Found Something On Another One Of My Branches ...

Or at least I believe I have found something on my Russian-German ancestral branch that settled in Detroit. What did I find? Well, I happened to come across a website for Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit through the Detroit and Wayne County Online Death Records website, and I found a three burials listed on the website's cemetery transcriptions (that have been posted so far) that are connected to my Russian-German ancestral family. (I know they are connected because the surname I am researching is a rare surname in the United States.) Now I just have to obtain the death certificates for these three people, and figure out where exactly in the family they connect. (Although I have an idea of where they fit in the puzzle, I cannot make a complete connection without looking at the death records first.) So, needless to say, I will be chasing down a couple new leads on this family over the Christmas break. If you have any ancestors who died in Detroit, I hope the above websites help you in your research. Enjoy!

Oh, It Just Gets Better and Better ...

I realize this does not have anything to do with genealogy, but I can't resist posting on this one. I just heard on the news last night that the mayor of Detroit is being accused of assaulting a police officer. Of course, this man is just digging himself a bigger hole for himself. For those who don't know, the mayor is already facing charges of lying under oath about his affair with his chief of staff, and his text messages to her have been released to the public. Of course, what supposedly started the text message scandal was that the police were trying to investigate the murder of an exotic dancer. This dancer had apparently been at a party at the mayor's mansion, and was supposedly beaten up the mayor's wife. She, the dancer, filed a complaint with the police and was later found murdered. If I remember all of this correctly, the mayor somehow interfered with the investigation. (At least this is what I read. I'm not completely sure of the specifics.) Either way, the situation is pretty bad and the mayor refuses to resign from office. The city council is trying to impeach him (or remove him from office), and to make this situation even more interesting, this council is supposedly also under investigation as well but I forget what the reason is. In short, the government in Detroit is just full of corruption. (And nothing seems to get better in Detroit.)

Well, that is my little spiel about the situation in Detroit. I try to keep this blog free from my political thoughts, but I could not resist this time. I just find the whole, sad situation with Detroit sickening. I think the Detroit city government needs to be completely changed.

Looking For My German Ancestors: My Research Experiences Part 3

In my previous post, I wrote about my research into my ancestor, Carl, and for this post, I thought I would continue to do so. In my research at the Library of Michigan, I wrote about finding Carl and his family in the 1894 Michigan State census, and I thought I would start this post by analyzing the census entry.

The image above is of Carl's household in 1894 in Bay County, Michigan. As you can see, I have cut-off Carl's surname, and I did this so that I could protect the identities of other people. After Carl's children are listed, Fred is listed. The census lists Fred's relationship to Carl as son, but that cannot be possible as Carl is listed only about 32 whereas Fred is about 25 in this census. One possibility is that Fred is Carl's younger brother or is Carl's cousin. What do you think? This happens to be the first piece of evidence that I have that connects these two men together.

This next above image is the second half of the census sheet. On this sheet, the occupations of the men are listed, and also the number of children a woman had in the census year. Also included on this image is the number of years that a foreign person has been in the United States and Michigan. According to this census, Carl has been in the U. S. since 1880 and Fred has been in the U. S. since 1889. Of course, these years are only suggestions, but this does help me narrow down the possibility of when Carl came to the U. S. (As I mentioned, I've had difficulty finding him in a passenger list.)

Unfortunately, this census still does not give me a more exact birthplace than the information that I already had. A couple years ago, before I found this census record, I went up to Bay City with my grandparents. While there, I looked for vital records for Carl's family (I had just found Carl's marriage earlier that day in Saginaw), and I found a couple of records. Before we left the county clerk's office, my grandmother mentioned to me that Carl had been a mason, and the clerk informed us that the city Masonic building was just across the street. To make a long story short, we went over to the Masonic building, and I was able to obtain some records on Carl. From the papers, I got Carl's birth date and a possible death date, but I still was unable to get a more detailed birthplace than Germany from these papers. (At the moment, I have only obtained records from Bay City. I have not yet contacted Detroit's Masonic temple, to see if they have any other information on Carl. Carl also lived in Detroit, in addition to Bay City.)

During the summer of the next year, I was able to visit the Library of Michigan, and I was able to obtain Carl's death certificate by going through the microfilmed death certificates from Detroit. (Death records for Detroit are kept separately from the rest of the death records for Wayne County, and I'm not sure why.) From Carl's death certificate, I was able to confirm that his birth date was the same as the Mason's records and confirm Carl's actual date of death. Unfortunately, my copy of Carl's death was poor, so I was unable to determine where in Germany he was born. I was able to read the name of his father, but I know I need to do more research to confirm the name of his father.

Although, the first three parts of this series was done for the Carnival of Central and Eastern European genealogy, I still plan to continue writing about my research into my German ancestors. Stay tuned for the next post in this series ...

Detroit's Won the Stanley Cup ...

I've just learned this morning this morning that the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. I did not watch the game (or any of the hockey games this season) last night, so I didn't know about the win until today. I just found out from looking at a Yahoo news article, and Jasia's post. It seems as though the only good news that comes out of Detroit is sport-related, but I'll save that for another post some day ...

Anyhow, I remember the 1997 season when Detroit won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 42 years. I remember how my family and I watched the games for that season. (I haven't paid very much attention to hockey or watched the games on TV in a while because I'm not interested in hockey. But I'll stop now, before I get into a tirade about Detroit ...)

A German From Russia: Anton's Story

In the previous edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, I wrote about my ancestor Caroline. Well, for this edition, I'm writing about her husband Anton (As I mentioned in the other post, I am not mentioning surnames to protect the privacy of others).

So, what do I know about Anton? Well, I just happen to know a little bit more about him than his wife. For starters, I have more than one record that gives the same date of birth. (He was born in the 1870s.) Plus, I know the names of a few of his siblings and possible siblings. (With Caroline, I still do not know the names of her siblings.) As in the case of Caroline, though, I still do not know where he was exactly born. All I know is that it was in the Russian Empire, possibly in present-day Lithuania. (Only the 1930 Census lists that as his place of birth. Other censuses say Russia.)

Anton immigrated to the United States in 1902. He came to the country through Ellis Island a few months before Caroline and their children, and went directly to Detroit, Michigan, where he would live for the rest of his life. (I think he earned enough to bring them to the U. S. within a couple of months.)

Family tradition holds that he worked for Ford Motor Company when he came to the U.S. Of course, I don't have any other proof other than oral tradition. (I don't know if Ford keeps records of former workers. I guess I'll have to take a look and find out.) According to family members, he mainly worked in lifting the heavy steel presses. Other family stories mention that he was also an excellent tool and die maker. The one story, though, that sticks in my mind, is about his strength. Supposedly, he was strong enough that he could lift one end of a heavy, wooden table that typically could only be lifted up by three or four men. (So, if you could picture this, my ancestor would lift one end of the table while three or four men had to lift the other end, so that they could just move that table.) When I actually got to see a picture of him, though, I was shocked to see that he was small. He did not look as strong as these family stories said he was. (I should mention, though, that he was sitting down. That might explain why he looked small.) Even if the story is not exactly true, it is still a colorful story, and helps to paint a vivid picture of him.

I wish I could have met him, but he died way before I was born since family stories suggest he was an interesting person. The best I can do, though, is find out more about him than the little that I do already do now.

Genealogy And History News of the Past Week Or So

I realize that I did not do a post on articles dealing with genealogy and history in the news. So, to make up for that, I've decided to do a post on the news of the past week or so that it has been since my last post of this type. So, here are the news articles of this week so far and the past week or so:

• Ancestry.com Allows Free Searching Of Its U.S. Military Records Until May 31st.
• S.S. Columbia Is Planning To Sail To The Hudson River. (I happened to notice this article on the World History blog. For those who don't know, the Columbia was one of the ships that took passengers to Boblo Island in the Detroit River. Boblo Island used to be a theme park, but it not longer exists. Now there are large homes on the island. I do remember seeing the ships docked off of the Detroit River, but at that time, the ships were decaying. And that was in the mid-to-late-1990s.)
• Archaeologists Find Statues of Cleopatra and Aphrodite (Venus) In Egypt.
• Bust of Caesar found In France.
• My Brief Post On New England's Darkest Day.
• My Post On Additional Records Added To FamilySearch's Record Search.

I think I got most of the history and genealogy news. If I have missed any articles from the past week up to do, please let me know. Thanks!

A Day of Infamy ...

The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred way before I or my parents were born. My grandparents and my great-grandparents' families were alive at that time, though. So where were they at that time?

Well, one side of my family was living in Detroit at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. The other side of the family was living in the U. K, and my grandfather was already serving in the British Army. Of course, I am sure that I have asked my grandparents before about when they learned of the attack; I just can't remember exactly what they said about the attack. (Oh, well. I'll just ask them again the next time that I see them.) As for my British side, I'm not sure when they learned of the attack or how they felt about it. (Again, I can ask.)

What I do know is that the attack on Pearl Harbor changed American minds over whether to go to war, and thereby, changed the course of U. S. History.

A Bell and Beau Couple: My Great-Grandparents

The above picture is a picture of one of my great-grandparents. I don't know too much about this photograph, and I'm not sure exactly where and when it was taken. From what I can remember, there was nothing written on the back to tell me. I only have a digital copy, so I can't take a look again. (My grandma owns the original.)

My guess of where and when this photo was taken? I'm guessing the photo was taken in the 1910s. At least the clothing and hats appear to be from that time period. (For some reason, I thought 1915, but I can't remember why I thought that.) From looking at the hats, it appears to be summer time, and it appears as though the wind is blowing since they are holding onto their hats. As I stated before, I don't know where this picture was taken. My first guess would be Michigan as they lived in Michigan, and it could be anywhere on the coasts of that state. For some reason I guessed it could have been taken in Muskegon, but I don't remember why. Or it could have been taken in Detroit across from Bell Isle. Of course, I could be wrong. The picture could have been taken anywhere, and not necessarily in Michigan.

Either way, I chose this picture of my great-grandparents (a different couple from the one I previously wrote about) because I believe they fit the Belles and Beaus category the best. I think their marriage was a real love story. I might post on it some day.

The Automotive Industry: One Family's Connection ...

When I read that the next carnival was on cars, I thought I would write about my family's involvement in the automotive industry instead of writing about cars my family has owned. Why? Well, I'm not sure when my ancestors began to own cars as I have never thought to ask when my family first owned a car. Of course, one could argue that I haven't thought about asking because I've taken cars for granted. (I didn't grow up in a time where owning a car was a luxury.) I realize it may seem strange, but I have mostly been concerned with the occupations of my ancestors, especially since ancestors and family members have worked in jobs connected with the automotive industry for the past four generations. Of course, if it weren't for the people who worked in the automotive industry, we wouldn't be a nation of car lovers.

My family's involvement with the automotive industry began with a few of my ancestors moving to Detroit in the early Twentieth Century, around the same time that the automotive industry was being formed. According to family tradition, my ancestors primarily worked for Ford Motor Company. While I am not completely certain as to the jobs my ancestors held, I do know that these jobs were primarily factory jobs. Since that time, someone in my family has worked in an automotive-related job.

Of course, my family did own cars some time around World War Two (maybe?), but I don't know exactly when. Even then, I think owning a car was more a luxury for my family than it was a necessity. From family stories, I've gathered that most of my ancestors traveled to work by streetcar, so I don't know how much of a need there was for a car. I guess I just assumed that owning a car wasn't necessary for my ancestors living in the early years of the Twentieth Century.

I know even less about the jobs my British ancestors had with the automotive industry, but I did have a few ancestors who worked in the automotive industry. They primarily worked for Vauxhall Motors. I'm not sure exactly when my family members became involved with Vauxhall because I haven't thought to ask. (I should start asking a few questions relating to automotive industry jobs.) In addition to knowing very little about my British ancestors' involvement with the automotive industry, I don't know when they began to own cars or if they did own a car, so I can't truly write about car ownership.

So, what could someone gather from my post? Well, I have to admit that I don't always think about how much of an impact that the automotive industry has had on my family. I've understood for a long time that jobs in the automotive industry has put food on my family's table. I'm sure that has been the case for many families that lived in and live in the Detroit area.