Sunday, August 31, 2014

Data Backup Day–Don’t Lose all that Hard Work!

Data Backup DayTomorrow is data backup day for a lot of family historians and I am no different. If you are not backing up your data tomorrow then I hope you have another day set aside at least once a month to do a backup. I thought I would post this the day before to show how I backup my data which may help someone with their backup routine and maybe others can give me some tips on my process.

Before I say anything else, the most important thing about backup is that you are using a backup scheme that works best for you and your situation and one that you will stick to. But, at the very minimum and what I’ve always been told is that it is a good idea to backup your data to at least one other type of media that is physically separated from what you are backing up. For instance, if your are backing up the hard drive on your desktop computer, the media you are backing up to should not be within your desktop tower. It should be to an external hard drive or a flash drive or maybe DVDs. Like I said, that is the minimum, I like to exceed this for extra piece of mind and it doesn’t really take all that much effort.

My backup plan is centered around multiple copies in different locations. Here is what I do:

1. I own a 1 TB Western Digital My Book Live drive that is connected to my home network via our router. I use the software that came with the drive and I have it setup to backup all the files on the two hard drives in my desktop, this includes all of my genealogy data. This software is a continuous backup so I don’t have to remember to push a backup button. However, I do check it at least once a week to make sure it is working properly.

2. In order to have all my genealogy data with me wherever I go, I use Dropbox. I have it installed on my desktop and on my Surface Pro 2, which is my laptop. So, it also serves as another backup of my data. Not only do I have it on my desktop and my Surface Pro 2 but it is also located in the cloud. By the way, I share genealogy data with my sister who is in a completely different state and she has Dropbox on her computer also, so there is another mode of backup.

3. I own two 1 TB WD my passport external drives. One of these drives is for all my genealogy data and the other is for all the other important files that I need to backup. These are my third layer of backup and I keep both hard drives locked up in my desk at work. I bring them home on the 1st of each month, do my backups and take them back to work.

The first two parts of my plan are almost automatic, I don’t really have to think about them too much and my data is being backed up. I had to set them up initially and I do check them quite often to ensure things are working the way I want them to work, but for the most part they work in the background. The third step is the one that really takes any time and effort. I have to physically connect these to my desktop via USB and then copy all the files I want to backup onto the drives. Depending on the mood of my computer, the process can take as little as 30 minutes but it has also taken up to about an 2 hours. However, the extra piece of mind that this step gives me is worth any amount of time it takes.

So, that is how I backup my data each and every month. It is the system that works best for me and gives me piece of mind. There are a lot of different ways to backup your data, Thomas MacEntee, of Geneabloggers has a whole page setup with backup resources here: Resources For Backing Up Your Data.

Do you have any suggestions on making my system better?  How do you backup your data? Write a post on your own blog about your backup plan or share it in the comments here.

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

© 2014 copyright, Christopher Shaw, All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Pakledinac (Pakledinaz) Family of Tompojevci

John (Ivan) Pakledinaz (Pakledinac)For the past month or so, I have been making my way through church records from the Sotin parish located in what is now Croatia but at the time of these records it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. My ancestors are from the nearby village of Tompojevci. Sotin is where the main parish was so that is where I look for church records. My goal for this was to confirm my great grandfather’s birth and parents and look for other family in the village. The records are extensive, covering birth, marriage, and deaths from 1795 – 1895, so I have many records to go through; you can read what I have already written about these records here; Old Country Church Records.

I would like to say that I am through with the records but I am not, I have only made it through the baptisms for years 1857 – 1895 with minor browsing through all the other years. However, I wanted to share what I have uncovered so far.

As I mentioned, the goal was to look for family of my great grandfather, John Pakledinaz. What I have to report about his mother, father, and siblings is not great happy news. I am happy to find his family and put more of my history together, but I cannot imagine what his parents and the rest of the family had to go through during this time.

John’s parents are Marcus and Elisabetha (Bankovic) Pakledinaz. They had 10 children that I can find in the records, only 4 of those would live past their 1st year of life, and one other would die at age 15. It is not uncommon to have children die within months of birth in this era, I have run into it with other families I am researching but I have not had a family that lost this many children so early in life. I cannot and will not even try to imagine losing one of my children. I cannot begin to feel how devastating this must have been for Marcus and Elisabetha, my 2nd great grandparents. Here is a list of their children:

1. Marianus – born (listed as their first-born) 10 October 1866, died 13 October 1866, just 3 days old.

2. Joannes – born 2 December 1867, died 22 August 1883, just 15 years old.

3. Adamus – born 24 March 1870, died 29 Aug 1871, just 1 year old.

4. Elias – born 20 July 1874, died 19 Dec 1874, just 5 months old.

5. Magdalena – born 24 October 1875, died 4 December 1875, just a month old.

6. Barbara – 26 December 1876, died on ??. I hope to find some more about her.

7. Josip – 19 March 1879, died on ??. He immigrated to the US in 1906 and sometime before 1920 changed his name from Pakledinaz to Parker. In 1930, he was in Michigan with his family – I lose track of him after that.

8. Matija – born 19 February 1881, died 11 August 1881, just 5 months old.

9. Gjuragj – born 10 May 1883, died 24 February 1885, just 1 year old.

10. Ivan (John, my great grandfather) – born 16 March 1885, died 13 March 1957 in Detroit, Michigan. I’ve written about him in these previous posts: Birth Record, Draft Registration Cards, Immigration Ship Manifest, Surname Saturday - Pakledinac (I am going to have to update my Pakledinac page soon with the new information I am finding).

As I continue through these records, I will make additional posts on my findings of our Pakledinaz (Pakledinac) and Bankovic ancestors. My goal is to be through them by the end of September.

The citation for these records are: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, "Croatia, Church Books, 1516-1994," database and images, Family Search (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2040054 : accessed 17 Aug 2014); Roman Catholic (Rimokatoli?ka crkva) > Sotin > Births (Ro?eni),Marriages (Vjen?ani), Deaths (Umrli) 1857-1885

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

© 2014 copyright, Christopher Shaw, All Rights Reserved.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Follow Friday–My Favorites from the last week (or so…)

Follow FridayThe below blog posts caught my attention over the past week or so and thought I would pass them along in case you missed them.
- Three Years of Blogging Happiness- Wendy, at Jollett, Etc. celebrated her three year blogaversary by updating and revamping her blog – I think it looks great and what she did can offer all of us some suggestions on improving our blogs.
- 10 Tips to Revive and Refocus Your Family History Research- Lynn, of The Armchair Genealogist (one of my favorites) gives some good advice on how to refocus your research efforts.
- 30+ Ultimate Headline Formulas for Tweets, Posts, Articles, and Emails – Kevan Lee of buffersocial give some excellent formulas that successful social media and bloggers us to come up with their eye-catching headlines.
- Top 10 Articles of August 2014 – the Journal of American Revolution presents their best from the month. I think I covered some of these on my follow Friday posts, but its worth repeating. Although it is not a genealogy blog, it gives great information to help put context to your Revolutionary War ancestors. And it is a great read for us history nerds.
- Trials and Tribulations of Writing while Sleeping – Mark Boonshoft of The Junto shares how he deals with getting his best ideas and moments of genius at the most inconvenient times.
I hope you find these useful or at the very least, interesting.
Thanks for reading and keep diggin' for that family.
Chris
© 2014 copyright, Christopher Shaw








This Day in History–29 August

This Day in HistoryOn this day in:

1736 – James Capen (Wife’s 3rd Cousin 7 times removed) was born in Charlestown, Mass.

1764 – Peter Lutz (8th Great Grandfather) died in Weselberg, in what is now Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. 

1853 – Bernard Piller (4th Great Grandfather) died in Milititsch, Batschka, Hungary, Austria.

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Thursday, August 28, 2014

This Day in History–28 August

This Day in HistoryOn this day in:

1731 – Jacob Humphrey (Wife’s 2nd Cousin 7 times removed was born in Dorchester, Mass.

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

This Day in History–27 August

This Day in HistoryOn this day in:

1700 – Michael Wash married Sarah Alcocke (7th Great Grandparents) in Linby, Nottingham, England.

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Tombstone Tuesday–Richard (Bud) Almer Lindsay

Tombstone of Richard A. Lindsay
This weeks Tombstone Tuesday post is for Richard (Bud) Almer Lindsay, born 19 December 1918 in Washington DC and died 24 February 1987 in Detroit, Michigan. Although he was not a blood relative, he was the only grandpa I knew, and one of my sons is named after him (you can read about my thoughts on non-blood relations in my post - Blood is Not Always Thicker). He was all-but-married to my grandmother, Teresa Pakledinaz; they were together for 30+ years.
He is buried in Pipe Creek Cemetery in Union Bridge, Maryland along side his sister and parents. My Grandmother’s ashes lay with him. You can find his find-a-grave memorial here: Richard Almer Lindsay, where you can leave him some flowers and a message if you want.
Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.
Chris
© 2014 copyright, Christopher Shaw

This Day in History–26 August

This Day in HistoryOn this day in:

1756 – Mary Alcock (5th Great Grandaunt) was baptized in Linby, England.

1787 – Barbara Morlock (5th Great Grandaunt) was born in the village of Filipowa, Batschka, Kingdom of Hungary.

1798 – Mary Cantelo (3rd Great Grandaunt) was baptized in Broughton Gifford, Wiltshire, England

1810 – Heinrich Jakob Danneil (Wife’s 6th Great Grandfather) married Anna Elisabeth Winterfeld. this was his 2nd wife. His first was Dorothea Elisabeth Schule (Wife’s 6th great grandmother)

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Monday, August 25, 2014

This Day in History–25 August

This Day in HistoryOn this day in:

1780 – Maria Viktoria Piller (4th Great Grandaunt) was born in Grossweier-Achern, Schwarzwald.

1799 – Joel Capen (Wife’s 2nd Cousin 7 times removed) was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Sunday, August 24, 2014

This Day in History–24 August

Mary Elizabeth John Davis1887 – Mary Elizabeth (John) Davis (Great Grandaunt) was born in Wales.

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Research Prioritization and Focus

Confused Darth VaderOver the past several weeks or so I have done a little research on several different ancestor lines. I have touched on my wife’s paternal lines; Rogers and Capen.  I’ve also done a little on her maternal lines; Nisgoda and Gierig. My plan, however, was to be working on my maternal side; Pakledinaz and Lucas. Then, of course, my sister was visiting for a little while so I also dabbled down our paternal side; Shaw and Canter. My sister is actually doing the research for this side of the family but I am the one that does the writing for the blog so I have to stay in step with the information she has. That is a lot of different lines to be researching in just a few short weeks.

So, I have come to the conclusion that dabbling in every ancestral line a little bit here and a little bit there does not get anything done (duh!).  Here are the problems I have encountered over the last few weeks and I attribute every one of them to my lack of prioritization and focus:

1. My research is scattered and I am not keeping up with my logs. I have specific research goals and a plan, but with all this jumping around between lines – I lose sight of the goal.
2. I have hand-written notes about more than one ancestor on the same sheet of paper and I cannot tell which note belongs to which ancestor.
3. I have so much going on with different lines that when I have time to sit down and do some actual family history duties, I do not know where to start. And on more than one occasion this has led to nothing actually getting done.
4. Confusion sets in when I am thinking or talking about a certain ancestor – I have gotten two ancestors in completely different lines mixed up with one another.
5. I run into the same issue when I sit down and hammer out some blog post ideas or the actual posts. I have so much running through my mind with the different lines that I do not know what to post about next – so nothing gets posted.

I know I have to get better at how I use my time for each line or I am just going to keep spinning my wheels and will not get any serious research done. I have actually been thinking about this for the last week or so with several different ideas flashing through my brain. However, I think what makes sense me and allows research and focus time with all our family lines within a given year is to break my time quarterly, like this:

January – March = Shaw/Canter (my paternal side)
April – June = Nisgoda/Gierig (wife’s maternal side)
July – September = Lucas/Pakledinaz (my maternal side)
October – December = Rogers/Capen (wife’s paternal side)

This does not mean that I will ignore the other lines if it is not their quarter. I will still be open for new leads or new contacts but I may not act on them right away. For instance, this quarter is Pakledinaz/Lucas, if I come along some information on Capen, I will take note of that information in OneNote (my note taking software) so it is saved for when the Capen quarter comes up. I cannot think of any lead or piece of information that would be so time-sensitive that I would have to drop everything and pursue it. If a cousin or other researcher contacts me I am not going to ignore them. This is the only scenario that I can think of that may make me stop everything and focus, for a short period of time, on another line.

Have you found yourself in the same boat? How do you divide your time between the different ancestral lines that you research?

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Photo, Confusion by Zielanella, courtesy of Funny Images on Flickr.

----------------------------------------------

© 2014 copyright, Christopher Shaw

Friday, August 22, 2014

Follow Friday–My Favorites from the Last Week (or so…)

Follow Friday Favorite Posts

The below blog posts caught my attention over the past week or so and thought I would pass them along in case you missed them.

- We are all looking for a cheap place to buy or even better yet, a free place, Lifehack gives a look at the 15 Best Online Bookstore for Cheap New and Used Books.
- Do you want to help digitize our past? The Smithsonian Want You! (To Help Transcribe its Collections)
- Do you think some of your research time is wasted? Kenneth Marks of The Ancestor Hunt Blog gives some advice on how to avoid the ‘Date Trap’ in his post Don't Fall into the Genealogy Date Trap.
- Chuck Sambuchino provided some advice on how to avoid mistakes while you venture into the writing world in his post 5 Mistakes Writers Make (And How to Avoid Them)
- For the American Revolution and history buffs, Bethany Collins writing for the Journal of American Revolution provides some info on those German fighters in 8 Fast Fact About Hessians.
- Another from The Writer's Digest,  Adrienne Crezo gets some advice from those that do the job in her post The Rules of Writing According to 20 Famous Writers.

I hope you find these useful or at the very least, interesting.

Thanks for reading and keep diggin' for that family.

Chris

This Day in History–22 August

Day in History

1796 – Franz Csihas (4th Great Grandfather) was born in Batschsentiwan, Batschka, Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Thursday, August 21, 2014

This Day in History–21 August

image_thumb

1850 – John Rowe married Ann Davis (3rd Great Grandparents) in Newport, Monmouth, England.

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

This Day in History–20 August

Day in History

1766 – Stefan Deppert (6th Great Granduncle) was born in Boglar, Schildgebirge, Hungary.

1800 – Stefan Teppert (4th Great Granduncle) was born in Apatin, Batschka, Austro-Hungarian Empire

1798 – Lydia Capen (Wife’s 2nd cousin 7 times removed) was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

1820 – Samuel John Capen (Wife’s 2nd cousin 7 times removed) was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

1870 – Clarence Lester Capen (Wife’s 2nd cousin 3 times removed) was born in Eastport, Maine.

 

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

This Day in History: 19 August

The Clock

1739 – Thomas Capen (Wife’s 3rd cousin, 7 times removed) was baptized in Charlestown, Massachusetts

1775 – Edward Capen (wife’s 2nd Cousin 7 times removed) was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts

1876 – Elisabeth Piller (1st Cousin 4 times removed) was born in Milititsch, Batschka, Austro-Hungarian Empire.

 

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Sunday, August 17, 2014

This Day in History–17 August

image

1771 –Patience Badlam (Wife’s 2nd cousin 7 times removed) was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

1792 – Rupertus Csihas (6th Great Grandfather) died in Batschsentiwan, Batschka, Hungary, Austria. He was about 72 years old.

Molly_puppy 2011 – Molly (our dog) was born in Werdan, Saarland, Germany)

 

 

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Happy Birthday–Mary Elizabeth Jane (Canter) Shaw

Grandma-Shaw-Birthday
Today is our Grandma Shaw’s birthday, she would have been 107 years old. I wish we could have one more game of Chinese checkers, I think I could take you this time. From the whole family, We Love and Miss You!

Friday, August 15, 2014

This Day in History–15 August

image1766 – Lydia Alcock (5th Great Grandaunt) was baptized in Linby, Nottingham, England.

1909 – Susanna (Canter, Cantelo) Leggit (Grandaunt) was born in Wales.

1801 – Johann Heinrich Jakob Danneil (Wife’s 5th Great Grandfather) was born in Unseburg, Prussia.

1826 – Andreas Teppert (4th Great Granduncle) was born in Weprowatz, Batschka, Hungary, Austria.

1871 – Jakob Hinterhauser (1st cousin 3 times removed) was born probably in either Filipowa or Milititsch, Batchka Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Thursday, August 14, 2014

This Day in History–14 August

image1702 – Hopestill Capen (wife’s 7 Great Granduncle) married Thankful Baker in Massachusetts (very interesting names in that time period).

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

This Day in History–13 August

image1769 – Simon Deppert (6th Great Granduncle) was born in Boglar, Schildgebirge, Hungary.

1785 – Martin Hinterhauser (5th Great Grandfather) married his first wife, Franziska Binder, in Offenburg, Schwarzwald, Germany.

1803 – Margarethe Elisabeth Danneil (Wife’s 5th Great Grandaunt) was born in Unseburg, Prussia.

1815 – William Cantelo (1st Cousin 5 times removed) married Rebecca Ford in Broughton Gifford, Wiltshire, England.

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

This Day in History–12 August

image

1800 – Alexander Capen (Wife’s 3rd Great Grandfather) was born in Newport, Rhode Island.

1840 – Jane M. Capen (Wife’s 1st Cousin 4 times removed) was born in Eastport, Maine.

1908 – Rebecca Stewart Jones (Great Grandaunt) married Albert Broomer in Toronto, Canada.

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Tombstone Tuesday–Thomas and Susannah John

John, grave maker 1This installment of Tombstone Tuesday is for our 2nd Great Grandparents, Thomas David John and Susannah (Rowe) John. Also buried with them is their son, David Thomas John.

Thomas was born in Pontypridd, Eglwiysilan, Glamorgan, Wales on 26 June 1859.

Susannah was born on 7 March 1862 in Machen Upper, Monmouthshire, England.

They were married 18 November 1882 in Pontypridd, Eglwiysilan, Glamorgan, Wales.

Susannah is assumed to have committed suicide in Scranton, Pa on 5 Feb 1915 (that story is for another post), Thomas followed her in death 6 1/2 years later on 24 March 1922.

They are both buried in the Dunmore Cemetery, Dunmore, Pa. Find-A-Grave memorials can be found here: Thomas JohnSusannah (Rowe) John

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Monday, August 11, 2014

This Day in History–11 August

image_thumb

1750 – Robert Capen (Wife’s 1st Cousin 7 times removed) was born in Dorchester, Mass.

1779 – Susanna (Krembacher) Teppert (5th Great Grandmother) was born in the village of Apatin, Batschka, Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1745 – William Shaw (5th Great Granduncle) was baptized in Hucknall Torkard, Nottingham, England.

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Sunday, August 10, 2014

This Day in History–10 August

image

1719 – Sara Bradford (Wife’s 2nd cousin 8 times removed) was born in Boston, Mass.

1781 – Anna Maria Teppert (5th Great Grandaunt) was born in Apatin, Batschka, Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1843 – Josephus Csihas married Anna Maria Piller (3rd Great Grandparents) in the village of Milititsch, Batschka, Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1887 – Appolonia Hinterhauser (Great Grandaunt) was born in Milititsch, Batschka, Austro-Hungarian Empire. Sadly, she would die of Dropsy when she was only 3 years old.

1937 – Eva Hinterhauser (2nd Cousin once removed) was born. Not sure of the place. She died in one of the concentration camps setup in post-war Yugoslavia for the persecution of the Germans living in the area (Donauschwabens). You can read a good article about the camps here: Human Misery: Life in a Death Camp

Thank you for reading – if you find a link to our family or would like to know anything more about those listed above, please contact me.

Keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Death Certificate Analysis–Raymond Lucas

1921 13 Dec Death Raymond LucasMy previous post, Death Certificate-Raymond Lucas, gave my initial observations of this record, but I said I had to do some analysis and a little research before I could definitely (or at least almost definitely) say that this is the death certificate of my great grandfather.

I have done that and with almost certainty, I can say that this is the death certificate of my Great Grandfather, Raymond Lucas. I do not know much about the Lucas family so any find is a giant leap forward. As I find these little tidbits I can start putting together a story of this family and so far the story doesn’t turn out very happy or fun-filled and this death certificate only adds to that. I can’t imagine what the family went through at the time of Raymond’s death. The kids were all still at home, with the oldest, Mary or Marvella, being about 15. I am still not 100% sure of the birthdate of my grandfather, Raymond’s oldest son, Joseph, but everything that I have says that Joseph was born 13 December 1907. This means he would have turned 14 years old the same day that his father died. It is hard enough to lose your father, but to do it at such a young age and on your birthday, I cannot imagine.

Genealogy and the pursuit of my family history is very rewarding and is mostly filled with the joy of the find and the connection I can make with the past. However, sometimes, it is filled with sadness as is the case with my Lucas ancestors, especially with this newest find. After a little more research into some of this family, I’ll have to do a post of all the information I have and lay out the short history I have for them. But before I can do that I have to analyze all my data to ensure of what I have. The first step is to provide my analysis of this death certificate, and that begins now.

Transcription:

State of Michigan
Department of State-Division of Vital Statistics
Certificate of Death

1. Place of Death: Monroe County, Exeter Township, Registered #8

2. Full Name: Raymond Lucas

a. Residence: Carleton, length of residence where death occurred: __yrs 7 mos. __da. How long in U.S if of foreign birth? 19 years __mos.__da.

3. Sex: Male

4. Color or Race: White

5. Single, Married, Widowed or Divorced: Married

a. If married, widowed, or divorced, Husband of (or) wife of: Katie Lucas

6. Date of Birth: 1879

7. Age: 42 years, Months: Don’t Know, Days: [blank]

8. Occupation of Deceased: Farmer

9. Birthplace: Russia

10. Name of Father: Simon Lucas

11. Birthplace of Father: Russia

12. Maiden name of Mother: Don’t Know

13. Birthplace of Mother: Don’t Know

14. Informant and address: Katie Lucas, Carleton, Michigan

15. Filed 12-19, 1921 signed ?? Leiss, registrar

16. Date of Death: Dec 13 1921

17. I hearby certify, that I attended deceased from Dec 10, 1921 to _________, 19__ that I last saw h__ alive on ____________, 19___ and that death occurred on the date stated above at 1130 a.m. the CAUSE OF DEATH was as follows: Tuburculosis. Contributory (secondary) Starvation.

18. Where was disease contracted if not at place of death _______. Did an operation precede death:________ date of __________. Was there an autopsy? ___________. What test confirmed diagnosis? _____________________. Signed Jno?? F Heffernan, M.D. address Carleton, Mich.

19. Place of burial, Cremation, or Removal: Stoney Creek Cemetery. Date of Burial: Dec 15 1921.

20. Undertaker: FE Baker. Address: Carleton

Citation: "Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KFQF-7WT : accessed 08 Aug 2014), Raymond Lucas, 13 Dec 1921; citing Exeter, Monroe, Michigan, United States; 00025; FHL microfilm 001973024.

Description of Source: The source is a photo duplication of the microfilmed death certificates that I received from the FamilySearch.org photo duplication service. It is a .jpg file in great condition. The entire document is legible minus the actual signatures of the registrar and the doctor (annotated that in my transcription above with question marks). The file seems to be an accurate certificate with no signs of tampering or questionable marks. I have no reason to believe that this would not be a photo duplicate of the original.

Conflicting Information:

Age: I do not have anything that gives Raymond’s actual birth date. The death certificate says he was 42 and born in 1879 (the math adds up). He is shown as 28 yrs old in the 1910 Census[1] which would put his birth abt 1881. In Dec 1912, on his son’s birth certificate he says he is 33 at his last birthday, which would make his year of birth 1879[2]. The 1920[3] Census he is listed as 39 years old which puts him born abt 1880. I do not think Raymond was sure of his exact birthdate, which is not uncommon of immigrants from this era. His wife, the informant, did not even know his exact birthdate. None of the dates are exact but estimations can be made and all are very close and can be of the same person. I cannot discount this record because of the disparity in age when nothing is actually known.

Address/Place of Death: The 1920 Census shows Raymond living in Romulus Township, Wayne County, Michigan.[4] His death, just a year later, occurs in Exeter Township, Monroe County, Michigan and his residence is Carleton, Monroe County, Michigan. The 1930 Census shows his wife, now married to Frank Goodman, living in Exeter Township, Monroe County, Michigan.[5] So, I know that at one point at least his wife and kids moved from Romulus to Exeter. Upon re-examination of the death certificate it says that they were only at their residence for 7 months at the time of his death. This tells me that they moved into their residence in Carleton about May of 1921, which is a year after they were enumerated for the 1920 census in Romulus. I do not have anything that tells me that they definitely moved from Romulus to Exeter Township[6], but the information tells me that it is very feasible.

Wife’s Name: Different sources show the wife’s name as Katherine (1910 Census), Kate (1920 Census), Catherine (Son’s Birth and Baptism Certificates), and Katherine (1930 Census). My mother, her granddaughter, said that she was called Katie. The death certificate shows Raymond’s wife and the informant is Katie Lucas. Katie is a short form of Catherine so all are probably the same person, considering all sources combined.

Corroborating Information:

Birthplace/Origin: There is no source that lists an exact birthplace of Raymond. The 1910 Census has him listed as being born in Aust-Polish. His son’s birth certificate (1912) lists his birthplace as Russia. The 1920 Census says he was born in Poland. Finally, the death certificate says he was born in Russia. In the 1910 Census it says that Katherine, his wife, speaks Polish although Raymond speaks English. My mother remembers Polish being spoken around her grandmother, Katie. Without an exact place of birth for Raymond, I cannot verify the information. However, the two common origins are Russian and Polish. During the time that Raymond was born, there were Polish speaking areas within Russian parts of Europe and Asia. It is very feasible that Raymond was from one of these areas.

Date of Death: There is nothing other than the Death Certificate that gives me Raymond’s date of death. However, I know he was alive in 1920 because he shows up in the Census. Raymond is not in the 1930 Census but his wife shows up remarried to Frank Goodman. Frank is 44 yrs old and says he was married for the first time at age 39, only 5 years before the Census, which would have been abt 1924/25. Making the assumption that this is Frank’s only marriage, this means that Raymond would have died somewhere between 1920 and 1924/25. I further narrowed this down and guessed that his death would have been about 1922 or 23, giving at least a year or two for Katherine to mourn and then marry again. The death certificate gives a date of death in December 1921, which is not exactly my estimation but does fit the scenario.

Final Conclusions: I do not have very much information about Raymond Lucas. When comparing the information that I do have with that reported on the death certificate, no single piece of information is definitive proof that the death certificate is my great grandfather. However, there is no single piece of information that disproves it either. My final conclusion, when taking all the information as a whole, is that the probability is that this death certificate is that of my great grandfather.

Areas for Further Research: Although I am fairly certain that this is the death certificate of my great grandfather, there is still additional research that needs to be done to help bolster my argument.

1. Is there any burial records that may show who was at the funeral. I’ve already contacted the Church which maintains the cemetery where he was buried and they do have burial records. My next trip to Michigan will include a stop at the church to take a look at the records they have.

2. I do not know where Raymond Lucas was born and I need to continue searching for immigration records or any naturalization papers he may have submitted.

3. The 1920 census said that they owned their land in Romulus. I need to search to see if there are any records of this land in their name, either when they bought it or when they sold it and moved to Exeter.

Have I missed anything with this analysis – can you add something that maybe I cannot see through my own bias?

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

 


[1] Year: 1910; Census Place: Northbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_629; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 1796; FHL microfilm: 1374642.

[2] County Recorder, "Certificate of Birth (Delayed Registration) for Anthony Lucas" (Registered in Wayne County, Michigan on 12 April 1941).

[3] US Census Bureau, "Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920-Population, Romulus Township, Wayne County, Michigan, USA" (Library of Michigan, Roll T625-821), ED 781, Sheet 5b, Family 106, Enumerator: Edward Krebs

[4] Ibid

[5] US-Bureau of the Census, "Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Exeter Township, Monroe County, Michigan, USA" (<www.ancestry.com> copyright© 1998-2003, Myfamily.com Inc.), ED 58-12, Supervisor District 17, Sheet 7a, Family 142

[6] Carleton and Exeter Townships are side-by-side in Monroe County.

Friday, August 8, 2014

Follow Friday–My Favorites from the last week (or so…)

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The below blog posts caught my attention over the past week or so and thought I would pass them along in case you missed them.

I hope you find these useful or at the very least, interesting.

Thanks for reading and keep diggin' for that family.

Chris

This Day in History–8 August

On this Day in:

image1807 – Anna Elisabeth Danneil (Wife’s 5th Great Aunt) was born in Unseburg, Prussia, Germany

1824 – Johann Heinrich Jakob Danneil married Elisabeth Maria Schmidt (Wife’s 5th Great Grandparents) in Unseburg, Prussia, Germany


1829 – Leah Cantelo (2nd Great Aunt) was born in Wesleyan Chapel Parish of St. Woollos in the Borough of Newport Monmouthshire

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Thursday, August 7, 2014

52 Ancestors–Michael Deppert

This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge put forth by Amy Johnson Crow of the No Story Too Small blog.

I am coming into this challenge very late so this is my first entry.

I am going to start off with one of my oldest known ancestors, my 7th Great Grandfather (maternal), Michael Deppert. The name is also spelled Depper, Deberth, Theberth, Töpert, and later Teppert.  (Deppert literally translates to Dopey in English - maybe explains the change in spellings - no one wants to be Dopey)

imageMichael was born approximately 1725 in Hermersberg[1],[2], currently located in Sudwestpfalz district, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. I visited this area while I was stationed in Germany and the look of the land gives a sense that it has not changed much since Michael lived there 300 years ago. The area is still heavily agricultural with a scattering of forested areas between the villages. Although most in this time were probably farmers, the Depperts are listed as schneiders (tailors) throughout the church books of the villages[3].  The farmers and other people of the villages needed someone to make and mend their clothes.  I wonder if he operated his tailor business not only within Hermersberg, but also between the other nearby villages, like Horbach and Weselberg. The latter is just a short distance northwest where you can see actually see one village from the other. Maybe this is how he met his bride, Anna Margaretha Lutz, who was born in Weselberg on 26 may 1727[4].

weselbergMichael and Anna were married 23 November 1745 in the other nearby village of Horbach[5]. You can't see Horbach from either Hermersberg or Weselberg but it is just a short distance northeast of Hermersberg through the winding roads, dense forest and spacious farm fields. The roads from one village to the other are rather narrow (at least in today’s standards) and wind between the hills and valleys of the region. It makes me wonder if these are the same paths that Michael would follow when he traveled from village to village.

Horbach has remained a small village through the centuries. The church, standing in the center of the village, is the same church which Michael and Anna were married.  I made a video of Horbach while I was there, you can view that on youtube here: Horbach Video.

I am guessing that Michael and Anna chose to live in Weselberg as this is where their first 8 children were born.[6]

· Johann (1746 - 1749)

· Konrad (1748 - ??)

· Johann Adam (1751 - 1829)

· Johannes (1753 - ??)

· Margaretha (1756 - ??)

· Anna Catharina (1758 - ??)

· Peter (1761 - ??)

· Maria Eva (1763 - ??)

imageMichael and Anna are one of my many immigrant ancestors. Sometime between the birth of Maria Eva and the birth of their next child, Stefan in 1766, they emigrated to a little village named Vertesboglar, or just Boglar, in the Shildebirge Province of Hungary. The current location of this village is Fejer Region, Hungary, about 20 - 25 miles west of Budapest. This region was a common destination of German emigrants throughout the 18th century.

 

Michael and Anna had 2 more children in Boglar[7]:

· Stefan (1766 - ??)

· Simon (1769 - ??)

It appears that Michael would live out the rest of his life in this small village as he died there on 12 May 1794, when he was about 69 years old.[8]

Below is my direct line link to Michael:

-Michael Deppert, 7th Great Grandpa

    -Johann Adam, 6th Great Grandpa

        -Andreas Teppert, 5th Great Grandpa

            -Anna Maria (Teppert) Hinterhauser, 4th Great Grandma

                -Philipp Hinterhauser, 3rd Great Grandpa

                    -Augustine Hinterhauser, 2nd Great Grandpa

                         -Anna Maria (Hinterhauser) Pakledinaz, Great Grandma

                              -Teresa (Pakledinaz) Petrilla, Grandma

                                   -Elizabeth (Lucas) Shaw, Mom

                                        -Christopher Shaw (me)

Thanks for reading and keep diggin for that family.

Chris


[1] Dietmar Meyer, Register zu den Kirchenbüchern der Katholischen Pfarrei Horbach 1724-1798 (Schopp, Germany, Zweibrücker Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Familienforschung, November 1992), Page 32

[2] Stefan Stader, "Sammelwerk donauschwäbischer Kolonisten" (Sindelfingen, Germany, Arbeitskreis donauschwäbisher Familienforscher (AKdFF), 1997-2003), Volume I, page 602, entry # 07899

[3] Meyer

[4] Ibid, pg 110

[5] Meyer and Stader

[6] Meyer

[7] Stader

[8] Ibid

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

This Day in History–6 August

image

On this day in:

1693 - Joseph Capen (Wife's 1st cousin 9 times removed) was Baptized in Topsfield, Massachusetts

1727 - Ruth Peabody (Wife's 2nd cousin 8 times removed) was born in Boxford, Massachusetts

1767 - Samuel Capen (Wife's 1st cousin 7 times removed) married Elizabeth Withington in Stoughton, Massachusetts

1859 - Franz Piller (1st cousin 4 times removed) was born in Milititsch, Batschka, Austro-Hungarian Empire (Franz died the same day)

Photo of Joseph R Lucas1937 - Joseph Raymond Lucas (my Uncle) was born in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan.

Monday, August 4, 2014

This Day in History: 4 August

imageOn this day in:

1629 – Hannah Capen (wife’s 9th Great Aunt) married Robert Gifford in Dorchester, England.

1771 – William Cantelo married Ann Wakely(5th Great Grandparents) in Broughton Gifford, Wiltshire, England.

1818 – Marietta Gridley Ames (wife’s 2nd cousin 5 times removed) was born in Keene, New Hampshire.

1943 – Emma Ann Walker (1st cousin once removed) was born in Wyandotte, Michigan. (She died one day later)

Sunday, August 3, 2014

This Day in History: 3 August

LiebfrauenKirche (Church of our Lady)On this day in:

1884, Mary Eliza Capen (Wife’s 1st cousin, 4 times removed) was born in Eastport, Maine.

1894 – William van Capen (Wife’s Great Uncle) was born in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. (previous post here - WWI Aviator)

Thanks for reading and Keep Diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Footnotes and Source Citations

imageI recently read a post on one of the history blogs that I follow which talks about the importance of footnotes in historical work. The author is very passionate about using footnotes and having footnotes in the works that he chooses to read. You can read that post here; For Love of the Footnote at the Journal of the American Revolution.

I completely agree with the author. I have also put down books where footnotes or endnotes were not included. Reading this got me thinking that maybe my blog posts should contain more footnotes and source identification. That goes against what I felt in the past.

When I started blogging I thought about using footnotes mainly for source citations but opted against it to try and keep posts shorter and maybe a little less technical or academic. I wanted to keep my posts and the blog clean and uncluttered, at least as much as possible. I thought that if someone wants to know where I got my information, they can just ask. I would be happy to provide the information.

However, I think I may be changing my mind, at least a little. There are two sides to this, at least when it comes to my blogging goals and expectations.

  1. I want to keep posts fairly short as not to overwhelm readers or potential readers with gobs of information. Let's face it, if you look at a blog post and it keeps going on-and-on, don't you skip over it and move on to the next one. I know I do. One of my main purposes for the blog is to present findings to family and maybe attract some family that I don't know about yet. Keeping the posts short and to-the-point of what I found is probably what most family want, the meaty stuff.
  2. As a researcher, I want to make sure that what I put out there is credible. I want readers to know where I got my information so they can go look for themselves. If they can do that, maybe they'll see something that I didn't or interpret the information differently. I also want to show all the evidence that I use to make my conclusions, which, I hope, adds more credibility to my content.

I think I'm going to try a few things different in future posts so I can include both my conclusions (the meaty stuff) and also how I reached those conclusions (the proof or technical, academic stuff).

I am going to do two different posts for each record or piece of evidence. The first will be the meaty and to-the-point post which focuses just on what the record is and what it tells me about my family. This, I believe, will be more appealing to family who just want to know about our history.

I'll make a second post which will cover my analysis of the information and how I came to the conclusions I made. This will be a format more in-line with the Genealogy Proof Standard. This will include the footnotes and citations of all the information I used to reach my conclusion. This is the more academic approach and allows readers to dive deeper into what I researched, if they choose.

I am going to be playing with format for these two posts over the next several weeks or even months. I need to see what works best so there will probably be a lot of tweaking. My hope is that I can come to a happy medium between providing the basic down-and-dirty information that some want and also the academic technical analysis that proper research requires.

What do you think of my idea or how do you think we should approach source citations in our blogs?

Thanks for reading and please keep diggin' for that family.

Chris

Friday, August 1, 2014

Follow Friday–My Favorites from the Last Week (or so…)

_MG_8269The below blog posts caught my attention over the past week or so and thought I would pass them along in case you missed them.

- "The Value of 10 Minutes: Writing Advice for the Time-Less Academic” Gregory Semenza talks about the value of taking that advice we have all heard – (I really need to listen this time).  NOTE: I actually found this post from recommendations of Elizabeth M. Covart at her blog; Elizabethcovart.com.

- "Would They Change Their Names?" Might be an interesting read for those searching for their Revolutionary War ancestors

- "Megan Marshall on Writing History with Arguments" – Elizabeth Covart does a 3-part series on Margaret Fullers writing, covering her approach to writing and style. It boils down to finding that story and telling the story.

I hope you find these useful or that the very least interesting.

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris