I Used to Talk Like William Shakespeare

Well, maybe.  Kind of.

I performed at the Renaissance Pleasure Faires (unfortunately now part of Renaissance Entertainment Corporation) in California (originally held in Calabasas and Novato, then later in Devore and Vacaville [and Gilroy after that]) for several years.  (You can read more about the history here.)  They were nominally set in the Elizabethan era (as in Queen Elizabeth I of England) in an English village, roughly in the 1580's.  When they started, there was a strong focus on history and education.  At some point that included trying to sound like Elizabethans theoretically would have sounded.

And that brings us to Basic Faire Accent (BFA).  I was told it was originally inspired by the actor Robert Newton and how he spoke when he portrayed the pirate Long John Silver in the 1950 movie version of Treasure Island.  Apparently he was told at some point to make the character sound distinctive, so he used the local West County accent, where he grew up in England.  And it stuck.  That's how everyone thinks pirates should sound.

But someone thought that's close to how regular people would have sounded in the 1500's, and BFA was built on that logic.  So when you worked at the Faire, you were taught BFA in pre-Faire workshops (yes, we took workshops to educate us on what life and people would have been like in the Elizabethan period; like I said, it was started with an educational focus).  A good breakdown from someone who used to work at the same faires can be found here.

As written there, the short "a" is one of the more distinctive sounds, because it is always like the "a" in "apple."  You never say it the way we pronounce that letter in the word "want" nowadays.  Short "e" and short "i" are pretty much how we say them now, though.

Our warm-up in the morning to get us in the right linguistic mindset was reciting the 23rd Psalm from the Bible.  Here's the beginning, as best as I can write it with the pronunciation.  Don't forget that all those short a's are as in apple!

Thee loord is muh-ee shep-herd, Uh-ee shall not want.
He me-keth mee to luh-ee do-oon in green pas-tyoors.
He lay-deth mee bee-suh-eed thee still wa-ters.
He re-stoor-eth muh-ee so-ool.
He lay-deth mee in the path of ruh-ee-tee-us-ness foor his nems sek.
Yay, tho-oo Uh-ee wak throo the va-lee oov thee sha-duh-oo oov dayth,
Uh-ee shall fair no ee-vil,
Foor thuh-oo art with mee.
Thuh-ee rood and thuh-ee staff thay coom-foort muh-ee.

Now, whether Shakespeare actually sounded like this, I don't know!  I haven't heard anyone refute that BFA is a reasonable approximation of how people spoke in that era.  But today is "National Talk Like Shakespeare Day", celebrated on the anniversary of his death, which gave me an opportunity to remember fondly my days of speaking in Basic Faire Accent.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: An Unexpected Record Find

I'm sure everyone has something that would qualify for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver.

Here is your assignment, if you choose to play along (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music, please!):

1.  Have you found an unexpected record recently (or at any time) in your genealogy and family history research?  A document, a book, an article, a letter, etc.

2.  This week, please tell us about that unexpected record find and how it helped your research.

3.  Share your unexpected record find and how it helped your research with us in your own blog post, by writing a comment on this blog post, or put it in a Substack post, Facebook Note, or some other social media system.  Please leave a comment on this post so others can find it.

Many years ago, I was searching for my great-great-grandfather's name in Google.  Many of the hits for Morris Brainin (searching in quotation marks) were on Ancestry, but one was more unusual.  It was on Google Books in a printed book.  I remember wondering why my immigrant great-great-grandfather's name was in a book.

The book is The Jewish Community Register of New York City, 1917–1918 (second edition), published and copyrighted by the Jewish Community of New York City in 1918.  The printer was Lipshitz Press of New York City.

I discovered that Morris Brainin was the president of the Abraham Lincoln Lodge No. 297, which met at 62 E. 6th Street on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month.  Morris was living at 1575 Madison Avenue, an address with which I am familiar because my grandmother was born there, at her grandparents' house.  The Secretary of the lodge was Henry Harrison of 367 So. Boulevard, a person and an address which I have been unable to identify yet.

The Abraham Lincoln Lodge was listed as being part of I.O.B.S., something else which I still have not identified.  I have been guessing that IO stands for International Order, but I can't find an organization with the initials.  B might be for Brother or Brotherhood.  But what is the S?

Whatever it is or was, Morris had been president of this lodge since 1914.  The short description included a birth year of 1859 in Russia and an arrival year of 1906 to the United States.  I have found the passenger list for his arrival, which was in 1906, and the birth year helped narrow down the range of years I had for his birth, which had previously been 1860 to 1863.  Now I lean more to him being a little older, born about 1859–1860.  He may or may not have known his actual birth date, and I haven't found it yet in Russian records.

The statement that he received a "general Jewish education" is interesting, because he was enumerated in at least one U.S. federal census as being a rabbi.  Apparently his education was not specifically that to become a rabbi, but he declared himself one here anyway.

Happy Birthday, Mark!

It's my brother's birthday!  And I've managed to put together a short (random) timeline of photos from over the years.

July 1963

Circa 1964-1965 (with me)

1968 (with me)

1971

1990's

2001 (with our father and sister)

Early 2000's (with our stepnephew)

Circa 2010's

Circa 2010's (with our father)

2016

2018 (with his son, wife, daughter, and me)

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: An Ancestor without Exact Birth and Death Dates and Places

I'm posting a little late for this past Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver, but since this topic is practically perfect for Jewish research, I had to weigh in.

Here is your assignment, if you choose to play along (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music, please!):

1.  Do you have an ancestor with no defined birth and death dates or places?

2.  This week, please tell us about that ancestor and what clues you used to estimate birth and death dates and places.

3.  Share your ancestor and his estimated birth and death dates and places with us in your own blog post, by writing a comment on this blog post, or putting it in a Substack post, Facebook Note, or some other social media system.  Please leave a comment on this post so others can find it.

And here I go.

1.  Do I?  Hoo, boy!  I have at least a dozen just on my Meckler line!  But every single one of my Jewish lines has ancestors like that.

2.  The ancestor I decided to write about is my great-great-grandfather Simcha Dovid Mekler (before about 1862–before about November 16, 1903).  I have his name from the yizkor book about Kamenets Litovsk, former Russian Empire (now Kamyenyets, Belarus).  He was the father of my great-grandfather Moshe Mekler, who went by Morris and Max here in the United States and eventually spelled his last name as Mackler.

I have no original documents about Simcha Dovid Mekler from Europe.  I have his parents' names, Zvi Mekler and Esther, from the yizkor book and from a cousin who was born in Kamenets Litovsk.

I estimated Simcha Dovid's death date based on the birth date that my granduncle chose after he immigrated to the United States.  Simcha Mekler was my grandfather's oldest brother.  He used the name Sam in this country, and Mekler became Meeckler at some point.  He was named after his grandfather Simcha, and because my Ashkenazi Jewish family members followed the minhag ("custom") of naming their their children after deceased ancestors, that means Simcha Dovid had to have died before my granduncle was born.  But because he didn't know his exact date of birth and I have no documents for it, it's a rough estimate.  The birth date he used for his Social Security application was November 16, 1903, and it's all I have to work with.

I based my very rough estimate of a birth year for Simcha Dovid on the ages for my great-grandfather Morris in the records I have found for him, including his incoming passenger list and several censuses.  He apparently was born roughly around 1882.  I have no documents with an actual birth date, so it's another estimate (he didn't apply for Social Security, as far as I can tell).  I don't know if Morris had any older siblings, but I figure his father was probably at least 21 years old when he was born, so I backdated it to before 1862.

As for where Simcha Dovid might have been born or died, we have another guessing game.  In his will, Morris Mackler left a bequest for a new tombstone for his father's grave in the cemetery in Kamenets Litovsk.  Morris Mackler was said to have been born in Kamenets Litovsk himself.  So my guess is that Simcha Dovid died in Kamenets Litovsk.  Because I have no other location associated with him or Mekler family members, my guess is that he was also born there.

Maybe someday I will find documents relating to Kamenets Litovsk about my family members, but I'm not holding my breath.  The Nazis were extremely thorough in destroying almost all archival material about Jews in Grodno gubernia, so there's hardly anything left.  I do want to investigate what is there, just in case there's something about my family, but I need to save a bunch of money to have the research done.  So this is as far as I can get for now.

Remembering My Family Members on Yom HaShoah

Yom HaShoah, the annual day of remembrance commemorating the deaths of the approximately 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust during World War II, falls on 27 Nisan of the Jewish calendar, which measures days from sunset to sunset.  This year it began last night, April 13, at sunset, and ended today, April 14, at sunset.

The following are my known family members I believe died in the Holocaust.  They all are from the Mekler/Nowicki branch of my family and lived in what was fornerly called Grodno gubernia in the Russian Empire (mostly now in Belarus).  I repeat their names every year to ensure that they are not forgotten.  May their memory be a blessing.

Beile Dubiner
Eliezer Dubiner
Herschel Dubiner
Moishe Dubiner
Sore (Mekler) Dubiner
Aidel Goldsztern
Golda Goldsztern
Josef Goldsztern
Pearl (Gorfinkel) Goldsztern
Tzvi Goldsztern
Esther Golubchik
Fagel Golubchik
Lazar Golubchik
Peshe (Mekler) Golubchik
Pinchus Golubchik
Yechail Golubchik
Mirka (Nowicki) Krimelewicz
— Krimelewicz
Beile Szocherman
Chanania Szocherman
Mobsza Eli Szocherman
Perel Szocherman
Raizl (Perlmutter) Szocherman
Zlate Szocherman

Beile Dubiner was my 1st cousin 2x removed.
She was likely named after her grandmother
(my great-great-grandmother) Beile.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Was a "Turning Point" in Your Parents' Life?

I'm still trying to catch up from missing last week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, but I'm happy to participate in this week's challenge from Randy Seaver!

Here is your assignment, if you choose to play along (cue the Mission:  Impossible music, please!):

1.  Family stories are often about "turning points" and "major decisions."

2.  This week, please describe a "turning point" in the life of one of your parents (or for both of them, or for grandparents).  Describe the decision and discuss the outcome of it.

3.  Share the turning point with all of us by writing your own blog post, writing a comment on this blog post, or putting it in a Substack post, Facebook Note, or some other social media system.  Please leave a comment on this post so others can find it.

From my perspective, probably the most important turning points in my parents' life was when my mother decided to go to a party with her best friend.  They were living in Miami at the time.  Their car broke down on the way to the party, and my mother was fretting about what they could do.  Her friend said, "Don't worry, my uncle is a mechanic.  I'll call him and he'll come fix it."  And that uncle became my father, because my mother's best friend was my first cousin.

I don't know when exactly this happened or the specifics of how things developed from there, but I do know that my parents were married October 21, 1961 and shortly thereafter left Florida and drove across the country to Los Angeles.  I'm pretty sure the first place they went was my godmother-to-be's home in Whittier.  Ruthie was my maternal grandmother's best friend.  My mother told Ruthie that she was pregnant (with me!) before she told my grandmother.

So if my mother hadn't decided to go to that party, I might not be here.  I guess my brother and sister wouldn't be either.  And maybe my father would have become a famous musician!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

99 Things Genealogy Meme

I found this meme accidentally because Banai Lynn Feldstein, the Ginger Genealogist, had her blog hacked and some of her older posts, including the 99 Things Genealogy Meme, were sent out as new items.  I discovered that Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, which I use as weekly inspiration for posts, covered this topic, but in 2009, two years before I started blogging.  So I'm going to do it now.

Because my Jewish ancestry is a huge focus of my research, I'm using Banai's Jewish-focused version of the meme, although I do not agree with her logic on removing American Revolution, Civil War, and DAR as topics.  For several of the items, I changed "ancestor" to "relative" because not only did I not think it was realistic for all of those items to be for ancestors, my collateral relatives are also important in my research.  And I did a few edits just because I'm an editor and found things, and I couldn't help myself.

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found:  bold type.
Things you would like to do or find:  Italicize (color optional).
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to:  plain type.

1. Belonged to a genealogical society.
2. Researched records on site at a court house.
3. Transcribed records.
4. Uploaded tombstone photographs to Find-A-Grave.
5. Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents).
6. Joined Facebook.
7. Helped clean up a run-down cemetery.
8. Joined the GeneaBloggers Group on Facebook.
9. Attended a genealogy conference.
10. Lectured at a genealogy conference.
11. Attended SIG/BOF meetings at a genealogy conference.
12. Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society.
13. Been the editor of a genealogy society newsletter or journal.
14. Contributed to a genealogy society publication.
15. Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society.
16. Got lost on the way to a cemetery.  Because my father refused to ask for directions first.
17. Talked to dead relatives.
18. Researched outside the state in which I live.
19. Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with the current occupants.
20. Cold-called a distant relative.
21. Posted messages on a surname message board.
22. Uploaded a GEDCOM file to the Internet.
23. Googled my name.
24. Performed a random act of genealogical kindness.
25. Researched an unrelated family, just for the fun of it.
26. Have been paid to do genealogical research.
27. Earned a living (majority of income) from genealogical research.
28. Wrote a letter (or e-mail message) to a previously unknown relative.
29. Responded to messages on a message board or forum.
30. Was injured while on a genealogy excursion.
31. Participated in a genealogy meme.
32. Created family history gift items (calendars, cookbooks, etc.).
33. Performed a record look-up for someone else.
34. Went on a genealogy seminar cruise.
35. Was convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outer space.
36. Found a disturbing family secret.
37. Told others about a disturbing family secret.
38. Combined genealogy with crafts (family picture quilt, scrapbooking).
39. Think genealogy is a passion, not a hobby.
40. Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person (Unclaimed Persons).
41. Taught someone else how to find their roots.
42. Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or hard drive failure.  More than once, in fact.
43. Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology.
44. Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher.
45. Disproved a family myth through research.
46. Got a family member to let you copy photos.
47. Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records.
48. Translated a record from a foreign language.
49. Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record.
50. Looked at census records on microfilm, not on the computer.
51. Used microfiche.
52. Visited the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City.
53. Visited more than one LDS FamilySearch Center.
54. Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors.
55. Taught a class in genealogy.
56. Traced ancestors back to the 18th century. [From Banai:  Removed 17th and 16th centuries for the Jewish version.  Ashkenazi Jews are not likely to go beyond the 18th.  There just aren’t records for us.]
57. Can name all of your great-great-grandparents.
58. Found an ancestor’s Social Security application.
59. Know how to determine a Soundex code without the help of a computer.
60. Used Steve Morse’s One-Step searches.
61. Own a copy of Where Once We Walked.
62. Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never used for your own research.
63. Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC.
64. Visited the Library of Congress.
65. Found at least two relatives who came over on the same ship on different journeys.
66. Have a relative who fought in World War I.
67. Have a relative who fought in World War II.
68. Took a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone.
69. Became a member of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.
70. Can read a metrical record in Polish, Russian, and/or German.
71. Have an ancestor who changed his name.
72. Joined a RootsWeb mailing list.
73. Created a family Web site.
74. Have more than one genealogy blog.
75. Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information received from someone.
76. Have broken through at least one brick wall.  Well, I don't have any real brick walls, where I have exhausted every possible record and still haven't found an answer, but I did answer a longstanding research question.
77. Borrowed a microfilm from the Family History Library through a local Family History Center.
78. Have done indexing for FamilySearch Indexing or another genealogy project.
79. Visited the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
80. Had an amazing serendipitous find of the “Psychic Roots” variety.
81. Have used Border Crossing records to locate a relative.
82. Used maps in my genealogy research.
83. Have a convict ancestor who was transported from the UK.
84. Found a bigamist among my ancestors.  No, but I have found bigamists doing research for others.
85. Ordered records from the Polish State Archives, Ukraine, or German archives.  How about Swedish archives?
86. Visited an ancestral village in Eastern Europe and did genealogy research.
87. Found a cousin in a foreign country (besides Canada).
88. Consistently cite my sources.  I do this for my clients.
89. Visited a foreign country (i.e., one I don’t live in) in search of relatives.
90. Can locate any document in my research files within a few minutes.  I used to be able to do this before I moved to Oregon.  I still don't have everything organized well since the move.  That'll teach me to tear a rotator cuff while moving boxes around.
91. Have an ancestor who was married four times (or more).  No, but I have found a cousin who did so.
92. Made a rubbing of an ancestor's gravestone.
93. Organized a family reunion.
94. Published a family history book (on one of my families).
95. Learned of the death of a fairly close relative through research.
96. Have done the genealogy happy dance.
97. Sustained an injury doing the genealogy happy dance.
98. Offended a family member with my research.
99. Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts.

So I have done 84 of the 99 items.  There are eight I would like to do (a couple of which I could probably justify as putting in bold already) and seven I have no interest in.  Seriously, who wants to get injured on a genealogy trip or doing the genealogy happy dance?  Why are those even on the list?

Image from Wikimedia Commons and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Celebrate and Participate In National Memory Day

I sent this suggestion for a Saturday Night Genealogy Fun topic to Randy Seaver a while ago to use this year.  I thought it was perfect timing that National Memory Day should fall on a Saturday.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1.  March 21 is National Memory Day.  How can we celebrate, and participate, in the day?  I asked AI tool ChatGPT how, and it suggested "Capture a Memory before It[']s Gone"; "Rescue and Identify Old Photos"; "Record a[n] Oral History"; "Organize One Small Thing";  "Share a Story with Family"; "Visit or Virtually Honor Ancestors."

2.  For SNGF this week, do one or more of those tasks or some other related task of your choosing.

3.  Share your selected National Memory Day activity 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 geneablogger Janice Sellers for telling me about National Memory Day and suggesting this topic.]

The emphasis on National Memory Day is your brain and keeping your memory functions in good shape.  One of the many wonderful things about doing family history research is that it should help increase your own memory capabilities, because family history is really puzzle solving — figuring out which pieces belong to which puzzle, assembling them and helping make sense of them, determining where you can find additional documentation to add more pieces.  I have often read that studies indicate puzzle solving is one way to keep your brain and your memory working well.

In genealogy, the aspect of memory we tend to focus on is remembering people and the past, which seems a natural corollary.  I celebrated National Memory Day by teaching an introductory class in Black American genealogy and encouraging the attendees to share their research with family members, genealogical and historical societies, archives, libraries, and as many other people and institutions as possible to ensure that the memories of our families are not lost after we, the researchers, are gone.  When we share our information, we increase the probably that others will remember our family members, and all of the work we have done will not be in vain.  I guess that comes under Randy's suggestion to "Visit or Virtually Honor Ancestors."

I looked up National Memory Day and found one page that indicated it was first celebrated in 2017 and that it was started to honor memories.  I like to think the people who created it would find the connection to family history appropriate.

Wordless Wednesday

Perinchief Chapels of Mount Holly, New Jersey

It was in 2005 that I visited my sister in New Jersey and put 700 miles on her car in five days.  I did that by driving in every borough of New York City and the two additional counties on Long Island while I met about 25 cousins on my mother's side of the family.  I also drove around Mount Holly, New Jersey researching my father's family.  In addition to finding the house where his mother (my grandmother) was born, I visited the Brotherhood Cemetery three different times looking for the grave of my great-grandfather Cornelius Elmer Sellers.

You see, I had been talking with my grandaunt Betty, my grandfather's youngest sister, who at that time was the only surviving sibling.  I told her I was planning a trip to New Jersey and New York, and she asked if I could find out whether her father had a tombstone over his grave.  If he didn't, she wanted to purchase one and have it placed.  I adored Aunt Betty, so of course I told her I would try.

I knew which cemetery Elmer was buried in because I had his death certificate.  I had also spoken with the cemetery sexton, a Mr. Szelc, who had confirmed the burial and had found records indicating that a few young children were buried in the same plot.  I knew from my research that my great-grandparents had several children who did not live to adulthood, and I wasn't surprised that they were buried together.

The first time I visited the cemetery I walked up and down every row and path I could identify, looking for Elmer.  I thought I had done a pretty thorough job, but I was not successful.  I knew from my previous conversations with Mr. Szelc that he wasn't available during the day, so it wasn't going to do me any good to call him and ask where Elmer might be.

The only other option I could think of was calling Perinchief Chapels.  That was the funeral home that had handled Elmer's burial in 1918, and it was still in operation.  In fact, I learned that it was (at that time) the second-oldest family-owned funeral home in New Jersey.  (They might be the oldest one now.)  I was thinking that maybe they had a map of the cemetery, because they did burials there, and just maybe they could find Elmer on the map.

So I called and explained my request.  Well, no, they didn't have a map.  But the David Perinchief who answered the phone said that he would come out to the cemetery and help me look!  What a wonderful thing to do!  And a short time later, he arrived with his son, Patrick.  And the three of us tromped up and down the paths in the cemetery, again thinking we were doing a thorough job of looking at every tombstone, and yet we still didn't find Elmer.  I thanked them both very much, and they returned to work.

I decided to write about this today because it's National Funeral Director and Mortician Recognition Day, and I want to recognize the Perinchiefs for taking time out of their work day to help me look for my great-grandfather, even if we weren't successful.  I'm not sure that every funeral home owner would have done the same.

Now, because we hadn't found Elmer, I called Mr. Szelc that evening and told him about my adventures during the day.  He told me he knew exactly where Elmer was.  He would put an orange flag next to Elmer's stone the next morning, and I should go back to the cemetery and look for it.

I did exactly that.  I walked up and down those same paths and missed the flag the first time I passed it because it was very small.  But I eventually saw it and discovered why the Perinchiefs and I had not found Elmer's tombstone the previous day.  Not only was it small, it was made of marble, which had heavily eroded during the ensuing 87 years.  It was very worn, and even with Mr. Szelc's flag to point me to it, I still had trouble reading Elmer's name on it.  But I found him!

When I returned home, I told Aunt Betty about my search and that her father did indeed have a stone.  Because it was so worn, she wanted to order a new one.  And then came a strange wrinkle to the story:  Mr. Szelc's primary occupation was making tombstones.  But when I called him to order a new stone for Elmer, he didn't call me back.  I tried several times and never received a response from him again.  So Elmer still doesn't have a new stone, and I'm sure the current one has eroded even more over the past 20 years.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Describe an Ancestor/Relative's Activities

Randy Seaver is leading us down the AI path again for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.  I decided to play along.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1.  Do you know what activities one of your ancestors/relatives engaged in?  How much detail do you know about those activities?

2.  Use the FREE artificial intelligence tool Google Gemini 3 to describe what your ancestor or relative experienced in his/her activities (e.g., military service, a ship he migrated on, an occupation, an office she held, etc.).

3.  Share your ancestor/relative's activity of interest and description of that person's experiences 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.

This turned out to be more interesting than I expected.

I had not used Gemini 3 prior to this, so I really did not know what to expect.  I used Randy's question about his uncle as inspiration and chose to ask about my father's service in the National Guard.  After my father died in 2019, I learned he had been in the New Jersey and the Florida National Guard.  He served in Florida from August 31, 1953 to August 30, 1956 and then from August 31, 1956 to June 5, 1957.  The reason for his discharge as an SP-3 in 1957 was that he was "Moving from state."

Putting these dates together with what else was going on in his life around that time was enlightening.  He married his first wife, Mary Lou Bowen, on December 11, 1956 in Miami.  My half-sister Laurie was born in New Jersey on September 17, 1957.  So he married Mary Lou while he was in the Guard, was discharged from the Guard, and they moved back to New Jersey (where both of them were from originally) before Laurie was born.

My father told us almost nothing about his National Guard service.  I opted to focus on his last year of service to keep the question more manageable.  So I went to the page from the link in Randy's post.  I noticed below the data entry area there were "Tools" on the left and "Fast" on the right, but I did not investigate or attempt to change them.  I typed my query in the text box:

"What did an SP-3 do in the Florida National Guard in 1956–1957?"

I got a couple of paragraphs I could see and then the text faded out.  All I could read was:

===
In 1956 and 1957, an SP-3 (Specialist 3rd Class) in the Florida National Guard was a technical expert who held the pay grade of E-4.

This rank was part of a newly established "Specialist" system created in July 1955 to distinguish skilled technicians from Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) who held command and leadership authority.
===

I couldn't make the page scroll, so I wondered if I had done something wrong or somehow annoyed the gods of AI.  I thought, "Maybe that's because I left it on Fast, so it's really short?"  So I opened Gemini 3 in another tab and clicked the arrow next to Fast.  I found "Thinking" as an option and chose that, then typed my query again.  This time I got:

===
SP-3 Role in Florida National Guard

You said

What did an SP-3 do in the Florida National Guard in 1956-1957?

Defining the Role

My initial focus is on defining the role of an "SP-3" within the Florida National Guard during 1956-1957. I'm starting by clarifying the rank and its responsibilities, aiming to provide a concise explanation of what this role entailed. I believe that understanding the SP-3 rank will allow the user to easily understand and answer their initial question.
===

and again I couldn't scroll down the page.  While I was trying to figure out what I was supposed to do, at some point I tried my down arrow, and that worked!  Suddenly I could see more text.  When I went back to my first query, it worked there also.  No surprise, "Thinking" has more information and more detail than "Fast", so I'm using that response for this post.

===
SP-3 Role in Florida National Guard

You said

What did an SP-3 do in the Florida National Guard in 1956-1957?

Defining the Role

My initial focus is on defining the role of an "SP-3" within the Florida National Guard during 1956-1957. I'm starting by clarifying the rank and its responsibilities, aiming to provide a concise explanation of what this role entailed. I believe that understanding the SP-3 rank will allow the user to easily understand and answer their initial question.

Clarifying the Pay Grade

I'm now zeroing in on the correct pay grade for an SP-3 in the 1956-1957 timeframe, which involved an adjustment. My previous assumption was incorrect, and I've verified that an SP-3 in 1955 was equivalent to an E-4, which is equivalent to a Corporal (not a Private First Class). It is critical to get the rank structure right. I am now working on understanding this rank's responsibilities.

Pinpointing the Grade

I've confirmed that the SP-3 rank was indeed equivalent to an E-4 pay grade, which is the same as a Corporal in the 1956-1957 timeframe. I needed to clarify this based on some conflicting sources, but I've now verified it. I also determined that Specialists were technical experts who did not command, but were compensated for their skills. I am working on the Florida National Guard context.

To understand what an SP-3 (Specialist 3rd Class) did in the Florida National Guard in 1956–1957, you have to look at a very specific, short-lived window in U.S. Army history.

In 1955, the Army overhauled its rank system to distinguish between Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs), who led troops, and Specialists, who were technical experts.

The Rank: Specialist 3rd Class (SP-3)

In 1956 and 1957, the SP-3 rank was equivalent to a Corporal (E-4) in terms of pay, but not in terms of authority.

• The "Technical" Soldier: While a Corporal was a junior NCO expected to lead a fireteam or squad in combat, an SP-3 was a "technical" soldier. They were paid for their proficiency in a specific trade rather than their leadership of men.

• The Insignia: They wore a smaller version of the eagle (the "Bird") with one arc (stripe) underneath it. This is different from the modern "Spec-4" rank you might be familiar with, as the system was still being tweaked.

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What did they actually do?

An SP-3 in the Florida National Guard during this era was likely the "go-to" person for a specific technical job within their unit. Since the National Guard at the time was heavily focused on Cold War readiness and local disaster response, their roles usually fell into these categories:

• Maintenance & Mechanical: They were the mechanics keeping the Jeep fleets, M41 Walker Bulldog tanks (common in FLNG at the time), and transport trucks running.

• Communications: Radio operators and repairmen. In the mid-50s, this meant dealing with vacuum tubes and heavy, temperamental field radios.

• Clerical & Supply: Managing the massive amount of paperwork required for armory operations, payroll, and equipment requisition.

• Medical: Serving as a company medic or technician at a field hospital.

The Florida Context (1956–1957)

Life for an SP-3 in the Florida Guard involved more than just "weekend warrior" duties.

1. Annual Training at Camp Blanding: During the summer, they would head to Camp Blanding (near Starke, FL) for two weeks of intensive field maneuvers. As an SP-3, they would have been responsible for the technical upkeep of equipment in the Florida heat.

2. The Pentomic Era: The Army was experimenting with "Pentomic" divisions—units designed to survive a tactical nuclear battlefield. An SP-3 would have been trained in new, specialized equipment designed for this high-tech (for the time) warfare.

3. Civil Rights & Natural Disasters: This era saw the beginning of the Civil Rights movement and frequent hurricanes. The Florida Guard was often on standby for "state active duty" to maintain order or provide relief after storms.

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Summary Table: SP-3 (1955–1958)

Feature	Description
Pay Grade	E-4 (Equivalent to Corporal)
Primary Focus	Technical/Administrative Skill
Command Authority	Limited (did not usually lead squads)
Common Jobs	Mechanic, Radio Op, Clerk, Medic, Gunner

In 1958, the Army changed the titles again, and the SP-3 rank was renamed Specialist 4 (SP4), which became the iconic "Spec-4" rank used for decades.

Would you like me to see if I can find which specific Florida National Guard units were active in your area during those years?

[My response] Yes, Miami

Since you were an SP-3 (Specialist 3rd Class) stationed in Miami during 1956–1957, you were almost certainly part of the 211th Infantry Regiment, which was a cornerstone of the 51st Infantry Division (known as the "Rattlesnake Division").

At that time, the 51st was a "split" division shared between the Florida and South Carolina National Guards. Miami served as the major hub for the Florida contingent.

Your Unit: The 211th Infantry Regiment

In 1956, the 211th was headquartered right in the heart of Miami. As an SP-3, you were likely assigned to one of the following Miami-based elements:

• Regimental Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC): Located in Miami.

• Service Company: Also based in Miami, responsible for the regiment's logistics, trucks, and maintenance.

• 1st Battalion, HHC: The command element for the first group of companies, based in Miami.

• Medical Company: Provided healthcare and field medics, also stationed in Miami.

Your Post: The Miami Armory

Your "home base" for drills and administrative work was likely the Miami National Guard Armory, located at 700 NW 28th Street.

• Fun Fact: This facility is now known as the Robert A. Ballard Armory, named after the Colonel who commanded the 211th Infantry during your era and through the late 1940s.

• During the mid-1950s, this armory was a massive social and military hub, hosting everything from troop reviews to community dances and sporting events.

Your Role as an SP-3

The "Specialist" rank structure was relatively new when you were serving (it was established in 1955). An SP-3 was the equivalent of a Corporal (E-4) but focused on technical skills rather than squad leadership. Depending on your specific job (MOS), your day-to-day likely involved:

• Maintenance: Working on the regiment's Jeeps, M35 "Deuce and a Half" trucks, or communication gear.

• Logistics: Managing the supply chain for a regiment of over 1,500 men.

• Administration: Handling personnel records or payroll at the Regimental HQ.

Annual Training

In the summers of '56 and '57, you probably headed north for "Summer Camp." The 51st Infantry Division typically conducted its two-week annual training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, or Camp Blanding, Florida.

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Would you like me to look up any specific details about the 51st "Rattlesnake" Division’s operations during those years, or perhaps find more information on the Miami Armory's history?

[My response] Yes

If you were an SP-3 (Specialist 3rd Class) in the Florida National Guard in Miami during 1956–1957, you were part of a very specific era of military history. Your unit was almost certainly the 211th Infantry Regiment, which was headquartered right in the heart of the city.

Here is a breakdown of what your life and service looked like during those two years:

1. Your Unit: The "Rattlesnake Division"

The 211th Infantry was a key part of the 51st Infantry Division. Because you were in Miami, you were likely based at the Miami Armory (now the Robert A. Ballard Armory) on NW 28th Street.

• The Motto: You wore the "Paroneri" crest on your uniform, which is Greek for "Equal to the Task."

• The Atmosphere: In the mid-50s, the Miami Armory wasn't just a military site; it was a community hub. You might remember the local buzz of the city, potentially even seeing the start of the "Great Migration" and the rapid post-war growth of Miami.

2. The Rank: A "New" Kind of Soldier

You were actually a pioneer of the Specialist rank system. The Army only created the Specialist 3rd Class rank in 1955, just before you joined or promoted into it.

• SP-3 vs. Corporal: You had the pay grade of an E-4 (like a Corporal), but your job was about technical expertise rather than leading a squad.

• The "Bird": You wore the smaller "Specialist Eagle" with one arc underneath. In 1958, the Army changed your title to Spec-4, meaning the "SP-3" title you held only existed for a few years.

3. Summer Camp: Fort McClellan

For your two-week Annual Training ("Summer Camp"), you likely traded the Miami humidity for the hills of Alabama.

• 1956: Training records show the 211th spent time at Fort McClellan, AL, and Fort Stewart, GA.

• 1957: Specifically, from June 6 to June 23, 1957, the regiment was at Fort McClellan.

• The Training: This was the "Pentomic" era. The Army was obsessed with how to fight on a nuclear battlefield. You probably spent time in "Atomic War" drills, practicing how to disperse quickly to avoid being a target for a (simulated) tactical nuke.

4. Local Duty: Hurricanes and Civil Defense

As a Florida Guardsman, your "State Active Duty" was usually tied to the weather.

• 1956: In October, a "quasi-tropical storm" hit Miami, causing significant flooding and about $3 million in damage. Your unit would have been on standby for sandbagging, traffic control, and patrolling flooded neighborhoods.

• Civil Defense: During your drills, you likely participated in "Operation Alert" exercises—city-wide drills to prepare for a Cold War emergency.

5. The Gear

In 1956–1957, you were in a "transitional" equipment phase:

• You were likely still carrying the M1 Garand (the M14 didn't arrive until later).

• Your transportation was the M38 Jeep or the legendary "Deuce and a Half" trucks.

• If you were in a Heavy Mortar or Tank company (like those in Tampa/Palmetto that supported the 211th), you were working with Korean War-era steel.

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Do you remember which specific company you were in (like Company A, B, or Service Company)? I can look up exactly which neighborhood armory that company called home.

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And I currently can't find the papers I was sent about my father's service, so I can't tell Gemini which company he was in.  As far as the specialties go, he was almost definitely a mechanic, because that's what he did the majority of his working life.  He probably worked on Jeeps, rather than the tanks.  I'm going to look for the papers and see what else I can learn.

I found the disclaimer on the bottom of the page amusing:  "Gemini is AI and can make mistakes."  One way that appears to have played out for this query is that when I did the "Fast" method, Gemini told me that the Florida National Guard did its two weeks of annual training at Fort Stewart, Georgia.  The "Thinking" response was that the annual training took place in either Camp Blanding, Florida or Fort Jackson, South Carolina, but later it said Fort McClellan, Alabama and Fort Stewart, Georgia.  There are some other differences between the two responses, but I noticed that immediately.  Something's out of whack here.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Are Your Major Genealogy Research Challenges?

Randy Seaver is back with this week's challenge (a key word this week) for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1.  What are your major genealogy challenges — the family mysteries that you haven't been able to crack to date?

2.  Tell us about five of your real genealogy challenges with a short paragraph, and links to blog posts if you have written about them.

3.  Share your challenges 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.

Okay, here's my list.

• Who was the biological father of my paternal grandfather, Bertram Lynn Sellers, Sr. (1903–1995)?  He was informally adopted by his mother's husband when he was seven months old and used the name Sellers his entire life.  See "I'm Apparently a Sellers via Informal Adoption" and "Looking for Mr. Mundy (or a variant thereof)."

• What happened to my cousin Raymond Lawrence Sellers (1945–?) after his mother put him up for adoption?  I was unable to find anything about Raymond before my aunt passed away, but her other children would still like to know.  See "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:  Your 2024 'Dear Genea-Santa' Letter."

• All of my Jewish research is a challenge, but the especially difficult lines are those who were living in what was Grodno gubernia in Russia, now mostly in Belarus.  The Nazis were particularly thorough in destroying archival records about the Jews in the area.  So my Meckler (Mekler), Novitsky (Nowicki), and Yelsky lines I'm really, really stuck on.  See "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:  Your Best Genealogy Research Find in May 2018."

• And speaking of the Jewish part of my family, I had a few cousins who ended up in Cuba when they fled Eastern Europe.  I have managed to acquire only four records from their time there (which ranged from the late 1920's to the early 1960's).  I don't know if going back to Cuba will help with my research on the Szochermans.  See "A Declaration of Intention — from Cuba."

• My ex's father (and therefore the grandfather of my stepsons), Karm Singh, was from Punjab, India, born when it was still controlled by the British.  The British barely bothered with records for their own people in India; they didn't really care about the Indians.  So I've gotten absolutely nowhere so far on finding any records for the family.  I have been told I would have better luck if I could travel there and talk to people in person.  See "'Finding Your Roots' – Margaret Cho, Sanjay Gupta, and Martha Stewart."

Wordless Wednesday

My First Computers

February 15 marks World Computer Day, which the computer industry uses to celebrate computers and make sure everyone knows how wonderful they are.  The event apparently always has a theme; this year's theme is the 80th anniversary of ENIAC, the "first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer."  Well, I don't have anything to do with ENIAC, so I'm going to celebrate by reminiscing about my first two computers instead.

My very first computer was an IBM XT.  The Wikipedia page for it says that the official name was IBM Personal Computer XT and that it was released in 1983.  I think that I got mine just after I graduated college, so that seems to fit.  I remember that the really big deal about it was that it came with an internal hard drive of — wait for it — 10 MB!  Wikipedia also says that it cost a little over $2,000, which I know I didn't have at the time, and I don't remember how I got the computer.

IBM XT photo by Remember the dot; used under license

I was just starting to play around with the XT and figure out how to use it when the brother of a friend said he really, really wanted it.  He was doing some heavy-duty number crunching and could really use the hard drive and faster processor to help speed up his computations.  He offered to trade me his IBM PC and $500 in cash for the XT.  Well, how could I pass up a deal like that?

So I very quickly was on to my second computer, which was definitely a step backward from the first.  The IBM Personal Computer had 16 KB of RAM and two floppy drives but no internal hard drive.  I became quite adept at popping floppies in and out, as I recall.

IBM PC photo by Rama; used under license

It was around this time that the staff in the School of Letters, Arts and Sciences at USC, where I was working, also started getting individual desktop computers in our offices.  I still remember when the administrative assistant in another department called and asked me to help her figure out what had happened to her computer, which was showing only a blank screen.  I quickly determined that she had actually reformatted her C drive and deleted everything on it (yup, people really used to do that).  I was able to restore it for her and earned a reputation for being the computer "fix it" person in our building.

In contrast, I'm typing this post on a Dell Latitude 5580 laptop with 16 GB of RAM and a 476 GB hard drive.  My, how things have changed.