Yesterday while working on my genealogy, I accidently got carried away.  Hard to believe but true.  Here is what I found myself doing, then questioning and finally fixing. I was conducting initial research on Ancestry, seeking the basics about who was born of whom and where.  As is typically the case, I was using the Ancestry hints as pointers on where to look and attempting to ascertain what was real versus imaginary, in terms of facts, individuals and data. You may or may not be aware, but when you research this way on Ancestry, Family Tree hints indicate whether or not a “user family tree” contains sources, stories, images, etc. …

Genealogical research always presents dilemmas. These dilemmas almost always have significant impact and represent important family history decisions. I will try to provide some examples. First every family historian or genealogist needs to decide their role and its potential impact: Are you simply trying to gather bunches of names and places -or- are you doing your best to identify the path of your family through history? Do you expect that others might wish to leverage off of your work -or- are you planning on keeping everything closely held and secret? Is this a serious effort -or- are you involved in a ‘flight of fancy’. Obviously I can’t answer these questions…

Some names can be confusing! I think the title of this post bears that out. Recently I received the following note from Gloria Cusson Pratt of the Northern New York- American Canadian Genealogical Society. Her note informed me of the following: John married as Jean Baptiste Dion to Marie Bonin on 2 July 1866 at St. Ann’s [Roman Catholic Church in] Mooers Forks, NY.  Deo/Deyo/Dion are all dit names [synonyms] for Deo.  Most of their children are listed in the St. Ann Book, Moeers Forks, NY. His parent’s are Joseph Dion and Julia Lafaille/Faye. Gloria With this information in hand, I am now able to add numerous avenues of research…

Beware of the free hints at Ancestry.com. One of the biggest problems with Ancestry.com hints is in the poor quality of the research that backs up the actual hint recommendations. Couple that with poor heuristics used by Ancestry for ‘hint’ data validation and you can some real genealogical data disasters. As I noted in an earlier post, beware the quality of ‘other peoples’ work’ and ‘information’. Rely on source information if at all possible. There are plenty of risks in doing genealogy work without taking on another’s mistakes. There are also a number of ‘easy’ ways to mitigate the risk of assuming bad data, no matter the source. Included among…

Source: Damien-Claude Bélanger, Département d’histoire, Université de Montreal Claude Bélanger, Department of History, Marianopolis College Between 1840 and 1930 roughly 900 000 French Canadians left Canada to emigrate to the United States. This important migration, which has now been largely forgotten in Quebec’s collective memory, is certainly one of the major events in Canadian demographic history. According to the 1980 American census, 13.6 million Americans claimed to have French ancestors. While a certain number of these people may be of French, Belgian, Swiss, Cajun or Huguenot ancestry, it is certain that a large proportion would have ancestors who emigrated from French Canada or Acadia during the 19th and 20th centuries.…

One of the great genealogical research problems, for me, is my recent relatives. The folks I am refering to are either still alive or recently deceased.  In either case, they are near enough that their data is most difficult to ferret out.  Most marriages, births, etc that have occurred in the last 50 years and are hard or REALLY expensive to get. I guess that’s because of identify theft, etc.  In any event, there are times when you (or at least I) need some of this information in order to get accurate genealogical data for select branches of the family.  So are there any tricks?  Well I have come up…

This document and information is sourced from email messages sent to Mark Rabideau by Patty Gravel. In 1982 Wilfred Deyo, the son of Richard Deyo and the grandson of Eli Deyo, went to Altona to trace the Deyo family line.  While there he met with family members to gather their oral history. His findings made there way to me via my Mom (Today my Mom is 85; her mother was Mina Deyo Oconnor, the daughter of Eli Deyo and Philomen Lafountain). Here is what Wilfred gave us in his report (although through many years of research on Ancestry.com ,Yahoo clubs,Family Tree maker, and information exchanges with relatives I have met…

Note: I have solved this mystery and established the link.  John’s parent’s were, in fact, Joseph Dion (Deo- Deyo) and Julia (Julie/ Julienne) Denis (Denys, Lafay, LaFaille, Dennis). The most commanding piece of obvious genealogical evidence is immediately below (John’s death certificate). As for the rest of the story, I am writing and plan to post a more complete history. My previous post on this subject is below: I am searching to find the parents of one John Deyo. I can find an obvious (but incorrect!) link from him to a set of parents identified in the New Paltz area of New York as Christian Deyo… I think we now…

Today is a big day for me. As of this writing I now have full-time access to all but two of the Zeyer ev. Kirche books.  It is like having my mother’s family come home.  Or more precisely, it is more like have them nearer to me. I am now able to go to the local LDS Family History Center (in Parker, Co)  and read the texts, research my family, or reread the texts whenever I have the need or desire. Over the next month or two, I should have the remainder of the Zeyer ev. Kirche records here on a permanent basis.  I am not certain which microfilms will…

Today was one of those days I enjoy; I spent much of the day doing family research in the local LDS Family History Center. Some of the highlights included: We found another brother of my grandfather Richard Senger- Wilhelm, he lived only 14 days. We identified the correct spelling of my g-g-g-g- grandmother Saenger’s maiden name: Stafast We found a death and burial record for both my g-g- grandparents Michael Saenger and Ester Euphrosina Saenger geb. Landig But the best part of the whole day was that my sister (Linda) had the opportunity to spend the day with me and visit some of old German family members.  Probably the highlight…

Ich habe eine kleine Flucht und Vertriebung Foto Gallerie auf ManyRoads gestellt. (I have placed a small Photo Gallery on the German Expulsion on ManyRoads.) Bitte besuchen Sie es zu Errinerung. (Please feel free to visit it and remember.) Fals Sie andere Fotos haben oder davon wissen bitte benutzen Sie unser Contact page. (If you know where I might find additional photos to add to the gallery, please use our Contact page to let me know.) …mark

Source: For access to the original article on the Henss/Rich family sect of Mennonites please visit this Rootsweb article.   MENNONINTE HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY AREA by Melvin Gingerich This is a series of articles written by Melvin Gingerich, a well know Mennonite minister, and, I believe Bishop. The series was published on a weekly basis in The Wayland News until its conclusion. — Ann Miller White. – 1/9/1931 – Wayland News   Coming of Amish Mennonites to this Community Practically all of the Mennonites of the Wayland community are of Swiss blood although their ancestors may not have come directly from Switzerland . Fierce persecution of Mennoniteism from 1526…

We wish all our relatives, readers and friends the most Joyous of Holiday Seasons! May your lives be filled with Peace, Joy and Happiness, always.

Recently I received a set of email messages from a very helpful reader (Vielen dank, Hans!). I have taken a risk and translated the gist of his correspondence into English. I have blended his materials along with my research to reconstruct a view of Pietzkendorf. I will add more information as it comes to light. Hopefully this “accumulated view” will paint a small picture of what Pietzkendorf once was… the neatly mown fields of today’s Poland not withstanding. In days gone by, Pietzkendorf residents attended schools and Churches in nearby Ladekopp. The population was small, just a few families and homes were located in the village. The area was peopled…

Dieser Eintrag stammt von Elena Schlottau (*1991) Ergebnisse eines Interviews mit Frau C. T.(*1937) Die damals 7-jährige C. T. erzählt von der Flucht aus Wormditt im ehemaligen Ostpreußen. Original Source (used under Fair Use Laws) Das Leben in Ostpreußen kurz vor der Flucht Ich bin damals in Wormditt aufgewachsen, im früheren Ostpreußen. Mein Vater wurde an der Front eingesetzt. Meine Geschwister und ich mussten bei meinen Tanten leben, weil unsere Mutter gestorben war. Einer meiner Brüder und ich sind bei Tante Anna aufgewachsen. Da sie in einer Metzgerei gearbeitet hatte, ist auch so manches Stück Fleisch, ohne dafür Lebensmittelmarken abgeben zu müssen, für uns abgefallen. In Erinnerung ist mir auch…