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)

How Was the Trip, Mr. Brainin?

1906 passenger list for Mendel Brainin

Mendel Hertz Brainin, my great-great-grandfather, arrived at the port of New York on April 17, 1906 on the S.S. Gneisenau.  He departed from Bremen on April 5.  As I did with my great-great-grandfather Avigdor Gorodetsky, I will go through and analyze all of the information on his passenger list pages.

As I believe was the case for all of my immigrant Jewish relatives, he traveled in steerage.  He appears on line 25 on the page above.  Over the number 25 is a stamped word, "ADMITTED."  (We'll talk about that soon.)  His name was recorded only as Mendel Brainin; I know the middle name of Hertz from family information.  He was 46 years old, suggesting a birth year of about 1859–1860.  This is the earliest document I have for him; other documents extend the range for his year of birth to 1863.  I do not have any documents for him from the Russian Empire.

He was male and married, and his occupation was shoemaker.  If I can ever find any Russian documents for him, that's not a common trade, so it will be helpful information.  He was able to read and write; I'm sure he could write in Hebrew, as he later worked as a rabbi.  Maybe he could read and write in Russian also.

He was a citizen of Russia (well, maybe) and of the Hebrew race, meaning he was Jewish.  Somewhat surprising to me, he seems to be the only Jewish person on this list, or certainly the only one designated as such.  Half the people on the page are "Kovak" and from Hungary, but I don't know of an ethnicity by that name; Kovak to me is a blacksmith.  Others are German, Magyar (Hungarian), Bohemian, Croatian, and Polish.  Hmm, that Croatian is a little out of his native area.

Mendel's last residence was Kreuzburg, Russia, which is now Krustpils, Latvia.  Everyone in this branch of my family said they were from Kreuzburg when they came here, but I still haven't found any documentation from the old country to substantiate it.  Mendel's destination was New York.  His ticket was for that destination, and it was paid for by his son.

He had $3 in his possession.  He had never been to the United States before.

The person to whom he was going was his son Max Brainin at 236-34 (I think) 103 Street, New York.  Max, whose Jewish name was Nachman, was the oldest son and the first family member to make the trip to the Goldene Medine, arriving in August 1904.

The next six columns are ditto marks for Mendel and for everyone on the page except the person on the first line, indicating that they have not been prisoners, in an almshouse, in an institution for the insane, or supported by charity; they're not polygamists; they're not anarchists; they're not coming due to some agreement to work in the United States; their mental and physical health is good; and they are not deformed or crippled.  Hooray, everyone is in great shape!

And that's the end of the passenger list.  Only one page in early 1906.

Now back to that stamped ADMITTED.  That indicates that Mendel was held for some reason and potentially could have been deported, but that the authorities decided to admit him.   If there's an ADMITTED, an X, or an SI next to someone's name, you want to look for a page about that detention.  Usually I have found them after all the regular pages for the ship manifest, but sometimes they were microfilmed at the beginning.

I did find the page with Mendel on it.  It is titled Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry.  Sometimes you can find these online by searching in the index for the database, but sometimes the passenger's name is spelled differently on the two pages.  If the index doesn't find your person, look at the top of the passenger list for a large, handwritten number.  On this page, it's in the upper right and is called List, and it's number 1.  Then find the detention pages and look through them manually for your person's name and that number, which will be under Group.  (I do not know why it's called List on one page and Group on the other.)  Sometimes not all of the detention pages survived, so on occasion you might not find your person at all.

1906 Gneisenau Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry

Below the page title it shows that this is for the S.S. Gneisenau (N.G.L.), which stands for North German Lloyd.  (This Gneisenau is not any of the ones with pages on Wikipedia, but I did find information about it on GGArchives.com.)  The official arrival date of the ship into New York was April 15, but this page shows the detainees' arrival as April 17.  I have read that sometimes steerage passengers were deboarded later than other passengers.  I don't know if they were held on the ship those extra two days or maybe somewhere else.

The columns on this page are different from the regular passenger list.  The first column, which has no header, is the passenger's age and sex.  For Mendel this is 46 and m.  Next is the number of the passenger on this page, which for Mendel is 25.  Then is the passenger's name:  Brainin, Mendel.

The next three columns correspond to information from the main passenger list:  Group number, line number, and number of people in the party.  For Mendel these are 1, 25 again (a coincidence?), and 1.

The next column is the Cause of Detention, which is the same for every person on this page:  LPC, or "Likely Public Charge."  This means that when the passenger was being checked in, someone thought he wasn't going to be able to support himself and was going to end up being supported by the government.  Single women, women with children, and young people without trades were routinely held as LPC.

Mendel wasn't very old and did have a trade, so it was a little surprising that he was listed with this reason.  But some people have additional information in this field, and Mendel is one of those.  The additional comment is "Dr. Cert."  Maybe he looked frail or ill.

Next is the column for Inspector, and the name is Bechtel.  I noticed that Bechtel was the inspector for the person two lines above Mendel, who also had a comment of "Dr. Cert."  Maybe Bechtel was assigned to those specifically.

Next there are several columns under Actions of the Board of Special Inquiry.  This section has three subheads:  Dep. Excl. [Deportable Excludable], Rehearing, and Admitted.  Each of these also has subheads.  All three have Date, Page, and Sec'y [Secretary].  Admitted has a fourth, Time.  Most people on the page were admitted, including Mendel.  The only thing I can read for his line is the date, 4/24, which is written in the page column.  The other writing there is too light for me to interpret.

The two sections after Actions are Departmental and Executive Orders, with subheads of Date, Record No., and Orders; and Deported, with subheads of Date, Ship, and Officer.  Only one person on this page appears to have been deported.  I'm glad it wasn't Mendel.

The last section is Meals, with subheads of Breakfast, Dinner, and Supper.  The more meals, the longer the person was held.  The arrival date on the page is April 17, and the date given for Mendel's hearing is April 24.  His meal numbers are 7 breakfasts, 8 dinners, and 7 suppers.  That almost adds up right.  I wonder why or how he apparently had two dinners in one day.

Going through this form has made me realize that I have never requested a search for Mendel's Special Inquiry records.  I have read many times that most Special Inquiry hearing files did not survive, but that means that some did (such as that of actress Lea Michele's great-grandmother, as discussed on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?).  And if I don't ask, I'll never know if Mendel's is one of the surviving files.  I think I need to add that to my (long) list of things to do.

As I wrote above, the Special Inquiry page indicates that Mendel arrived on April 17, 1906.  Coincidentally, April 17 is the day now celebrated as Ellis Island Family History Day!  That date was chosen because one year after Mendel came to this country, on April 17, 1907, the busiest day in the history of Ellis Island apparently took place, with 11,747 people passing through.  The day has been celebrated since 2001, when Ellis Island launched online access to passenger lists of people going through the immigration station.

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 Ancestor Have a "Different" Occupation? Try "Sam the Digital Archivist" on ChatGPT

I still think it's much more beneficial for people to do their own research rather than have AI do the work for them, but I am participating in this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver.

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

1.  Did one (or more) of your ancestors have a "different" occupation?  If so, try to find out more about that occupation in Steve Little's "Sam the Digital Archivist" custom prompt using the free ChatGPT4 artificial intelligence tool.  Click on the "Exploring unique ancestral occupations?" button and tell Sam in the "Ask anything" box to define and/or describe the occupation.

2.  Tell us about your ancestor's "different" occupation, and what Sam had to say about it,  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.

So I had to start by creating a login for ChatGPT4, because I have not used it previously.  After I did that, confirmed my e-mail address, and logged in, I used Randy's exact phrasing, substituting the information for my 2x-great-grandfather.  He didn't have a particularly different occupation, but so far none of my ancestors did.  I chose him because I have previously researched what a file grinder did, and I wanted to see whether ChatGPT4 would reveal anything I had not found.

So I typed the following question for Sam:

"My 2nd great-grandfather Frederick Cleworth Dunstan (1840-1873) resided in Hulme, Lancashire, England in 1871. The census record says he was a file grinder.  What was he doing?"

And this is what Sam/ChatGPT4 told me:

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

Great question! Your 2nd great-grandfather, Frederick Cleworth Dunstan, was a file grinder, which means he had a tough, dangerous, and highly skilled job in the metalworking industry. Let’s break it down:

What is a File Grinder?

A file grinder was responsible for sharpening, shaping, and finishing metal files used in various trades, from woodworking to metalworking. The job was part of the cutlery and tool-making industry, which was booming in industrial-era England, particularly in places like Sheffield and Lancashire.

The Process:

 Rough Shaping: Workers took raw, forged metal files and ground them to the correct shape using massive, high-speed grinding wheels made of sandstone.
 Sharpening the Teeth: The characteristic teeth of a file were cut (often by hand) and then refined on grinding wheels for precision.
 Smoothing & Polishing: Final grinding ensured the files were smooth, sharp, and ready for sale or use.

The Danger Factor 

File grinding was one of the deadliest industrial jobs of the 19th century due to:
 "Grinder’s Rot" (Silicosis & Lung Disease): Grinding metal and stone created a fine dust that workers inhaled daily. This led to serious lung diseases, often fatal.
 Exploding Grinding Wheels: If a stone wheel cracked or ran too fast, it could shatter, sending razor-sharp debris flying. Many workers were killed or maimed this way.
 Sparks & Fire Hazards: Grinding produced intense sparks, increasing fire risks, especially in factories filled with flammable materials.

Working Conditions

• File grinders typically worked in dimly lit, poorly ventilated workshops called grinding hulls.
• Most worked long hours (10-12 per day) for low pay.
• Protective gear? Ha! Workers had little to no protection, and safety regulations were practically nonexistent.

Why Was This Job in Hulme, Lancashire?

Hulme was part of the greater Manchester industrial area, known for its ironworking, tool-making, and manufacturing industries. Though Sheffield was the heart of steel grinding, Manchester had its fair share of metal and tool trades feeding into the broader economy.

Given that Frederick died in 1873 at only 33 years old, it raises the question:
 Could his occupation have contributed to his early death? Many grinders didn’t live past 40, succumbing to lung disease or workplace accidents. If his death certificate lists lung-related illness, consumption (TB), or a sudden accident, it could be tied to his trade.

What Next?

 Check Frederick’s death record—cause of death could confirm if his job played a role.
 Look for trade directories—they might list his employer or the workshop he worked in.
 Explore Hulme’s industrial history—find out more about metalworking in the area.
 Something else? What do you want to dig into next?

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

Well, no great revelations here.  As I wrote above, I have previously researched what work a file grinder did, including health hazards on the job.  Frederick Cleworth Dunstan died of chronic bronchitis, which is indeed a lung-related illness, so his fatal illness likely was related to his trade.

The only thing Sam told me that I had not read before was that a file grinder was a highly skilled job.  My research has indicated it was more the opposite, the type of job that people who couldn't find better ones ended up in.  Part of that reasoning was related to the job hazards due to the dangerous conditions.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Write a 100-word Life Sketch of One of Your 2X-great-grandparents

Randy Seaver didn't follow the instructions in his own prompt for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

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

1.  Today's challenge is "Write a 100-word life sketch of one of your 2X-great-grandparents."  [NOTE:  Or another of your ancestors!]

2.  Show us your 100-word life sketch 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!]

Okay, here's my contribution.

I chose my great-great-grandfather Victor Gordon (born Isaac Gorodetsky, or at least I think so).

I did not copy notes from anywhere, and I did not ask any AI to write this for me.  I actually used my memory for most of the information and double-checked a couple of specific facts.  Then I wrote it, all by myself.  I then checked the word count by using the tool in Word and edited it down to 100 words (I started at 135).

Avigdor Isaac Gorodetsky was born about 1863, maybe in Kamenets Podolskiy, Podolia gubernia, Russian Empire, son of Gersh Wolf Gorodetsky and possibly Etta Kagan.  He married Esther Leah Schneiderman August 17, 1888 (Julian calendar) in Kamenets Podolskiy.  They had two children in Kamenets Podolskiy before moving to Kishinev, Bessarabia gubernia, Russian Empire, where they had six more children.  After Esther Leah's death in 1908, the family began a chain migration to the United States.  Avigdor arrived in the United States February 19, 1914 at Ellis Island.  He lived in Brooklyn the rest of his life and died January 26, 1925.

Randy said that AI cheated him out of five words, but I think Randy cheated because he didn't actually write the life sketch.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Share Something Unexpected That You've Found While Researching an Ancestor

As for Randy Seaver's topic for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, if a genealogist has never found something unexpected while researching an ancestor, I'd say that genealogist hasn't done enough research.

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

1.  Share something unexpected that you've found while researching an ancestor.

2.  Share about your unexpected something in your own blog post 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!]

One major fact that I discovered wasn't quite unexpected, so I guess you could say I merely confirmed it.

I was told by my cousin Ruth Anne that the rumor in the family was that my paternal grandparents had never actually been married.  This was strongly supported by a letter she had that was from a lawyer, in response to an inquiry my grandmother (who was also Ruth Anne's grandmother) had sent to him.  It was clear from the letter we had that our grandmother had asked about circumstances relating to a common-law marriage.  Now, that is not something you ask if you know that you signed a marriage license.

But the confirmation that they had not been married came when Ancestry.com added a database of an index to Florida divorces.

I was sitting around in an airport during a layover and discovered the database.  I figured it would be amusing to look up my father's and my grandfather's divorces.  And lo and behold, when my grandfather was divorced in 1953, it was from Elizabeth, his first wife, whom he married in the 1920's — not from Anna, my grandmother.  My father was born in 1935.  Oops!

So I called my father and said, "Guess what?  You're a bastard!"  Which he thought was hilarious.

(And yes, I realize that the possibility exists that my grandfather could have told my grandmother he wasn't married and entered into a bigamous marriage, but they lived in a pretty small town, and I'll bet that my grandmother knew his first wife and knew that he was still married.)

I did discover something unexpected about my great-great-grandfather on my mother's side, however.

I had been told by cousins that my great-great-grandmother had died while the family was still in Europe and that my great-great-grandfather had remarried, which made sense, because they had very young children when she passed away.  It's certainly common for men to do that, so they have a wife to take care of those children.

I found the record for my great-great-grandmother's death on December 8, 1908.  But when I found an index entry for my great-great-grandfather's second marriage, I learned that it had taken place June 8, 1911, two and a half years after my great-great-grandmother had died.

Um, say what?  You mean to tell me that he took care of those babies (including one who was a mere one month old when mom died) all by himself for those years?

So I asked my cousins about this apparent "modern man", taking on the mantle of mother while he was also a businessman.

And learned that no, he had not been the one taking care of the children.  The oldest daughter in the family, who was about 18 when her mother died, was still living at home, and she was the person taking care of those little ones.  My great-great-grandfather only remarried after Etta married and moved out.  While that's not quite what I was told the first time around, it certainly made that second marriage date make much more sense.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Which Ancestor Lived the Shortest Life?

I love it when I remember that I've done some research already and can just look it up to get the answer to a question, as in this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver.

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along; cue the Mission:  Impossible! music!):

1.  Which of your known ancestors lived the shortest life?  Consider only the last eight generations and those ancestors with known birth and death dates.  Do you know the cause of death?  Was there an obituary?  How many children did s/he have?  How did you figure this out?

2.  Write your own blog post, leave a comment on this post, or write something on Facebook.

My ancestor with known birth and death dates with the shortest life is my great-great-grandfather Frederick Cleworth Dunstan, who is my paternal grandmother's maternal grandfather.  He married Martha Winn October 18, 1858 in Manchester, Lancashire, England.  He was born January 18, 1840 in Deansgate, Manchester, Lancashire, England and died September 21, 1873 in Hulme, Lancashire, England. His lifespan was 33 years, 8 months, and 3 days.

His cause of death was chronic bronchitis for 11 months.  I don't know of an obituary, and since the family was very poor, I consider it unlikely there was one (doesn't mean I'll stop looking, of course).

Frederick and Martha Dunstan had six children that I know of, of whom four survived to adulthood.  The youngest was my great-grandmother Jane Dunstan (1871–1954).

I figured out the answer to Randy's question by recalling that for two previous Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenges he had asked readers to determine their female and male ancestors' ages at death.  All I had to do was find the two posts (from 2016) and look at the results I had computed then.

I had one female ancestor who died at a similar age as that of Frederick Dunstan, but I don't have a documented birth date for my great-great-grandmother Esther Leah (Schneiderman) Gorodetsky, who is my maternal grandmother's paternal grandmother.  I have her date of death from metrical records of Kishinev, Bessarabia, Russian Empire (December 10, 1908, adjusted from the Julian calendar still in use at that time in the Russian Empire), but I don't know when or where she was born.  My estimate is that she died at about 34 years old.

Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles: A DNA Match on My Jewish Side Whom I Didn't Already Know!

A couple of months ago I logged into my Ancestry.com account to check out my DNA matches.  I don't do this often (probably not as often as I should), mostly because I've gotten used to finding no useful information.  The close matches are all relatives I know already, the distant matches are too far away to be viable at the moment, and most of the in-between matches are on my Jewish side, which means they are actually distant anyway.

This time I saw a person estimated to be a 1st–2nd cousin.  The last name was Novick, a known Americanized version of Nowicki/Novitsky, one of my Jewish family names.  I think a 1st–2nd cousin match is the closest I've ever had on my Jewish side for someone I didn't already know, so it definitely got my attention.  I sent a message with some basic information about the family including the name of my great-great-grandfather Gershon Itzhak Nowicki and hoped for the best.

He actually responded!  And we are related!  In a definable, trackable way!

My great-great-grandfather was his grandfather.  What AncestryDNA had estimated as a 1st–2nd cousin relationship is actually 1st cousin twice removed.

His branch of the family is one for which I had almost no information.  I had his father's name with approximate birth and death years and the name of one child, whom I have learned is the oldest in the family (and she's 98 and still alive!).

We batted e-mail messages back and forth with names and dates and other tidbits about family members.  Then out of the blue my phone rang.  He had found my phone number and decided to call!  So then we spent a couple of hours on the phone talking more about family.

I've learned lots more about his branch of the family.  He sent some photographs, too, includng the one above, which is of his grandparents (my great-great-grandparents) and his father in 1915, still in Russia.  Previously the only photo I had of my great-great-grandparents was this one:

where they look quite a bit older.  I had not considered where this photo had been taken, but now I'm thinking it might have been in the United States.  If that's the case, I can bracket it between 1922, when Gershon and Dube arrived in New York, and 1936, when Dube died in Brooklyn.

And now I want to meet my newfound cousin in person.  I would have loved to try to travel over the holidays, but who wants to visit Long Island in the winter?

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Photographs through the Generations

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun exercise from Randy Seaver is a fun one!

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

(1) How many generations do you have photographs or portraits of your ancestors and descendants?  It can be any line—it just can't be broken!

(2) Tell us the line, or better yet, show us the unbroken line.  Provide birth and death years, and the approximate date that the photograph or portrait was made.

(3) Share your generation photograph line in a blog post of your own, in a Facebook post, or in a comment to this post.

I thought I wouldn't be able to compete with Randy on this, but I found one of my Jewish(!) family lines with eight generations of photographs.  It doesn't include me, because I don't have any descendants, but has my sister instead.

1.  3rd-great-grandfather Gersh Wolf Gorodetsky, unknown birth and death dates, probably from Podolia gubernia, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine), maybe from Kamenets Podolsky or Orinin, no idea when photograph was taken.  (At least I'm pretty sure this is Gersh Wolf Gorodetsky.)

2.  Great-great-grandfather Victor Gordon (originally Avigdor Gorodetsky, Hebrew name Isaac), ~1866–1925, from Kamenets Podolsky, Podolia gubernia, Russian Empire, photograph from about 1890 (on the left in the photo).

3.  Great-grandfather Joe Gordon (originally Joine Gorodetsky), ~1892–1955, from Kamenets Podolsky, Podolia gubernia, Russian Empire, photograph from about 1914 (on the right in the photo).

4.  Grandmother Lillyan E. (Gordon) Meckler, 1919–2006, originally from Manhattan, New York, photograph from 1937.

5.  Mother Myra Roslyn (Meckler) Sellers Preuss, 1940–1985, originally from Brooklyn, New York, photograph from about 1972.

6.  Sister Stacy Ann (Sellers) Doerner Fowler, living, originally from La Puente, Califorina, photograph from 2019.

7 and 8.  Nephew Garry Travis Doerner, 1982–2012, from San Antonio, Texas; and grandniece Natalie Desiree Doerner, living; unknown date for photograph.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Who Is Your Second-most Recent Unknown Ancestor?

This week's Saturday Night Genealotgy Fun challenge is a rather logical extrapolation of a previous one.

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

(1) Who is Your SMRUA — your Second Most Recent Unknown Ancestor?  The one that you don't have a name for, or any information.  The one completely unknown to you.  

(2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently?  Why don't you scan it again just to see if there's something you have missed? 

(3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your SMRUA?  What about DNA matches?

(4) Tell us about him or her, and your answers to (2) and (3) above, in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a comment on Facebook or Google+. 

NOTE:  We've done Most Recent Unknown Ancestors before.  Feel free to work down your list to someone you haven't written about before.

Here's mine.

I have written previously about my Most Recent Unknown Ancestor, which is my paternal grandfather's biological father.  I have found two close Y-DNA matches to my father, which have led me to the hypothesis that my biological great-grandfather was a Mr. Mundy.

When I looked through my family tree, I was surprised to see that my second-most recent unknown ancestor is . . . Mr. Mundy's father, my great-great-grandfather!  Yes, even though I am Jewish on my mother's side, I have at least a given name for every one of my great-great-grandparents on that side, and I have complete names for most of them, as well as for everyone on my paternal grandmother's line.

Obviously, finding my great-great-grandfather's name is entirely dependent on identifying my great-grandfather first.  I guess this challenge is a hint that I really should get back to working on tracing those Mundy lines backward and then forward in time, so I can try to find some living Mundy descendants with whom to communicate.  Maybe I will be lucky enough to find one or more who have already done autosomal DNA testing, so I can try to confirm my hypothesis that Bertram Mundy was my grandfather's biological father.

Like I always say, hope springs eternal!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Relatives with Facial Hair

I'm a big fan of facial hair on men, so I really like this week's theme for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

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

(1) This week we're going to look for men's facial hair in our photograph collections.

(2) Find one or more photographs of men in your ancestral families that have facial hair:  a mustache and/or a beard.  

(3) Show the photograph if you have it and tell us a bit about the person shown.   If you don't have a digital photograph, please describe the man and his facial hair the best you can.

(4) Write your own blog post, a comment to this blog post, or a comment on Facebook or Google+.

Even though Randy stated the theme as "facial hair", he ended up focusing on beards, so I will do that also.  I also restricted myself to my ancestors.  It turns out that all of the ancestors of whom I have photos with beards are great-great-grandfathers.

1.  James Gauntt (1831–1889) was born in New Jersey, probably in Burlington County, and died in Rancocas, Burlington County.

2.  Joel Armstrong (Abt. 1849–Abt. 1921) was born in New Jersey, probably in Burlington County, and probably died in Burlington County, New Jersey.

3.  Gershon Itzhak Nowicki (about 1858–1948) was born in Russia, probably in Porozowo (which is now in Belarus), and died in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.

4.  Gersh Wolf Gorodetsky was born and died in Russia, years and locations unknown.  This is probably a colorized photograph of him.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Three Degrees of Separation

I looked at the title of this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, and I thought it looked familiar.  I was right!  Last year about this time Randy Seaver did "Two Degrees of Separation."  This year he has extended it a generation:

For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I want you to:

1)  Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with three degrees of separation?  That means "you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor, who knew another ancestor."  When was that third ancestor born?

2)  Tell us in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a status line on Facebook or a stream post on Google+.

Well, this is frustrating already!  Two of the three examples I used last year for this challenge can't go back another generation:

• My great-grandmother Rose Dorothy (Ruchel Dvorje) (Jaffe) Brainin probably knew at least one of her grandparents, but I have no idea who any of their parents were.

• My grandmother Anna (Gauntt) Stradling almost definitely knew her grandmother Amelia (Gibson) Gauntt, but I don't know who Amelia's parents were.  Her paternal grandfather, James Gauntt, died four years before she was born.  And she never knew her maternal grandparents, because her mother was from England and they never came to the United States (or vice versa).

1.  I guess I'm lucky that I can still work backward from my paternal grandfather, Bertram Lynn Sellers, Sr.  Here's the information from last year:

"Bertram Lynn Sellers, Sr., born in 1903, the son of Laura May Armstrong and Cornelius Elmer Sellers (if my grandfather was actually a Sellers, but that's still research in process).  He may have known his maternal grandfather, Joel Armstrong, who was born about 1849 and seems to have died about 1921 or so in Burlington County.  Grampa also probably knew his paternal grandmother, Catharine Fox (Owen) Sellers Moore, who was also born in 1849 and died in 1923."

Since that post, which was made in January 2016, I proved through DNA testing that Grandpa was informally adopted by Cornelius Elmer Sellers, so his paternal grandmother was through the adoptive line.  But Grandpa's maternal grandfather, Joel Armstrong, knew his paternal grandfather, also Joel Armstrong, because he lived in the latter's household when he was young.  Joel the elder was born about 1798 and died in 1854.

2.  I can go through a different line to get another three degrees, even though that line stays in the 19th century.  I knew my maternal grandfather, Abe Meckler (1912–1989), who knew his maternal grandfather, Gershon Itzhak Nowicki (~1858–1948).  Gershon most likely knew his father, Abraham Jacob Nowicki.  I don't know when Abraham Nowicki was born, but it pretty much had to be 1837 at the latest (and was probably earlier), because Gershon had an older brother.  I know Abraham died before about 1896, because his granddaughter named a son after him that year.

So Randy can go back to 1711, and I'm stuck at 1798, a difference of 87 years.  I feel . . . stunted.

This is simply as far as I can go on my biological lines.  If Randy does make next year's challenge four degrees, I'll be SOL, because I don't know the names of Abraham Nowicki's or Joel the elder's parents!  Apparently I need to find time to take a trip to New Jersey and do some serious archival research, so I can at least go farther back on the Armstrongs.