Anna Hinterhauser–Immigration-Ship’s Manifest

This is the manifest that show Anna Hinterhauser arriving in the United States. Anna is my Great Grandmother and one of our immigrant ancestors. This is what the manifest tells me:

Ship: She traveled aboard the SS Mexico of the French Line and rode in second cabin. This wasn’t the worst accommodations for her sea trip so we know she may have had a little more comfort than most who traveled as steerage passengers.

Departure and Arrival Information: She departed the port of Havre, France on August 7, 1909 and arrived in New York on August 20, 1909. This was a long trip for Anna if you include her travel to the port. I’m not sure how she got from her home village of Miletitsch (present day Srpski Miletic, Serbia) to the port of Le Havre in France but I would make a guess that it was a combination of carriage and train. The distance is almost 2000 kilometers and would take almost 19 hours by car today.

Personal Information: Anna was 19 years old, female, single and worked as a servant. She was able to read and write. Her country of citizenship was Austria and her race was Magyar (Hungarian). Her last permanent residence was in the village of Militic in Austria. Her mother, Rosalia was her closest relative in the village she came from.

Final Destination: Her final destination was Trenton, NJ. She had a ticket to her destination and she paid for it herself. She had $15 on her and had never been in the United States before. She was going to join her male cousin Jakal Darjark at 1010 Anderson St in Trenton, NJ.

Other Information: She was never in the hospital or other institution for reason of insanity or unstable mind, she was not a polygamist or an anarchist, and she was not coaxed or paid to come to the US for reasons to work as labor.

Health and Description: She was in good health and was not deformed or crippled. She was 5 ft 2 in tall with a fair complexion, flaxon hair, auburn eyes and no distinguishable marks.

Place of Birth:  She was born in the village of Militic, Hungary.

My Observations from all the Information on the list: Anna did not travel alone. There are three other passengers that surround her on the list that have the same last permanent home; Magdelana Rohrbacher, Franz Dorjack, and Peter Welchner, It would seem that Franz may have been a cousin to Anna because she said she was joining a cousin by the name of Darjack. However, I’ve looked through the Miletitsch Family book and cannot find this family but I can find the other two passengers traveling with Anna. I would assume that the Dorjack name is misspelled so I’ll have to look closer at the families and see if I can make any matches with the little information that I know. Anyway, it is good to know that Anna was not traveling alone on such a long journey.

With all of that said, how trustworthy is the information given? This list could be considered a primary source by some researchers since we can assume Anna was right there giving the information to the clerk who was recording it. However, I think this is more of a secondary source as Anna was not filling out the paperwork on her own and the clerk was probably in a hurry and the accuracy was secondary to the speed of processing the passengers. So, the information has to be in question until it can be proven.

In my next Tuesday Tip post I will present some additional information which makes me distrust some of this record.

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ up that family.

Chris

Citation for this record: "Original Ship Manifests," online images, Ellis Island Online (http://www.ellisisland.org/default.asp : accessed 28 Jul 2014), manifest, S.S. Mexico, 20 August 1909, Anna Hinterhauser. 

© 2014 Copyright, Christopher Shaw, All Rights Reserved.

Farming Ancestors of the 1700s–Labor Day

On the occasion of Labor Day, I thought I would try and explain at least one of the many occupations that our ancestors claimed as their own and how that life may have appeared. The most predominant occupation that I have discovered for our ancestors is that of farmers. This is especially true for ancestors before 1900 who all lived in Europe. Being farmers should be of no surprise because agriculture and farming was the leading occupation for most during these times. A look at the occupations that I have discovered shows farmers for the past 300+ years. Instead of covering all that time, I am going to focus on some of our oldest ancestors who were peasant farmers in 18th Century Europe, in the region which is now in and around Serbia.

I cannot be 100% certain that all of these ancestors were farmers and will probably never be able to confirm this. However, all four of these ancestors have one thing in common (besides being my ancestors). They all emigrated from their homelands during the 18th century to this region.

The ancestors and their families that I will be talking about are as follows (all part of my maternal line):

Martin Hinterhauser (6th Great Grandfather), village of Brestowatz or Backi Brestovac

Joseph Morlock (6th Great Grandfather), village of Filipowa or Backi Bracac

Johann Adam Teppert (6th Great Grandfather) village of Apatin

Rupert Csihas (6th great Grandfather), village of Batschsentiwan or Prigrevica

All of these ancestors were of German decent, three of which I can trace back to modern day Germany. So maybe a brief history covering how, I believe, these ancestors became farmers in a region which, today, we do not typically think of as German.

This area, back in the 1700s, was known as the Batschka. It is predominantly flat and fertile lands for agricultural purposes. Through the 1600s and early into the 1700s the land was disputed territory between the Ottoman's to the east and the Hapsburg's to the west. The Hapsburg's finally won out but as the Ottoman's retreated, they left the land in total destruction. The Hapsburg's, beginning with Emperor Joseph I wanted to regain the fertile lands and provided great incentives for any Germans they could convince to leave their homelands and settle the area. The incentives changed over the years but the basics were free land, at least tax-free land for so many years. They were also offered the many items they would need to help them settle their land and begin farming. The items included horses and everything needed to use the horses to plow the fields and pull their carts, they also received other farming tools like shovels and sickles. They were also given the typical items needed for preparing and cooking food. You can see the entire list here; Specifications of goods & tools, supplied to a colonist. You can also read a more extensive history at this site; Batschka.

Although these reestablished settlements needed trade workers, most of the colonists came to start a new life and work the fields as farmers. So, more than likely, our ancestors first years in their new homes were spent in the fields, planting, tending, and harvesting what they could from the land.

Anyone who has done any type of farming or even prepared their own personal gardens knows that there is a lot of work involved, even today with our modern conveniences and machinery. Our ancestors of the late 1700s had no machinery, they had to depend on the strength of their back, their horses, mules, oxen, or cows, and their neighbors. The fields required constant attention and a day in the fields would typically start before dawn and continue past dusk.

Undoubtedly, the fields were not the responsibility of just one family, it was a community affair. A family may have a few acres that 'belonged' to them but the work had to be shared and everyone chipped in; the whole community depended on the food that these fields produced. And it was not just up to the men of the community, everyone helped out to get the crops to the tables. If someone wasn't in the field helping then they were at home taking care of small children not old or strong enough to work in fields along with all the other daily chores of life in the 1700s like preparing and cooking meals, washing, and tending to the animals of the household, which could have been chickens, goats, and probably cows.

So, on this labor day when we think about the labor that built this country, take a step back and remember our peasant farming ancestors who broke the ground in these new communities and paved the way to our existence today.

I’m pretty sure all of us have some kind of farmer in your ancestry, where did they farm? Write a post on your blog about it or let us know in the comments for this one.

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Photo Attribution: Johann Ludwig Ernst Morgenstern [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Sources used in this post:
- Leeb, Alex. “Life of a Schwob”, Danauschwaben Villages Helping Hands, 2004, http://www.dvhh.org/banat/lifestyles/schwob_life.htm.
- Tullius, Nick. “A Short History of the Danube Swabians” Donauschwaben Villages Helping Hands; Danube Swabian History, 2013, http://www.dvhh.org/history/1700s/DS-history~tullius.htm.

© 2014 copyright, Christopher Shaw, All Rights Reserved.

This Day in History–15 August

1766 – 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

This Day in History–13 August

1769 – 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

This Day in History–10 August

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

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)

Michael 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].

Michael 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 - ??)

Michael 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

Tombstone Tuesday–Anna (Hinterhauser) Pakledinaz

This weeks Tombstone Tuesday post is for my maternal great grandmother, Anna M. (Hinterhauser) Pakledinaz.  I have written about her before in these posts: 2 Birthdays, Census Sunday, Where did this come from?, Surname Saturday, and Ancestor Appreciation

She was born in 1890 in the small village of Milititsch, which is now located in Serbia.  She died in 1968 and is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan. Her find-a-grave memorial can be found here.

Thanks for stopping by and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Anna and her 2 Birthdays

It’s been a while since my last post but I am finally getting back to going through all my sources as I described in a previous post; A New Start. I am working on the sources of my great grandmother, Anna Maria (Hinterhauser) Pakledinaz. Of course, I start with her birthdate and I have already run into a conflict amongst the information.

According to family sources, Anna was a leap year baby, born on 29 February in 1890. However, as a researcher and historian, I have to get concrete sources which prove she was born on the day everyone thinks. Well, this is where the difference in birthdates comes into play. I will always mark her birthday as 29 February because that is what she believed and what she celebrated. However, I also have to make note of what the facts tell me. They tell me that she could not have been born on 29 February 1890, but was, in fact, born on 1 March 1890.

First - According to the Catholic Church baptism records, which I viewed on microfilm from the Family History Library, Anna was born on 1 March 1890 and baptized that same day. This is a primary source as it was recorded at the time of the events. However, I viewed this information many years ago and my transcription skills were not that great. I need to order those films again and take a second look. (A copy of my attempt at transcription is to the left)

Second – I have a copy of the Milititsch Ortssippenbuch (a book written to record all the families within a village), so I reviewed what was recorded about Anna’s birth. That book says she was born on 1 March 1890. This is a secondary source so a mistake could have been made. (the information from the book is to the right)

Third – Probably the most convincing fact about the actual date of her birth is that 1890 was not a leap year. Unless I am missing something and leap years were different in the late 19th century, the leap years would have been 1888 and then again in 1892, years divisible by 4, not 1890.

So, what does all this really tell us and does it really change anything? All it tells us is that Anna was born on 1 March, which, in fact, would have been 29 February if 1890 was a leap year. And finally, it doesn’t change anything at all.

I am a firm believer, while doing this family history research, that what truly matters in our history is what our ancestors believed to be the truth. What they believed is what drove their lives and made them who they were. Now, I am also a historian and still have to get the facts correct, so I will record the facts that Anna was born on 1 March as an alternate birth date. I will always keep her official birthday as 29 February because that is what Anna believed and celebrated.

If you see something I might have missed or another suggestion, please leave a comment.

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Photo courtesy of Will Clayton.

Technorati Tags: Family History,Genealogy,Hinterhauser,Pakledinaz

Census Sunday–John and Anna Pakledinaz/Pakledinac, 1930 US Census, Warren Township, Macomb, Michigan

It is Census Sunday and I am looking at the 1930 Census for the household of John and Anna Pakledinaz. Here is the transcription from the census:

1.  John Pakledinac, Head, owned No. 70 on the farm schedule on 13 mile rd., 45 yrs old, Mother/Father/himself born in Ireland, Native tongue: Irish, Immigrated 1905, Alien status, works as a farmer on a truck farm.
2. Anna, wife, 40 yrs old, Mother/Father/self born in Ireland, Native tongue: Irish, immigrated 1909, alien status, No occupation
3. Adam, son, 19 yrs old, born in Ohio, no school since 1 sept. 1929, Occupation: laborer on farm
4. Ligebth, daughter, 18 yrs old, born: Ohio, no school since 1 sept. 1929, no occupation
5. Tresa, daughter, 15 yrs old, born Michigan, no school since 1 sept. 1929, no occupation
6. Anna, daughter, 13 yrs old, born Michigan, no school since 1 sept. 1929, no occupation
7. John, son, 12yrs old, born Michigan, has attended school since 1 sept. 1929, no occupation
8. Rose, daughter, 10 yrs old, born Michigan, has attended school since 1 sept. 1929, no occupation
9.  James, son, 8 yrs old, born Michigan, has attended school since 1 sept. 1929, no occupation
10. Leona, daughter, 6 yrs old, born Michigan, no school since 1 sept. 1929, no occupation
11Joseph, son, 2 1/2 yrs old, born Michigan, no school since 1 sept. 1929, no occupation

Something's of note for myself:

• The surname is spelled with a C at the end, just like in his home country of Croatia/Slavonia. It is pronounced as a Z so I wonder how the spelling got that way on this Census – the Z ending if more familiar here in the States.
• I’ve already written about the Ireland/Irish stuff and disproven all of that and don’t think I’ll ever know where that comes from. You can read that post here.
• They lived on a farm in the Truck Farm industry and John worked on his own accord. I’m assuming this was a small vegetable farm on their own land. I need to do some research about truck farms in Michigan to confirm this.
• He also states that he owned this farm – so have to look into the land records for this.
• Both John and Anna lists their immigration years and that they have Alien status – I was hoping they would have put in their first papers for naturalization but I guess not – but that won’t stop me from looking.
• Their second child was born in Ohio in about 1912 and their third child (my grandmother) was born in Michigan in 1914. So, that narrows down a timeframe for their move from Ohio to Michigan.

If I’ve missed anything, please let me know if the comments.

Thanks for stopping by and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

John Pakledinaz–Immigration-Ship’s Manifest

This is the manifest¹ which shows Johann Pakledinac arriving in the United States. I am almost positive this is my great grandfather John Pakledinaz and that this begins the origins of our Pakledinaz line in the United States.

Here is what we can get from this manifest:

Ship: The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse

Departure Port and date: Left from Bremen on July 25th, 1905

Arrival Port and date: Arrived the port of New York on August 3rd, 1905

Johann (John) was 20 years old when they arrived which matches with the birthday I have for him of 16 March 1885.

He was single

His occupation was a Wheel Wright

He was able to read and write

His was a citizen of the country Slavonia (which matches to what I already have as his birth place)

His race is listed as German (something that I did not know but makes sense since his future bride, Anna Maria Hinterhauser, is German)

His last permanent residence was the village of Tompojevci in Hungary (at this time Slavonia was in the Hungarian portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – Today it is located in Croatia – you can see it on Google Maps here).

His final destination was Youngstown, Ohio. He had a ticket to his final destination and he paid for the trip himself.

He had $4 on him.

He was going to join his cousin, Jakob Pakledinac in Youngstown Ohio 320 [I am not sure what the 320 means – could be an address but the rest of it is missing?]

One item which I find very interesting is that John immigrated in 1905 and his future wife, Anna Maria Hinterhauser, did not immigrate until 1909. They would meet, as family lore says, at Anna’s brothers house in Youngstown, Ohio. Anna arrived in the US in August of 1909 and she would marry John just 5 months later. Here is the interesting part:

John’s home village, Tompojevci, is just 61 km (38 miles) from Anna’s home village of Milititsch (now called Srpski Miletic). Yet, they meet and marry thousands of miles away from where they were born? Did they know each other prior or at least did their families know each other in the old country? Or is it just a big coincidence?

I’ll probably never know and I will always have the question. However, because their immigration was separated by 4 years I would guess that they did not know each other. Their families may have known each other in the ‘old country’ but they could have just met in the states as immigrants tended to settle in like areas when coming to the states.

If you see a connection or information that I am missing please leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by and keep diggin’ for that family,

Chris

 

1."New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," online images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7488 : accessed 1 Oct 2013), manifest, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, 3 August 1905, Passenger #22, Pakledinac Johann.

Where Did This Come From? Hinterhauser Bible?

I can add to the string of mistakes I’ve made when I was a very young and inexperienced genealogist. The document to the right is a scan out of a Hinterhauser family bible (transcription below). At least that is what I remember. See, although I have the scan saved on my computer I have nothing that tells me when I got it or from whom I got it.

I do remember that it was very early in my family history journey, probably about 2002. I know that it was the first big break-through of my search for Hinterhausers. Since I was in Germany at the time, I asked a co-worker to look at it and they explained the words to me and also that it looked to come from a Familienbuch or Ortssippenbuch. They helped me research a little which led me to finding these families in German records from the Batschka region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and even back to the original German villages of our Hinterhauser line and also the most distant relatives I have found, my 6th Great Grandparents – Josef and Magdalena (Schwahl) Morlock. These are the parents of Katharina Morlock who are not listed on the bible page.

This is where this page fits into our family:

No 1841 marriage is Augustine Hinterhauser to Rosalia Csihas – these are my 2nd Great Grandparents. Their son, listed underneath them, Augustine is the brother of my Great Grandmother, Anna Maria (Hinterhauser) Pakledinaz. I have written about her in a couple different posts: Ancestor Appreciation and also on the Hinterhauser Page/Post.

This mystery page was very critical to my early search but due to my poor record keeping and just plain inexperience, I do not know exactly where it came from. 

My goal in sharing this is to 1) find out if I can locate some cousins who may even have the bible where this was written and 2) give a bit of advice to anyone just starting out – Document…Document…Document everything about everything you receive in your journey.

So, do I have any cousins out there that may have seen this page before? Maybe you have this mystery bible in your possession? Please leave a comment if you have any relation to these lines.

Thanks for stopping by and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Here is the transcription and translation of that document:

Page 326

No. 1833 Hinterhauser Martin Son of H(interhauser). Martin & Anna Marie Scheuer 1

Katharina Morlock

____________

Son Of

No. 1834 Hinterhauser Martin & Katharina Morlock 2

Hinterhauser Josef & Frau Anna Teppert daughter of Andreas Tep. Susan Krembacher

Son of

No. 1835 Hinterhauser Josef & Anna Teppert 3

Hinterhauser Philippe Frau Madgalena Kehl daughter Andreas Keho Eva Umlau

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_____________

Page 327 Son of

No 1837 Hintehauser Philipp & frau Magdalena Kehl 4

Hinterhauser Augustine Frau Rosalia Csihas daughter Josef C(sihas). Anna Maria Piller

______________

Son of

No 1841 Hinterhauser Augustine & Frau Rosalia Csihas 5

Hinterhauser Augustine Frau Elisabeth Stoos daughter Johann Stoos ?

Son of

Hinterhauser Augustine & Elizabeth Stohr

No 6 Josef Hinterhauser 6

This Day in History–14 Sept

1935 - Joseph Lucas married Teresa Barbara Pakledinaz. These are my maternal grandparents.

More about them and their lines in these posts:

• Surname Saturday - Lucas and Luksys
• Surname Saturday - Hinterhauser (Teresa's Maternal line)
• Surname Saturday - Pakledinaz Pakledinac
• Wordless Wednesday - Joseph and Elizabeth
• Military Monday - Memorial Day - Pfc Joseph Lucas

1962 – Happy Birthday to my Big Brother, Bill, veteran of the US Navy (although he has put a few pounds on since this picture was taken).

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Rookie Mistake–Source Documentation

I am working on my genealogical documentation, as stated in my previous posts: A New Start and also Slow and Easy. I have run into yet another snag in my previous research and documentation, that if done correctly the first time, would have saved much time now.

The current problem is within the marriage of John and Anna Pakledinaz (my great grandparents). It is not that I do not know when or where they were married, I am confident I know this information. They were married on 15 January 1910 in Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio. The problem is with my documentation of this information. Here is a list of my sources/information:

1. Back in 2000, I wrote to the Youngstown Diocese to find out about St. Joseph Church and the marriage record of John and Anna. The Chancellor wrote back that same day saying the church does not exist anymore but she has the records in her office. She gave me the information I requested, here is exactly what she wrote: "There is a marriage record for Pakledinaz/Hinterhauser. Although the record is difficult to read, as it was written in cursive Latin and fountain pen, it looks like the name is Joannes(John) Hinterhausen and Annam (Ann or Anna) Pakledinaz. The witnesses were Adam Willie and P_____ (unreadable) Flagger. January 15, 1910: married by Rev. J. W. Klute. The parents' names are not listed.” NOTE: The last names are reversed for John and Anna?  
2. The day after that email traffic, the Chancellor typed and certified a Certificate of Marriage with the seal of the Chancellery and sent it to me. (I only have the certificate, I did not keep the envelop or anything else she may have sent with it). (Again the last names are reversed for John and Anna).
3. I also have another Marriage Certificate in my possession, although this is a copy. This is a certificate obtained May 7, 1951. This lists the same information but does not reverse the last names and does list the name of John and Anna's parents (Score). It also says on the lower left corner, "Vol 1 Page 133.

What I have is pretty good evidence to prove the marriage of John and Anna on 15 January 1910 in Youngstown. However, here are the questions I have when trying to put these sources into my database and my rookie mistakes when I got these sources.

For #2, I do not know if any other information came with the certificate since I did not keep the envelope. I also do not know which type of source was used to compile the information although it sounds like the church book as was mentioned in #1 above. I would much rather have a photo or copy of the original church book, then I can evaluate what was written for myself and see if the names were actually reversed in the book or was it a mistake of the Chancellor who gave me the information.

For #3, where did this information come from, where did it originate? Where did I get it from? This was obtained in 1951 and it is singed by a Reverend, so I'm guessing that it came from church records. But if this did come from the church records then why did it contain the parents names and #2 did not? I'm guessing that the vol 1 page 133 is showing the book it came from, but who has that book? If the Chancellor does then why does it not have the parents name again? Maybe this record is from the official court records for the marriage and the vol 1 page 133 refers to their documentation at the courts?

All these questions frustrate me because most could be answered if I would have kept better record of my sources. This is what I am learning:

1. It is not enough to document your source information, you must also know where that source came from. Ask the questions! I could have asked the chancellor’s office in the email chain about #1 and 2 but I did not.
2. When you receive a copy of a source from someone else, whether it be in the mail or in email or in person, keep everything that accompanied that source - the envelope , the original email and all accompanied emails. Then make a note of everything that came with it and from whom you received it so you do not question yourself later, as I am doing now.

One of the reasons that I started this project, which I call my restart, is to find instances just as I am describing. I've learned a lot over the last several years about research and documentation, stuff that I wish I knew back in 2000 when I made these mistakes. But, I was a rookie way back then and I'm sure I'm going to find a lot more just like this.

What kind of rookie mistakes have you found in your own research? Have you fixed them? Leave a comment and tell us about them so we can all learn from each others mistakes.

I hope that someone can learn from my mistake here and not repeat it. Thanks for reading and keep diggin' for that family.

Chris

Note: I have written of John and Anna a couple other times, you can read them in these posts: Surname Saturday - Paklendinaz - Pakledinac and Pakledinac- Irish? and also Ancestor Appreciation Day: My Immigrant Ancestors.

Pakledinac-IRISH? What to do with Disproven Info!

I did not think Pakledinac sounded like an Irish name? Nor does Hinterhauser sound Irish. But to my surprise, in the 1930 Census, John Pakledinaz and his wife Anna (Hinterhauser) were born in Ireland and actually spoke Irish. Hmmm??

Obviously this is a mistake. Unless the enumerator was drinking a little too much when they passed by the Pakledinaz household that day, I am chalking this information up as false probably due to a communication gap – John and Anna were not native English speakers and probably had hard accents.

I know it is false because many other sources have John from Croatia (the now term) where his native tongue was Croatian and Anna from Austria-Hungary where her native tongue was German.

So, what to do with this information?

I could basically ignore it and just act like it isn’t there; that may be the easiest thing. But, what of future researchers who get my information? If I do not mention this and basically do nothing with the information then couldn’t that discredit anything else I have. It would be like I missed it – then that would bring the question of what else have I missed.

Document and move on!

The correct thing to do, as far as I am concerned, is to document the information within your database and list your analysis as to why this is false. I use Legacy Family Tree so I use the advice I got from Geoff Rasmussen on the Legacy Family Tree website. I will add events for both John and Anna for Nationality and Language Spoken but I will edit those events and put Disproven Nationality and Disproven Language Spoken (see screenshot below).  I will then add my analysis or

reasons for why this information is false.This also goes on to show how to record conflicting and alternate information.

Whichever database or software you are using to record your family research may have a different way of recording disproven information but the important thing is that the information is recorded in your research.

How do you record disproven or alternate information?

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Surname Saturday–Hinterhauser

 

The Hinterhauser name comes to us from Germany. Martin Hinterhauser, my 5th Great Grandfather, was born on 9 February 1751 in Kartung-Sinzheim, Schwarzwald, Baden. This little village is located off Autobahn 5 in Germany, just south of Karlsruhe in the current German State of Baden-Württemberg.

Martin is one of our Immigrant Ancestors. In 1786, Martin and his 1st wife, Franziska Binder, traveled down the Danube river where they stopped in Vienna on 22 May. Martin said he was a peasant farmer and carpenter, he was 35 years old and a Catholic. He was on his way to the Batschka region of Hungary, to a town called Fillopowa, which is now called Backi Gracac and located in Serbia.

It is in Filipowa that Franziska must have died as Martin married my 5th Great Grandmother, Katharina Morlock on 24 April 1787. They moved to the village of Brestowatz, not far away from Filipowa sometime around 1789 and this is where Martin died on 27 September 1793.

The next few generations of Hinterhauser's would move around the region between the villages of Fillipowa, Brestowatz, Weprowatz until my 3rd Great Grandparents, Phillipp and Magdalena Hinterhauser settled in the village of Milititsch. It is here that our next immigrant ancestor would be born.

Anna Maria Hinterhauser, born 28 February 1890 in Milititsch, Batschka, Austro-Hungarian Empire. She is my Great Grandmother and wife of John Pakledinaz. Anna, at the young age of 19, would risk everything to find a new life in America. She made her way across Europe to the port of Le Havre, France and boarded the S.S. Mexico on 7 August 1909.

She arrived at Ellis Island on 20 Aug 1909. She paid her own passage and had $15 in her possession at the time and said she was a servant. She said she was traveling to Trenton, NJ to join her cousin. Not sure if this is an error at Ellis Island but Anna's brother, Adam, was already living in Youngstown, Ohio and this is where Anna found herself. Her and John met through Adam and were married just five months after Anna's arrival in America.

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.

Chris

Surname Saturday–Pakledinaz–Pakledinac

Pakledinaz joins the family as my maternal great grandfather, John Pakledinaz. John is one of our immigrant ancestors and it seems that he hails from the town of Tompojevci, which is located in Croatia now, where he was born 16 March 1885. He emigrated from there back in August of 1905 on board the SS Kaiser Wilhelm. He said he was joining his cousin, Jakob Pakledinaz, in Youngstown, Ohio.
Youngstown is where he met and married my great grandmother, Anna Hinterhauser in 1910. They moved to the Detroit area sometime between 1912 and 1914 where they would live out their life.
Not much is known of the Pakledinaz family prior to John. I was able to get a record of a baptism from the church records near Tompojevci, which I am pretty sure belongs to our John. And this gives me his parents names: Markus Pakledinac and Elizabetha Prankovic. He has the cousin, mentioned earlier and he also had a brother, Joseph (Josip). Joseph changed their name to Parker sometime between 1910 and 1920 and in 1920 they lived in Ohio, this is where I lost most of the family. I know that their daughter, Cecelia Mathis moved to Detroit at some point. I know this because in 1957 she was assaulted on Wayburn street in Detroit. She died a couple of days later from the wounds received in the assault - her assailants got away with a whole $2. 

The cousin that John came to join is Jack (Jakob) Pakledinaz, but none of the family remembers there being a Jack. He and his family also lived in Ohio and emigrated from Tompojevci around 1901. 
There is one burning question and story within this family. One of John's daughters had heard that the family, back in Croatia, owned vineyards. Joe, John's brother, was supposed to be taking care of those. However, the story goes that Joe sold all the vineyards and kept the money, which caused, understandably, some rift within the family. 
We may never know if this story is true or anything further of the Pakledinaz family as that part of Croatia was ravaged by the wars in the Balkans. From what I have been told of the records for the area, most were destroyed during the war. I have some information on other Pakledinac's from the same are in Croatia but just do not know how they fit in. I am lucky to have the birth and baptism records I found and if this is all I can get, then I am happy. However, it will not stop me from searching and maybe we can uncover clues which will lead to more discoveries of this family.
What direct family line has given you the most trouble? What did you do to help breakdown those foreign brick walls?
Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ for that family.
Chris

Technorati Tags: Pakledinaz,Pakledinac,Family History,Genealogy,Surname Saturday,Immigrant,Immigrants,Hinterhauser

Ancestor Appreciation Day: My Immigrant Ancestors

Today is Ancestor Appreciation Day and I knew right away which ancestors I wanted to show my appreciation for, I only wish I could do it in person. I would most like to show my appreciation for the immigrant ancestors in my family for without them, me and my family would not be enjoying the American dream.

When I started this family history journey many years ago I had no idea where I came from, just like most of you probably. I was an American and assumed my ancestors were also. Boy, was I every mistaken.

The biggest surprise, so far, in this quest is finding out that my family did not exist in the United States before 1900. All of my immigrant ancestors emigrated from their homes between 1904 and 1926. Even more surprising to me was that these ancestors aren’t even that distant; they are my grandparents and great-grandparents and one set of 2nd-great-grandparents.

Let me introduce to you those ancestors that I most appreciate; my immigrant ancestors.

Shaw's

• Edward Barker Shaw and Hannah Shirt – My 2nd great grandparents. Edward emigrated to Canada about 1882 from Lynby, Nottingham, England. Hannah joined him about a year later with their children, one of which was my great-grandfather, George Edward Shaw. George’s son, my grandfather, is another immigrant ancestor.

 

• George Howard Shaw – My Grandfather. George emigrated from Toronto Canada to Detroit in 1926. This is where he met and married my grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Jane Canter (Cantelo) in 1930.

 

 

Canters (Cantelo)

• William Cantelo and Selina Ann John – My great-grandparents. William and Selina emigrated from Caerphilly, Wales in 1910 and my grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Jane Canter (Cantelo) was with them; she was only 3 years old at the time.

Lucas (Luksys)

• Roman Luksys and Catherine Paskruba – My great-grandparents. Roman and Catherine emigrated from Poland about 1904 and settled in Massachusetts, where my grandfather Joseph Lucas was born. They then moved on to Michigan about 1912 and somewhere along the way they also changed their name from Luksys to Lucas. (I do not have a picture of them but hope to someday link up with some family on this side who may have a photo to share with me.)

Pakledinaz (Pakledinac)

• John Michael Pakledinaz – My great-grandfather. John was born in Tompojevci, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary on 16 Mar 1885. He emigrated from there to Youngstown, Ohio in 1905 where he joined his cousin, Jakob Pakledinac. This is where he met and married my great-grandmother, Anna Hinterhauser.

Hinterhauser

• Anna Maria Hinterhauser – my great-grandmother. She is probably the ancestor I look up to the most as she made the immigration journey alone when she was only 19 years old. Anna was born in the small village of Milititsch, Austria-Hungary in 1890. She packed up everything and left for the United States in 1909. She ended up in Youngstown, Ohio and married John (above) less than a year later. They moved to the Detroit area sometime in 1912/13.

I will never know the true reasons why each of them decided to make the long voyage across the ocean in such horrid conditions. However, I would guess it was to give themselves and their families a better life, living the American Dream.

I wish each of them were here today so I could thank them for their sacrifices so many years ago. For if it were not for their spirit and determination then I would not be living the American Dream with my family. Nothing I can say or write can truly express the gratitude and admiration I have for each of them. So, Grandma and Grandpa Shaw, Canter,  Lucas, and Pakledinaz – Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for giving this to me.

What ancestors are you most appreciative of? Leave your thoughts in the comments or make a post of your own.

Thanks for reading and keep diggin’ up that family.

Chris

Thank you to Thomas MacEntee and his Genealogy Blog Editorial Calendar for making me aware of this day.

Technorati Tags: Family History,Genealogy,Ancestry,Immigrants,Immigration,Emigration

This Day in History–26 May

My 7th Great Grandmother, Anna Margaretha Lutz was born in Weselberg, Germany on 26 May 1727.

Anna married my 7th Great Grandfather, Michael Deppert, on 23 Nov 1745 in Horbach, Germany.

I visited Horbach in 2005 and took the video in which you can see the church still standing.

Video of Horbach, Germany taken in 2005 by Chris (Author)

Anna and Michael are important to our family line as they are also one of the immigrant families in my line. They immigrated to Boglar, currently located in Hungary, between 1764 and 1765. The family stayed in this area until my Great Grandmother, Anna Maria Hinterhauser came to the states on 20 Aug 1909. She would eventually marry my Great Grandfather, John Michael Pakledinaz, on 15 Jan 1910 in Youngstown, Ohio. John was another immigrant, coming from modern day Croatia on 3 Aug 1905.

Thanks for taking a look and keep diggin for family.

Chris

 

P.S. I want to thank Blundering Blindly Backwards blog for the idea to have a ‘this day in history’ post.

Technorati Tags: Immigrant,Family History,Genealogy