Significant Anniversaries of 2025

I haven't written about the milestones in my family tree for the past couple of years, but as I try to get back to a regular posting schedule, it's one of the topics I wanted to bring back.  I find it interesting to look at what happened years ago in my family (obviously, or I wouldn't be doing genealogy!), and I like to make sure these people and events are remembered.

200 Years Ago

In January 1825, my 3x-great-grandfather Abel A. Lippincott, son of Stacy B. Lippincott and Alice Parker, was born in New Jersey.  Because New Jersey is the real Quaker state, and because you can't go anywhere in New Jersey without tripping over lots of Lippincotts, I still don't have Abel's complete birth date or where in New Jersey he was born, because Lippincotts are just bloody hard to research.  I wish I could spend a month or two at the New Jersey State Archives and do some in-person research to sort all this out.  And if wishes were horses . . . .

150 Years Ago

Henry Heath, the great-great-grandfather of my aunt Mary McStroul and her sister Anna McStroul and the 3x-great-grandfather of my not-quite-cousin Angela Williams, died December 2, 1875 in Thurman, Warren County, New York.  He was originally from Surrey, England, born roughly between 1816 and 1819 in Haslemere, although I still need to nail that down.  He immigrated to the United States around 1838 and married Eliza Bullock in 1844 in Argyle, Washington County, New York.  I have names for his parents and grandparents but little information beyond that.  More research I need to catch up on!

100 Years Ago

My aunt Dorothy "Dottie" Mae Sellers, daughter of Bertram Lynn Sellers and Elizabeth Leatherberry Sundermier, was born October 29, 1925 in Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey.  Technically Dottie was my half-aunt, because she was a child of my grandfather's first marriage.  Grampa was still married to Elizabeth while he and my grandmother were living together and my father came along.  (My father had no full siblings but had seven half-siblings, three from his mother and four from his father.)  I met Dottie when I was about 11 or 12 and then stayed in touch with her the rest of her life, through my moves and hers.  She lived to be 95 years old.  I'm still looking for the son she surrendered for adoption in 1945.

My great-great-grandfather Victor Gordon, originally Avigdor Gershovich Gorodetsky, died January 26, 1925 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.  He immigrated to the United States from the Russian Empire in 1914, bringing his two youngest sons with him but leaving his second wife behind (I was told by cousins that she did not want to come).  He lived long enough to see his second-youngest daughter (of eight children) get married, on December 31, 1924, for which occasion a wonderful oversized family photograph with about three dozen people in it was made.  I have a two-piece photocopy of the photograph; I'm working on getting it scanned and tiled so I can share it.

Henry Crawford, son of Wallace Crawford and Louisa, died April 25, 1925 in Upatoi, Muscogee County, Georgia at the age of about 69.  He is the great-great-grandfather of my not-quite-cousin Angela Williams on her father's side.  Henry was Black and born enslaved.  In 1917 he and four family members sued Standard Oil for gross negligence for having misrepresented an explosive for kerosene lamp oil.  Standard Oil settled out of court and they received payment for damages.

75 Years Ago

Richard Wesley Preuss, son of Richard Preuss and Donna Potter, was born March 14, 1950 in Missoula, Missoula County, Montana.  He is my stepfather.  He married my mother December 19, 1977 in Villa Tasso, Walton County, Florida, a small unincorporated community which might have had a grand total of about 200 people living in it.  He used to be a paint and body man, and I learned a great appreciation for car bodywork because of him (although I still don't know why he painted my father's Chevelle BFY).

50 Years Ago

This is one of those years when there was a significant birth, marriage, and death.

In 2021 I wrote about my first cousin Andy Meckler turning 50.  This time around, it's his brother, Todd Meckler, who turns 50.  They're the cousins I knew the most growing up, and it makes me feel really old to know that both of them will have hit the half-century mark.

Also on my mother's side of the family, her 1st cousin Yedida Marcia Amine, daughter of Moshe S. Amine and Florence Meckler, married Richard J. Merrill on December 24, 1975 in San Francisco, San Francisco County, California.  Aviva was born exactly one year after my mother, on Armistice Day, so they had a special connection.

The other notable event of 1975 for my family was the death of my grandfather's brother, George Moore "Dickie" Sellers, on March 26.  One day Grampa was out of town, and when I asked why, my mother told me that his brother had died.  To which my stunned reaction was, "Grampa has a brother?"  It was the first I had heard of him.  Several years later I met their youngest sister, Betty, who told me that his nickname Dickie came from the Dickie Do Flicker.  When I Google that, however, nothing comes up.  When I get no results from Google, I tend to think something is wrong.  Maybe it was an inside family joke.

Significant Anniversaries of 2021

What are the important milestones to note this year?  What events happened in my family 50, 75, or 100 years ago (that I have dates for)?  This year's most important events from my family tree program are from both my father and mother's sides of the family, the Sellerses, and my aunt's family.

250 Years Ago

On February 12, 1771, in Godalming, Surrey, England, my Aunt Mary's 4th-great-grandparents, George Heath and Martha Stu(a)rt, were married.  That's as far back as I got on my aunt's Heath line several years ago, well before FindMyPast started digitizing and posting all those lovely parish records.  I should get back to work with the Heaths to see how much more information I can find about them, and maybe even take the line a little bit further back in time.

200 Years Ago

On January 18, 1821, my 5th-great-grandfather Moses Mulliner died in Tuckerton, Burlington County, New Jersey.  Moses is the first Revolutionary War ancestor I learned I had.  Even though he was about 35 years old during the war, he was a drummer, which has engendered some discussion with others about his background.  One of these days I really need to get around to applying to DAR, if nothing else to make my registrar friends happy.

150 Years Ago

My paternal grandmother's mother, Jane Dunstan, was born on April 28, 1871 in Manchester, Lancashire, England.  She immigrated to the United States in 1890 and married almost right away, immediately becoming an American citizen by virtue of marrying a citizen.  My father remembered his grandmother well, particularly her English accent.

The second event from my aunt's family is another wedding, this one for her paternal great-grandparents Isaac/Isidore Krebs and Frederika Weiss, who were married on August 16, 1871 in Peiskretscham, Obersilesia, Prussia.  Ruger Lustig helped me find dozens of records on this branch of my aunt's family; I lucked out because the family was in Gleiwitz, and Roger happens to specialize in that area and has thousands of transcribed records available to search.

100 Years Ago

The last child Laura May (Armstrong) Sellers, my paternal grandfather's mother, had, Bertolet Grace Sellers, was born March 6, 1921 in Mt. Holly, Burlington County, New Jersey.  This was the daughter born three years after her husband had died.  Imagine the scandal in 1921!  I had my sister track down Bertolet's birth and death certificates because we were hoping they would include her father's name, going on the possibility that her father might be the same man as our grandfather's biological father.  (Depending on who her father was, she was my paternal grandfather's half-sister or possibly full sister.)  No such luck!  Our great-grandmother declined to list Bertolet's father on both the birth and the death certificates.

75 Years Ago

Although I don't write much about the Sellerses anymore, I feel an obligation to include Edwin Jaquett Sellers, who died January 11, 1946, probably in Philadelphia, where he lived most of his life.  He did have a short period when he lived in California, but he returned to the East Coast after that.  The reason I decided I should write about him is because he was also a genealogist, as a hobbyist.  He published about a dozen books on different lines of his family, including two for the Sellerses.  The first came in 1903 in a private printing of 150 copies; the second was in 1925 as an update to the original, with another 150 copies.  Yes, I have one of each, plus I found a second copy of the 1903 version for my brother.

50 Years Ago

I have to admit, I was really surprised when this one came up.  My first cousin Andy Meckler will turn 50 this April.  I have several first cousins, but Andy and his younger brother were probably the two my siblings and I saw the most growing up, so I really know him.  And I just can't imagine that he'll be turning 50!  I doubt I'll get to visit him in California, so I'll have to think of something special to do.

Image of Edwin Jaquett Sellers' tombstone courtesy of Dawn-Marie Williams.  Used with permission.

Significant Anniversaries of 2020

Genealogists collect dates and facts about our relatives, but instead of just filing them away and forgetting about them, it's good to think about them and remember them, tell the stories of what happened.  So as I did last year, I searched through my family tree program to see what milestones from my family's history will occur this year.  Unlike last year, there's a good balance between events from my father's and my mother's sides of the family, which is good, so people don't think I'm researching only one side.

150 Years Ago

My paternal great-grandfather Thomas Kirkland Gauntt, son of James Gaunt and Amelia Gibson, was born May 23, 1870 in Fairview, Medford Township, Burlington County, New Jersey.  He was the father of my paternal grandmother.  I've written about him a few times before on my blog:  I celebrated when I found his birth registration on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City; I have found him in eleven censuses (but no 1890); and I created a timeline based on all the records I have found for him.  I'm also fortunate to have a few photographs of him.  I did not know him, because he died before I was born, but my father remembered him well.

My great-great-grandparents Cornelius Godschalk Sellers (son of Franklin Peter Sellers and Rachel Godshalk) and Catherine Fox Owen (daughter of William Owen and Sarah Fox) were married in January 1870, most likely in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  I don't write about the Sellerses as much as I used to, after determining that my grandfather became a Sellers by informal adoption.  But neither Grampa nor any of his siblings knew that, and Grampa did know his grandmother Kate, so I thought it fitting to commemorate the 150th anniversary of her first wedding.

100 Years Ago

In the 100-year category I managed to hit the trifecta, with a birth, a marriage, and a death.

Morton Eli Perlman was born August 18, 1920 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.  He was the son of Louis Perlman and Jennie Novitsky and was my first cousin twice removed through the Novitskys (and my grandfather's first cousin).  Jennie was the sister of my maternal great-grandmother Minne Zelda (Novitsky) Meckler and filled the role of mother-in-law for my maternal grandmother, as Minnie died before my grandparents married.

I met Mort once, when I went to Florida to see my grandmother.  She had his address and thought it would be nice to visit him.  He had done some genealogy research and shared what he had collected on the Novitskys and Perlmutters, which has been invaluable in my research now, as he was the only one who had saved that information.  I was very fortunate to have met him when I did, as he died suddenly a few months later.

On January 18, 1920, Benjamin Brainin (son of Morris Brainin and Rose Dorothy Jaffe) and Yetta Braunstein (daughter of Max Braunstein and Betsy Schwartz) were married in The Bronx, Bronx County, New York.  Benny was my great-granduncle, the youngest brother of my maternal great-grandmother Sarah Libby (Brainin) Gordon.  Benny worked with automobiles in some form or another for most of his life.  I never met Benny or Yetta, but I know their granddaughter Janis (Brainin) Monat.  Along with (kind of) sharing the same given name with me, she also is interested in family history, and is one of the few relatives I've met who had done some family history research.

Benny was born in the Russian Empire, probably in some part of what is now Latvia.  There is a family story that he was shot by a Cossack when he was 3 or 4 years old, while walking in a cemetery.  I don't know if I'll find a way to prove or disprove that, but it's an interesting story!

Eight days after Benny was married in the Bronx, his brother William Brainin died, on January 26, 1920, in Manhattan, New York County, New York.  He was probably about 31.  While Benny was the baby of the family, Willie was two children before him.  He died of complications of the influenza virus, which he probably caught while he served in the U.S. Army at the end of World War I.  My grandmother used to tell a story of how when he was sent home he infected his sister (my great-grandmother) while she was pregnant (with my grandmother), but I don't know how much of the story is true.

There was at least one photograph of Willie that we had in the family.  When I was sorting through photos with my grandmother, she pointed one out and said, "That's my Uncle Willie in his Army uniform."  But the photo has mysteriously disappeared.

75 Years Ago

Raymond Lawrence Sellers was born September 23, 1945 to Dorothy Mae "Dottie" Sellers and (probably) Clarence Newcomb "Zeke" Lore, in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, New Jersey.  I've been looking for Raymond for a little more than four years now, which I realize isn't very long.  Dottie is my paternal aunt, and she asked me to help her find Raymond, the son she gave up for adoption.  I write about him a few times every year in my blog.  Because New Jersey adoption records are very, very closed, we don't know anything about what happened to him after Dottie surrendered him.

If Raymond is still alive, he will be turning 75 this September.  I realize, however, that he might not be alive.  I don't know what his name was changed to, if he ever married, if he had children, or anything that happened to him.  All I know is that I want to find out before my aunt, who is currently 94 years old, passes away.

50 Years Ago

My great-grandmother and my father's paternal grandmother, Laura May (Armstrong) Sellers Ireland, died October 23, 1970 at the age of 88 in Niceville (yes, that's really the name), Okaloosa County, Florida.  I never got to meet her, even though she lived until I was 8 years old.

Nanny Ireland, as she was called throughout most of her adult life from what I can gather, was definitely an interesting woman.  She bore my grandfather as an illegitimate child and declined to state the name of the father on the birth certificate.  She married Elmer Sellers seven months later, and he raised my grandfather as his own son, with neither my grandfather nor his siblings ever knowing anything different.  She and Elmer had eight children together (notwithstanding rumors that not all of those were Elmer's), three of whom survived to adulthood.

Elmer died young, but that didn't stop Laura (because she wasn't Nanny Ireland yet at that time).  Three years after Elmer had passed away, Laura had another child, and again declined to name the father on the birth record.  Sadly, little Bertolet (yup, that was really her name) died before reaching the age of 6.  And would you believe that even on her death certificate, Laura did not name the father?

In 1929, Laura married a man named John Ireland.  I was told by one of my cousins that she did so because someone had convinced her that she needed a man to help her take care of her children and her affairs.  I was also told that soon after marrying John, she decided that was a load of crap and got rid of him (one hopes by divorce).  But the name Ireland stuck, and she became known as Nanny Ireland.

I'm really sorry I didn't get to meet Nanny Ireland.  She would have had some fascinating stories to tell, if she had been so inclined.

Significant Anniversaries of 2019

Newspapers, particularly smaller local ones, often used to have a "memories" feature where they published synopses of stories and events that had been in the paper 50, 75, 100, etc. years ago.  Genealogists try to collect as many dates as possible about family members during their research.  This sounds like a great combination, right?  So I looked through my family tree (or at least the parts of it that I have access to, still being somewhat in limbo for a program) and found that 2019 will mark some important milestones in my family.  And it turns out that all of them are for my mother's side of the family.

100 Years Ago

My maternal grandmother, Lillyan E. Gordon (originally Esther Lillian), daughter of Joe Gordon and Sarah Libby Brainin, was born March 6, 1919 in her grandparents' home at 1575 Madison Avenue, Manhattan, New York.  My mother was very close to her mother, so we saw my grandparents on a regular basis.  My grandmother and my mother steeped me in family lore from the time I was just a little girl and definitely influenced my interest in genealogy.  If it weren't for them sharing their love of family with me, I may never have become a professional genealogist.

75 Years Ago

On March 5, 1944 — one day before she turned 25 — my grandmother gave birth to her second child, my uncle Martin Herbert Meckler, in Brooklyn, New York.  (My mother was the oldest child.)  So my uncle will be turning 75 this year.  I used to visit my uncle regularly when we both lived in California, and I miss seeing him and my aunt.  I have to make sure I remember to send a card out in time for this birthday.

50 Years Ago

For the 50-year category, I actually have a birth, a marriage, and a death to commemorate.

On June 29, 1969, my 1st cousin once removed Gail Arlene Gordon, daughter of Alexander Gordon (my maternal grandmother's brother) and Rose Rubin, married Stephen Roy Chepenik in Miami, Florida.  I actually attended this wedding.  I remember flying to Florida with my mother, brother, and sister.  My hair was all done up fancy for the event.  (Somewhere I still have the "rat" that was used to puff up my hair.)  My mother's 1st cousin Harriet Stein helped take care of us kids a lot during the trip.

My 4th cousin once removed Jake Socherman, who lives in the Portland area and whom I met only a few years ago, turns 50 this year, an important number for anyone.  He was born June 9, 1969.  His parents are Sam Socherman (originally Szocherman), one of my Cuban cousins, and Cecelia Keselman.  I hope he plans to celebrate big time!

Morris Garfinkel, my 2nd cousin 2x removed, died 50 years ago, on December 28, 1969.  He was the father of my dear cousin Esther Weinstein.  In Judaism, a person's death date, or yahrzeit, is commemorated every year, based on the date on the Jewish calendar.  December 28 was the 19th of Tevet in 1959; because of the way the Jewish calendar moves around in comparison to the Christian calendar, the 19th of Tevet for "this year" will actually fall on January 15, 2020.