Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

[leswp1]

Surprising you can't find a border crossing. My folk were back and forth a bunch. Ontario, NB, NS, ALberta. Records from early 1900s

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Since this thread is short, I did a little reading back and found my old posts about the German/French/Canadian quandary on my mom's side. Before starting my dad's side, I built my mom's side out again, and I found records which corroborate two things:

1. That part of my mom's family were farmers from SW Ontario. GG grandpa was born in Hawksville and GG grandma was born in Preston; they both died in Michigan, so at some point they emigrated from Canada

2. GG grandpa's parents arrived in Canada from the Alsace region at some point, and one of GG grandma's grandmothers (so GGGG grandma) was born in Metz and died in Ontario. Thus, the French/German mix-up. Their last names, however, are very German (Ball, Runstedler, Steffler)

[leswp1]

Cool!
The name change thing is an adventure. My GGF changed his name at least 4 times. He had 2 last names and 4 first names. Was lucky to find that out- One of our Swedish relatives contacted me about my great Aunt and that is how we found out he had different names.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

I finally buckled down on tracing my dad's family after years of saying I wanted to do it. My mom's tree is already very well documented thanks to one of her uncles.

Made very good progress so far on the greats, and even the great-greats. The trail gets pretty cold after the 2nd-degree greats, which is to be expected when they arrived from rural Slovakia (then Austria-Hungary), where public records were basically non-existent and/or were lost during the wars. I was probably lucky to find a 1903 Pennsylvania marriage cert for my great-great grandfather and grandmother which listed both their parents' names, but good luck tracking down whatever muddy Carpathian village the old family farm was located near.

As for early 20th century public records in the US, it's pretty funny to see how clerks Anglicized our ancestors' Slavic surnames. For example, my great-great grandmother went from Janusik --> Yanosik (on her marriage cert) --> Yansick/Yonsick --> Johnsick (on great-grandpa's marriage cert in Michigan) in the space of about 30 years.

[LynahFan]

I had a fun discussion with my Mom about the 1930 Census when it came out. She had always said her grandpa was a "Banker." The Census listed his profession as "Laborer." Well, yes, she said. That was because the flood wiped him out.

The flood was in 1936.

I was really hoping that the answer was going to be that he specialized in digging the banks of the ditches.

[Kepler]

:-D

a

I had a fun discussion with my Mom about the 1930 Census when it came out. She had always said her grandpa was a "Banker." The Census listed his profession as "Laborer." Well, yes, she said. That was because the flood wiped him out.

The flood was in 1936.

[Ralph Baer]

What did they list your profession as? :-)

:-D

a

[Kepler]

As probably most people who read this thread know, the 1950 US census was made public yesterday. This is the first one where I am listed. I just found myself, my parents, both sets of grandparents, my father's brother, my mother's sister, the two latter people's spouses, and my two cousins who were alive at the time. As of the moment the only way to look for people is at the National Archives site.

What did they list your profession as? :-)

[Ralph Baer]

As probably most people who read this thread know, the 1950 US census was made public yesterday. This is the first one where I am listed. I just found myself, my parents, both sets of grandparents, my father's brother, my mother's sister, the two latter people's spouses, and my two cousins who were alive at the time. As of the moment the only way to look for people is at the National Archives site.

[Ralph Baer]

I work with a Baer about 45 minutes south of Karlsruhe. I'm curious if she knows the history of her family and I'm sure it's intertwined somewhere.

If she is not of Jewish ancestry, it is not the same family. The name was/is very common among both Jews and Christians in the area. I have been told that at one time there were a lot of bears in the Schwarzwald and because of that the name was used by many people. It was one of the ten most common names used by Jews in Baden.

[cF[Authentic]]

Earlier this month, I learned that my 4th-great-grandfather Nathan Marx, the father of my ancestor Marx (Mordechai) Nathan who adopted the family name B?r (Baer) in 1809, received Schutz (the rights to live in a specific place, marry, have a family, and of course pay taxes) in 1752 for the town of Malsch. Malsch was at that time in the Markgrafschaft (Margraviate of) Baden-Baden and is now in the Landkreis (county of) Karlsruhe in Baden-W?rttemberg, Germany. My paternal line ancestors through my great-grandfather Nathan Baer in 1846 were all born in Malsch. I learned that he was from Obergrombach, then in the Hochstift (Catholic Church lands of) Speyer (new information) and now also in the Landkreis Karlsruhe. He was engaged to marry a daughter of Abraham of Malsch (also new information, but guessed due to naming patterns).

It was not difficult then to locate information about his father Mordechai (Mordche) Leser in Obergrombach and father-in-law Abraham Isaac in Malsch. This is Mordechai’s gravestone https://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/r....asp?key=93181 which I asked to have translated. It was one of about 1800 out of 2300 stones removed in the Nazi era, about 700 of which were re-erected in 1992. This particular one was cut approximately square, probably to be used for paving.

I work with a Baer about 45 minutes south of Karlsruhe. I'm curious if she knows the history of her family and I'm sure it's intertwined somewhere.

[Ralph Baer]

Earlier this month, I learned that my 4th-great-grandfather Nathan Marx, the father of my ancestor Marx (Mordechai) Nathan who adopted the family name B?r (Baer) in 1809, received Schutz (the rights to live in a specific place, marry, have a family, and of course pay taxes) in 1752 for the town of Malsch. Malsch was at that time in the Markgrafschaft (Margraviate of) Baden-Baden and is now in the Landkreis (county of) Karlsruhe in Baden-W?rttemberg, Germany. My paternal line ancestors through my great-grandfather Nathan Baer in 1846 were all born in Malsch. I learned that he was from Obergrombach, then in the Hochstift (Catholic Church lands of) Speyer (new information) and now also in the Landkreis Karlsruhe. He was engaged to marry a daughter of Abraham of Malsch (also new information, but guessed due to naming patterns).

It was not difficult then to locate information about his father Mordechai (Mordche) Leser in Obergrombach and father-in-law Abraham Isaac in Malsch. This is Mordechai’s gravestone https://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/r....asp?key=93181 which I asked to have translated. It was one of about 1800 out of 2300 stones removed in the Nazi era, about 700 of which were re-erected in 1992. This particular one was cut approximately square, probably to be used for paving.


Edit: It looks like I can't type umlauts.

[dxmnkd316]

I learned from my brother I'm not the first queer in the family, but I am the first trans person.

Can I ask a fairly personal question? If you were doing a family tree, how would you 'document' (lacking a better word) yourself? I know this will very from person to person, but I'm genuinely curious what if any protocol there is and how you would do it.

obviously, no need to answer if you don't want.

[MissThundercat]

I learned from my brother I'm not the first queer in the family, but I am the first trans person.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Huh. Interesting. I figure it was just the Scandinavians who chose the Dakotas. Mine included. Vang and Cavalier, to be more precise.

IINM, those with German heritage roughly equal those with Norwegian/Scandinavian heritage in North Dakota. I, of course, have both (with a sliver of Irish for good luck : - D).