Bakonyoszlop, Veszprem, Hungary - Village of my Ancestors

Bakonyoszlop is a small village located in the Bakony Mountains of Veszprém county, Hungary.
This is the birthplace of Andrew Bauman, b.29 Jan 1901, son of Ferenc Bauman & Zsuzsanna Grosz.

 

The town's Roman Catholic Church was built between 1726 and 1746 by Ferenc Eszterhazy.

Photograph by George 

Using the Family History Library > Place Search  I located 4 microfilms available for this church covering events from 1726 to 1895, which I used extensively to trace our Bauman family history.

Posted as part of  the 27th Edition Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy

Mark Your Calendars - FxGS Annual Conference & Genealogy Expo

The Fairfax Genealogical Society in Fairfax, VA, is holding its Annual Conference this March.

It is always an exceptional event & well worth attending.

Fairfax Genealogical Society

2010 Annual Conference & Genealogy Expo

Reserve 26 and 27 March 2010 for our annual conference, 

Where Did I Come From, Where Am I Going?

at the Marriott Fairfax Hotel at Fair Oaks Mall.

Friday begins with individual 20 minute consultations with our speakers from 4:30-8:30 pm. Sign up early for these as there are a limited number of them, especially those with the Friday evening speakers. Note there an additional fee for this one-to-one consultation.

Friday evening has an advance workshop on ‘Developing an Evidence Orientation’ with renowned Certified Genealogist Tom Jones from 5:00 to 6:30pm. Following this is a session with Audrey Collins, celebrated researcher and lecturer from England. She will discuss ‘What is Britain’ from 7:30-8:30pm.

Saturday begins at 8:00 am when both the registration tables and the exhibit hall open. The first lecture begins at 9:00 am and the last ends at 4:30 pm. Lunch will be available in the hotel restaurant or in Fair Oaks Mall.

As usual, you will have a difficult time choosing which of the four concurrent tracks to attend. Of course, you can mix and match lectures from any of the tracks.

Track 1, Basic Research Techniques, by local expert Sharon Hodges, is designed for new (and not so new) genealogists. Sharon will present the sometimes involved concepts of genealogy in everyday terms so you can feel confident about starting or continuing your search.

If your research has you ready to jump the pond to Liverpool, either physically or figuratively, Track 2, Research in England, will teach you how to conduct research your English roots whether it is from home in the United States or on site in England. Learn about English research from a native as British National Archives expert Audrey Collins makes a special trip to visit us from her home in London. Be sure to attend her Friday evening session on ‘What is Britain’ even if you are attending other sessions on Saturday.

Track 3, Mid Atlantic Colonial Research is for you if you have done some research and need to learn the differences (and there are many significant ones) between colonial and later US records from one of our favorite speakers. You will definitely feel ready to tackle your colonial research after attending Certified Genealogist Chuck Mason’s sessions.

Advanced researchers will benefit from acclaimed lecturer and Certified Genealogist Tom Jones’ Advanced Workshops in Track 4. Register early for these workshops as we may have to limit attendance due to an expected high demand. Note that there is a slight additional charge for each one ($10 each or all three for $25) for additional material that will not be in the syllabus. Don’t forget one of them is on Friday evening.

Lunch Time Mini-Lectures on Ancestry.com’s World Archives Project and Family Search’s Indexing Project with professional genealogist Jennifer Dondero. Take a break at lunch and learn how these important indexing projects by two of the leading genealogical information providers will benefit your research and how you can participate in them from the comfort of your home.

The Exhibit Hall will open at the same time as registration, 8:00am on Saturday, so between the lectures and during an extended lunch period you’ll have plenty of time to visit our vendors. We are just beginning to sign them up but expect several returnees, including major book dealers.
Door Prizes will be available from several vendors at their tables and also at a separate display for prizes donated by supporters unable to attend. There will be plenty of prizes and opportunities to win. As in the past, you’ll have plenty of tickets to drop into the ticket bag for various prizes. Stuff the ballot box for that item or two that you really want or spread your tickets around to try to win often.

The Marriot Fairfax at Fair Oaks Mall is located across the parking lot from the mall proper along US Route 50 at 11787 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway, Fairfax, Virginia, 22033.

"Faces of America" - Making History Relevant to Your Story

The second episode of PBS's "Faces of America" exemplified how you can make history your own by weaving the current events of the period into your ancestral stories. By using historic newspaper accounts, the program showed the injustices occurring in Ireland that affected Stephen Colbert's Irish ancestors who immigrated during the period of the Great Famine. The published article depicted a sad time when food was being exported as millions of paupers starved. In another segment of the show Queen Noor of Jordan was shown an 1890's NY Times article on Syrian immigrants that reflected the perceptions of the nation at the time of her ancestors' arrival. By incorporating the current events of the time into your ancestors' lifetime you can bring history to life in your family stories.

Not Quite a Wordless Wednesday - Olympian Johnny Weissmuller

This Date in History:
Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard freestyle record

Johann Peter Weissmüller was born June 2, 1904, to Peter Weissmüller and his wife Elisabeth Kersch, in Banat, Freidorf, Timisoura, Romania (Austria-Hungary).
His place of birth is discussed in the Sports Illustrated article:
Johnny Weissmuller Made Olympian Efforts To Conceal His Birthplace

Weissmuller had five wives: band and club singer Bobbe Arnst (1931-1933); actress Lupe Vélez (1933-1939); Beryl Scott by which he had three children (1939 -1948); Allene Gates (1948-1962); and Maria Baumann of Bavaria (1963- his death 1984).

Johnny Weissmuller died January 20, 1984 (aged 79) in Acapulco, Mexico.

Tombstone Tuesday - Founding Father George Washington

In Honor of the Observance of Washington's Birthday 

George Washington died in the master bedroom of his Mount Vernon home on December 14, 1799. In his will, he indicted his desire to be buried on the grounds of his Estate. He also selected the site for a new brick tomb to replace the original burial vault. The tomb pictured below, located on the Mount Vernon Estate, was completed in 1831 and his body was moved there along with the remains of his wife, Martha, and other family members.

 

Photos © Mount Vernon Ladies' Association

Valentine's Day Greetings

A Treasure Chest Thursday for French-Canadian Researchers - PRDH

The University of Montreal's Program de Recherche en Demographie Historique (PRDH) is a virtual treasure chest for anyone researching French-Canadian ancestors in Quebec. It is a compilation of records and reconstruction of the population of Quebec from its beginnings in the 17th century - all presented in English.
The result:  "a computerized population register, composed of biographical files on all individuals of European ancestry who lived in the St. Lawrence Valley. The file for each individual gives the date and place of birth, marriage(s), and death, as well as family and conjugal ties with other individuals. This basic information is complemented by various socio-demographic characteristics drawn from documents: socio-professional status and occupation, ability to sign his or her name, place of residence, and, for immigrants, place of origin."

You can do initial searches on the site to determine if the have records of interest to you.  To view the records and associated compilations it is a fee based access.  Fees for a subscription are based on the number of hits made by the user on the data base. The more you think you will use the database the higher tier you should purchase.  I purchased the 500 click plan at abt $25 .  It is easy to purchase more, if needed, and there is no expiration date for usage.

Below is an example of an ancestor I located on the PRDH website.

Family view of Guillaume Gravel Brindeliere & Louise Legare.

We descend from their daughter, Marie Reine and Gabriel Gagnon.  Anything shown in blue is clickable and leads to more information.  So from this screen I can view:

 - Baptism and marriage record information for Marie Reine
 - Marie Reine's Family record with Gabriel
 - Baptism and death records for her siblings
 - The marriage record and individual records for her parents
 Plus the Family records of the parents origin allowing me to climb further up the branches of our family tree.

Wordless Wednesday with Some History - St. Stephen's RC Church

On April 26, 1892, Bishop Michael J. O’Farrell assigned Father Stephen Szymanowski to attend to the spiritual needs of Polish Catholics living in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.  A storefront located in the Schiller Building on New Brunswick Ave. was soon renovated into a chapel for liturgical services. That fall the church property on State Street was purchased and construction began on the original church, which was blessed by Bishop O’Farrell on May 30, 1893.


It was at this church that my G-Grandparents,  
George Ignatz Kolbusz & Pauline Gobur 
were married on 06 Feb 1893.

St. Stephen's Roman Catholic Church continues to serve the Polish community today.

Madness Monday - Staying on Track

Looking into The Library of Congress

On last night's 'Snowed-In Sunday' evening I was reading random genealogy blogs and clicking around when, thanks to "Maggie's Shared Items" on Genealogy It's all Relative, I came across The Internet Genealogist's post regarding free newspaper databases.   Here I was reminded of the Library of Congress website:
  Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. 
Ahh - that's the other place I wanted to search for my key surnames quests.
So off I went to find new and meaningful facts to add to my ancestors lives.

But alas - I was immediately sidetracked by the curious and interesting classified columns.

Here I will share "Health Notes" published in The Mahoning Dispatch (Ohio) March 10, 1916

Enlarged for your reading pleasure below.  Ladies take note!
And remember - 'Read the Dispatch Classified Columns'

Okay - I should get back to my original research tasks now!

Sentimental Sunday - Jamesburg Style

When I was visiting my father's hometown of Jamesburg, NJ, as a teenager, I thought this old, gothic style house made of green tinged stone was so cool and would be a great place to live....
until my father told me it was the mortuary.

 

Intravatolo House: A Gothic Revival House with unusual character given by the use of a green-tinge stone. Its dormers were once hung with slate and its gables are steeply pitched. It is one of the few high-style large stone houses in Jamesburg. It was built by P. H. Pownall and the large stone barn at the rear with its slate-covered cross gambrels was originally used as part of his mortuary business. The house underwent major renovations in 2003.    (http://www.jamesburg.net/)

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Snowy Surname Saturday - Using Google Books to find the Details

Taking some time to search in Google Books can lead to mining little genealogical gems.

 I was able to locate relevent records by using the surname plus the "&" sign with a location in the search field:  casteel & prince georges 

In the 1719 land record abstract below -  Our ancestor Edmund Casteel's wife is named.

I was then able to find a 1733 tax record for Edmund Casteel.  

Listed further down in the same paragraph of names was the above mentioned Jeremiah Perdue helping to confirm that I have the correct Edmund. You can also see that his other neighbor mentioned in the previous land record, Henry Darnell, is listed above.
This Edmund Casteel (II) had a son named Edmund (III) but did not deed land over to him until Dec.1742.
Edmund (III) had a daughter, Charity, who married a Perdew - shown in another Google Books find below.

Follow Friday - Keeping Records of Records

On this snowy Follow Friday I am taking advice from Gena's Genealogy
and scanning the few family clippings of newspaper obituaries that I have.

The one shown here was one of my first 'sources' when I first began putting together our family tree.  I received it as a teenager, and it was in a magnetic album - a big no-no these days as they are not archival safe.  Unfortunately it cannot be removed as it is permanently stuck to the page.

Gena's Genealogy blog reminded me of that clipping and that I needed to scan the image in order to save it in another format.

Done.
Another box checked on my To-do List.  ;-)









Scanning images - old photos, obits, funeral cards, etc.. allow us to share the treasured bits we all accumulate.
Sharing old photos that are often very rare and passed down a singular line, allows us to disseminate the images with other family members and cousins who may have never before seen these treasured pictures of their relatives and ancestors. 
 -- Most importantly, doing this provides a valuable form of backup in case of loss.

Tower Hill Memorial - Tombstone Tuesday

Albert John Cassingham b. 1918 in Kent, England

Son of Albert John Cassingham and Emily Morris

Ninth Engineer Officer Merchant Navy

Died at sea on December 6/7 1942.

Commemorated at Tower Hill Memorial in London 

along with all in the Merchant Navy & fishing fleets who were lost during WWI & WWII and have "no grave but the sea".

Albert John Cassingham was serving aboard the SS Ceramic on the night of December 6th, 1942, when it was sunk by torpedoes fired from the German submarine U-515. 

All but one of the 656 aboard were lost.

The Crew Of S.S. Ceramic on her Last Voyage