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: Who Is the Earliest Ancestor in Your Maternal Tree?

I guess I should have expected this to be the topic for today's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver, considering that last week's challenge was the earliest ancestor in the paternal tree.

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

1.  Today's challenge is to answer the question "Who Is the Earliest Ancestor in Your Maternal Family Tree?"

2.  Tell us about your earliest maternal ancestor in your family tree on your own blog post, in a comment here, or on your Facebook page.  Be sure to leave a link to your report in a comment on this post.

[Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic!]

I know the answer to this question without needing to check my tree.  But I will need to look at it to verify some years of birth and death (most I do know by heart).

Actually, I can go back the same number of generations on two different lines on my mother's side.  But one of those ancestors was born a little earlier, so I'm going to follow that line.

1.  Janice is the daughter of Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940–1995)

2.  Myra is the daughter of Abram Meckler (1912–1989).

3.  Abram is the son of Minnie (originally Mushe) Zelda Nowicki (about 1880–1936).

4.  Mushe is the daughter of Gershon Itzhak Nowicki (about 1858–1948).

5.  Gershon is the son of Abraham Yaakov Nowicki (?–?).

So I know the name of my 3rd-great-grandfather, but I don't know anything else about him.  I estimate that he died before about 1896, because I have a cousin who was probably named after him, and that cousin was born about 1896.  I know that his wife was named Sirke, but I don't know her family name.  And that's all I have.  Since we're talking about a Jewish family in Grodno gubernia, Russian Empire, I'm lucky to have that.

But as with last week's challenge, I can say that I have total confidence in all of my information.

For the other family line I mentioned above, I can also get to a 2nd-great-grandfather whose father's name I know, but that guy was born about 1863, five years later than Gershon.

1.  Janice is the daughter of Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940–1995).

2.  Myra is the daughter of Lillyan E. Gordon (1919–2006).

3.  Lillyan is the daughter of Joe Gordon (originally Joyne Gorodetsky; about 1892–1955).

4.  Joyne is the son of Avigdor Gorodetsky (about 1863–1925).

5.  Avigdor is the son of Gersh Wolf Gorodetsky (?–?).

I have no idea when Gersh Wolf died, because I know of no grandchildren or great-grandchildren who were named after him.  That could mean that he was alive when those grandchildren were born or that no one liked him and wanted to name a kid after him.  I have a hint that Gersh Wolf's wife was Etta Cohen (which would probably have been Kagan in the Russian Empire), but that's all I know about her.

Now that I think about it, I can do the same exercise on a third line.

1.  Janice is the daughter of Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940–1995).

2.  Myra is the daughter of Lillyan E. Gordon (1919–2006).

3.  Lillyan is the daughter of Joe Gordon (originally Joyne Gorodetsky; about 1892–1955).

4.  Joyne is the son of Esther Leah Schneiderman (about 1867–1908).

5.  Esther Leah is the daughter of Joyne Schneiderman (?–?).

I have an estimate for when Joyne Schneiderman died, because Joyne Gorodetsky was probably named after him.  So he died roughly before 1893.  His wife's name I have from one source as Anna Ida, which might have been Chane Etta.  And that's it for that line!

But wait!  I can do this two more times!

1.  Janice is the daughter of Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940–1995).

2.  Myra is the daughter of Lillyan E. Gordon (1919–2006).

3.  Lillyan is the daughter of Sarah Libby Brainin (about 1885–1963).

4.  Sarah is the daughter of Morris Brainin (originally Mendel Hertz Brainin; about 1861–1930).

5.  Mendel is the son of Solomon (originally ?) Brainin (?–?).

And . . .

1.  Janice is the daughter of Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940–1995).

2.  Myra is the daughter of Lillyan E. Gordon (1919–2006).

3.  Lillyan is the daughter of Sarah Libby Brainin (about 1885–1963).

4.  Sarah is the daughter of Rose Dorothy (originally Ruchel Dvjore) Jaffe (about 1868–1934).

5.  Ruchel Dvojre is the daughter of Joseph Jaffe (?–?) and Anna Binderman (?–?).

So five different lines, and I can take each of them back only to the name of a 3rd-great-grandparent.  I guess the Brainin line should be second, because Mendel Hertz Brainin's very roughly estimated birth year is second after Gershon Itzhak Nowicki's.

Oh, the joys of Ashkenazi Jewish research!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Which Ancestral Home Would You Like to Visit?

Randy Seaver asks for a difficult decision in this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

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

(1) Tell us which ancestral home (an actual building, a village, a town, even a country) you would most like to visit.   Which ancestors lived there and for how long?  

(2) Share your ancestral home information in your own blog post or on Facebook, and leave a link to it in the comments.
 
Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic.

Randy appears to be fortunate in that he has several lines in his family that were in the same location, making it easy to choose that place.  Mine are kind of scattered all over the place, which makes the choice difficult.  On the other hand, Randy did give country as an option, so I think I'll choose "Russian Empire."  As in the one that doesn't exist anymore.  But it was the country from which all of the ancestors on my mother's side of the family emigrated.

All the American documentation I have says that the Brainins came from Kreuzburg, which is now Krustpils, Latvia.  I would love to go there and try to find some European documents that actually confirm that's where they were from.  Supposedly my 3x-great-grandfather was a doctor; maybe that increases the possibility of finding a record about him?

The Mecklers came from Kamenets Litovsk, Grodno gubernia, which is now Kamyanyets, Belarus.  I have that family tracked back to my 3x-great-grandfather Zvi Mekler.  I wouldn't expect to find much about my family in modern Kamyanyets, but I want the opportunity to look.

The Nowicki family came from Porozovo, Grodno gubernia, now Porazava, Belarus.  This is another location where not much has survived regarding the former Jewish population, but you never know unless you try.

The Gorodetskys were at least registered in Orinin, Kamenets Podolskiy gubernia, which is now Orynyn, Ukraine.  I don't know how far back that registration goes or how long it might have been since someone lived there.  The family was apparently at one time in the city of Kamenets Podolskiy (now Kamyanets Podilskyy), which is where my great-grandfather and his older sister are said to have been born, so that's probably the more important location to visit first.

The Schneidermans were also said to have been from Kamenets Podolskiy, although I don't think it was stated whether that was the city or merely the gubernia.

I don't know where the Jaffes, Bindermans, Blooms, or Yelskys are supposed to have been from.  I guess I would start searching for the Jaffes and Bindermans in Krustpils and the Blooms and Yelskys in Porazava.  I might also have Cohen/Kagan and Kardish/Kortisch ancestors.  I would start my search for them in Kamyanets Podilskyy.

So that gives me a lot of territory to cover.  What was once one (very large) country would now necessitate going through at least three modern countries.  And not going at all to modern Russia, because my ancestors all seem to have stayed in the Pale, apparently not having any of the high-end occupations that permitted one to reside in Russia proper.