Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Baby Boy Gorodetsky

Miscarriage, March 12, 1902/3 Adar II 5662 (February 27, 1902 Julian calendar)

Kishinev, Bessarabia, Russian Empire

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Really Big News: MyHeritage Upgrades Its Consumer DNA Tests to Whole Genome Sequencing

TEL AVIV, Israel; LEHI, Utah; HOUSTON and FREMONT, California, October 14 , 2025 — MyHeritage announced today a landmark move to whole genome sequencing for its at-home DNA test, MyHeritage DNA.  Leveraging sequencing technology from Ultima Genomics and processing at the Gene by Gene lab, MyHeritage is the first major consumer DNA testing company to adopt whole genome sequencing at a scale of more than one million tests per year.  The enriched data will empower MyHeritage to deliver more accurate ethnicity analysis and DNA matching, and unlock opportunities for future innovation in consumer genomics and genetic genealogy.

Whole genome sequencing reads almost the entire human genetic code, covering around 3 billion base pairs (nucleotides).  This is superior to the standard genotyping arrays used by most consumer DNA tests, including MyHeritage until recently, which read only about 700,000 base pairs.  More data enable deeper insights across all types of genetic analysis.  Whole genome sequencing is now being applied to most new MyHeritage DNA kits currently being processed at the lab, and to every new MyHeritage DNA kit sold moving forward.  MyHeritage DNA kits already processed with the older genotyping array technology will not be reprocessed with whole genome sequencing.  Customers whose MyHeritage DNA kits are processed with whole genome sequencing will be able to download their entire genome from MyHeritage at no cost, in CRAM format.  They may also unlock additional insights by uploading their data to other trusted genetic service providers that support such uploads.

Due to its high technological potential, MyHeritage has been eying whole genome sequencing for years.  A pioneering study by the MyHeritage Science Team published in 2020 validated whole genome sequencing for reliable relative matching at scale.  Following that study, MyHeritage has been collaborating closely with Ultima Genomics since its emergence from stealth mode in mid-2022, and later jointly with Gene by Gene, to prepare the scientific and logistical foundation for upgrading the MyHeritage DNA processing pipeline to whole genome sequencing using Ultima’s technology.  The upgrade was completed successfully and creates new opportunities for MyHeritage to deliver deeper insights into ethnic origins, family connections, and genetic genealogy without any price increase to consumers.  The upgrade to whole genome sequencing makes MyHeritage's DNA offering more compelling.

“This is a pivotal moment for genetic genealogy,” said Gilad Japhet, founder and CEO of MyHeritage.  “We are proud to take this pioneering step into whole genome sequencing together with Ultima Genomics and with our longstanding partners at Gene by Gene.  MyHeritage customers will enjoy the fruits of this technological upgrade for years to come through increased accuracy, deeper insights, and exciting new products.”

“MyHeritage’s move to whole genome sequencing marks a major milestone for consumer DNA testing,” said Dr. Gilad Almogy, founder and CEO of Ultima Genomics.  “It demonstrates the scalability and maturity of Ultima’s innovative technology and accelerates the immense value that whole genome sequencing can bring to consumers.  It has been a pleasure collaborating with MyHeritage over the past few years, and we are proud to work together with them and Gene by Gene to bring genetic genealogy to new heights for millions of consumers worldwide.”

“The transition to whole genome sequencing represents the most ambitious project in our years-long partnership with MyHeritage,” said Dr. Lior Rauchberger, CEO of Gene by Gene.  “We are proud to help set a new standard in consumer genomics and support the growth of what will soon become the world’s largest database of whole genomes.  The rollout is centered at Gene by Gene’s state-of-the-art laboratory in Houston, Texas, which will house a large fleet of Ultima UG100™ sequencing instruments.”

Privacy Commitment
MyHeritage is committed to the privacy and security of its customers' data.  All genetic data are encrypted and stored securely, and MyHeritage does not sell or license data to third parties.  MyHeritage strictly prohibits the use of its platform by law enforcement.  All genetic samples are automatically destroyed by the lab after processing, except those stored securely for customers who have enrolled in the MyHeritage DNA BioBank service.  This provides customers with peace of mind not offered by most other major DNA testing companies.

About MyHeritage
MyHeritage enriches the lives of people worldwide by enabling them to uncover more about themselves and where they belong.  With a suite of intuitive products, billions of historical records, AI-powered photo tools, and an affordable at-home DNA test, MyHeritage creates a meaningful discovery experience that is deeply rewarding.  The MyHeritage platform is enjoyed by more than 62 million people around the world who treasure and celebrate their heritage.  MyHeritage is committed to the privacy and security of its customer data and is available globally in 42 languages.

About Ultima Genomics
Ultima Genomics is unleashing the power of genomics at scale.  The company's mission is to continuously drive the scale of genomic information to enable unprecedented advances in biology and improvements in human health.  With humanity on the cusp of a biological revolution, there is a virtually endless need for more genomic information to address biology's complexity and dynamic change — and a further need to challenge conventional next-generation sequencing technologies.  Ultima's revolutionary new sequencing architecture drives down the costs of sequencing to help overcome the trade-offs that scientists and clinicians are forced to make between the breadth, depth, and frequency with which they use genomic information.  The new sequencing architecture was designed to scale far beyond conventional sequencing technologies, lower the cost of genomic information, and catalyze the next phase of genomics in the 21st century.

About Gene by Gene
Gene by Gene is a world leader in genetic testing services with more than 20 years of experience.  Its laboratory holds accreditation from multiple agencies, including CAP, CLIA, New York State Department of Health, California Department of Public Health, and AABB.  With a cutting-edge laboratory and highly trained team of experts, Gene by Gene is committed to excellence in the field of genetic analysis.

Contacts

MyHeritage
Margaux Stelman
+972 52-953-4295
pr@myheritage.com

Ultima Genomics
Vikki Herrera
(408) 206-7009
vikki@oakstreetcommunications.com

Gene by Gene
Josie Zohny
jzohny@acmarketingpr.com

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Most Recent No-Name Ancestor

I'm not going to write about the ancestor most people might expect for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music), is:

1.  Sometimes an ancestor or relative has no name at all — not even a given name (for males, we usually can surmise a surname, but . . .).  We all have millions of them.

2.  Tell us about one (or more) of your ancestors that have no given name and no birth surname who has perhaps married an ancestor with a given name and surname from whom you are descended.  (Don't worry, we'll do unknown parents some time soon.)

3.  When was the last time you looked for this no-name ancestor?

4.  Share information about your no-name ancestor(s) in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook comment.

Okay, here's mine.

I'm sure many people would expect me to write about my paternal grandfather's father, whom I usually discuss when it comes to recent ancestors I haven't identified.  But in June I posted that I have decided his last name must be Mundy (or a spelling variant thereof), and I was already pretty sure his given name included "bert" in it.  So he really isn't a no-name ancestor anymore.

I'm going further afield.

The first person who next came to my mind is the father of my great-great-grandmother Beila, who married Simcha Dovid Mekler, possibly in Kamenets Litovsk (now Kamyanyets, Belarus).  I wrote about her in August for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, "Five Questions for an Ancestor."  I know her given name, and I have estimated her year of death to be before 1924.  That's all I know about her.

So it stands to reason that I don't know anything about her father, who I am calling my "no-name ancestor" for the purpose of this post.

I admit I have never looked for him.  To be honest, I have barely looked for Beila.  I'm pretty sure both were born in the Russian Empire.  I think Beila was probably born in what was Grodno gubernia and is now part of Belarus.  Her father might have been born there, or possibly in what is now Lithuania.

If I could find a marriage record for Beila, it might include her father's name on it.  But because of the dearth of records for Jews in the former Grodno gubernia (most having been deliberately destroyed during World War II, to eradicate the history of the Jews in the area), it is unlikely I will ever find that marriage record.

If I could find a tombstone for Beila, it might have her father's name on it in Hebrew.  But the Jewish cemeteries in that area were also pretty thoroughly destroyed during World War II, and it is unlikely I will find that tombstone.

If I could find the family in a Russian revision list, perhaps the 1897 list, it would probably list her father's name and maybe even a maiden name.  Even a Russified version would be helpful.  I actually have tried searching for her, Simcha Dovid Mekler, and the two children I know of in the revision lists as transcribed on JewishGen.org, but I have not found them.  I know that many of the revision lists did not survive.  Perhaps one day a page with my family on it will be found in an attic or tucked inside the wall of a house.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Disappeared Ancestors

When I hear about "disappeared" people nowadays, it usually has a more sinister connotation than what Randy Seaver means for today's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun exercise.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music), is:

1.  Sometimes an ancestor or relative just disappears out of the records and we cannot find another record after a certain date.

2.  Tell us about one or more of your relatives or ancestors that have disappeared and not been found since a certain date.  Do you have any idea of what might have happened to them?

3.  Share information about your disappearing relative or ancestor in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook comment.

Based on the way Randy has set this up, I guess I can't use any of my early ancestors on my mother's side, because I haven't found them in any records yet, period, much less after a certain date.  Or at least not in any records about them.  I have found their names in later generations' records, which is why I have the names at all, but all I have is their names.

A relative on my mother's side for whom I have not found records after a given date is my great-grandmother's brother Sam Novak (originally Shmuel Nowicki).  I have found him immigrating to the United States in 1905.  I have found him with his family in censuses in 1920, 1925, and 1930 and on a 1942 World War II draft registration card.  I am pretty sure it's him on a 1940 census page, but not completely sure.  A daughter in the household appears to be the correct person, but his wife's name has been transcribed as "Verge", and I don't know if it's Sarah or not.  The census is a different address than 1930 and 1942, so that doesn't help.  And I can't seem to find him in the 1950 census.  As for Randy's question "Do you have any idea of what might have happened to them?", I'm sure he died, but I don't know when or where.  My guess for where is Brooklyn, but that's all I have.

Two ancestors on my father's side I don't know about after certain dates are my great-grandmother's parents.  I have been able to find documents for Joel Armstrong and Sarah Ann Lippincott from their births and early lives through 1885.  I believe I have found them each in 1900 and later, although I'm not always positive it's them.  I think I have found Sarah living with her aunt and uncle and my great-grandmother in 1900; I know I have found her in 1905 living with her older daughter.  I might have found Joel with a second wife in 1910 and 1920.  At this point I have guessed that they divorced sometime between 1880 and 1900, but I don't have a record for that.  And I've seen various death dates attributed to each of them but nothing with any documentation.  So again I'm sure they died, but I don't know for sure when or where.  My guess for where for each of them is Burlington County, New Jersey.  I've seen Joel listed with a death date of 1922 multiple times, but I can't find any records to verify that.  I don't remember what I have seen about Sarah, but I do remember nothing has had documentation.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Pick an Ancestor: What Story Lines Do You Want to Explore?

It's Saturday, which means it's time for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver.  I had a very busy week and didn't have time to write at all, so I'm making up by doing last week's challenge.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music) is:

1.  Pick one of your ancestors whom you want to know more about.  Based on your knowledge of that person's life, what story lines do you want to explore?

2.  Tell us about your ancestor and the story lines of interest to you in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook comment.

Partly prompted by my sister's comment on a recent post, this time I will focus on my great-grandmother Laura May (Armstrong) Sellers Ireland.

• Tell me about your parents, Joel Armstrong and Sarah Ann Deacon Lippincott.  How do you remember them?  What did they look like?

• How much formal schooling did you have?  Did you enjoy school?  What were your favorite and your least favorite subjects?  Did you generally get good grades?

• Did your parents divorce?  If so, when?  Did either one remarry?  If yes to the latter question, how well did you get to know the new spouse (and family, if there was one)?

• Did you know any of your grandparents or older generations?  Aunts and uncles?  I would love to hear about them.

• Did you know about your sister's first marriage, which apparently was annulled?  Why was it annulled?  Were your parents upset about the marriage?

• Was that your mother living with you in 1900 when you were enumerated in the census at your granduncle and grandaunt's house?  Tell me about your granduncle and grandaunt and what they were like.  Did your grandaunt really have three children who died between 1900 and 1910?

• Who got you pregnant with your first child?  How long had you known him?  Did you want to have his name on the birth certificate?  How did your son Bertram Lynn's birth certificate end up being listed as a girl named Gertrude L.?

• How did you meet Elmer Sellers?  How long had you known him before you married in November 1903?  Were you happy with him?

• It must have been difficult and sad to have so many of your children die so young.  Did you have funerals for any of them?  Did Elmer's mother help with their burial expenses?

• It also must have been very difficult for you when Elmer died so young.  Did Elmer's mother pay for his funeral?  Did she help you financially after that?  Did you have to go to work?  Did the older children work to help support the family?

• When did Elmer's mother die?  How well did the two of you get along?  Was she a good grandmother to your children?

• How did your children react when you had a daughter three years after Elmer had died?  Who was that child's father?  Why didn't you provide his name for Bertolet's birth certificate?

• How big of a wedding did Bertram and Elizabeth have?  Did you like Elizabeth?  How did you feel when your first grandchild was born?

• Your grandson died at the age of 2, and then your daughter Bertolet died at the age of 6.  How did the family handle these sad events?  Why didn't you include Bertolet's father's name on her death certificate?

• Your oldest son, Bertram, wrote in a list of everywhere he had lived that from 1927–1928 he was out west with no fixed location.  Do you remember that period?  Was that the truth?  Do you have any idea what he was doing during those years?

• Is it true that you married John Ireland only because someone said you needed a man's help?  And is it true that you dumped him when you figured out you really didn't need his help?  Did you stay married until he died?

• How did you manage to be not at home when the census taker came around in 1940?  Were you trying to avoid him?  Were you living by yourself at that time?

• What prompted you to get an amended birth certificate for Bertram, your oldest child, in 1940?  Did he need it for a security clearance at his job?

• Did you know that Catherine was flipping a bird in one of the photos that Anita took of you and your four adult children at Betty's house?

• When did you move to Florida to live with Bertram and his wife?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Top Five Surprises

Anytime someone asks me to list my top number X of anything, I have to think about it for a while, as I did with this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music), is:

1.  Check out Top Five Surprises by D. M. Debacker on the Gathering Leaves blog.

2.  What are your top five surprises you have found in your genealogy research and family history work?

3.  Tell us about your surprises in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook comment.

My surprises come from more than 50 years of research.

1.  My paternal grandfather, Bertram Lynn Sellers, was born out of wedlock and was not the biological son of the man my great-grandmother Laura May Armstrong married.  This revelation, which I later proved with Y-DNA, came to me when I suddenly began to wonder why, if my great-grandfather had loved his stepfather so much as to name a son after him, he would name his second son after him, while naming his first son after a "close family friend."
See "I'm Apparently a Sellers by Informal Adoption"

2.  I had been told that my maternal grandfather's brother Rubin Meckler had been born and had died very young in the Russian Empire, before my great-grandparents immigrated to the United States.  I was amazed to discover him in the 1915 New York Census and then find his birth and death dates in the New York City indices.
See "Surprising Discovery in the New York Census"

3.  My great-grandmother Jane Dunstan was six months pregnant when she married my great-grandfather Thomas Kirkland Gauntt in 1891.  She had immigrated here from England only a year before.
See "Two Truths and One Lie"

4.  My great-grandmother Laura May Armstrong had an out-of-wedlock child, Bertolet Grace Sellers, three years after her husband had died.  She declined to name the father on both Bertolet's birth certificate and death certificate (she died at 6 years old).
See "Could 'Bertram' and 'Bertolet' Be Named for the Same 'Bert'?"

5.  My grandfather, Bertram Lynn Sellers, was registered as a girl named Gertrude L. on his original birth certificate.  I still have no credible explanation as to why.
See "An Administrative Change of Sex"

Wordless Wednesday

Save All Those Photographs!

One of my father's photos which has been saved.
This is the engine from a 1980–1986 Ford Bronco or F Series Bullnose
(at least according to ChatGPT).
But I have no idea whose Ford it was!

I post a lot on my blog about photographs:  how you should identify as many as possible as soon as possible, distribute and share copies (whether digital or physical) to family members, preserve them, and generally just care about them (and not let them end up in some thrift store).  Not only are they tangible artifacts from the history of your family, but they can tell you many stories, even if sometimes it takes some effort to figure those stories out.

But did you know that there is a Save Your Photos Month?  Admittedly, it was started by an organization that has some vested interest in you buying into the concept, but it's still a great way to publicize that we should be saving those photos.

The organization in question is The Photo Managers, which promotes services for organizing photos and sharing stories.  But during Save Your Photos Month, they also offer free YouTube Live presentations related to the subject of saving your photos; they want to help you organize, digitize, and save those photos.  The first two presentations for this year's event have already taken place:  "Before It's Too Late:  A Step-by-step Guide to Preserving Your Printed Photos" (which is now available on YouTube) and "How to Digitize Your Photos:  A Step-by-step Guide for Safeguarding Your Memories" (which will probably appear on YouTube soon).

Coming later this month are:
• "Organizing Digital Photos for Disaster Preparedness", September 9
• "What Is the Family Photo REALLY Telling You?", September 11
• "How to Safeguard Printed Photos from Fire, Water & Disasters", September 12
• "How to Save Photos Damaged by Fire or Water", September 16
• "Rebuilding Your Photo Collection after a Disaster", September 19
• "Clearing the Clutter, Saving the Stories", September 23
• "Essential Tools for Photo Preservation", October 2 (a bonus after Save Your Photos Month)

And all of these are free to attend and free to watch later!

So visit the Save Your Photos Month page, sign up for the YouTube Live presentations, and save all those family photos!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Five Questions for an Ancestor

Randy Seaver went way over his allotment of five questions in his post, so maybe I'll do the same for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music) is:

1.  If you could go back in time to interview one of your ancestors, what questions would you ask him or her?  Tell us your selected ancestor's name, birth and death years/locations, and spouse's name and marriage date/location.  List at least five questions to ask that selected ancestor.

2.  Tell us about your selected ancestor and your questions for that person in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook comment.

Ah, so now I see that Randy allowed for more than the allotted five questions by saying "at least five" in the more detailed instructions.  I can work with that.

I'm going to choose my great-great-grandmother Beila, who was married to my great-great-grandfather Simcha Dovid Mekler.  As her given name is pretty much the only fact I have for her, I'm going to start with much more basic questions.

1.  When and where were you born?  What were your parents' names?  What was your full name before marriage?  Do you remember when your parents died?  When and where did that happen?

2.  Did you have siblings?  What were their names?  When and where were they born?

3.  What were the names of your grandparents on both sides?  Did you know them?  Do you remember when they died?  When did that happen?  What did the family do at that time?  How did you commemorate them?  What are their yahrzeiten?

4.  Did you have aunts and uncles?  What were their names?  Do you know when and where they were born?  Do you remember when they died?

5.  When and where were you married?  Was it a civil marriage as well as a religious marriage?  Who attended the wedding?  After you were married, where did you and my great-great-grandfather live?  What did my great-great-grandfather do for a living?

6.  How many children did you have?  When and where were each of them born?  How many survived to adulthood?  Which of them married during your lifetime?  Did you get to know any of your grandchildren?

7.  What was everyday life like for you and your family?  Were there other Jewish families where you lived?  What was the community like?

8.  What do you remember about the end of your life?  Do you remember how old you were?  Did you become ill?

I can think of so many more questions!

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Ancestral Home Description

"Ancestral" might be a bit exaggerated for my answer to this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver, but at least I have an answer.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music), is:

1.  Do you recall the layout of one of your family homes (a parent's home, a grandparent's home, your first home with your spouse/SO, etc.)?  Can you estimate the size of the house and the size of the rooms?  What features were in each room?  Can you draw the floor plan, showing doors, windows, etc.?

2.  Tell us about your selected family home in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook comment.

As I have reported previously on this blog, by the time I was 21, I had lived in 22 different places.  So it's hard for me to think of anywhere I have lived as an "ancestral home."

I thought about writing on the one home for which I have always remembered the address, the last place my family lived before moving to Australia:  434 Randy Street, Pomona, California.  We probably were there for a year to two years.  But I already wrote about it for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun in 2020.

So this time I think I'll write about our customized double-wide mobile home, which we had in Villa Tasso, Florida.  I don't think we had an actual street address, because Villa Tasso barely had streets.  We had roads made of Georgia red clay, none of which was paved.  We had our mail sent to a post office box in Niceville.  We lived in Villa Tasso from about 1975 to 1979 (or at least I lived there until 1979, when I moved back to California for college).

Our "double wide" was a 60' trailer and a 40' trailer with a custom addition joining the two together.  We had the longer trailer in a mobile home park in Niceville before purchasing the property in Villa Tasso.  I don't remember the history of the shorter trailer.  The longer trailer was moved to the property first, and later we bought the shorter trailer.  Then my father started working on the addition, which of course took longer than planned.  But eventually it was finished, and we had a spacious home.

The main entrance was the door to the longer trailer, which had a wood porch and stairs.  You entered the trailer in the living room, and the kitchen was to the right.  To the far left was a hallway that went most of the length of the trailer.  The first room on the left was originally my and my sister's bedroom.  Then came my brother's bedroom, the bathroom, and my parents' bedroom at the end.

The 60' trailer while it was still in Niceville.
Walking up the stairs and onto the porch, right to left:
My mother, my sister, my brother, and me

When the addition was completed, a large chunk of the wall on the right side of the hallway went away and opened to the addition.  At the left end, my father had a piano, which I liked to try to play.  I could pick out melodies, but chords have never made sense in my head, so that somewhat limited how well I could play.

The other side of the addition opened to what had been the living room in the shorter trailer.  It became the family den.  We had a big TV in there.  When I won a copy of the home version of Pong in a K-Mart coloring contest, we used to play it on that TV.  That's also the TV I was watching when I heard someone's arm break during an arm-wrestling contest.  I've never watched arm-wrestling since then.

There was a room to the right.  At first I wasn't 100% sure about that, but you can see the doorway in this photo from my high school graduation day in 1979.  The photo was taken at the opposite end of the den from the TV.

Back row:  My mother, my sister, my grandmother
Front row:  Me, my brother, my mother's Sheltie
June 1, 1979, Villa Tasso

At the far side of the den to the left was a short hallway.  The first room, to the left, was a small bathroom, and my new bedroom, which I did not have to share with my sister, was at the very end.

It just occurred to me that there was no kitchen in the smaller trailer.  Maybe the room to the right of the den had originally been a kitchen before my father adapted the trailer for our use.  I do not remember what we used that room for.

I have no idea about measurements beyond the lengths of the trailers.  I suspect trailers were made to fairly consistent specs, so it might be relatively easy to find that information, if I am inspired to do so someday.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

A Pool Shill?

Today, August 9, is National Billiards and Pool Day.  It is noted as such on two of the "national day" sites (Days of the Year and List of National Days), although neither has any information about how it started.

I'm celebrating the day on my blog because my mother used to tell me about how she and our Aunt Sam (who was not our biological aunt, but my mother's close friend, so we called her "aunt") used to play pool.  My mother, as she told the story, was not that great a pool player, but Sam was.  So my mother got someone to play against her, and she would lose, then setting up the poor stooge to play against Sam.  That made my mother the shill.

Coincidentally, I actually found photographs in the "photo bonanza" showing my mother and someone I believe to be Sam playing pool!  Some people in other photos are playing pool or look as though they are in the same location.  I don't know who most of them are, but all the pool players are women!

This is the only easy identification, because it's my mother.
I think the woman on the right here is the one in the last photo (see below).

I think this is Aunt Sam, but I'm not sure.

Aunt Sam had a daughter named Cathy.
Could this be her?

This photo makes me wonder who the photographer was.
It could have been my father, but I don't know.

Here's the girl from the previous two photos,
with another girl and a man.  No idea who they might be.

And here's our final player!
Unidentified, of course.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Rabbit Hole!

I haven't had much time recently to do deep dives in genealogy, but I can come up with something for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music), is:

1.  Have you been down a genealogy rabbit hole lately?  What was it, and what did you find?  (If not, go find a rabbit hole!  Try your FamilySearch Notifications or Ancestry.com Photos or Stories.)

2.  Share your rabbit hole chase and results in your own blog post or in a Facebook, SubStack, BlueSky, or other social media post.  Leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

My last rabbit hole was when Randy asked us to play around with FamilySearch's Full-Text Search two weeks ago.

As I described at the time, I didn't find any of my ancestors, so I started hunting around for other families I am researching.  The most productive search was for my aunt's maiden name of McStroul:  42 results!  And most of them were documents and stories I had not previously found.

A lot of what I found was newspaper stories.  I naturally put them into chronological order, so I could see how the family changed and developed over time.

I found it interesting to be able to follow stories about my aunt's brother over several years.  In early 1962 he completed training in the U.S. Army.  In 1969 he started college (presumably after leaving the Army, but I didn't find an article about that).  In 1973 he graduated college.  In 1978 he visited his mother from out of town for Christmas and was studying at a seminary.  In January 1980 he and his wife-to-be obtained a marriage license.  Sometime between January and May they apparently married, because his wife graduated college in May 1980 with her married name.

I found four World War II draft registrations where my aunt's grandfather was the registrar.  I figure he probably registered more than four people, so maybe the AI hasn't recognized his signature on others.

I found my aunt's mother's obituary and the obituary for her second husband.  I also found my aunt's parents listed in several deed indices in Erie County, New York.  I have a vague recollection that one of the children was born in Buffalo (I can't look it up right now, because my new computer is still in transition), so I guess they lived there long enough to buy and sell some property.  More to follow up on!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Five Reference Books for Beginning Genealogy Researchers

I suspect we will see very different lists in response to tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music) is:

1.  What five reference books (and only five) would you recommend to a beginning genealogy researcher to have on the bookshelf?

2.  Share your list of five books in your own blog post or in a Facebook, SubStack, BlueSky, or other social media post.  Leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for this SNGF topic.

I have a significantly different list than Randy's.  Mine is based on research in the United States of America specifically, which is where most of our blogging audience is, as far as I know.

1.  I'll agree with Randy on Val D. Greenwood's The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy (4th edition).  Quoting Randy, "Arguably the best book ever written on American genealogy, it instructs the researcher in the timeless principles of genealogical research, while identifying the most current classes of records and research tools."  This will give a beginning researcher a solid foundation of research skills for American research.

And now I will deviate from Randy and choose four entirely different books than he did.  While I agree that court and land research are important for genealogy, they're not the first topics I would emphasize for a beginner.

2.  Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790–1920, William Thorndale and William Dollarhide.  The census is the starting point for most American research, and this book not only explains the census but illustrates changes in jurisdictions over ten-year increments.  It still provides a solid foundation in understanding the U.S. census.  If researchers don't understand the census and how to use the information it provides, I have learned they generally don't get far in their research.

3.  International Vital Records Handbook, 7th Edition, Thomas Jay Kemp.  This book will have out-of-date information (similar to the next entry) because it was published in 2017.  But vital records are probably the most important records specific to individuals, and this reference book explains so much about them.  Understanding the background of vitals, when they started in different areas, and jurisdictions are critical to finding and using them.  Having the names of administrative offices, which this book supplies, means you can search for them online and see if they have Web sites where you can order online, or learn if addresses and phone numbers have been updated.

4.  Red Book:  American State, County & Town Sources, Third Edition, Alice Eichholz, Ph.D.  I hesitated about this choice primarily because the last print edition was published in 2004, making a significant amount of the details in it out of date, but the basic information is mostly still valid.  I decided to include it because the information in it is important and because Randy said books.  It is possible to use the references in the book and then search online for Web sites, current addresses and phone numbers, etc.  When you don't know what resources are available, the Red Book can point you in good directions.  At one point Ancestry.com had the information in the book available on its site, but I don't know if that is the case anymore.

5.  The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition, University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff.  Some may call it heresy, but I still rely on CMoS for my style information.  There is nothing I have found in genealogical research that cannot be well cited by using this book, and it is useful in other contexts as well.

And it's possible to find used copies of most of these (maybe not so many of CMoS 18) at good prices.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Do Some FamilySearch Full-Text Searching

Randy Seaver has more AI in store for us for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music) is:

1.  FamilySearch Full-Text Search continues to add databases and searchable images to their collections.  This is a gold mine, especially of land, probate, and court records.

2.  Pick one or two of your ancestors and see what you can find on FamilySearch Full-Text Search about them.

3.  Share your Full-Text Search find(s) in your own blog post or in a Facebook, SubStack, BlueSky, or other social media post.  Leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

The results for most of my searches for my ancestors (and remember, an ancestor is someone from whom you descend, not a collateral relative; since there is no such thing as an "indirect ancestor", the term "direct ancestor" is redundant at best and nonsense otherwise) either had far too many results to look through, when I searched for just a surname, or no results at all, when I searched for full names in quotation marks to control the number of irrelevant results.  My names are not extremely common ones, such as Smith and Jones, but they are common enough that a blind search with no index produces far too many results to slog through.  My grandmother's name was Anna Gauntt, with no middle name that I have ever discovered, so I searched for "anna gauntt" and learned that the AI provides results with something between your search terms.  I was able to rule out all of those Anna Gauntts, because they either had middle names or initials or were not in the correct locations for my grandmother.  I abandoned my ancestors and searched for some of the unique surnames that I am doing research on.

My search for Gudapel, a name which has been used by only four people in the history of the world, produced two results.  Both had headers that read "History Records 1800–1902, Diaries 1800–1902 | New Hampshire. Genealogies 1978–1982, Society Records 1978–1982 | Maine. Genealogies 1978–1982, Society Records 1978–1982" (truncated on screen, but visible when I moused over the link).  If I were searching for a name that I did not know as well, I might have ignored these results, because I know the family was never in New Hampshire and Maine and would have no reason to appear in genealogies for those area.  Because I do know the name, I clicked on the links, hoping that maybe there was something from the 19th century, and discovered that the title was not particularly accurate.  Both links went to the same book, a 1941 Houston, Texas city directory, which did include the name of Geo. [George] Gudapel on two different pages.  While city directories can be classified as history records, the directory in question does not fall in the years of 1800–1902.  I'm not sure if I already had these directory listings.

I next searched for McStroul, a name which my aunt's grandfather created when he naturalized as an American citizen.  His original name was Moska Leib Strul.  He asked to have it changed to Leo Martin McStroul when he became a citizen.  The name McStroul belongs only to his family; when I find it, I know it has to be the right people.  When I entered it in the keyword field, I had 42 results.

I searched for McStroul when Randy did a previous FamilySearch Full-Text Search challenge.  At that time I had two results, both in my aunt's great-grandmother's will and probate.  The name appeared because my aunt's mother, who was the granddaughter of the deceased, was listed under her married name.  I noted at the time that the name actually appeared three times in the document, but only two were identified by the search.  This time the search picked up all three occurrences.

All 42 results for McStroul that Full-Text Search found were correctly read.  A couple of the given names were misread by the AI (such as Geo instead of what actually said Leo).  Many of the documents were ones that I have not previously found, such as articles in a Kingman, Arizona newspaper and naturalizations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where the McStroul family members appeared as witnesses.  So these are all useful in researching the family and are nice discoveries.

I tried searching for Szocherman, a name in my family that I believe more and more may be unique to that branch of my cousins.  I had no results.  But when I searched for Socherman, a spelling which some family members have adopted, I found many results, almost all of which were not for my cousins.  Amusingly, one that was my family was misread by AI and actually does say Szocherman.

After all of that, I tried to find a collateral relative in the database and searched for "frederick dunstan" in quotation marks.  Again the AI provided results with something between my search terms, and there were far more Frederick Dunstans than I had anticipated, more than was practical to look at.  I restricted the search to New Jersey and ended up with only four results, three of which were for Frederick C. Dunstan in Burlington County, which is exactly where my great-grandmother's brother should be found.  I believe this is the right person, so it appears he had a middle name, which I previously did not know, that started with C.  All three results are from deed indices from the early 1920's.  That does provide me with information about him.

Before I restricted the search to New Jersey, some of the results were for a Frederick Dunstan in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  I looked at them bcause that isn't horribly far from New Jersey and found that they were for a Frederick Dunstan from Combe Martin, England, which is in Devon County.  My Dunstans were from Lancashire, so I knew this was not my guy, but ironically, his wife's name was Jane.  Jane Dunstan is my great-grandmother and the sister of Frederick Dunstan.  I did find that entertaining.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your (or Your Ancestor's) Personal History Timeline

Tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver (via Taneya Koonce, one of my genealogy buds) sounds like a fun exercise.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music) is:

1.  Taneya Koonce wrote a happy birthday post about her own life in Quick Tip:  Create Your Personal History Timeline:  The Birthday Edition 🥳.  What a great birthday idea.

2.  This week, write your own personal history timeline:  every 5 or 10 years, or the most important events.  If you don't want to do yours, write a history timeline for one of your ancestors.

3.  Share your personal timeline in your own blog post or in a Facebook, SubStack, BlueSky, or other social media post.  Leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

Thank you, Taneya, for the idea!

Here's mine!

1962 (age 0):  I was born in Los Angeles, California in the County Hospital, the first child of Bertram Lynn Sellers, Jr. and Myra Roslyn Meckler.  My mother listed her address on my birth certificate as being in Whittier, which is where my godmother lived.  I don't know if my parents actually lived with her or if that was strictly a contact address.  I don't remember anything about Whitter.  I do remember County Hospital, only because many years later I volunteered in a pharmaceutical test and went there for the visits.

1967 (age 5):  My family was living at 537 Lochmere Avenue, La Puente, California.  We apparently were at that address at least from sometime in 1964, when my sister was born, until some point in 1968.  Also in the family was my brother who was born in 1963.  At the age of 5 I was probably in kindergarten.  I don't recall anything about kindergarten.

1972 (age 10):  In 1972 when I turned 10 my family was living in either Maroubra Junction or Pagewood, both suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.  I was attending 5th grade at Woollahra Demonstration School, a school for advanced students that had 5th and 6th grades.  I remember having a sewing class and a physical education class, although I don't remember the names of my teacher(s).  Somewhere I still have my school uniform and my physical education uniform, along with some of the projects I made in my sewing class.

1977 (age 15):  My family lived in Villa Tasso, Florida and had been there for about four years.  I was in 10th grade, attending Niceville Senior High School.  I was in advanced classes; I may have taken calculus that year.  I think my elective was French.  My siblings and I took the school bus 10 miles into Niceville to attend school.  I was a social misfit and did not attend school events.  I think I was working at my grandfather's stamp and coin store.

1982 (age 20):  I was living in Los Angeles, California in the dormitory at the University of Southern California during the academic year.  I was a junior and was on track to graduate the next year as a French major.  I was a work-study student in the Office of Overseas Studies; my boss was Connie Horak.  That summer I went on a student exchange program to Bordeaux, France and managed to take a one-day trip to San Sebastian, Spain.  At the end of the trip, when all the students gathered in Paris, we found a theater that was screening Pink Floyd — The Wall, which was even more surreal with French subtitles.  We went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show in another theater, where we totally flummoxed the French attendees by doing all of the participatory things people do here.  When I returned from France I went to San Antonio, Texas to visit my family; I almost didn't recognize my mother at the airport, as she had gained a significant amount of weight after quitting smoking.  Back in Los Angeles I worked in the dorm cafeteria at the end of the summer and lived in one of the fraternity houses, which rented out rooms to bring in some money.

1987 (age 25):  In 1987 I was still in Los Angeles; I was either living in a small apartment or had moved to the lower half of a duplex with three housemates.  I had a female gray Russian blue-Persian mix cat named Tamara.  I was working at USC in the French and Italian Department and was in the Trojan Marching Band (The Greatest Marching Band in the History of the Universe).  One of my work-study students in the department was Brian Rhodes; we were co-uniform managers for the band.  At the beginning of the year the band had gone to Florida to support the USC football team, which had competed in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

1992 (age 30):  In 1989 I had moved to Berkeley, California; in 1992 I was living in an in-law house at the back part of a property there.  I still had Tamara.  I was working at Chessex Manufacturing in Berkeley, where I was the assistant production manager.  To celebrate my 30th birthday I took a trip to Hawaii with my then-boyfriend.  We were there when the Rodney King riots occurred; it was surreal to watch the news and see parts of Los Angeles where I had lived being burned, etc.

1997 (age 35):  I bought a house in Oakland in 1993, and I was still there in 1997.  The boyfriend from 1992 was now a former boyfriend but still one of my best friends, and he was my housemate.  I was working at Chaosium in Oakland, where I was an editrix and the convention schnook.  I think the pets in the house were dogs named Cody and Kirby and cats named Hank and Napoleon.  I don't remember anything distinctive about the year, though.

2002 (age 40):  I was still in the house in Oakland, although who else was living there had changed.  The housemate/former boyfriend had moved out; I had had two other housemates in the interim, but I think I was the only person at this time.  Hank and Kirby were still with me, but I had surrendered Cody to the Humane Society because she no longer got along with Kirby.  Napoleon had died a couple of years previously.  I had added a new cat named Sassafras, Sassy for short.  I was no longer working at Chaosium but had moved on to the Seismological Society of America, a scientific membership association, where I was the publications coordinator and the junior Web geek.  My friends helped me celebrate my 40th birthday by throwing a big party at a Mexican restaurant whose name is not coming back to me at the moment.  I also had started volunteering regularly at the Oakland Family History Center two years earlier, and I spent a lot of time there researching and helping others.

2007 (age 45):  Still in the house in Oakland, but at a different job.  I was working for a transcription company in downtown Oakland, where I learned a lot about the history of Kaiser, who was one of our major clients.  I also commuted for the first time in my life by bus, which was a much better choice than trying to find parking near the office.  Hank, Sassy, and Kirby were still there, along with another cat, Noodle, plus a guinea pig named Pulga.  I also had added birds:  Peaches (blue and gold macaw), Ray (sun conure), and Zach (green-cheeked conure).  Having eight pets was enough to keep me busy when I wasn't at work or the Family History Center.

2012 (age 50):  Still in Oakland, amazingly enough, considering how much my family moved when I was a kid.  The pet line-up had changed, though:  Ray, Zach, Hank, Sassy, Kirby, and Pulga had all passed away.  I still had Peaches and Noodle, and Caesar and Brandy had joined the family.  Just before I turned 50, I started training to become a train operator at BART, which I really enjoyed.  My friend Anne set up a huge surprise for my 50th birthday; at a costume event commemorating the launch of the RMS Titanic, she managed to coordinate having a band play "Happy Birthday" and about 150 people singing along.  I had announced I wanted a fuss for my birthday, and I certainly got one!

2017 (age 55):  The big event for me in 2017 was moving from Oakland, California to Gresham, Oregon, which I did at the end of the summer, arriving at 9:30 a.m. on September 1.  I still had the same furred and feathered children:  Noodle, Brandy, Peaches, and Caesar.  I sold my house in Oakland and found a similar-sized one in Gresham that had enough room for me, the pets, and all my belongings (which took more than an entire truckload to bring here).  The early part of the year was spent preparing for the move, and the months after arrival were taken up with unpacking as much as I could.  But I did start volunteering at the local Family History Center within two weeks of arriving, and by the time I moved here all five of my grandchildren were within relatively easy driving distance.

2022 (age 60):  This was during COVID, so not a lot was going on anywhere.  I had shoulder surgery in 2020, during the heart of COVID, and was still recovering from it for the majority of the year (it usually takes about two years to fully recover from shoulder surgery, and it did this time).  So on top of COVID, I wasn't doing much of anything else anyway.  The list of pets changed again.  Noodle died in 2018, only a few months after we moved, and I added Frankie to the household to be company for Brandy.  Then a macaw needed a home in 2020, and I welcomed my first female bird, Angel.  Later that same year Brandy passed away, and I fell in love with a gorgeous little female Siamese.  Unfortunately, she and Frankie didn't exactly get along, so they lived in two different parts of the house.

And that's my life broken down into 5-year synopses.  As usual, Randy remembers far more details than I do, but I hit the highlights.  All my grandchildren were born in in-between years, and I couldn't figure out how to weave that in well.  Maybe I'll revise this post later after thinking about it for a while.