my Kees ancestors. I am eternally grateful that she shared that information with me.

So, those are a couple of satisfying moments that I could think of at the moment. I'm sure there are a few other moments in the past six years that I have spent so far in researching my ancestry, but I can't think of any other ones at the moment. If I do come up with a few more, I'll either update this post or I'll post the information in another post. Enjoy!

Here's Another Interesting Article ...

I just happened to notice that Turkey and Armenia have signed a diplomatic accord. It will be interesting to see what the developments will be ...

Apologies For the Missing Post ...

I'm sorry for the missing post. I started to post on an event that might have been too political for this blog, and I try to keep politics and genealogy as separate as I can. I deleted the post for that reason. So, I'm sorry about that ...

Genealogy and History Thoughts Column 19 - My Thoughts on the New FTC Blogging Guidelines

I just learned about the new Federal Trade Commission regulations for blogs from Craig's post via Chris' post. To be honest, I don't believe it is the government's job to tell bloggers how they should write their posts. Yeah, bloggers should mention in their posts that they were asked to review a product for a company, but does the government really have to tell or require bloggers to do so?

I don't think so, and that's why I'm posting on this topic. I'm bothered by these new regulations because I feel like the government is treating bloggers as if they are children. As an adult, I resent being treated like a child by the government, and I think the regulations should have been givens for other bloggers way before the FTC created these regulations. Additionally, I wonder if these new regulations will create precedents for the FTC to publish new and possibly, more restrictive regulations in the future.

Why do I worry? Well, from time to time, I write brief book reviews of history and genealogy books that I have read, and I think I've mentioned whether or not I bought the book or had a connection to the author. Is the government going to tell me that I can't write book reviews or that I must put another disclaimer at the end of my book review? I think I make it clear that I've either bought these books or checked them out of the library. I'm not telling people to go out and buy the books. My whole purpose in posting the book reviews was to suggest books that might help other genealogists with their research. People don't have to buy the books; they can check them out from a library.

I was thinking of posting another three book reviews of books I read over the summer, but now I'm wondering if I should bother. Would it be better for me to stop posting my informal book reviews to protect myself? Or should I just continue to post book reviews? What do you think?

As always, you can leave comments on what you think.

Poll Results!

The poll is now closed, and the results are in! The question for this poll was, "Which article topic are you most interested in reading?" 3 people voted, and the results are:

• Trippstadt, Germany Civil Death Records - 0 votes
• World War One Ancestor - 2 votes
• Irene Havens - 0 votes
• Genealogy and History Thoughts Columns - 0 votes
• New Civil War Pension File - 1 vote
• Other topics in genealogy/history - 1 vote

From this poll, it appears that a few of my readers are interested in reading about my World War One ancestor, and I guess that will be one of the future articles I will work on. Of course, I do not know when I will get around to writing that article and possibly the other requested articles due to the fact that I am busy with school work. I will try to write at least one the articles, though, at some point. To those who voted, thank you for voting! Stay tuned for future articles ...

Enjoy!

Congrats!

I just want to congratulate all the genealogy bloggers who made it onto the Family Tree Magazine's Top Genealogy Blogs list.

(I didn't make it into the list, but maybe I will next year.)

Genealogy and History Thoughts Column 18 - An Important Lesson: Never Assume ...

After looking at the title of this article, you're probably thinking, "Shouldn't that be given?" Probably, but my intention for this article is not to lecture others but write about how assumptions can cause problems in genealogy research. Why? Well, I made an assumption about a record, and I've just recently learned and realized that my assumption was wrong. So, by learning how I made a mistake, I'm hoping other genealogists will learn from my mistake.

As you probably remember, I recently received a copy of the pension file for Benjamin Oswalt, and since the file came, I've taken a look at the records. I once believed that I could not find this Benjamin Oswalt in the censuses after the 1850 census, so, when I asked my grandfather to take a look at a probate record for our ancestor, Benjamin Oswalt, did not expect my grandfather to find a Benjamin Oswalt in the 1870 census (see below the paragraph). (The Benjamin Oswalt in the probate record died in 1861 in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and is the father of Adam Oswalt, according to Adam's death certificate.) This Benjamin was living in Kansas, and had been born in Michigan, and my grandfather, mentioned that he had found this census record will doing research for our ancestor. Of course, I took a look at the census record, and told my grandfather, that that Benjamin could not be connected to us because he was living in Kansas and was born in Michigan, despite the fact that he was the exact age as the Benjamin Oswalt I believe to be Adam's brother. Well, that is what I thought until Benjamin's pension file came ...

(Image taken from FamilySearch's Record Search)

When I looked at the pension file Benjamin's widow, Elizabeth, applied for, I noticed the names of the people who gave testimony on her behalf. I recognized some of the names, but there were a few names that I did not recognize. I already knew from previous research, that Elizabeth remarried, but when I looked at the Michigan death records and marriages that are online, I discovered that the one of the witnesses was probably the sister of Elizabeth's new husband. To try to confirm, my theory, I decided to look for Elizabeth's new husband and the witness in the census records. The search for Elizabeth's husband brought me back to the census image above. Lo and behold, Elizabeth's future husband was living next door to the Benjamin Oswalt I had earlier dismissed. Knowing that the future husband was from Saint Joseph County, Michigan, I realized that the fact that there was a Benjamin Oswalt living next door to him was probably not a coincidence since the Benjamin Oswalt I was looking for was from Saint Joseph County, Michigan. So, even though Benjamin's birthplace is listed as Michigan, I believe I have found the correct Benjamin Oswalt, and I believe it is possible that the census taker put the wrong information down.

So, what is the moral of the story? Well, almost ignored a census record and other possible leads into researching my Oswalt family. The census record indicates that Benjamin had some wealth, and it might be possible that he bought some land in Kansas. Of course, I won't know until I pursue this avenue, but I almost missed this opportunity because I believed it wasn't the right person. Just because a record doesn't necessarily fit all of your known facts about a person does not mean that it isn't your person. If you do write off a source, you might miss another possible lead. So, I guess it is better to have an open mind about possible sources when doing your own research. Now, I've just got to trace this new lead, and figure out why Benjamin was in Kansas about six months after his marriage. Please stay tuned for further posts on Benjamin.

And as always, please feel free to leave comments on you what you think about this article.

Late Saturday Night Fun: Childhood Memories ...

I'm late again in posting a response to the newest Saturday Night Fun, but since I wanted to participate, I'm going to post my response. For this challenge, Randy has challenged genealogy bloggers to post their most vivid childhood memory.

So, what is my most vivid childhood memory? Well, that is a tough one because I have so many vivid memories. I guess the best thing to do would to be list the earliest memory that I have.

My earliest memory is probably of being in a crib. I was standing up in my crib, so I had to have been at least old enough to stand on my own. (I was probably around a year old.) It was at night time because my room was dark, and I could see my parents' bedroom from the crib. My mom was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, and was ready to go to bed. She asked, "What are you doing up?" (She could see my room from looking out of her bedroom.) I just remember that she didn't look very happy, but that probably was due to being tired.

Of course, I don't remember anything else other than it was like a detailed snapshot of a moment. Most of my early memories consist of dream-like images, and thus, I almost feel as though I am recalling something like a dream except for the fact that these memories were too vivid to be dreams and were too life-like. (If that makes any sense.) I don't know why my earliest memories feel dream-like, but I guess that is how my brain preserved my earliest memories. Has anyone else experienced the same thing with their earliest memories?

81st Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 81st edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on:

"The guest host is Kathryn Doyle of the California Genealogical Society and Library blog, and the topic is:

What's your favorite genealogical society?
Do you belong to a society?
Tell us why! Or if not, why not?

Kathryn's COG will be the inaugural edition of the all-new GenSo Blog Carnival, which will focus strictly on genealogical societies and will begin in January 2010. She'll provide more details about the GenSo Carnival in her post, so stay tuned for more."

Enjoy!