Friday, January 22, 2010
Genealogy column: You may have had 'quinsy' and not even known it
An interesting article in the Citizen -Times. com page - the various words once used for diseases now known by other names
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100111/COLUMNISTS/301110010/Genealogy-column--You-may-have-had-%E2%80%98quinsy%5C--and-not-even-known-it
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100111/COLUMNISTS/301110010/Genealogy-column--You-may-have-had-%E2%80%98quinsy%5C--and-not-even-known-it
Follow Friday - Hoffman Family News Blog
Kick-Ass Genealogy’s blog is where I landed. I loved her article and sense of humor. I then followed her suggested sites and looked through all the digital scrapbooking ideas. Pretty cool stuff.
Today I went to Hobby Lobby, the local craft store. They had the Memory Mixer digital scrapbooking made easy program. It retailed for $35.00 but I had a 40% off coupon!
Here is what I made…….. 
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Wordless Wenesday; Mystery of Mathias Knaus solved!
I have blogged before on how it was driving me crazy that I could not find information on when Mathias died. No one in my family remembered when he died but knew where he was buried. I flew to New Jersey last year to visit my Mother and talked her into driving me to St. Peters cemetery in New Brunswick. There are no tombstone inscriptions for St. Peters.
We asked the “keeper of the books” where his tombstone was and he looked up Mathias’s name. He stated there was no death date listed but he was buried in the family plot. When we found the family plot Mathias’s name was not on the headstone just his parents. The “Keeper of the books” said his records state that it was a double headstone and Mathias’s name should have been on it.
Over the year I searched every record source I could. I had an idea of when he died but with no exact death date I could not afford the process of elimination through the New Jersey State Archives.
Last week I decided to see if the New Brunswick Public Library updated their online newspaper search. They did! I typed in Mathias Knaus and found a death notice, now I know when my great great grandfather died, 05 Jan 1916. I also found several articles on him, one in particular....a notice of a will executed to his wife…..I sent away for it yesterday!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Genealogy Course
Has anyone taken an online course for a certificate in Genealogy? If so,can you give me the name. I cannot find any Genealogy courses where I live.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
52 Weeks To Better Genealogy – Challenge 2
Go to your local public library branch again. Examine the local history, archives and/or special collections section. Ask a librarian if you don’t know if your library has special collections or where they are located. Be sure to check the reference section, too, as many of the newer and more valuable books are held in that area. If you have a genealogy blog, write about what you find in your library’s local history and special collections.
This challenge runs from Saturday, 9 January 2010 through Friday, 15 January 2010.
This challenge runs from Saturday, 9 January 2010 through Friday, 15 January 2010.
Years ago when I started searching my family tree I went to the local library to see what they had as far as genealogy research. Our library was very small with limited resources, most of their genealogy items were for local history. My family is mostly from New Jersey and Kansas. So, I did not find much help there.
About a few years ago the county built a new library, I have not been there yet, so I decided to go check it out. I asked my boss (I am married to him so asking was easy) if I could take an hour off to go to the library. I am glad I did, the new library is beautiful and huge! When I walked in the first thing I noticed was a separate room for genealogy research.
I went in and started to poke around, most of the items were for local research:
Local genealogy magazines
Local publication called the “Family Puzzlers Magazine”
Local obituaries
Local maps
History of the county, etc.
They did have resource information for:
The National Archives and Census
How to read the codes for the soundex, which was interesting
General “how to do general genealogy research”
Lineage societies
Emigration and Immigration
Mayflower descendants
Micro Film from Roots Web - limited to Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia
Online access to Ancestry Library edition, Heritage Quest and Newsbank
There were some books on the shelf from different states, I found one on NJ and one on early marriages in Kansas. I found some surnames that were in my tree and wrote the information down so I could research them when I got home. I was excited about that.
I was also surprised to see a book from Cyndi’s List, I have used her site before but I did not know she printed out a book!
There were also self help books on how to do genealogy research. Most were for in use only.
I then poked around the rest of the library to see what genealogy books I could check out. I found some more self help books and wrote down the names so I could read the reviews online, I decided I rather purchase them then worry when they would have to be returned.
Three hours later I returned to work.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Treasure Chest Thursday
Now that the holidays are over I am going to focus more on my family tree. I am going to go through my family history book and see what documents I am missing… birth, death, marriage certificates, obituaries, etc.
The one particular person who is driving me crazy is my great great grandfather Mathis Knaus. I have bogged about him before see link http://tracingdescendants-blog.blogspot.com/2009/11/madness-monday.html
I do not have a death date just an idea of when he died. I sent away what information I have on him to the N.J archives hopefully they will find a death record on him.
He is number one on my list.
Photo from " A Retrospect Of The Catholic Church Of St. John The Baptist, New Brunswick As A Souvenir Of The 60th Anniversary Of The Founding Of The Parish" 1865-1925
Mathias is #4
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Celebrity Genealogy - New PBS Series
Celebrity Genealogy - New PBS Series
Poet Elizabeth Alexander, who composed and read the poem at President Barack Obama's inauguration, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, writer Malcolm Gladwell, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, film director Mike Nichols, Her Royal Highness Queen Noor, actress Eva Longoria Parker, actress Meryl Streep and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi will all appear in a new PBS television series FACES OF AMERICA airing in the U.S. next month. Hosted by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. of African American Lives and African American Lives Two, Faces of America turns again to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 11 renowned Americans.
The Faces of America series airs Wednesdays, February 10 - March 3, 2010 from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on PBS and includes the following four episodes:
•"The Promise of America" (2/10) - Episode one explores the dynamic and shifting relationship America had with her new immigrants in the 20th century. World war tore apart families and sundered the fabric of many lives, but America beckoned and millions came. America was an ambivalent host, however. At its best, it was a place of refuge and salvation, as it was for film director Mike Nichols whose entire family escaped Nazi Germany. At its worst, it was a country that would imprison two generations of Japanese Americans, including the forebears of Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi. Viewers will discover the buoyant American optimism that shaped chance -- as in a single encounter that changed cellist Yo-Yo Ma's life forever -- to pave the road to success.
•"Becoming American" (2/17) - Episode two explores the many journeys to becoming American that defined the "Century of Immigration" (1820s-1924) and transformed the United States from a sleepy agrarian country into a booming industrial power. Stephen Colbert's Irish great-great-grandfather escaped poverty and religious oppression in Limerick and never looked back, whereas Mario Batali's great-grandfather, who left the place where his family had lived for centuries, struggled to survive in the quartz mines of Montana. Queen Noor's Syrian great-grandfather quickly found his footing in New York's first Arab-American community, while Kristi Yamaguchi's grandfather faced exclusionary laws and racially defined barriers to citizenship for decades. The obstacles, short cuts, tragedies and successes encountered or created by the guests' ancestors from around the world reveal the complexity of our shared history and identity as Americans.
• "Making America" (2/24) - Episode three tells the story of the peopling of the New World, how land came to define the settling and identity of America and how the guests' ancestors were part of this history. Viewers learn of Meryl Streep's eighth great-grandfather who fought in Metacom's War; records of a land dispute in Spain that forced Eva Longoria Parker's ancestors to leave for the New World in 1603; and Yo-Yo Ma's Chinese genealogy, which gives insights into the identity that Ma has longed for his whole life.
•"The Record Within" (3/3) - Episode four takes up the ancestor search where the historical record leaves off and links the guests' distinctive family histories to the broader history of "the family of man." Combining the documented stories of some of the guests' last known ancestors with DNA evidence, the series travels backward through time to reveal both distant relatives and surprising shared ancestral connections. Elizabeth Alexander learns that she is a direct descendent of Charlemagne and that her paternal roots are not only European, but Jewish. Meryl Streep and Mike Nichols discover that they are distant cousins, as do Yo-Yo Ma and Eva Longoria Parker. Interwoven with these stories and others is the journey of the host, Henry Louis Gates, as he, his father and brother undertake a historic project to have their entire genomes mapped, thereby learning everything they possibly can about their own family. This episode offers a compelling and thought-provoking meditation on the importance of ancestry, the meaning of family and the role of both in creating identity.
For those of you who can't wait for the show to air, there are a number of guest teasers online at YouTube:
Mario Batali - What Mario knows about his family history. "I know that my great grandfather, my maternal grandfather's side, Canadian, French Canadian, his last name was La Framboise, which is of course the raspberry, which is a great humor when you're in France." "We were always surrounded by family growing up." He wondered why his ancestors left Italy as early as they did.
Stephen Colbert - Colbert on the family stories he heard growing up (his father and mother's sides). The Colberts were from southern Illinios, were holy rollers and horse thieves and ran a ferry in Canada on a river. His mothers father came over from Ross Common to work on the Erie Canal.
Eva Longoria - She calls herself a "Texican", and speaks on growing up in Texas, and her family's hispanic traditions.
Dr. Oz - Shares stories told by his grandmother in Istanbul, Turkey, including how his grandparents came to be married so that his grandfather could avoid future mobilization in the Turkish Army.
Kristi Yamaguchi - Shares what she heard from her parents growing up about her Japanese-American grandparents and their time in the WWII internment camps.
Other online teasers can be found as well on the Faces of America channel on YouTube.
By Kimberly Powell, About.com Guide to Genealogy
Poet Elizabeth Alexander, who composed and read the poem at President Barack Obama's inauguration, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, writer Malcolm Gladwell, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, film director Mike Nichols, Her Royal Highness Queen Noor, actress Eva Longoria Parker, actress Meryl Streep and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi will all appear in a new PBS television series FACES OF AMERICA airing in the U.S. next month. Hosted by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. of African American Lives and African American Lives Two, Faces of America turns again to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 11 renowned Americans.
The Faces of America series airs Wednesdays, February 10 - March 3, 2010 from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on PBS and includes the following four episodes:
•"The Promise of America" (2/10) - Episode one explores the dynamic and shifting relationship America had with her new immigrants in the 20th century. World war tore apart families and sundered the fabric of many lives, but America beckoned and millions came. America was an ambivalent host, however. At its best, it was a place of refuge and salvation, as it was for film director Mike Nichols whose entire family escaped Nazi Germany. At its worst, it was a country that would imprison two generations of Japanese Americans, including the forebears of Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi. Viewers will discover the buoyant American optimism that shaped chance -- as in a single encounter that changed cellist Yo-Yo Ma's life forever -- to pave the road to success.
•"Becoming American" (2/17) - Episode two explores the many journeys to becoming American that defined the "Century of Immigration" (1820s-1924) and transformed the United States from a sleepy agrarian country into a booming industrial power. Stephen Colbert's Irish great-great-grandfather escaped poverty and religious oppression in Limerick and never looked back, whereas Mario Batali's great-grandfather, who left the place where his family had lived for centuries, struggled to survive in the quartz mines of Montana. Queen Noor's Syrian great-grandfather quickly found his footing in New York's first Arab-American community, while Kristi Yamaguchi's grandfather faced exclusionary laws and racially defined barriers to citizenship for decades. The obstacles, short cuts, tragedies and successes encountered or created by the guests' ancestors from around the world reveal the complexity of our shared history and identity as Americans.
• "Making America" (2/24) - Episode three tells the story of the peopling of the New World, how land came to define the settling and identity of America and how the guests' ancestors were part of this history. Viewers learn of Meryl Streep's eighth great-grandfather who fought in Metacom's War; records of a land dispute in Spain that forced Eva Longoria Parker's ancestors to leave for the New World in 1603; and Yo-Yo Ma's Chinese genealogy, which gives insights into the identity that Ma has longed for his whole life.
•"The Record Within" (3/3) - Episode four takes up the ancestor search where the historical record leaves off and links the guests' distinctive family histories to the broader history of "the family of man." Combining the documented stories of some of the guests' last known ancestors with DNA evidence, the series travels backward through time to reveal both distant relatives and surprising shared ancestral connections. Elizabeth Alexander learns that she is a direct descendent of Charlemagne and that her paternal roots are not only European, but Jewish. Meryl Streep and Mike Nichols discover that they are distant cousins, as do Yo-Yo Ma and Eva Longoria Parker. Interwoven with these stories and others is the journey of the host, Henry Louis Gates, as he, his father and brother undertake a historic project to have their entire genomes mapped, thereby learning everything they possibly can about their own family. This episode offers a compelling and thought-provoking meditation on the importance of ancestry, the meaning of family and the role of both in creating identity.
For those of you who can't wait for the show to air, there are a number of guest teasers online at YouTube:
Mario Batali - What Mario knows about his family history. "I know that my great grandfather, my maternal grandfather's side, Canadian, French Canadian, his last name was La Framboise, which is of course the raspberry, which is a great humor when you're in France." "We were always surrounded by family growing up." He wondered why his ancestors left Italy as early as they did.
Stephen Colbert - Colbert on the family stories he heard growing up (his father and mother's sides). The Colberts were from southern Illinios, were holy rollers and horse thieves and ran a ferry in Canada on a river. His mothers father came over from Ross Common to work on the Erie Canal.
Eva Longoria - She calls herself a "Texican", and speaks on growing up in Texas, and her family's hispanic traditions.
Dr. Oz - Shares stories told by his grandmother in Istanbul, Turkey, including how his grandparents came to be married so that his grandfather could avoid future mobilization in the Turkish Army.
Kristi Yamaguchi - Shares what she heard from her parents growing up about her Japanese-American grandparents and their time in the WWII internment camps.
Other online teasers can be found as well on the Faces of America channel on YouTube.
By Kimberly Powell, About.com Guide to Genealogy
The Generations Project
The Generations Project is a new reality series that helps those who have questions about their family history-investigate their own identities by walking in the shoes of their ancestors. As they undertake these journeys, they often uncover the hidden identities in family pasts, and come to see that in many cases the best way to know who you are is to know who you came from.
Watch a preview here:
http://www.byub.org/thegenerationsproject/
Watch a preview here:
http://www.byub.org/thegenerationsproject/
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Tombstone Tuesday
My Great Grandparents:
Johann & Mary Krohn
Johann emigrated from Hungary with his wife Maria (Mary)and Maria's brother Albert Bruck
Departed from Bremen Germany on 4 March 1905 and arrived in the United States, at the port of New York on the 21 of March 1905, on the vessel Main
Monday, January 4, 2010
PBS Genealogy Show
PBS says its new show "Faces of America" uses the latest tools in genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 11 renowned Americans.
The series is to air Wednesdays from Feb. 10-March 3. Harvard scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. will be the show's host.
"Looking to the wider immigrant experience, Professor Gates unravels the American tapestry, following the threads of his guests' lives back to their origins around the globe. Along the way, the many stories he uncovers -- of displacement and homecoming, of material success and dispossession, of assimilation and discrimination -- illuminate the American experience," PBS said in a release this week.
"Professor Gates's guests include poet Elizabeth Alexander, who composed and read the poem at President Barack Obama's inauguration, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, writer Malcolm Gladwell, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, film director Mike Nichols, Her Royal Highness Queen Noor, actress Eva Longoria, actress Meryl Streep and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi."
The series is to air Wednesdays from Feb. 10-March 3. Harvard scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. will be the show's host.
"Looking to the wider immigrant experience, Professor Gates unravels the American tapestry, following the threads of his guests' lives back to their origins around the globe. Along the way, the many stories he uncovers -- of displacement and homecoming, of material success and dispossession, of assimilation and discrimination -- illuminate the American experience," PBS said in a release this week.
"Professor Gates's guests include poet Elizabeth Alexander, who composed and read the poem at President Barack Obama's inauguration, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, writer Malcolm Gladwell, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, film director Mike Nichols, Her Royal Highness Queen Noor, actress Eva Longoria, actress Meryl Streep and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi."
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