Wordless Wednesday

 

Events in My Family Tree: July 10

Hey, another kid born on her parent's birthday!  I wonder how common that is among the general population.

Births

Samuel M. Gaunt, son of John Gaunt and Elizabeth Kirby, was born July 10, 1817 in New Jersey.  He is my 3rd cousin 4x removed via the Gaunts.

Caroline Gaunt, daughter of Samuel M. Gaunt and Caroline Horner, was born July 10, 1863 in Mullica Hill, Gloucester County, New Jersey on her father's 46th birthday (above).  She is my 4th cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

Frederick Dunstan, son of Frederick Cleworth Dunstan and Martha Winn, was born July 10, 1868 in Manchester, Lancashire, England.  He is my great-granduncle.

Sadie Gussie Bogus, daughter of Abraham Bogus and Minnie Posner, was born July 10, 1906, probably in Manhattan, New York County, New York.  She was the sister of Ida Bogus, who was the first wife of Harry Herman Meckler, son of Morris Meckler and Minnie Zelda Nowicki, who is my granduncle.  The Boguses are supposed to be related to Jan Peerce, who sang at my maternal grandmother's wedding.

Rhoda Cohen, daughter of Louis Cohen and Jennie Kardish, was born July 10, 1945 in Montreal, Québec, Canada.  She is my 2nd cousin once removed on my Gorodetsky line through the Kardishes.

William Paul Dodge, son of Walter Garland Dodge and Lois Elizabeth Higgins, was born July 10, 1947 in Yuba County, California.  He is my 6th cousin on my Gauntt line through the Higginses.

Kevin Brian Gaunt, son of Harvey Joseph Gaunt, Jr. and his first wife, was born July 10, 1951 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.  He is my 3rd cousin via the Gaunts.

Matthew William Stricker was born July 10, 1985.  He is my 5th cousin 2x removed.

Benjamin Ian Monat was born July 10, 1990.  He is my 3rd cousin.

Marriage

Albert Lynn Lore, son of Frank Everett Eckman and Dorothy Mae Sellers, and Beth Fawn Goldwyn were married July 10, 1992 in Orlando, Orange County, Florida.  Al is my half 1st cousin via the Sellerses.

Deaths

Sarah Ann Harris died July 10, 1871, probably in Columbiana County, Ohio, at the age of 29.  She was the wife of Ner Gaunt, son of Benjamin Gaunt and Mary Sheets, who is my 2nd cousin 4x removed via the Gaunts.

Mary M. Walker died July 10, 1950 in Camden, Camden County, New Jersey at the age of 85.  She was the wife of John Gaunt, Jr., son of John Gaunt and Ellen R. Bannon, who is my 3rd cousin 3x removed via the Gaunts.

Rufus Barker, son of Walter Barker and Carrie Bell Crawford, died July 10,  1966 at the age of 33.  He is the 1st cousin 2x removed of my not-quite-cousin Angela Williams on her Crawford line.

Lillie L. Fuller. daughter of Joseph R. Fuller and Sarah R. Weaver, died July 10, 1970 in Lakewood, Los Angeles County, California at the age of 78.  She is the grandaunt of my aunt Mary McStroul.

Glenna Hazel Cage, daughter of James W. Cage and Mary Rosella Hutson, died July 10, 1981 in Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana at the age of 85.  She is my 5th cousin 2x removed on my Gauntt line through the Hutsons.

Esther Emily Wright, daughter of George B. McClellan Wright and Pearl Ellen Slentz, died July 10, 1983 in Grosse Pointe, Wayne County, Michigan at the age of 68.  She is my 5th cousin once removed on my Gauntt line through the Slentzes.

I Love It When Cousins Call Me!

Ruchel Dwojre (Jaffe) Brainin,
one of the ancestors my
cousin asked me abour.
She is our great-great-grandmother.

I had a wonderful surprise on Wednesday.  Out of the blue, I got a phone call from one of my younger cousins!

He told me that his mother had given him all of the genealogy materials I had shared with her.  I haven't heard yet what prompted this, so I don't know at whose instigation this happened.  But he apparently started reading thorugh it avidly and then had lots of questions.  So his mother gave him my phone number.

We spent an hour and a quarter on the phone!  Mostly he seemed to want to know what I knew about any rabbis on the Brainin branch of my family (the line we have in common) and which members of the family were Orthodox Jews, but he also asked about anecdotes and stories, things that went beyond just the bare facts that are in the family tree information he already had.  I was able to remember lots of things (really good, since I didn't have any papers in front of me and I was totally unprepared), which seemed to satisfy at least some of his curiosity.  But some of what he asked about I still don't have answers for.  Now that someone else is asking, however, I feel a little reinvigorated about researching that line.  Maybe that was just the motivation I need to make some new discoveries!

I met this cousin and his family in person in 2013, when the IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy was held in Boston.  I actually stayed at their house for the week.  One of the amusing things about the phone call today is that my cousin didn't seem to remember having met me, even though that was only six years ago and at the time we made a big deal about the fact that we share the same birthday.  I don't feel so bad about some of my forgetfulness if someone 34 years younger than I am is forgetting things also!

Wordless Wednesday

Events in My Family Tree: April 9

While putting this day's list together, I realized that I was born on the same day that Mirka Ajzner, the mother of my dear cousin Esther Weinstein, passed away.

Births

George Wendel Votaw, son of Millard F. Votaw and Ida May Fisher, was born April 9, 1907 in Indiana, probably in Wabash County.  He is my 4th cousin 2x removed on my Gauntt line through the Votaws.

Cecilia Keselman was born April 9, 1945 in Colón, Panamá.  She was married to Samuel Socherman, son of William Socherman (originally Velvel Szocherman) and Anna Tania Jakowszycka, who is my 4th cousin on my Nowicki line through the Szochermans.

Richard Wright, son of Alvin Wright and Dorothy Simcox, was born April 9, 1954.  He is the 2nd cousin of my 1st cousin Albert Lore.

Janice Marie Sellers (me!) was born April 9, 1962 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, at Los Angeles County Hospital, now known as USC County Medical Center.

Patricia Marie Gauntt was born April 9, 1980 in Bexar County, Texas.  She is my 2nd cousin.

Jacob Berkowitz was born April 9, 1985 in Connecticut.  He is my 3rd cousin on my Gordon line.

Yonatan Arieh Monat was born April 9, 1996 in Wellesley, Norfolk County, Massachusetts.  He is my 3rd cousin on my Brainin line.

Marriages

David Comstock and Patricia Ann Largess, daughter of Raymond Albert Largess and Dorothy Adelle Allen, were married on April 9, 1976, possibly in Florida.  Patricia is my 5th cousin once removed on my Gauntt line through the Allens.

Avy Zohar and Sharon Gale Garfield, daughter of Irwin Garfield (originally Garfinkel) and Lenore Schachter, were married on April 9, 1984 in Rehovet, Israel.  Sharon is my 4th cousin on my Meckler line through the Garfinkels.

Deaths

Mirka Ajzner, daughter of Henach Ajzner and Feiga Glombovsky, died April 9, 1962 at the age of about 57 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  She was married to Morris Garfinkel, son of Yikusee'ael Garfinkel and Sora Rivka Mekler, who is my 2nd cousin 2x removed, but she also may be related to me, because we have Ajzners who married Meklers.

Sam Lieff died April 9, 1969 at the age of 65, probably in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  He was married to Libby Kardish, daughter of Dovid Kardish and Etta Gorodetsky, who is my 1st cousin 2x removed via the Gorodetskys.

Celia Perlmutter, daughter of Maishe Eli Perlmutter and Ethel Nowicki, died April 9, 1980 at the age of about 96 in St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota.  She is my 2nd cousin 2x removed via the Nowickis.

William Richardson Chase, son of Alfred Joseph Chase and Emma Naylor, died April 9, 2000 at the age of 82 in Burlington, Burlington County, New Jersey.  He is my 3rd cousin once removed on my Gauntt line through the Naylors.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Who in Your Database Has Your Birthday?

In this week's challenge for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, Randy Seaver has us crunching data in our genealogy databases:

Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to:

(1) Are there persons in your genealogy database who have the same exact birth date that you do?  If so, tell us about them — what do you know, and how are they related to you?

(2) Are there persons in your database who are your ancestors and share your birthday (but not the year)?   How many, and who are they?

(3)  Are there other persons in your database who share your birthday (but not the year)?  How many, and who are they?

(4) For bonus points, how did you determine this?  What feature or process did you use in your software to work this problem out?  I think the Calendar feature probably does it, but perhaps you have a trick to make this work outside of the Calendar function.

(5) Share your answers on your own blog, in a comment to this post, or on Facebook or Google+.  Be sure to leave a link in Comments to your post.

So here's my little data dump.

(1) No one in my database has the exact same birthday that I do, April 9, 1962 (my birthday was a week ago Sunday).  Like Randy, I didn't really expect to find anyone.

(2) None of my ancestors for whom I have complete birthdates was born on April 9.

(3) Of the people in my database for whom I have complete birthdates (I don't know how many that is), only six persons were also born on April 9, and they're all in the 20th century.

• April 9, 1907, George Wendel Votaw, 4th cousin twice removed
• April 9, 1917, Anna Marie Stayton, grand-aunt-in-law
• April 9, 1945, Cecelia Keselman, ex-4th cousin-in-law
• April 9, 1980, Patricia Marie Gauntt, 2nd cousin
• April 9, 1995, Jacob Berkowitz, 3rd cousin
• April 9, 1996, Yoni Monat, 3rd cousin

The only one I remembered beforehand is my cousin Yoni.  I do have several people with only the month of April and no specific day, so it's possible there are a few more.  I so need to have time to work on my own family research.

(4) This did not work as well as it should have.  I use Family Tree Maker v. 16, which does have a calendar function.  Unfortunately, when I ran it, it gave me 57 copies of each month, and every single one was empty, even though I double-checked to make sure it was supposed to be searching through the entire database.  So I had to do a manual search in the birthdate field.  For my search term I used "April 9."  Also unfortunately, this too did not work as well as I had hoped.  It picked up all birthdates that started with "about", "before", and "between" and anything with just a year.  Altogether, I paged through 1,806 entries to come up with my list of six people.  You could say I'm a little . . . disappointed in FTM's performance.

My database, by the way, has only 7,956 individuals in it, as compared to Randy's 47,500 (which I am just astounded at!).  Randy had .14% of the people in his database with the same birthdate but a different year.  For me the figure was .07% of my database with the same birthdate.  Pretty small numbers there for both of us.

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Relatives Born on My Birth Date

Randy's challenge tonight for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun was to find out if any of your ancestors or cousins had the same birth date as you do:

1)  What is your birth date (not the year, only month and day)?

2)  Review your records, or use your genealogy management program to create a list of persons in your database born on your birth date.  Are any of them your ancestors, or siblings of your ancestor?  Tell us how you figured it out too.

3)  List one or more of those born on your birth date in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or on Facebook or Google+. 

1.  My birthday is April 9 (which is also the date of the official ending of the American Civil War, when Robert E. Lee surrendered).

2.  I used my family tree program to look for this information.  I have information on additional relatives who are not yet entered in my program, so there may be another birth date match somewhere.  I was surprised to learn that I could not search by month in the birth date field.  What I ended up doing was creating an index of all the individuals in my database (7,626 people) and sorting it by birth year, then scanning each year for April 9.  Kludgy, I know, but it was the quickest way to do it.

I found six people with April 9 as their birthday.  None of them is an ancestor or a sibling of an ancestor.  The closest relative is a second cousin, the most remote a fourth cousin twice removed.  One person is not related to me at all; like Randy, I have information about extended family members in my tree.  I determined the relationships by using the relationship calculator function in the family tree program.  The earliest birth year is 1907, the most recent 1996.

I already knew that my third cousin Yoni and I have the same birthday.  We call each other "birthday cousins", which I mentioned in a post about him winning a sportswriter award in 2013.

Wordless Wednesday

IAJGS Conference - Days 2 and 3

I was caught in a bit of a quandary yesterday.  I wanted to post about both my Monday at the IAJGS conference and finish my review of the Christina Applegate episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, but I had two problems.  I really didn't think I was going to be able to stay awake long enough to do both, and I didn't have the most informative day at the conference, so I wasn't sure how much I could say that was positive.  I settled for only finishing the WDYTYA post and hoped that Tuesday would be a better day at the conference.  Today was a vast improvement, so I guess I made the right decision.

The best session I attended Monday was learning about the resources at the City of Boston Archives.  Marta Crilly, an archivist there, gave an outstanding, well organized presentation.  The archives has a fantastic collection of resources for Boston research -- records of taxes, voter registrations, the almshouse, a correctional institution, children's institutions, the lunatic hospital, business registration certificates (including ones for married women; they had to register their businesses separately to protect their husbands' assets if the business went bankrupt), school transcripts and publications, teacher lists, city employees, maps, and photos.  A lot of the photographs have been digitized and are online, but most records are available only at the archives.  Luckily, you don't have to go in person; they have a friendly and knowledgeable staff who can help people who are not local.  I didn't bring information about my half-sister's family (who lived in Boston for several years) with me to the conference, but when I return home I think I'll have to take a look and see what kinds of questions the archives can help me with.

Another useful session was on postwar resources at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  Reference librarian Megan Lewis gave an overview of the resources available, which include photographs, oral histories, films, and transcripts.  The museum has merged what once were separate catalogs for each collection into a unified catalog that covers most of the museum's holdings.  There is also a search page for part of the ITS inventory.  The other good part of the day was a roundtable session that I coordinated for Jewish genealogical society newsletter/journal editors.  We had some productive discussions about what different societies are publishing in journals and newsletters, and how there is now much more of an intersection between those publications and digital communications.

The disappointing part of the day was that the three sessions I attended that were focused on my own personal family research, in Latvia and Belarus, were all duds.  The descriptions in the program didn't really match what the presenters talked about, and I took away very, very little useful information.  I felt that half my day was wasted.

Board of Special Inquiry transcript

On the positive side, Tuesday I learned quite a bit.  The best session was on Jewish family history research in Australia.  Since there are few Jewish-specific archival collections, the talk covered several general resources as well.  Robyn Dryen of the Australian Jewish Genealogical Society, the presenter, knew her material well.  The fact that much of the information is online was nice to learn.  And I can try to find records from when my family lived Australia in the early 1970's!  I heard Genie Milgrom talk about her research into her family's converso roots in Inquisition Spain.  She did deep research and made some incredible discoveries about her family and the town of Fermoselle, where they were from.  She has now traced her female ancestral line back 22 generations.  Gladys Friedman Paulin followed up her Sunday talk about U.S. ports of arrival with a presentation on the Immigration Service Board of Special Inquiry, which could decide whether a potential immigrant was allowed to remain in the U.S. or be deported.  Even though the process was highly political and there was almost no training for the men conducting the inquiries, about 98% of immigrants were eventually allowed into the country.  Unfortunately, the only ports for which board records still exist are New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, but that is better than nothing.  And Israel Pickholtz gave a very entertaining presentation about recent DNA testing he has encouraged several family members to do in conjunction with his Pikholz family research.  He explained several possible family connections he had hypothesized and was hoping to confirm with the testing.  As far as I could tell, so far none of the results they got turned out as expected, but he and his cousin Jacob Laor are still hopeful some useful information will come out of it.

The other really good part of the day was that my new presentation about online Jewish historical newspapers was very well received.  The room was packed to overflowing (okay, it was a really small room; apparently the programming committee didn't think the session would attract many people).  Later in the afternoon I had several people who were at the talk come up and tell me they thought it was a great talk and that they found the information very useful.  And someone from a Florida genealogical society said she wants to have her group bring me out there to give a presentation!

I was particularly proud, because this was the first time a family member was able to come to one of my talks.  My cousin Janis wasn't able to come after all, but her husband George took some time off from work to come and listen to me.  Plus my cousin Yoni volunteered to help look over the PowerPoint file ahead of time to make sure I didn't have any grammatical errors in the slides; he decided it looked good.  He did admit, however, that he had been hoping to find a mistake just so he could correct me.

And I just looked at the clock and noticed it's 1:30 a.m.!  I better get to bed; the first session starts at 8:15 ....

A Celebrity in the Family

I'm currently in Massachusetts to attend the annual IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, being held this year in Boston, where I'll be giving a talk on online historical Jewish newspapers.  Since I don't make it out to Massachusetts very often, I decided to visit some cousins who live in Sharon, just outside of Boston.  My cousin Janis is also interested in genealogy and helps me with my work on this branch of my family.  (And I'm very excited that she'll be coming to hear my talk -- it will be the first time a family member has been able to do so!)  I call her son Yoni my "birthday cousin" because we share the same birthday, albeit 34 years apart.

Yoni has always been interested in sports, and when I met him several years ago he was already writing articles and practicing doing detailed sportscasts.  One of the first things Janis told me when I arrived was about an award Yoni had recently won.  The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and the Young Broadcasters of America partnered this year to create two new awards -- the Bob Ryan Sportswriter and Bob Costas Sportscaster awards -- to honor two high school students.  My cousin Yoni was the winner of the inaugural Bob Ryan Sportswriter Award!

Apparently Yoni has been very busy since I saw him last!  He has published three books about his high school's sports teams (football, baseball, and basketball) and produced documentaries with highlights of the football and baseball teams' recent seasons.  Three years ago he was chosen as one of thirteen U.S. students who wrote monthly blogs for the Sports Illustrated Kids Web site.  On the local community television station he has cohosted more than 60 discussion programs about professional sports, and he has worked for three years as a play-by-play announcer for several sports events in Sharon.  And now he will be majoring in journalism and business at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

I'm a big sports fan myself, so I think this is especially wonderful.  Now I'm looking forward to seeing Yoni become a big-time sportswriter in national newspapers, so I can say, "Hey, that's my cousin!"