17th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy Posted!

The 17th edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy has been posted! (Thank you, Diane!) You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on Easter and Passover traditions. How are Easter and Passover celebrated in Central and Eastern European countries? Does you family have any traditions from Central or Eastern Europe? How did you ancestors celebrate Easter or Passover? You do not have to have Central or Eastern European ancestors to participate in this edition. Submissions are due April 20th, and the edition will be posted here on the 22nd. Enjoy!

Researching My Central and Eastern European Female Ancestors ...

As many of you probably know from reading my blog, I have several ancestors who came from Germany or were ethnic Germans from the Russian Empire, and for this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, I am supposed to write an article about my the resources I use for my research on a female ancestor from those regions in Europe. Instead of focusing on only one ancestor, I thought I would focus on a few of my German female ancestors, and write about the resources I have used or still need to use to trace them.

I have briefly written about my ancestor, Caroline, before, but I did not focus on the resources I have used or might use to research about her. I have not done as much research on her as I have on some of my other female ancestors, but the few sources that I have used have mostly been records created in the U. S. One of those sources happened to be a death notice that was published in a Detroit newspaper a few days after her death, and I have included the death notice below. (Note: I have blackened out the surnames of my ancestor and those of her daughters as a way to protect the identities of living family members.)

As you can see from the death notice, Caroline's surviving children are listed as well as her husband, and when I found this death notice, I was able to confirm relationships between her and other family members. Of course, this death notice was not the only source I used in doing my research on Caroline, and I was able to find her death certificate as well. Unfortunately, her parents were not listed on her death certificate, so I was unable to confirm my family's tradition about her maiden name. I also used the passenger manifest that had her and her three children (at the time) listed as a confirmation of when she entered America in and where she once lived. Unfortunately, her last residence was in Germany, so I'll have to do more research to determine where in Russia she was born. I am hoping that either her husband's naturalization papers or her marriage certificate will be able to answer some of my questions, but I have yet to obtain those records.

As for my other German female ancestors, I have a little more information on them due to the fact that my research into them has been easier than my research into Caroline has been. Emilia (Kees) Klippel is one of those ancestors that I have more information, but even then, I still do not have all the answers I wish I had. My first source of information on Emilia was a family tree that had been printed in the '30s or '40s, and that tree listed where she had married her husband. I used the information to order a microfilm of Trippstadt marriages, and I was able to find her marriage record. Besides finding her census record, I was able to use census records and a passenger manifest to trace her and her family movements in the U. S. Additionally, I used deeds to determine how long she and her family lived in Cleveland, Ohio, and I also used information from two books, provided to me by a woman over in Germany, to determine who her siblings were. Her brother's passport record also helped to confirm the relationship between the two. Besides those records, I also used city directories and her death record to determine where she lived and when she died. Unfortunately, I still have not been able to find the location of her burial, so I'll have to do some more research.

As for Emilia's mother, Amelia (Cotta) Kees, I am still doing research on her, but I have more information on her than I do on Caroline. Like Emilia, I also used the family tree as a resource to find information on Amelia, but I also used the two secondary sources to determine when Amelia married and who her children were. In addition, I used the death records of two of Amelia's sons and her death record to also determine when she died and who her children were. The death record for Amelia is below:

Amelia's death record lists her by her maiden name, and gives the names of her parents and husband. The record also gives her age and a possible birthplace. Thus, I have a few more leads as to where I should look for records, and hopefully, I will be able to do more research on her over this summer.

So, as you can see, I have used several different types of records to find information on my female ancestors. I just hope that I will be able to find more information on these three ancestors, and when I do find more information, I will let everyone know what I have found. Unti then, stay tuned ...

Family History Center Visit 5

Yesterday, I went back to the local Family History Center, and I looked through the Huntingdon tax records microfilm, that I ordered, again. As you may remember from my previous post, I was unable to finish looking through the assessments for Hopewell Township after 1815 on my last visit, so I finished going through the assessments for the township between 1815 and 1823. Of course, I was still able to find an Oswalt in the assessments for that township, but I was unable to find my ancestor, Benjamin Oswalt, in the records before 1823. The Oswalt that I did find in the assessments was an Adam Oswalt, and I suspect this Adam might be Benjamin's father as this Adam is old enough to pass for his father. Of course, this Adam is not to be confused with Benjamin's son, Adam, who served in the Civil War. (If that makes any sense!)

Of course, I was hoping to find Benjamin before 1823 because I am trying to trace his movements. I know that Benjamin did reside in Hopewell Township from 1823 until 1826, and then again from 1829 until 1833, when the tax assessments end, but I have not yet been able to find him or his family in the 1820 census. I did notice that there were other people living with an Adam Oswalt in the 1820 census, so I am trying to determine if that is where Benjamin was living. Of course, I will need to look at other townships in the area as it could be possible that Benjamin was living another township before 1823. I am hoping to narrow his movements so that I can figure out when Benjamin married and his age.

I noticed that at the end of the tax assessments, there was a section for single, freedmen, but I could not find Benjamin listed in that list either, for Hopewell Township. One of the tax assessments recorded that single men who were 21 and older were listed under that list. So, if I was able to find Benjamin in the tax assessment, that would give me an approximate year of birth and the removal of his name from the single men's list would give me an approximate year of marriage. Since I was unable to find him listed under any of Hopewell's tax assessments before 1823, I will need to look for him in another neighboring township. (When Benjamin does show up in Hopewell in 1823, I know he is already married as he is listed with the other heads of households on the assessment and not with the single men.)

So, I will have to visit the local Family History Center again, and look through the microfilm again. Eventually I will do a post on the tax assessments, but that will have to wait until I am able to go through the microfilm again. Stay tuned ...

Don't Forget!

I just want to remind everyone that submissions for the seventeenth edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy are due the 29th of March. M. Diane Rogers is hosting this edition, and you can find out more information about the edition here. You can submit your articles here. Thanks!

My Scotch-Irish Ancestors: My Key To Ireland?

For this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture I am supposed to write about any information that I have uncovered that would lead to a village or location that my Irish (or Scotch-Irish, in my case) ancestors came from. Well, to be honest, I have not yet been able to determine where in Ireland my Scotch-Irish ancestors came from, but I do have one place where I can look for a marriage record.

As you may remember, I wrote about finding my great-grandfather's military service records a couple of months ago; however, I did not tell you that my ancestor was born in Scotland. In Scotland at that time (and maybe in the present), a person's birth certificate required that the date and place of the person's parents' marriage be included on the certificate. (Of course, that is if that person's parents married.) Thus, the information on the marriage of my great-grandfather's parents was listed on his birth certificate, and so, I now know that his parents were married in Ballymena, Antrim County, Ireland.

So, my next step is to obtain my ancestors' marriage certificate and figure out where they were born. I already know from my ancestors' death certificates and the 1891 census record that they were born in Ireland. Unfortunately, I still do not know where and when they were born. I am hoping that the marriage record will give me at least an idea of when they were born, and in addition, I will have to try to obtain the birth certificates of my great-grandfather's siblings as well, since some of them were also born in Ireland. Please wish me luck as I try to trace my great-grandfather's ancestors. Thanks!

Submissions for this Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy Are Due Today!

Submissions for this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy are due today! The topic for this edition is on, "What research resources are you thankful for?" You do not have to have Central or Eastern European ancestry to participate, and you can submit your article here. Thanks!

A Couple Of Resources I'm Thankful For ...

For this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, I am supposed to write about resources in my research that I am thankful for having. So, what records am I thankful for?

Well, when it comes to researching my German ancestors from one of my grandmother's maternal lines, I am especially thankful that a family tree was done on my Cotta ancestors. This tree, of course, shows how I am descended from the Cottas up to my great-grandma. Since it is showing the descendants of the Cotta family, this tree is a secondary source, and as such, I still have to verify the information on the tree. (Which is a good thing I do as I have already found some incorrect dates on the tree.)

I am also thankful that a woman from Germany kindly helped me (and still does) with my research on another branch of my German ancestors. I would not have been able to get as far as quickly as I have without her help.

And above all, I am thankful that I can still ask relatives about what they remember of our German ancestors, especially of our German ancestors from Russia. So, what resources are you thankful for?

Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy Submission Reminder

I just want to remind everyone that you have about a week left to submit your article to this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy. The topic for this edition is on, "What research resources are you thankful for?" You can submit your entry here.

12th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy

The twelfth edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy is finally here! This edition happens to be the Halloween edition, and as such, the topic for this edition was on folklore, myths, legends, ghost stories or stories from Central and Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, this edition is smaller than others in the past, but here are the submissions:

First off, we have an article from Jessica Oswalt of Jessica's Genejournal. In A Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale That Goes Well With Halloween ..., she writes about a fairy tale (and of other fairy tales similar to it) that fits more with Halloween than it does with a person's stereotype of the typical fairy tale.

Well, that is it for this edition. The next edition will be hosted by Elizabeth O'Neal of Little Bytes of Life, and the topic for this edition is will be on "What resources are you thankful for in your Central/Eastern European genealogical research?" as a topic, in honor of Thanksgiving. A "resource" could be a web site, book, family member, or anything that has helped with one's research." Submissions are due on November 23, and the edition will be published on Thanksgiving, November 27. You can submit your articles here.

(Anyhow, on a side note, I just realized that I did not create a facebook notice for this carnival, and that is probably why the turnout for this submission was poor. If anyone has any other suggestions for ways that I can increase the number of submissions or suggestions for topics please e-mail me at: jess_history at yahoo dot com. Also, if anyone is interested in hosting future editions of this carnival, please contact me at the e-mail above. Thanks!)