Belated Saturday Night Fun - My Genea-Bucket List

For this week's Saturday Night Fun, Randy has challenged other genea-bloggers to describe their genealogy bucket list. Although I'm late in participating in this meme again, I still want to post my goals. I think I wrote about this topic before, but it has been awhile. I don't think it would hurt to write an updated version. So, here is my genea-bucket list:

1. I would like to be able to travel to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, so that I could uncover more information on my ancestors and their families who lived in the region. Although I have ordered microfilms of Huntingdon County records from the LDS in the past, I still haven't been able to uncover much on my ancestors in the ordered microfilms. I think I will have to go and visit the county to find out more.
2. Another region (okay, it is more than one) I would like to visit is the Alsace and Palatinate regions of France and Germany. The majority of my German ancestors resided in those areas. I would probably also try to make stops in Gelnhausen (which is in the Hesse region of Germany) and Stuttgart as well.
3. I would also like to visit the county of Lancashire in the U. K. since I had ancestors living in those areas. (I would also like to visit the other counties my ancestors resided in as well.)
   

Well, those are my three main regions that I would like to visit. I hope some day that I will be able to visit those places and continue my research into my ancestors. Enjoy!

Saturday Night Fun - The Wayback Machine: A Walk Down Jessica's Genejournal Memory Lane

It has been awhile since I participated in a Saturday Night Fun challenge due to the fact that school work has kept me quite busy until now, but since I have a little time, I've decided to participate again. For this challenge, Randy has challenged other genealogy bloggers to look up their blog in the Wayback Machine, and write about their findings. I've decided to participate in the challenge.

I tried to save a picture of the page, but I was unsuccessful. So, instead, I've decided to post the link for the page.

The interesting thing about the Wayback Machine's image of my blog is that the site did not capture an image of my blog until late June 2007. I started posting back in March of 2007, but the blog probably wasn't recorded by the Wayback Machine until probably June when I think I started to participate in the genealogy blog carnivals.

Well, the old web page is pretty close to what the blog looked like in the very beginning. I used to use different colored fonts until one my readers informed me that it was easier to read my posts in black, so I switched to just using black. Of course, I think this was prior to the time when I started making changes to the background and template of the blog in an attempt to give this blog a unique appearance. I think I finally succeed in that attempt.

Well, I never imagined at that time that I would still be blogging after three years, but here I am still blogging years later. I hope you enjoyed that walk down memory lane.

Another Belated Saturday Night Fun - The Best Genealogy Gift

I am late again in posting my response for this past Saturday's Saturday Night Fun, but I'm going to participate anyway. For this Saturday Night Fun, Randy has challenged other genealogy bloggers to write about their best genealogy Christmas gift. So, what was the best genealogy gift I got?

Well, the gift was a history book, The History of Michigan Law edited by Paul Finkelman and Martin J. Hershock (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2006). As you can tell, from the title, the book is on the history of Michigan's laws, although the articles in the book look primarily at important aspects of Michigan law and looks at the law from a social history standpoint. Okay, so the book isn't exactly a genealogy gift, but the articles in the book might assist a genealogist doing research in Michigan. If a research has knowledge of the history of a local area's laws, that researcher may be able to determine if there are any records that might provide potential leads. I haven't had too much time to look at the book, but there appears to be several articles that might be useful in my future research.

(Note, 27 February 2010: I have finally finished this Saturday Night Fun post. I also completed another backlogged Saturday Night Fun post earlier this year, and you can read it here. Enjoy!)

Saturday Night Fun - Dear Genea-Santa

For this Saturday Night Fun, Randy has challenged other genealogy bloggers to write a letter to the Genea-Santa listing one of our genealogy wishes, and I've decided to participate in this challenge. Here is my letter:

Dear Genea-Santa,

For this Christmas, I would like you to bring evidence that connects my ancestor, Adam Oswalt to the Benjamin Oswalt and William Oswalt living in Michigan. I believe they are brothers, but so far, the only evidence I have is circumstantial. I've tried to balance my genealogy research with my school work, and I think I have succeeded for the most part. I think I was able to help one genealogist with her research, if I remember correctly, but I haven't been able to do much more since I was busy.

Thanks,

Jessica

(As a side note, I've finally finished writing my response to the Halloween version of the Saturday Night Fun, and you can read it here. I still have a couple more responses to past Saturday Night Fun challenges to post as well. I hope to finish those some time in the future. Please, stay tuned, and enjoy!)

Another Belated Saturday Night Fun - Nice Things Done

For this Saturday Night Fun, Randy had challenged other genealogy bloggers to write about good deeds other genealogists have done for them, and although I'm late in posting my response, I still wanted to post it.

So, what good deeds have other genealogists done for me? Well, 2 to 3 years ago, I received a large amount of information from a woman in Germany (no relation, though) on my Kees and Cotta ancestors, and from that information, I was able to confirm my suspicions about a Kees ancestor's sibling living in Cleveland, Ohio and I was able to use the information to start researching in German records. Without the information, I do not believe I would have been able to move back as far as I have been able to do so. I might still be stuck with my research into that branch in the United States.

More recently, I have had several genealogy bloggers host editions of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy. Al hosted the August edition and hosted the November edition published the week of November 15th. (Note, January 3, 2010: I am writing this weeks after the challenge was published.) Other genealogy bloggers who have hosted editions are Steve, Ambar, Thomas, Diane, and Elizabeth, and I have included the links to those posts as well.

So, as you can see, several genealogists have helped me out within the past couple of years, and I am grateful and thankful for their help. Without the help, I would not have been able to do as much as I have. Thank you everyone!

Belated Saturday Night Fun - Oswalt/Oswald World Surname Distribution

For this Saturday Night Challenge, Randy has challenged other genealogy bloggers to determine the world wide distribution of their surnames, and although I'm late in posting my response, I still wanted to write something before the weekend ends.

For this challenge, I searched for two surnames: Oswalt and Oswald. Why? Well, when doing my research into my Oswalt ancestors, I frequently find their last name spelled both ways (and a few others, as well), and since my last name still gets misspelled, it is not that hard for me to remember. I suspect, but don't have definite proof, that the Oswalt and Oswald surnames have a similar origin. So, to get an idea where the Oswalt/Oswald surname might be distributed around the world, I did two searches. (I do not know how to do save a screen shot, so I'm going to have to present the information verbally.)

When I typed in the results for Oswalt, the countries with the highest distribution were:

• United States
• France
• Germany
• Austria
• New Zealand
• Argentina
• Spain
• United Kingdom

For the Oswald surname, the countries with the highest distribution results were:

• Austria
• Germany
• Switzerland
• Luxembourg
• Australia
• United States
• Canada
• New Zealand
• United Kingdom
• France

In the United States, the Oswalt surname was distributed the most primarily among these states (i.e., the darkest colored states. Most of the states were a turquoise color) :

• Mississippi
• Alabama
• Indiana
• Arkansas
  
• Ohio

In the United States, the Oswald surname was distributed the most primarily among these states:

• South Dakota
• Nebraska

Again, like for the Oswalt surname, many of the states in the U. S. were a turquoise color.

I then decided to search for the distribution of each surname in the state of Michigan. For the Oswalt surname, the highest distribution (turquoise colored) of the surname were in these counties in no particular numerical order:

• Alpena
• Benzie
• Calhoun
  
• Cheboygan
• Kalamazoo
• Monroe
  
• St. Joseph
• Wexford

For the Oswald surname, the highest distribution (dark blue colored) of the surname were in these Michigan counties (again, in alphabetical order):

• Bay
• Gratiot
• Montmorency

Many more counties were colored in a turquoise or green color, especially the highest counties listed for the Oswalt surname.

So, as you can see, the possibility that that the two surnames might have the same origin is possible when one looks at the European countries where the surnames were distributed. Both surnames appear to be distributed similarly as well, and it wouldn't surprise me if there was a common origin. I suspect, though, that there are several Oswalt/Oswald branches in the United States, and that any common origin might be several centuries in the past. Of course, I could be wrong, but only further research will be able to determine if this is case. At the same time, researchers have to be careful not to rely only on one surname distribution map, and there is still the possibility that both surnames have unique origins.

So, what do you think? Any comments or suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

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!

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!

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!

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?

Saturday Night Fun - Ahnentafel Roulette

For this Saturday Night Fun, Randy has challenged other genealogy bloggers to post information on one of their ancestors by coming up with the Ahnentafel number of an ancestor, and I've decided to participate in the challenge. The only difference is that I have chosen to divide by the age of my late grandfathers instead of my father's age, as a way to protect the privacy of living relatives. Here are the results that I obtained by following Randy's directions with the modification that I listed:

My grandfather, if he were living today, would have been 91, and when I divided his number by 4, I came up with the number 22.75. Since the number isn't a whole number, I've decided to round it up to 23.

The ancestor who is number 23 on my chart is my ancestor, Anna. I've written a little bit before on her family in my "Searching For My German Ancestors" posts, but I don't believe I have written a post that was specifically on her. Here are three facts about her:

1. She was born in Germany. (I don't have a birth date for her yet because I jumped ahead to continue researching on her parents' ancestry. I do have a possible birthplace in Germany, but I need to order records from the place to confirm my suspicions.)
   
2. She arrived in the United States with her parents and older siblings in February 1864.
3. She died in Detroit in the 1930s. (I don't have an exact date of death. I haven't been able to determine when she died, but it is one of my goals to do so.)

I do have more information on Anna, but I've only posted those three facts for this meme.

As a side note, I've also recently posted two other Saturday Night Fun memes from August, and you can read them here and here. Enjoy!

And Another Late Saturday Night Fun Entry ...

(I'm late again in posting my response to another Saturday Night Fun entry, but I still want to participate. Thus, I am still posting this entry even after a few weeks have gone by. - September 19, 2009)

For this Saturday Night Fun entry, Randy is asking other genealogy bloggers to post the number of ancestors they have met, and I've decided to post all of the ancestors I have met in my life so far. I won't be posting the names of the ancestors I have met because most of them are still alive. So, here are the ancestors I have met:

I have met my parents and all four of my grandparents. As I stated above, I am not posting their names because in all but one case, they are still alive.

I have also met two of my great-grandmothers, even though I don't remember them. (Both of my great-grandmothers died when I was a young child.) One of my great-grandmothers was from my father's side of the family, and the other great-grandmother was from my mother's side of the family.

So, I've met eight of my ancestors, even though I don't remember two of them.

Late Saturday Night Fun - My Ultimate Genealogy Goals ...

Randy posted another Saturday Night Fun challenge, and although I'm late in posting, I thought I would share my ultimate genealogy goals. So, here are my goals:

My ultimate genealogy goals (I have more than one) are to move as far back into my ancestry as is possible, and maybe, to eventually publish my research on my ancestors in a book. Of course, I haven't completely decided yet if I want to publish a book, but my guess is that I probably will when I am older. Additionally, I want to become certified as a genealogist, but I have yet to start the process to become one. Since I am fairly young, I have the rest of my life to complete my goals, and at a minimum, I have at least another 50 years or more to do so.

At the moment, I believe I am doing as much as I can do in my genealogy research as is possible. Since I am student, my priority is to complete my education first, and as a result, I can only spend time on my genealogy research when I have the free time. Could I possibly do better? I probably could be more efficient, but as I stated, with school being my first priority, my research is a secondary priority to school. I probably won't be able to spend most of my time on genealogy research until after I have reached retirement, but I think that would be fine.

So, those are my goals and what I am doing to accomplish them.

Saturday Night Fun - What Inspired Me?

For this Saturday Night Fun challenge, Randy is asking, "What event or person inspired you to start your genealogy research?" So, what inspired me?

Well, I did touch upon this subject before in a previous article, but I don't mind mentioning it again. As I mentioned before, I believe my interest in history and the fact that my grandfather was doing research into the family were the two factors in inspiring me to do genealogy. Of course, when I think I about when I began to do genealogy, I usually say that I began my research in my late teens, but after thinking about for a while, I wonder if I actually started it earlier.

When I was in the sixth grade, I had to do a family tree project for a project, so I began asking my grandparents for the names of my ancestors for the projects. I created a poster (which I still have) of the information that was known at the time, and when it was time to present my family tree, I had my grandpa bring in the family tree that had been done on my grandmother's side in addition to my posted. Then, when I entered the seventh grade, I had to do another family tree project as well, and I had to ask questions again. Of course, I also had to collect information on my family's medical history as that was a part of the project at that time.

Add those factors to the influence of my grandfather and my love of history, I guess it isn't a surprise as to why I do genealogy. Of course, when I think about those two early factors, I wonder if I actually started to research my family history earlier than I thought before because if I hadn't had to ask questions at those times, I don't know if I would have been able to uncover information on my great-grandfather without some of the information I learned at that time. So, what do you think?

Saturday Night Fun - Date Calculations

For this Saturday Night Fun, Randy has challenged other genea-bloggers to post on the use of their genealogy software's date calculator to find a birth date, and I thought I would participate in this challenge.

I have two genealogy programs on my computer: Family Trees Quick and Easy, version 5 that I use to keep track of my ancestry and Family Tree Maker 2005 trial version, so that I can open any gedcoms e-mailed to me. (I cannot successfully open gedcoms with the other program for some reason.) So, for this challenge I will use the date calculator in the Family Tree Maker version.

For this challenge, I have decided to calculate the birth date of my ancestor, Irene Havens. My only record of death happens to be her tombstone which states that she died on March 16, 1876 and was 35 years, 5 months and 25 days old at the time of her death. (I have not been able to find a record of her death, but it is quite possible that it never got recorded. I have a couple of other female ancestors whose deaths do not show up in the Saint Joseph county, Michigan death records either.)

To calculate the date of her birth, I opened Family Tree Maker software and selected the date calculator under the tools menu. I then entered the date of death and age of death as recorded on the tombstone, and the calculator came back with the date of 20 September 1840, although it mentioned that the calculation result was ambiguous. I'm guessing that the calculator does not know if the year was a leap year or not, so I'll have to do a little bit more research to find whether or not that is the case for 1876. So, I might have the right day of birth, but I won't know for sure until I uncover a baptismal record. Hopefully, I will find one for her.

Ancestor Number 21

Randy of Genea-Musings challenged other genea-bloggers to post information on their ancestor listed under the Ahnentafel number 21 on Saturday, and I am just getting around to participating in this meme.

So, who is this ancestor? Well, I have a name for this possible female ancestor, but I am still unsure as to if this is my great-grandfather's mother or not. I'm a bit uncertain due some family traditions and documentation, so I don't know what to put for this post. I am trying to unravel the ancestors of the great-grandfather, but I haven't had much luck yet. (This was the great-grandfather I tried to look for in the Catholic Church microfilm a couple of weeks ago.) Maybe some day I will post some information on my brick wall, but at the moment, I am a bit hesitant to post anything because I don't want to violate the privacy of my relatives. I hope to figure out his ancestry some day.