A very important dimension of genealogy involves history and context. You may already know that and if so, perhaps this posting is not for you. However for those of you who do NOT remember your geography and history, here are some recommendations. These recommendations are based on the assumptions that: our ancestors lived in a time and place where governments existed, boundaries and regions were known, customs and mores prevailed, and languages were spoken, written, and read. (Note: Please be attuned to the fact that any one of the above can and will impact your ability to understand and interpret the data you “dig up.”) Having set this simple stage…

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…

Where does one get good genealogy data? Unfortunately, there is no single correct answer to this question. The answer depends in large part on where you are researching and what you need.

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…

It has been on my mind for quite a while that I should share a bit of insight into which Genealogy tools I find useful, have tried to use, etc. I’ll expand this posting theme over time but here goes… Genealogy Databases-

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…

revised 19 Sep 2020 due to broken links with additional source documents added. Tscheljabmetallurgstroj des NKVD der UdSSR — das Groesste Zwangsarbeitslager Fuer Russlanddeutsche Genesis, Purpose and Assignments, Structure (Entstehung, Aufgabe, Struktur) Krieger, Dr. Viktor. “Chelyabmetallurgstroy of the NKVD of the USSR — The Largest Forced Labor Camp for German-Russians.” Volk auf dem Weg, June 2006, 20-22. source article used with permission from from the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libaries, Fargo, ND (www.ndsu.edu/grhc) Original articles including images (German): Ein Zwangsarbeitslager in Ural- Dr. Viktor Krieger (no translation) Tscheljabmetallurgstroj des NKWD der UdSSR — Dr. Viktor Krieger (translation below) Below follows a translation from the original…

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

I have come across a few extra-special web based resources for genealogy and history research.  The resources include: The Internet Archive-“The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.” europeana-“a place for inspiration and ideas. Search through the cultural collections of Europe, connect to other user pathways and share your discoveries.” dlibra– “dLibra is used by institutions such as academic and public libraries to make stored digital publications available on the Internet. These institutions by using PIONIER network and dLibra software create…

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…

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