Research, Classes, and Writing!

What a crazy couple of weeks! It's been a great time, but unfortunately it's meant that I haven't written much for this blog. Are you wondering what I've been up to? Well, regardless... you're going to find out! First of all, I've gotten quite excited about my involvement in writing for The In-Depth Genealogist digi-mag. I'm their "Jewish Genealogy" writer and it's really been great to be able to focus on that aspect of my own research and learning. I really hope that as time goes on I am able to really help some newbies with their research. Or even point out some new sources to those who have been doing Jewish genealogy research for a while. With my participation as a writer for the digi-mag I'm really hoping that with time I will become MORE prolific with my writing. I've always harbored a dream of writing a book... and if it happens to be about my family history research- all the better!

Regardless, as I get to know the bloggers I am working with I find myself more and more energized. In particular, Stephanie & Terri who are the leads on IDG are really quite inspirational women. I've known Stephanie about 4-5 months now and must say that I don't know how she handles all that she does. She works from home as an editor, is taking the ProGen course, home schools her daughter, maintains her own blog/ website, and somehow is starting IDG which is a booming project. Terri is equally amazing- though I don't know her quite as well as Stephanie. She's a mom, travel agent, blogger, and active with IDG starting up. These ladies must not sleep or something. What started as a monthly newsletter has turned into an entire website, community, digi-mag, and who knows what else! I'm loving it! Little did I know when I made the suggested for an alternate title of the newsletter to be "Depth of Field" that it would turn into The In-Depth Genealogist. Literally that day they checked to see if the domain, facebook, and twitter name was available. It was... so in the span of just a few days things were rolling. I'm really impressed and excited to be involved. Please take a moment to pop in and see what we're up to. Regardless of whether you are a professional genealogist or doing it for your own family-- there are some great resources and people to get to know! After all, their mission is: The In-Depth Genealogist is a digital newsletter that contributes to the advancement of all genealogists.

What else have I been up to? Well, I attended two genealogy workshops on April 21st and learned about probate records and also about African American genealogy research. Great speakers! I wrote a blog post for IDG about it and really was inspired to kick it into gear on my research! I plan to use what I learned about probate records next week when I travel with my mom up to South Bend, Indiana (where most of our relatives live). I've requested probate records for my Engel family. I'm not sure what I'll find, but I'm hopeful that there will be a nugget or two of interest in there. I've also been in contact with the South Bend Jewish Historical Society. I'm not sure if they will have much about the Engels, but I'm hopeful. I also plan to meet with some relatives and ask some questions that have been nagging me. I'll see my dad, brother, and sister-in-law while I'm up there too. It will be an action packed couple of days, but energizing in their own way.

Afterwards, I'll drive back to Cincinnati to attend the National Genealogical Society Conference! I'll be staying with Stephanie and several other great women during the conference. I can hardly wait! Did you know they have a conference app for your smartphone? I downloaded it to my Droid and it's great. I've picked out my schedule and know I'll put it to good use. Also, I got a great surprise last week when I found out that I will get to attend Maureen Taylor's half-day workshop! She writes a column for Family Tree Magazine called The Photo Detective. She's well versed in tracking down time-periods and figuring out locations where a photo may have been taken. I can't wait to learn from her!

I've also made a few field trips to libraries to do some research.  Since the Ohio Genealogical Society Library is just 40 minutes up the road from me; I decided to spend a few hours researching.  While there I looked through their obituary collection and also the books that they had on Maine.  I'm still puzzling through some connections on the Morse side and found some valuable books.  Unfortunately they only had three of the four volumes that I needed.  I'll have to hunt around and see where I can take a look at the last one.  Of course most of my people were in that last volume.  Doh!

I also had the opportunity to hang out with my Central Ohio Geneablogger pals and do some 1940 Census indexing!  I managed to do 48 of the 50 states over the past few weeks.  Unfortunately I did not get Utah or Idaho!  It was a fun exercise and now I am focusing on my own states of interest- Michigan and Arkansas.  I can't wait for it to be done so I can finally track down some more relatives.

On this past Saturday I took a trip to Ohio State's Thompson Library to help out a connection on JewishGen.  This guy had put a request out on the message boards asking if someone could do a look-up for him.  I figured that since I was an alum and had not been to the library since the remodel that I could certainly help him out.  The library is beautiful and state of the art (for the first four floors now) and though I had some trouble tracking down the book initially I did end up getting it.  After I scanned the pages he requested I cropped and cleaned them up a bit and uploaded them to my Dropbox site.  Then I just shared the link with him so that he could copy them to his own computer.  Hopefully he got all that he needed.

While there I did some exploring and found a number of great collections on specific historical time periods. Their Civil War collection is pretty extensive.  The volumes of the official records was something that I was quite impressed by.  It had three full bookshelves.  If I'd done some homework ahead of time I could have spent hours looking through for my ancestors.  As it was, I decided to see what kind of Jewish books were in the library.  This turned out to be a good thing because I'd been hunting for a connection between some names that I'd found for my Krueger family and the books on Jewish given names was quite helpful.

What I loved was when I found out what Myer's name meant...  "he shines".  It really made me smile as I thought of how my grandma spoke of her father in her biography.  I think he must have been named well.

With that, I leave you for now.  I have an article to write for the IDG on "Schlepping to the Cemetery" and I've much to do in preparation for my road trip at the end of the week. Have a great week!

What a Dream Revealed

Earlier this week I woke up with a dream that I'd had at the forefront of my mind.  For whatever reason, I was dreaming that I had looked at newspaper articles on the Fleckman family in Texas and found some great information.  I have heard stories from other genealogists about cases of genealogical serendipity, but had not really experienced it myself.  Usually it is a tale of wandering a cemetery looking for a particular headstone for hours and then as they give up and give it one last look and there it is!  Whether it is “dumb luck” or our ancestors nudging us in the right direction- who knows.  Either way, it’s amazing to experience.
Before I started searching I decided to reread a bit of the biography my maternal grandmother had written about the Fleckman family. 

My knowledge of the ancestors starts only with my grandparents on my Mother's side, and that is more or less from surmises, calculations, and memories. As well as I can deduce, my great-grandmother on my grandmother's side had been married twice. Grandmother, Dora Fleckman Engle, was born in 1864 in Austria-Hungary probably in the same city as that of my grandfather, Samuel Hirsch Engel, born in 1861. Dora Fleckman must have had two brothers, Philip Sonefeld (changed to Sunfield) and a Fleckman brother. Daughter of Philip Sunfield was Blanche Sunfield Bernstein, who had two daughters, Helen and Amy. The Fleckman brother had grandchildren whom we met Herman, Isadore, and Jeanie when they visited. There are still Fleckmans in New Orleans who had come from Beaumont, Texas. I do not know if Grandpa Engel had any sisters or brothers.

With this in mind, I decided that I'd better hop on GenealogyBank and take a peak at what I could find.  I had hoped for maybe an obituary that would have some information about the Fleckman family and some of the contributions they may have made.  What a surprise this headline about  Adolph Fleckman….
 
I was shocked to learn that Adolph had lost his grasp on his life and had tried to hurt himself.  His family was keeping sharp objects away from him and trying to maintain the family’s paint and wallpaper business while keeping him confined in the home.  What a frightening experience for his family!
 















There were a number of additional articles in the newspapers of Beaumont, Texas including these.


Apparently this had occurred just a day before Adolph had tried to commit suicide.  Part of me wonders if he “lost his mind” or had inhaled too many paint fumes.  Impossible to know, but definitely interesting to ponder.



















Unfortunately, Adolph’s story is not a happy ending.



This scan of the paper is not the greatest quality, but from what I was able to piece together from it the funeral was held at his home. I can only imagine how his widow and children dealt with this sad turn of events.  Perhaps I will track down more news of this family with time.   I had no clue that this search would reveal such a shocking story in my family history.  And to think if I had not had that dream, I would never have known about this.

Technorati Tags: Newspaper,Beaumont,Texas,Fleckman

Wordless Wednesday- Inside the Family Shoe Store

My Genealogy Goals for 2012

Here are my much-anticipated genealogy goals for 2012.  Some are pretty general and some quite specific.  I am hopeful that I'll be able to go to all the conferences I've mentioned.  I think the main thing is to just set aside time each month to work on one or two of these goals.  I'll keep you posted as I accomplish each one.


General Genealogy Goals..


Education
1.  Attend the Ohio Genealogical Conference in Cleveland, Ohio (April 12-14).
2.  Attend the National Family History Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio (May 9-12).
3.  Visit the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana and learn about the resources available there.
4.  Finish the Advanced Jewish Genealogy Coursework that I began in November.
5.  Take the courses that I won last year through the Family Tree Magazine.
6.  Finish reading the Jewish Genealogy book that I bought last year.
7.  Finish the Methodology Part 1 course through the National Institute for Genealogical Studies.
8.  Attend the Midwestern Roots Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana (July 20-21).

Blogging
1.  Write at least once a week.
2.  Promote my blog on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+
3.  Invite others to write as guests on my blog.

Networking
1.  Continue to meet with the COG's (Central Ohio Geneabloggers).
2.  At all conferences make at least one new connection.
3.  Become active in the Licking County Genealogical Society and volunteer in the library.

Family Interviews
Interview the older generations in my family about their memories growing up.  Use pictures to spur stories about relatives that I know little about.  Record these interviews to digital audio for later reference and sharing.



Specific questions and goals for the family lines that I'd like to examine this year...

Morse
1.  Find out more about Margaret Maude Nolan Morse McGraw.  According to my Great Uncle, she was married once before she met George Frederick Morse.  Was Nolan her maiden name or was it her 1st married name?
2.  Who was George Frederick Morse married to before Margaret?  My Great Uncle said he was married once before... who was she?
3.  What happened to Arthur Morse's daughter Helena Irene?
4.  Join the Morse Family Genealogical Society.

Krueger
1.  Find out more about Alex/ Ellye Kriger in Belarus.  Was he born there or elsewhere?  When & where was he buried?
2.  Did Myer Krueger have any siblings?  According to my grandma there was a sister in Minnesota that married and had several children.  When did she come to America? 
3.  Where is Sophia/ Zipe Soloman Krueger buried and when did she die?  Where was she born?  Did she have any siblings besides Sarah Soloman Shon?

Engel
1.  Did Samuel Hirsch Engel have any siblings?  Did his family remain in Slovakia?
2.  Did Dora Fleckman Engel have any siblings?  Did her family stay in Slovakia?

Alford
1.  Find out more about my dad's half-brother Kenny and Kenny's mother.  Where did they end up & is Kenny still alive?
2.  Find out more about Naomi Reynolds Alford's family and whether any more pictures are "out there".
3.  Join the Alford Family Association.

Clifford
1.  Find out where in Ireland the Cliffords came from originally.

Wordless Wednesday

New Information Revealed in Slovakian Record

Earlier this year I began trying to find further information for my Engel family.   At first I focused primarily on passenger lists and immigration records for my great great grandparents, Dora Fleckman and Samuel Engel.  Below is a photograph of them on a ship with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

I knew that they had gotten married in 1887 in Hungary (now Slovakia) and had a son, Adolf, in January 1888.  After many fruitless searches I decided to peruse the databases on JewishGen for Engels and Fleckmans in the hopes that I’d find a clue.  Then it occurred to me to look for Adolf’s birth records or his immigration. 


Then I found this translation of Jewish Vital Records from Hungary on JewishGen.

Name	ENGEL, Adolf
Date of Birth	15-Jan-1888
Sex	M
Father	Hirsch / Samuel
Mother	Dora FLEKMAN
Town Registered / Record # Jaras Megye	Eperjes / 53-04  Local Gov’t Saros
Town Born	Eperjes
Comments	Father b. Hethars [Lipany] / Mother b. Sebes-Kellemes [Sarisske Luky]
Source (Film/Item)	LDS 1793514, Vol. 3

Such an exciting discovery!   I am planning on requesting the original microfilm from the local Family History Center so that I can see if there is more information than what they have translated.  Regardless, this is a great find and opens up all kinds of new places to look.  I plan on looking at further records for that area and also renewing efforts to find the records for their passage to America.  My journey continues!

Places of Note in Slovakia