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.

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?

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"

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Did Your Grandparents Know Their Grandparents?

In some ways, I love it when Randy Seaver's theme for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is something for which I already know the answers.

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

1.  Did your grandparents know their grandparents personally?

2.  Check your family tree and share your grandparents' names and birth and death years and places, and their grandparents' names and birth and death years and places, and indicate if they knew their grandparents.

3.  Share  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.

As another poster on Randy's site commented, we did this exact same topic in February.  I took her cue and did this with my parents instead of my grandparents.  I realized after I wrote everything down that it would be difficult to look up the years I couldn't remember, because the computer on which I have been running my family tree crashed three days ago.  I shipped the computer out yesterday and won't know the status of the hard drive until at least Tuesday.  I searched for when I've posted about these ancestors, though, and retrieved the few years of which I was unsure that way.

• Father:  Bertram Lynn Sellers, Jr. (1935 New Jersey–2019 Florida).  His grandparents were:
    • Cornelius Elmer Sellers (1874 Pennsylvania–1918 New Jersey; adoptive) — no
    • Laura May Armstrong (1882 New Jersey–1970 Florida) — yes
    • Thomas Kirkland Gauntt (1870 New Jersey–1951 New Jersey) — yes
    • Jane Dunstan (1871 Lancashire–1955 New Jersey) — yes

• Mother:  Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940 New York–1995 Florida).  Her grandparents were:
    • Morris Mackler (about 1882 Russian Empire–1953 New York) — yes
    • Minnie Zelda Nowicki (about 1880 Russian Empire–1936 New York) — no
    • Joe Gordon (about 1892 Russian Empire–1955 New York) — yes
    • Sarah Libby Brainin (about 1890 Russian Empire–1963 Florida) — yes

Totals:
Yes:  6
No:  2

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Tell Us about the Fathers in Your Tree

Tomorrow is Father's Day, so we knew that fathers would be the topic in some way for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver.

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

1.  It's Father's Day on Sunday.  This week, tell us about the fathers in your tree — their names, their birth and death years and locations, their occupations, the number of spouses, the number of children, etc.  Go back at least four generations if possible through your known second-great-grandfathers.

2.  Share your father list information 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.

I can handle this!  Well, except for the chart.  Family Tree Maker and I could not agree on producing that, so I'm omitting it.  I'll try to figure out how to beat FTM into submission at a later date.

• Father:  #2 Bertram Lynn Sellers, Jr. (1935 New Jersey to 2019 Florida), automobile mechanic, 3 spouses, 4 children (3 girls, 1 boy)

• Grandfather:  #4 Bertram Lynn Sellers, Sr. (1903 New Jersey to 1995 Florida), civil engineer, 3 spouses, 5 children (3 girls, 2 boys)

• Grandfather:  #6 Abraham Meckler (1912 New York to 1989 Florida), taxi driver, 1 spouse, 3 children (1 girl, 2 boys)

• Great-grandfather:  #8 Mr. Mundy, unknown everything else except at least 1 child (1 boy)

• Great-grandfather:  #10 Thomas Kirkland Gauntt (1870 New Jersey to 1951 New Jersey), farmer, 1 spouse, 10 children (5 girls, 5 boys)

• Great-grandfather:  #12 Morris Mackler (about 1882 Russian Empire to 1953 New York), carpenter, 1 spouse, 7 children (3 girls, 4 boys)

• Great-grandfather:  #14 Joe Gordon (about 1892 Russian Empire to 1955 New York), furrier, 1 spouse, 4 children (1 girl, 3 boys)

• 2nd-great-grandfather:  #16 Mr. Mundy, unknown everything else except at least 1 child (1 boy)

• 2nd-great-grandfather:  #18 Joel Armstrong (1849 New Jersey to maybe 1921 New Jersey), laborer, 1 confirmed spouse, 3 confirmed children (2 girls, 1 boy)

• 2nd-great-grandfather:  #20 James Gauntt (1831 New Jersey to 1899 New Jersey), wheelwright, 1 spouse, 10 children (4 girls, 6 boys)

• 2nd-great-grandfather:  #22 Frederick Cleworth Dunstan (1840 Lancashire to 1873 Lancashire), file grinder, 1 spouse, 6 children (3 girls, 3 boys)

• 2nd-great-grandfather:  #24 Simcha Dovid Mekler (unknown Russian Empire to before 1903 Russian Empire), unknown occupation but carpenter would be a good guess, 1 known spouse, 2 known children (1 girl, 1 boy)

• 2nd-great-grandfather:  #26 Gershon Itzhak Novitsky (about 1856 Russian Empire to 1948 New York), wood turner, 1 official spouse, 7 known children (3 girls, 4 boys)

• 2nd-great-grandfather:  #28 Victor Gordon (about 1863 Russian Empire to 1925 New York), furrier, 2 spouses, 8 children (4 girls, 4 boys)

• 2nd-great-grandfather:  #30 Morris Brainin (about 1861 Russian Empire to 1930 New York), shoemaker, 1 spouse, 8 children (4 girls, 4 boys)

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Who Are Your 32 3rd-great-grandparents?

I'm not sure how many names I'll be able to come up with 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.  Who are your 32 3rd-great-grandparents?  List them (with birth names).  Tell us when and where they were born, married, and died.  [NOTE:  This is easily done in your genealogy software program or online family tree by making an Ahnentafel or Ancestors report from yourself as #1, then copy and paste.]

2.  Share your list of your third-great-grands on your own blog post or in a Facebook, SubStack, or BlueSky post.  Leave a link on this blog post to help us find your post.

Let's see how well I do.

32.  Unknown.

33.  Unknown.

34.  Unknown.

35.  Unknown.

36.  Franklin Armstrong:  born about 1825 in New Jersey, probably in Burlington County; married Unknown before 1849, probably in Burlington County, New Jersey; died September 13, 1870 in Mansfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey.

37.  Unknown:  born before 1832 in New Jersey, probably in Burlington County; died before October 8, 1850, probably in Burlington County, New Jersey.

38.  Abel A(mos?) Lippincott:  born about January 26, 1825 in New Jersey, probably in Burlington County; married Rachel R. Stackhouse before 1846, probably in Burlington County, New Jersey; died May 28, 1888 in Florence, Burlington County, New Jersey.

39.  Rachel R. Stackhouse:  born about 1825–1826 in New Jersey, probably in Burlington County; died November 15, 1890 in Chester Township, Burlington County, New Jersey.

40.  Hananiah Selah Gaunt:  born about January 25, 1795 in Burlington County, New Jersey; married Abigail Atkinson 1826–1829, probably in Burlington County, New Jersey; died April 15, 1852 in Burlington County, New Jersey.

41.  Abigail Atkinson:  born about August 19, 1804 in New Jersey, probably in Burlington County; died February 1883 in New Jersey, probably in Burlington County.

42.  John Gibson:  born before 1814 in New Jersey; married Mary before 1832, probably in New Jersey; probably died in New Jersey.

43.  Mary:  born before 1814 in New Jersey; probably died in New Jersey.

44.  Richard Dunstan:  born about June 9, 1813 in Manchester, Lancashire, England; married Jane Coleclough December 25, 1833 in Manchester, Lancashire, England; died after April 7, 1861, probably in Lancashire, England.

45.  Jane Coleclough:  born about 1811 in Lancashire, England; died April 12, 1865 in Chorlton, Manchester, Lancashire, England.

46.  Thomas Winn:  born about 1792 in Lambrook, Shropshire, England; married Mary Parr(?) about 1812, possibly in Shropshire; died in England, possibly in Lancashire.

47.  Mary Parr(?):  died before June 7, 1841, probably in Lancashire, England.

48.  Zvi Mekler:  born before 1854 in Russia; married Esther before 1872 in Russia; died before 1903, possibly in Kamenets Litovsk, Russia.

49.  Esther. born before 1854 in Russia; died in Russia.

50.  Unknown.

51.  Unknown.

52.  Abraham Yaakov Nowicki:  born before 1839 in Russia; married Sirke before 1857 in Russia; died before 1896 in Russia.

53.  Sirke:  born before 1839 in Russia; died before 1893 in Russia.

54.  Ruven Yelsky:  born before 1841 in Russia; married Frieda Bloom before 1859 in Russia; died about 1898 in Russia.

55.  Frieda Bloom:  born before 1841 in Russia; died about 1898 in Russia.

56.  Gersh Wolf Gorodetsky:  born before 1823 in Russia, probably in Orinin or Kamenets Podolsky; married Etta Cohen?/Kagan? before 1840; died after 1905 in Russia, possibly in Kishinev, Bessarabia.

57.  Etta Cohen?/Kagan?:  born before 1823 in Russia; died before 1891, possibly in Kamenets Podolskiy, Ukraine.

58.  Joine Schneiderman:  born before 1841 in Russia; married Anna Ida (Chane Etta?) Kortisch? before 1868 in Russia; died before 1893 in Russia.

59.  Anna Ida (Chane Etta?) Kortisch?:  born before 1841 in Russia; died before 1891 in Russia.

60.  Solomon (Zalman?) Brainin:  born before 1846 in Russia; married Yetta before 1864 in Russia; died in Russia.

61.  Yetta:  born before 1846 in Russia; died in Russia.

62.  Joseph Jaffe:  born before 1854 in Russia; married Anna Binderman before 1872 in Russia; died in Russia.

63.  Anna Binderman:  born before 1854 in Russia; died in Russia.

Not anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be.  Seven totally unknown names, and for one of those I do have a small amount of hypothesized information.  For the 27 with names, only four are missing surnames.  It could have been much worse.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: The Occupations of My 2nd-great-grandfathers

I'm sure I have most of the information for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver, but I don't know if I have it memorized.  I'm going to test myself.

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

1.  Our ancestors had to work to support themselves and their families.  Do you know what occupations your 2nd great-grandfathers had?  Tell us about them.  If one intrigues or mystifies you, ask a free artificial intelligence tool to tell you more about the occupation in that place and time.

2.  Tell us about the occupations of your 2nd-great-grandfathers (and any AI created descriptions of those occupations) in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

Okay, let's see how I do.

My eight 2nd-great-grandfathers and their occupations are:

Joel Armstrong (about 1849–?), laborer

James Gauntt (1831–1899), wheelwright

Frederick Cleworth Dunstan (1840–1873), file grinder

Simcha Dovid Mekler (?–before 1904), possibly carpenter

Gershon Novitsky (originally Gershon Nowicki, about 1856–1948), wood turner, Hebrew teacher

Victor Gordon (originally Avigdor Gorodetsky, about 1863–1924), businessman, furrier

Morris Brainin (originally Mendel Hertz Brainin, about 1861–1930), shoemaker, peddler, rabbi

And that's only seven of them, because I still don't know who my biological great-grandfather was on the Sellers line, so I can't know who his father was.  If I include Sellers, my adoptive line:

Cornelius Godschalk Sellers (1845–1877), printer

I actually did very well from memory.  I did not remember the birth years of James Gauntt, Frederick Dunstan, and Cornelius Sellers or the earlier occupations of Gershon Novitsky and Morris Brainin.  Everything else I knew.

I still don't know when Joel Armstrong died.  I've seen it listed in a few family trees as 1921, but I have seen no documentation of his death (I don't think I've seen a complete date).  I keep looking.

Simcha Dovid Mekler never came to the United States.  I'm happy to know his name.  My guess for carpenter as his occupation is because his son, my great-grandfather Morris Mackler, was listed as a carpenter when he immigrated here, and many sons follow in their father's occupations.

And I just noticed that all eight men had different occupations!

I know that a carpenter and a wood turner are not the same thing, but I decided to search for the difference to clarify what they each do.  Google now automagically returns an AI synopsis at the top of the results page most of the time.  It said:

"a wood turner focuses on creating symmetrical, rotational objects using a lathe, while a carpenter focuses on structural and functional wood construction [such as] framing [and] trim, and installing fixtures."

So Randy can be happy that I did an AI search for my post.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Did Your Grandparents Know Their Grandparents?

We have a really fun challenge today for Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!

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

1.  Marie Cooke Beckman on her blog, MarieB's Genealogy Blog--Southeastern USA, asked and answered this question, and it is right up the SNGF alley:  Did your grandparents know their grandparents?  Thank you for the idea, Marie!

2.  Tell us about your grandparents and their grandparents in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

This is a really cool topic!  I love it!

My maternal grandparents were Abraham Meckler (1912–1989) and Lillyan "Lily" E. Gordon (1919–2006).

• Abraham Meckler's maternal grandparents were Gershon Itzhak Nowicki (c. 1856–1948) and Dube Yelsky (c. 1848–1936).  Gershon and Dube immigrated to the United States in 1922 and lived in Brooklyn.  They changed the spelling of their family name to Novitzky, and Dube used the name Dora.  My grandfather knew both of them.  My maternal uncle Gary Meckler, who was born in 1951, was named after Gershon.

• Abraham's paternal grandparents were Simcha Dovid Mekler and Beila (birth and death years unknown for both).  They both died in Europe, almost definitely before my grandfather was born, and he never met them.

• Lillyan Gordon's maternal grandparents were Mendel Hertz Brainin (c. 1862–1930) and Ruchel Dvojre Jaffe (c. 1868–1934).  The immigrated separately to the United States in 1906 and lived in Manhattan.  They used the secular names Morris/Max and Rachel Dorothy, and my grandmother knew both of them.  She was born in their house.

• Lily's paternal grandparents were Avigdor Gorodetsky (c. 1863–1925) and Esther Leah Schneiderman (c. 1867–1908).  Esther Leah was my grandmother's birth name, following the Ashkenazi tradition of naming after a deceased ancestor (my grandmother changed her name as an adult).  Esther Leah's death was what precipitated the chain migration of this branch of my family to the United States.  Avigdor came in 1914 and changed his name to Victor Gordon.  My grandmother knew him, and I have a big family photo with the two of them in it.

My paternal grandparents were Bertram "Bert" Lynn Sellers, Sr. (1903–1995) and Anna Gauntt (1893–1986).

• Anna Gauntt's maternal grandparents were Frederick Cleworth Dunstan (1840–1873) and Martha Winn (1837–1884).  They both died in England before my grandmother was born, and she never knew them.

• Anna's paternal grandparents were James Gauntt (1831–1899) and Amelia Gibson (c. 1831–1908).  Everyone lived in Mount Holly, New Jersey and the nearby vicinity.  Since Anna was born in 1893 and James died in 1899, there's a reasonable chance she knew him.  Amelia died when my grandmother was 15 years old, so I'm pretty sure she knew her.

• Bertram Sellers' maternal grandparents were Sarah Ann Deacon Lippincott (1860–aft. 1904) and Joel Armstrong (c. 1849–c. 1921).  I don't know if he knew them.  I don't have documented dates of death for either person or confirmation that they were divorced, which I believe to be the case.  I suspect he might have known his grandmother; I'm pretty sure she's in the household with Grandpa's mother in 1900, so his mother was apparently on speaking terms with her mother.  If I have researched the correct person, his grandfather remarried and had a second family, so maybe he didn't know them, but I really don't know.

• Bert's biological paternal grandparents are still unknown to me, as I have not yet determined his biological father.  His adoptive father's parents were Cornelius Godschalk Sellers (1845–1877) and Catherine "Kate" Fox Owen (1849–c. 1923).  As Cornelius died so young, none of his grandchildren knew him.  Kate had a second husband, George W. Moore (1840–1920).  Bert did know Kate, and we have a photo of her.  In fact, she's the person who paid for his father's funeral, as he also died very young.  It's reasonable to believe that Grandpa probably knew George Moore, even though we don't have a photo of him, as Grandpa's brother was named after George.  I was told that Grandpa's father loved his stepfather so much that he named his second son George Moore Sellers after him.  That certainly suggests he was around the family.

And I am proud to say that I didn't need to look up any of the above information except some of the birth and death years.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your 2024 Christmas Genea-Gifts

Since it's the Saturday right after Christmas, it's kind of natural to expect Randy Seaver to ask us to talk about our genealogy Christmas presents for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

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

1.  Was Genea-Santa good to you?  What genealogy gifts did you receive for Christmas this year?

2.  Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status  post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

Well, I didn't get the one thing I asked Santa for, but I know it's going to be really difficult, so I didn't expect it so soon anyway.  But I did get something very cool!

A new (to me) cousin found me through my blog, and she has been sharing photographs like crazy!

She's a cousin on my Armstrong line, which I don't know as much about.  I've only been in contact with one person who is also researching my family.  So this was a total surprise.

My great-grandmother Laura May Armstrong had a brother and a sister.  The previous researcher is researching the sister, Rachel Anna Armstrong.  This person is researching the brother, Stacy Biddle Armstrong:  all-new information!

Along with lots of photos and great information about Stacy and his family, my newfound cousin even has photos of some relatives I know.

For example, here's a school photo of my Aunt Carol, from the 1st or 2nd grade (which Carol isn't sure she has a copy of):

And here's a photo of my grandfather from 1970 that's new to me:

The baby in the photo is the cousin who contacted me.

Apparently my grandfather used to visit this cousin and her family up in New Jersey kind of regularly.  Even though my family was living near him during some of this time, he never mentioned he was visiting relatives (fink!).

Here's a photo of my great-granduncle Stacy Armstrong and his wife Lydia:

So many photographs!  We're playing the matching game with a lot of them, recognizing a person in one photo and then in another.  Only a few of the photos are labeled (of course!), so we're focusing on those names and faces and piecing things together.

Thanks for the great Christmas present, Genea-Santa!

Events in My Family Tree: December 24

This day's list includes the three spelling variants of Gantt, Gaunt, and Gauntt that I know of in my family.

Births

Paul Avery Gantt, son of Daniel Taylor Gantt and Phoebe Thomas, was born December 24, 1898 in Steele City, Jefferson County, Nebraska.  He is my 3rd cousin 3x removed via the Gantts.

Joseph Frederick Baer was born December 24, 1914 in Roebling, Burlington County, New Jersey.  He was married to Nellie Elizabeth Sellers, daughter of Cornelius Elmer Sellers and Laura May Armstrong, who is my grandaunt.

Floyd Richard Williams, son of Floyd Richard Williams and Susie Lee Adams, was born December 24, 1930 in Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia.  He is the father of my not-quite-cousin Angela Williams.

Chris Eve Meeks, daughter of Donald Wayne Meeks and Mary Lu Sherman, was born December 24, 1954, probably in Indiana.  She is my 6th cousin 1x removed on my Gauntt line through the Shermans.

Simon Berkowitz was born December 24, 1958.  He is married to Sheryl Millstein, daughter of Irwin Millstein and Julia Baena, who is my 2nd cousin 1x removed on my Gorodetsky line through the Millsteins.

Linda Sue Gauntt, daughter of David Lester Gauntt and Virginia Carolyn Petersen, was born December 24, 1962, possibly in New Jersey.  She is my 5th cousin 1x removed on my Gauntt line.

Bobby Wollock was born December 24, 1985.  He is my 3rd cousin.

Marriages

Reuben T. Gaunt, son of Hananiah Gaunt and Rebecca Mulliner, and Hannah S. Lewallen were married December 24, 1807 in Waterford, Gloucester County, New Jersey.  Reuben is my 3rd-great-granduncle.

Benjamin Gaunt, son of Benjamin Selah Gaunt and Hannah Ann Peters, and Mary Elizabeth Sever were married December 24, 1868 in Southampton, Burlington County, New Jersey.  Benjamin is my half 1st cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

Samuel W. Thackeray and Virginia R. Gaunt, daughter of Benjamin Franklin Gaunt and Elizabeth K. Frazer, were married December 24, 1885, probably in Burlington County, New Jersey.  Virginia is my 2nd cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

Herbert McGinnis and Mary Jane Gaunt, daughter of James Knox Polk Gaunt and Sarah Naomi Boone, were married December 24, 1902, probably in California.  Mary is my 3rd cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

Richard J. Merrill and Yedida Marcia Amine, daughter of Moshe Amine and Florence Meckler, were married December 24, 1975 in San Francisco, San Francisco, California.  Yedida is my 1st cousin 1x removed on my Meckler line.

Deaths

Claudia L. Githens, daughter of Thomas G. Githens and Emma D. Runyan, died December 24, 1908, probably in New Jersey, at the age of 18.  She is my 5th cousin 1x removed on my Gauntt line through the Githenses.

Phoebe Emily Gaunt, daughter of Redden N. Gaunt and Pauline E. Smoot, died December 24, 1928 in Perth, Sumner County, Kansas at the age of 82.  She is my 3rd cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

John Clendon Vaughn, son of John E. Vaughn and Bertha Florence Gaunt, died December 24, 1979 in Butte County, California at the age of 69.  He is my 4th cousin 2x removed via the Gaunts.

Events in My Family Tree: December 18

Margaret Gantt died on her 76th birthday, probably in the same county in which she was born.

Births

Margaret Gantt, daughter of Joseph Gantt and Mary Ann McGowan, was born December 18, 1836 in Pennsylvania, probably in Perry County.  She is my 2nd cousin 4x removed via the Gantts.

Marjorie Alene Gaunt, daughter of Charles Gaunt and Pearl E. Cory, was born December 18, 1907 in Richvalley, Wabash County, Indiana.  She is my 4th cousin 2x removed via the Gaunts.

Jimmy Wayne Doerner, Jr. was born December 18, 1955 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas.  He was the first husband of Stacy Ann Sellers, who is my sister.

Carol Sue Dunn, daughter of Harold Edwin Dunn, Jr. and Ruth Clara Ellis, was born December 18, 1959 in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri.  She is my second cousin on my Gauntt line through the Ellises.

Annette Parker, daughter of Gerald Robert Parker and Gloria Jean Allen, was born December 18, 1962, possibly in New Jersey.  She is my 5th cousin 1x removed on my Gauntt line through the Allens.

Anna Marie Gaynor, daughter of James Owen Gaynor, Jr. and Ruth Heard Hunt, was born December 18, 1964 in Sparta, Essex County, New Jersey.  She is the 2nd cousin of my half-sister Laurie Sellers and her half-sister Shanyn James on their Gaynor line.

Keith Mason was born December 18, 1972.  He is my 3rd cousin.

Marriages

Amos Evans and Elizabeth Gaunt, daughter of Joseph Gaunt and Elizabeth Borton, were married December 18, 1823, probably in New Jersey.  Elizabeth is my 4th-great-grandaunt.

George N. Allen, son of Cyrus Kunze Allen and Hannah Ann Gaunt, and Ada E. Mason were married December 18, 1889 in Ocean County, New Jersey.  George is my 3rd cousin 2x removed via the Gaunts.

Alfred Joseph Chase and Beatrice Emma Naylor, daughter of James Mason Naylor and Martha Ann Murdock, were married December 18, 1919 in Burlington County, New Jersey.  Emma is my 2nd cousin 2x removed on my Gauntt line through the Naylors.

Alvin Irwin Moss and Claire Rochelle Garfinkel, daughter of Jack Garfinkel and Martha Freedman, were married December 18, 1960 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  Rochelle is my 3rd cousin 1x removed on my Meckler line through the Garfinkels.

Deaths

Margaret Gantt, daughter of Joseph Gantt and Mary Ann McGowan, died December 18, 1912 in Center Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania at the age of 76.  She is still my 2nd cousin 4x removed.

Rebecca Elizabeth Coverly died December 18, 1950 in Camden County, New Jersey at the age of 65.  She was married to Joseph L. Gauntt, son of Mark Lewallen Gauntt and Rhoda Ewing, who is my 3rd cousin 2x removed on my Gauntt line.

Irene Corlotta Gaunt, daughter of Henry Plummer Gaunt and Emma Smith, died December 18, 1954 in Los Angeles County, California at the age of 82.  She is my 3rd cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

William George Facenda, Jr. died December 18, 1959 in Santa Clara County, California at the age of about 33.  He was the first husband of Mabel Ellen Elizabeth Brickel, daughter of James Newbill Armstrong and Beatrice Ruth Anna Swain, who is my 2nd cousin 1x removed on my Armstrong line through the Swains.

Kenneth Charles O'Brien died December 18, 1999 in Clarks Summit, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania at the age of 48.  He was the first husband of Carol Beth Sellers, daughter of Bertram Lynn Sellers, Sr. and Anita Clarice Loveman, who is my aunt.

Events in My Family Tree: December 15

Neva Perlman had the same birthday as her brother-in-law.  What did her sister do on that day?

Births

Harry A. Schwartz, son of Joseph Schwartz and Anna Ajzner, was born December 15, 1910 in San Francisco, San Francisco County, California.  He is the 1st cousin 1x removed of my dear cousin Esther Garfinkel on her Ajzner line.

William Oliver Gauntt, son of Thomas Franklin Gauntt and Anna Marie Stayton, was born December 15, 1940 in New Jersey, probably in Burlington County.  He is my 1st cousin 1x removed on my Gauntt line.

Joseph Naclerio was also born December 15, 1940, but in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.  He was married to Kim Perlman, daughter of Murray Elliot Perlman and Helen Ruth Greenebaum, who is my 4th cousin on my Nowicki line through the Perlmans.

Paul Kushner, son of Benjamin Louis Kushner and Gladys Shindelman, was born December 15, 1951 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  He is also my 4th cousin but on my Meckler line.

Neva Perlman, daughter of Murray Elliot Perlman and Helen Ruth Greenebaum, was born December 15, 1953 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.  She is another 4th cousin on my Nowicki line through the Perlmans and Kim's sister.

Patricia Ellen Gaunt, daughter of Robert Gaunt and Mary Evelyn Westbrooks, was born December 15, 1954 in Indiana.  She is my 6th cousin via the Gaunts.

Jonah Harry Balick was born December 15, 1994.  He is my 3rd cousin 1x removed.

Deaths

William Clarence Bowker, son of John Bowker and Louisa J. Armstrong, died December 15, 1946 in Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey at the age of 74.  He is my 1st cousin 4x removed on my Armstrong line.

David Wilson Rink died December 15, 1955 in Elkhart County, Indiana at the age of 74.  He was married to Edna Hite, daughter of John Hite and Mary Ann Claycomb, who is my 4th cousin 2x removed on my Gauntt line through the Hites.

Oren Wilson Clark, Jr., son of Oren Wilson Clark and Anna G. Gaunt, died December 15, 1997 in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas at the age of 80.  He is also my 4th cousin 2x removed, via the Gaunts.

Events in My Family Tree: December 10

Irwin Millstein got married on his 1st cousin Florence (Bernstein) Cohen's third wedding anniversary.  Their mothers were sisters.

Births

William Augustus Heath, son of Henry Health and Eliza Bullock, was born December 10, 1849 in Thurman, Warren County, New York.  He is the great-granduncle of my aunt Mary McStroul and her sister Anna McStroul, and the great-great-granduncle of my not-quite-cousin Angela Williams.

Austin Francis Gaynor, son of James P. Gaynor and Mary Guynan, was born December 10, 1881 in New York, probably in Manhattan.  He is the great-granduncle of my half-sister Laurie Sellers and her half-sister Shanyn James.

Francis Monroe Warner, son of Wilbert Rose Warner and Rachel Anna Armstrong, was born December 10, 1908 in Burlington County, New Jersey.  He is my 1st cousin 3x removed on my Armstrong line.

Gretchen K. C. Hopman was born December 10, 1916, possibly in Indiana.  She was married to Burman J. Gaunt, son of Orlan Fay Gaunt and Ruth Irene Waybright, who is my 5th cousin 1x removed via the Gaunts.

David Kardash, son of Louis Kardash and May Udashkin, was born December 10, 1947 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  He is my 2nd cousin 1x removed on my Gorodetsky line through the Kardashes.

Michael Albert Ellis, son of Albert Giberson Ellis and Eva Imogene Calvert, was born December 10, 1960 in Georgia.  He is my 2nd cousin on my Gauntt line through the Ellises.

Dean Frederick Allen was born December 10, 1979.  He is my 5th cousin 2x removed.

Claire Hannah Lynne Zindler was born December 10, 1996.  She is my 4th cousin 1x removed.

Marriages

Seymour H. Cohen and Florence Bernstein, daughter of Sam Bernstein and Rose Gordon (originally Ruchel Gorodetskaya), were married December 10, 1946 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.  Florence is my 1st cousin 2x removed on my Gorodetsky line.

Irwin Millstein, son of Nathan Millstein and Sarah Gordon (originally Sura Gorodetskaya), were married December 10, 1949 in Bronx, Bronx County, New York.  Irwin is also my 1st cousin 2x removed on my Gorodetsky line.

Robert Melvin Vaughn, son of Melville Everett Vaughn and Evelyn Virginia Ballenger Fadler, and Vicki Norton were married December 10, 1982 in Lemoore, Kings County, California.  Robert is my 5th cousin 1x removed on my Gauntt line through the Vaughns.

Don Hervak and Leala Rona Birnboim, daughter of Chaim Avraham Birnboim and Shirley Hirt, were married December 10, 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Leala is my 4th cousin on my Meckler line through the Birnboims.

Deaths

Lydia A. died December 10, 1879 in Chambersburg, Mercer County, New Jersey at the age of 33.  She was the wife of Joseph Bowker, son of John Bowker and Louisa J. Armstrong, who is my 1st cousin 4x removed on my Armstrong line.

Jonathan Easlick died December 10, 1905 in Morrisville, Pennsylvania at the age of 63.  He was married to Susannah Sever, daughter of Allen Sever and Elizabeth Ann Gaunt, who is my 1st cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

Vinton Thompson Easlick, son of Allen Severs Easlick and Mary E. Shemeley, died December 10, 1968 in Mount Holly, Burlington County, New Jersey at the age of 67.  He is my 3rd cousin 1x removed on my Gauntt line through the Easlicks.

Elaine Fensterwald died December 10, 1979 in St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota at the age of 47.  She was married to Julian Saul Perlman, son of Abraham Sam Perlman (originally Perlmutter) and Stella Jaffe.  He is my 3rd cousin 1x removed on my Nowicki line through the Perlmutters.

Abraham Meckler, son of Morris Mackler (originally Moishe Meckler) and Minnie (originally Mushe) Zelda Nowicki, died December 10, 1989 in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida at the age of 77.  He is my grandfather.

Russell Oliver Ellis, son of Levi Ellis and Carrie Florence Gauntt, died December 10, 1991 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania at the age of 69.  He is my 1st cousin 1x removed on my Gauntt line.

Irwin Garfield (originally Garfinkel), son of Jack Garfinkel and Martha Freedman, died December 10, 1998 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at the age of 69.  He is my 3rd cousin 1x removed on my Meckler line through the Garfinkels.

Events in My Family Tree: December 4

Janet Eileen Gaunt was born on her mother's 25th birthday.  That's a lovely birthday present!

Births

Charles R. Gaunt, son of Benjamin Franklin Gaunt and Elizabeth K. Frazer, was born December 4, 1840 in Medford, Burlington County, New Jersey.  He is my 2nd cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

Louisa Gaunt, daughter of Uz Gaunt and Sarah Ann Whitacre, was born December 4, 1843 in Columbiana County, Ohio.  She is my 2nd cousin 4x removed via the Gaunts.

Rachel Anna Armstrong, daughter of Joel Armstrong and Sarah Ann Deacon Lippincott, was born December 4, 1878.  She is my great-grandaunt.

Scott Selvidge was born December 4, 1903 in Springtown, Parker County, Texas.  He was married to Lenore Corinne Gaunt, daughter of Charles Gaunt and Pearl E. Cory, who is my 4th cousin 2x removed via the Gaunts.

Marjorie Ellen Salisbury was born December 4, 1921 in Sacramento County, California.  She was married to Nolan Sidney Gaunt, son of Walter Everett Gaunt and Norma Marguerite Prusso, who is my 4th cousin 2x removed via the Gaunts.

Bertram Lynn Sellers, Jr., son of Bertram Lynn Sellers and Anna Gauntt, was born December 4, 1940 in Englewood, Bergen County, New Jersey.  He is my father.

Janet Eileen Gaunt, daughter of Nolan Sidney Gaunt and Marjorie Ellen Salisbury, was born December 4, 1946 in Santa Clara County, California.  She is my 5th cousin 1x removed via the Gaunts.

Marriage

Bertram Lynn Sellers, Jr., son of Bertram Lynn Sellers and Anna Gauntt, and Virginia Ann Daugherty were married December 4, 1980 in Niceville, Okalossa County, Florida, because that way my father would remember his wedding anniversary, as it was the same day as his birthday.  This was my father's third marriage, and it lasted longer than the first two combined.

Deaths

Emma J. VanKirk died December 4, 1900 in Franklin County, Indiana at the age of 34.  She was the wife of Sherman Tecumseh Hutson, son of Thomas Hutson and Ruth Thackeray, who is my 4th cousin 3x removed on my Gauntt line through the Thackerays.

Hilda Cantor died December 4, 1991, probably in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, at the age of about 65.  She was the wife of Oscar Garber, son of Zelig Garber and Ida Mekler, who is my 2nd cousin 2x removed via the Meklers.

Thomas Franklin Gauntt, son of Thomas Kirkland Gauntt and Jane Dunstan, also died December 4, 1991, but in Sarasota County, Florida, at the age of 83.  He is my granduncle.

Vera Vanaman daughter of Charles Milton Vanaman and Julia Ann Gaunt, was another cousin who died December 4, 1991, in Los Angeles County, California, possibly in Long Beach, at the age of 75.  She is my half 2nd cousin 2x removed via the Gaunts.

Beatrice Fannie Allen, daughter of William Daily Allen and Fannie Goldsboro Brown, died December 4, 1995 in Medford, Burlington County, New Jersey at the age of 87.  She is my 5th cousin on my Gauntt line through the Allens.

Elsie Grace Hoyer, daughter of Rollin Henry Hoyer and Bessie Floreen Schwier, died December 4, 2000 in Osgood, Ripley County, Indiana at the age of 84.  She is my 6th cousin 1x removed on my Gauntt line through the Schwiers.

Events in My Family Tree: November 26

My cousin Al shows up three times in today's list!

Births

Bessie May Gaunt, daughter of James Knox Polk Gaunt and Sarah Naomi Boone, was born November 26, 1876 in Indiana.  She is my 3rd cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

Joseph V. Gaunt, son of Benjamin Gaunt and Mary Elizabeth Sever, was born November 26, 1885 in Burlington County, New Jersey.  He is my half 2nd cousin 2x removed via the Gaunts.

Claude Gaunt, son of William B. Gaunt and Fannie Rebecca Hall, was born November 26, 1891, probably in New Jersey.  He is my 2nd cousin 2x removed via the Gaunts.

Harry Eldridge Person was born November 26, 1892 in Pennville, Jay County, Indiana.  He was the husband of Hazel Pearl Gaunt, daughter of Ross B. Gaunt and Mary Ann Dale, who is my 4th cousin 2x removed via the Gaunts.

Treva Louise Gaunt, daughter of Charles Lee Gaunt and Bertha Wilson, was born November 26, 1907 in Dunkirk, Jay County, Indiana.  She is my 5th cousin 1x removed via the Gaunts.

Emma Kelley, daughter of Joseph Kelley and Martha W. Lawrence, was born November 26, 1912 in New Jersey.  She is the 2nd cousin 1x removed of my 1st cousin Albert Lore on his Eckman line through the Lawrences.

Rose Gordon, daughter of David Gordon (originally Dovid Gorodetsky) and Freeda Alterman, was born November 26, 1916 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.  She is my 1st cousin 2x removed on my Gorodetsky line.

Ruth Eckman, daughter of Frank Eckman and Mary Elizabeth Wilbur, was born November 26, 1926, most likely in New Jersey.  She is the 1st cousin 1x removed of my 1st cousin Albert Lore on his Eckman line.

Andrew J. Gordon, son of Charles R. Gordon and Robbin Patricia McStroul, was born November 26, 1962 in San Diego County, California.  He is the 1st cousin 1x removed of my aunt Mary McStroul and the 2nd cousin of my not-quite-cousin Angela Williams.

Baby Boy Kent was born November 26, 1975.  He is my nephew.

Stephanie Marie Hutchison was born November 26, 1983.  She is my half 1st cousin 2x removed.

Marriages

John S. Bowker and Louisa J. Armstrong, daughter of Joel Armstrong and Catherine Stackhouse, were married November 26, 1852 in Burlington County, New Jersey.  Louisa is my 3x-great-grandaunt on my Armstrong line.

Albert Lynn Lore, son of Frank Everett Eckman and Dorothy Mae Sellers, and Lucille Fisher were married November 26, 1993 in Kissimmee, Osceola County, Florida.  Albert is my half 1st cousin on my Sellers line.

Deaths

Martha Winn, daughter of Thomas Winn and Mary Parr(?), died November 26, 1884 in Manchester, Lancashire, England at the age of 47.  She is my great-great-grandmother.

Opal Edna Gage, daughter of James W. Gage and Mary Rosella Hutson, died November 26, 1967 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio at the age of 82.  She is my 5th cousin 2x removed on my Gauntt line through the Hutsons.

Events in My Family Tree: November 16

I am finally restarting the listing of births, marriages, and deaths in my family, from when I left off in 2021!  I am determined to finish it this year.

Births

Carrie Louise Thackeray, daughter of Selector Thackeray and Louisa Moodey, was born November 16, 1879 in Indiana, possibly in Ripley County.  She is my 4th cousin 3x removed on my Gauntt line through the Thackerays.

Alpha E. Thackeray, daughter of Francis Marion Thackeray and Emma Sophia Busch, was born November 16, 1899 in New Point, Decatur County, Indiana.  She is also my 4th cousin 3x removed on my Gauntt line through the Thackerays and is Carrie Louise Thackeray's 1st cousin.

Hyman Gordon (originally Chaim Gorodetsky), son of Avigdor Gorodetsky and Esther Leah Schneiderman, was born November 16, 1899 (November 4 on the Julian calendar) in Kishinev, Besserabia, Russian Empire (now Chisinau, Moldova).  He is my great-granduncle on my Gorodetsky line.

Shelley E. Bonifas, daughter of Joseph W. Bonifas and Delores Gilbert, was born November 16, 1962 in Indiana.  She is my 6th cousin 1x removed on my Gauntt line through the Bonifases.

David Thomas Overlin was born November 16, 1968.  He is my 6th cousin.

Heather McAllister was born November 16, 1978.  She is the 2nd cousin 1x removed of my 1st cousin Albert Lore.

Naomi Aviva Perley was born November 16, 1986.  She is my 4th cousin 1x removed.

Cameron Joachim Rocke was born November 16, 1995.  He is my 2nd cousin 1x removed.

Natalie Desiree Doerner was born November 16, 2005.  She is my grandniece.

Marriage

Harold Ernst Easlick, son of Daniel Leon Easlick and Ella Ritchie Mingen, and Eleanor Braddock were married November 16, 1935, possibly in Elkton, Cecil County, Maryland.  Harold is my 4th cousin on my Gauntt line through the Easlicks.

Deaths

Rebecca Armstrong, daughter of Joel Armstrong and Catherine Stackhouse, died November 16, 1931 in Mount Holly, Burlington County, New Jersey at the age of 85.  She is my 3x-great-grandaunt on my Armstrong line.

Charles Dalton Gaunt, son of Jacob Gaunt and Melvina F. Bennett, died November 16, 1929 in Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York at the age of 69.  He is my 3rd cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

Bertram Ruthledge Render died November 16, 1970 in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska at the age of 54.  He was the husband of Ruth Schumeister, daughter of Henry Schumeister and Celia Perlmutter, who is my 1st cousin 3x removed on my Nowicki line through the Perlmutters.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Did Any of Your Ancestors Suffer the Loss of a Parent at a Young Age?

I have a feeling it would be difficult to find someone who did not fall into the category of tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver.

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

1.  Do you have ancestors who suffered the loss of one or both parents early in their lives?  Did the surviving parent remarry soon after one parent died?  Was a guardian appointed for your ancestor to protect physical or legal interests?

2.  Tell us about one or two of your "orphaned" ancestors and how this affected their lives.

3.  Share a link to your blog post, or your Facebook Status post, on this post.

I can immediately think of a few ancestors who had a parent die when they were young.  My great-grandmother Jane Dunstan was just shy of 2 1/2 years old when her father died (she was the youngest child).  My great-grandfather Joyne Gorodetsky was about 16 when his mother died (he was the oldest child).  And my paternal grandfather, Bertram Lynn Sellers, was only 15 when his father died.

I think I'll focus on my grandfather, because some parts of that story are particularly interesting.

Let's start at the beginning.  My great-grandmother Laura May Armstrong gave birth to my grandfather on April 6, 1903 without the benefit of a husband.  Even if she had been inclined to name the father (and I suspect she wouldn't have), the registration form actually had instructions that if the birth was out of wedlock, that was what was supposed to be indicated on the line asking for the father's name.  So the socially disapproving "OW" is all that appears there.

Notwithstanding that she brought a 7-month-old son to the relationship, Laura was able to find a husband, and she and Cornelius Elmer Sellers were married on November 7, 1903.  I showed with Y-DNA testing that Elmer was not the biological father of my grandfather, but he was the only father Grandpa ever knew.

On January 22, 1916, a little shy of being 13 years old, my grandfather and three other boys were playing in a dirt mound in town.  They had dug out a cave in the mound and, of course, had not reinforced it, because they didn't know better.  On that January day, the cave collapsed on them.  Two of the boys did not survive.  My grandfather did but severely broke his right ankle, which soon after necessitated the amputation of his leg at the knee.

The family had already had its share of sadness.  Elmer and Laura had nine children together, three of whom are confirmed to have died young.  Cornelius Howard Sellers was born about October 1904 and died September 3, 1906.  Harry J. Sellers was born January 9, 1913 and died June 6, 1913.  Birdsall Sellers was born April 16, 1916 and died May 26, 1916, right after my grandfather's accident.  For three more children — Amelia, born after 1904; Elmer F., born January 2, 1912; and Herman J., born June 2, 1915 — I have not found death dates, but I haven't yet found them living after 1915.

And on September 14, 1918, Elmer died of endocarditis.  The family had never had much money (in fact, Elmer's mother was the person who paid his funeral expenses), so this must have put a horrible financial strain on everyone.  There was no estate that needed to be guarded for the children's sakes.

In 1920, Laura and her four surviving children, which included my grandfather, were enumerated in the census as living with her granduncle and grandaunt, Amos and Rebecca Lippincott.  Neither Laura nor any of the children had an occupation listed, and Amos was working as a laborer.  They could not have been doing well financially.

Laura did not remarry at that time.  She did, however, give birth to another child.  Yes, less than three years after her husband had died, on March 6, 1921, my great-grandmother had a daughter, Bertolet Grace Sellers.  And did not state the name of the father for the birth certificate (thanks, Laura!).  We'll probably never know who Bertolet's father was, because she died January 11, 1927, and Laura did not provide the father's name for the death certificate either.

Laura eventually did remarry.  On August 31, 1929, she and John Stephen Ireland were married, and he is enumerated with her in the 1930 census.  The story I heard is that someone told Laura that she really should find a husband to support her, and that's why she married John.  The rest of the story was that soon after having married him she figured out that he wasn't worth the effort and got rid of him.  Apparently they didn't divorce, because when John died in 1949, she was listed as his widow in the obituary.  On the other hand, I don't know who write the obituary.

Before Laura's second marriage, however, my grandfather had moved out.  He married Elizabeth Leatherberry Sundermier on December 18, 1923.  They had three children, but after the Great Depression began, Grandpa had moved back in with his mother, and the four family members (the first child died as an infant) were enumerated in four different places in the 1930 census.

I don't know how his father dying so young affected my grandfather, as he never talked about it.  I learned a little about his life during the Depression because I interviewed him for a high school civics class, but he didn't volunteer other information.  I didn't learn details about Elmer until after my grandfather had died.

I do know that losing a leg at age 12 didn't slow Grandpa down.  He fathered five children with three different women, only two of whom he was married to (he and my grandmother were never married), and he was married to his third wife before I was born.  He drove a stick shift and worked through the Civil Service for the Army and Air Force as a mechanical and civil engineer.  He worked hard his entire life.

My grandfather was certainly an interesting character.  I suspect he got that from his mother.

Nanny Ireland and her adult children
Back row:  George Moore (Dickie) Sellers, Bertram Lynn Sellers, Sr.
Front row:  Catherine Marie Sellers, Laura May (Armstrong) Sellers Ireland, Nellie Elizabeth (Betty) Sellers

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Genealogy "Rabbit Hole" Did You Go Down Recently?

Tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun topic from Randy Seaver is a favorite of genealogical researchers everywhere.

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

1.  What genealogy "rabbit hole" did you go down recently?  Did you have genealogy fun?  How did it help your genealogy research?

2.  Share your response on your own blog or in a Facebook post.  Please share a link in Comments on this post if you write your own post.

What?  Genealogists falling down rabbit holes?  Who would have thought such a thing could happen?

The most recent rabbit hole I went down was totally the fault of Reclaim the Records, that scrappy little nonprofit that's filing lawsuits all over the country when records jurisdictions don't follow Freedom of Information rules, even their own, and then sharing all the records they acquire freely and publicly through the Internet Archive.  I love them!  (And I remember when Brooke Schreier Ganz started the whole thing!)

I don't remember when the various New Jersey indices were posted, and RtR doesn't put dates on a lot of its posts, but a couple of months ago I started poking around.  They have New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901–2016; New Jersey Death Index, 1904–2017; New Jersey Birth, Marriage, and Death Indices, 1901–1903 and 1901–1914; and New Jersey Geographic Birth Index and Delayed Birth Index, 1901–1929.

I have a lot of New Jersey relatives.  For many of them I did not have specific birth, marriage, or death dates.  My father and both of his parents were born in New Jersey, and I had their information, but between multiple relationships on both sides and half-siblings all over the place, I didn't have documentation for everybody else.  So I decided one evening to start looking.

I think it started innocently enough.  All I wanted originally was to find the birth dates of three of my grandfather's siblings, for whom I had only "about" and a year.  And then I figured while I was looking, I should find all of the siblings in the birth index, just to verify that I had the correct dates.  Oh, and maybe I should look up all their marriages.  Oh wait, some of those siblings didn't live to adulthood, so I should look for them in the death index.

Several hours later . . . .

I had lots of fun, but I still don't have everyone!  I found one of the birth dates, but two are still missing.  The birth index showed a different date for one of the siblings for whom I already had a date.  I can't find death dates for three children.  And three marriage dates are still hiding from me also (although it's possible one or more of those might not have taken place in New Jersey; lots of people in Jersey went to good old Elkton, Maryland, as my aunt did).  Or maybe some of those couples didn't actually get married.

One amusing discovery was finding the original index entry for my grandfather and then a handwritten one based on his amended birth certificate.

I wrote several years ago about my frustrating and fruitless search for my grandfather's birth certificate and how it took my sister going in person to the New Jersey State Archives to discover that he had been recorded as a girl on his birth record, explaining why I had been unsuccessful in three attempts at finding a birth certificate for a boy.  The lovely archivists had also unearthed an amendment to the original birth certificate, filed by my great-grandmother 37 years later, changing Grampa from a girl to a boy.

Well, both of those records are reflected in the state birth index.

Birth index showing Gertrude Armstrong (bottom), born April 6, 1903, page 7173
(edited image)

Birth index showing Bertram L. Sellers (bottom), born April 6, 1903, page 7173
(edited image)

And in a very strange coincidence, the handwriting for the entry for the amended birth certificate strongly resembles my grandfather's handiwriting.