Sometimes my genealogy work causes me to feel pulled in many different directions. I want to spend more time researching my father's Irish family, but also his mother's colonial American roots. I want to look into my mother's German and Belgian ancestors a little more, and travel to Ohio to dig through records I can only find there.
But for now, I'm immersed in my husband's two families and the books I'm writing about both of them. The book on his mother's side of the family is titled: Pilgrims, Pioneers and Cowboys. This is an amazing family with ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower and others who came from Switzerland before the Revolutionary War. Many of them ventured out in Conestoga Wagons or on horseback to reach unsettled areas in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and beyond. And my husband's grandfather was a cattle rancher, an actual "cowboy," whose ancestors in Switzerland were also ranchers. Most of the text is finished for this book and I am putting the final touches on the genealogy reports before I send it off to the book designer and then the printer. But first I will publish another book.
That book concerns my husband's paternal side and its title is: From Croatia to California. All of the ancestors in this book came from a small island in present-day Croatia (Brac), except for his great grandfather, who was born in Bohemia, the modern Czech Republic. One generation of these ancestors, his grandparents' generation, all came to California in the early part of the twentieth century. And so, over the past year, I have contacted many relatives and had conversations with them about their part of the family.
On my husband's grandfather's side (The Terich side) 3 out of 5 siblings came to America. His grandfather, Anton or Tony, his great uncle Nickolas or "Barba Mico" and his great aunt Maria, who seems to have disappeared. (Two siblings, Ivan and Daniella, stayed on the island of Brac and raised large families there.) My husband and I have met with the descendants of Nickolas and learned what we could about that branch of the family. Then we turned to his grandmother's side.
His grandmother, Madalena Jeseta (changed to Yeseta in America) was the youngest of 6 siblings, although she wasn't the last to arrive in America. She had three sisters - Maria, Anna, and Selma - and two brothers - Ante or Anthony and Mate or Matthew. My husband and I have met with descendants of Anna, Anthony and Selma, and next week we will be having one last meeting with descendants of Maria and hopefully Mate. I say hopefully because we are not sure who will be at the event.
We are attending a luncheon at St. Anthony's Croatian Church in Los Angeles next Thursday. This is the church where many family members were baptized and married. They have a monthly luncheon where, I'm told, many of the long time members of the parish come to socialize. Some of the family members with whom we've already met invited my husband and me to come to meet other family members at the luncheon and we're going. I have many questions I hope to have answered, so I'm quite excited about it. These are mostly second cousins of my husband that he's never met so he's eager to go and learn more about his extended family. And we're also anxious to see this 100 year old church so filled with history.
Once we have that meeting, I'll put the finishing touches on the book and send it off to the book designer. Hopefully, it will be ready for distribution sometime in May, and after finishing his mother's family history book I can get ready for my trip to Ireland, and the search for my Brennan ancestors.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Genealogy Geek
If you had asked me five years ago if I was interested in finding out about my ancestors, or my husband's ancestors, and if I might be willing to spend between 2 and 6 hours every day on my computer trying to find those ancestors, I would have looked at you cross-eyed. At that time, my dad was still searching for our Brennan ancestors, and I let him be the family genealogist. I had more important things to do, or so I thought.
Now I'm eagerly anticipating April 2, when the 1940 census will be released to the public. Actually, it will be released to places like ancestry.com which will have to digitize the records and catalog them. I have no idea how long it will take to actually be able to access the records, but I am so excited about it, just like all the other amateur and professional genealogists out there.
I guess this makes me an official nerd - a genealogy geek, if you will. The best way to describe it is like this: You like to put jigsaw puzzles together and you've been missing several pieces for months. You've left the puzzle out on the table, hoping that someday those pieces will turn up. And suddenly you find them and can put that puzzle together.
Or you're a detective, working on a murder case. If you only had access to some restricted DNA or arrest records, or a piece of evidence that has gone missing, you might be able to solve it. Then, you finally gain access to that one missing piece and you know you will be able to figure out whodunnit.
These 1940 records will answer a lot of questions for me, not so much for my husband's family, as I have interviewed so many of his relatives, most of whom live near us, that I don't really need the census.
But my relatives in Ohio - the Brennans, Shaws, Muellers and Schuliens - relatives that I don't even know, from families I lost track of when I was 10 years old and moved to California - are hiding in the 1940 census and I'm looking forward to finding them.
Now I'm eagerly anticipating April 2, when the 1940 census will be released to the public. Actually, it will be released to places like ancestry.com which will have to digitize the records and catalog them. I have no idea how long it will take to actually be able to access the records, but I am so excited about it, just like all the other amateur and professional genealogists out there.
I guess this makes me an official nerd - a genealogy geek, if you will. The best way to describe it is like this: You like to put jigsaw puzzles together and you've been missing several pieces for months. You've left the puzzle out on the table, hoping that someday those pieces will turn up. And suddenly you find them and can put that puzzle together.
Or you're a detective, working on a murder case. If you only had access to some restricted DNA or arrest records, or a piece of evidence that has gone missing, you might be able to solve it. Then, you finally gain access to that one missing piece and you know you will be able to figure out whodunnit.
These 1940 records will answer a lot of questions for me, not so much for my husband's family, as I have interviewed so many of his relatives, most of whom live near us, that I don't really need the census.
But my relatives in Ohio - the Brennans, Shaws, Muellers and Schuliens - relatives that I don't even know, from families I lost track of when I was 10 years old and moved to California - are hiding in the 1940 census and I'm looking forward to finding them.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Immigrant Stories
Over the past ten days, my husband and I have met with three groups of his cousins (mostly second cousins) to discuss family history for the book we are writing. We know some of the cousins, but met others for the first time. It was fascinating to learn more about these branches of my husband's Croatian family.
Some of the cousins are 100% Croatian (except for a sliver of Czech) and, unllike my husband, who is only half Croatian, they have maintained many of their cultural traditions until today. Many still attend St. Anthony's Croatian Catholic Church in Los Angeles. I learned that this Church was built 100 years ago and that Mass was said there in their native language long before Vatican II did away with Latin for the Mass everywhere else.
I learned that one of my husband's great uncles chose his bride from two pictures presented to him. He chose the one he thought more attractive, and she was notified in Croatia and then she emigrated to America. I also learned that the husband of one of his great aunts died in Chile where he had gone to make money. Of course, the cousins repeated a number of "family secrets" which were probably scandalous at the time but would bore people today- and laughed over the name the Croatian women called American women - "Chuhas." According to one cousin, this was because they had noticed how many American women chewed gum. Don't know if that's true or not, but it made for a good story.
I learned how a number of men tried their hand at farming, while others opened restaurants or worked for the railroad. I learned that two brothers had a fight with each other in the street one day that left them estranged. I learned how some of the women called their sisters-in-law "vixens." I learned of some who died in the flu epidemic of 1918, and how others had died young for unknown reasons. I learned how they helped each other when they first arrived in America - finding places for new immigrants to live, often offering rooms in their own homes, helping them find jobs, learn English, enroll their chldren in school.
I learned that they came because there was no way for them to survive on the island of their birth, where an insect infestation had destroyed the vineyards, their main source of income. One by one, they left their mothers and fathers behind, knowing they might never see them again. And the parents encouraged them to go, knowing it was the only way for them to survive.
It is an amazing set of stories, stories that are repeated in Irish, German, Italian, Mexican, Indian, and Chinese familes - the stories of immigrants who risked everything for a better life, and left everything behind. It is the story of incredibly courageous people.
Some of the cousins are 100% Croatian (except for a sliver of Czech) and, unllike my husband, who is only half Croatian, they have maintained many of their cultural traditions until today. Many still attend St. Anthony's Croatian Catholic Church in Los Angeles. I learned that this Church was built 100 years ago and that Mass was said there in their native language long before Vatican II did away with Latin for the Mass everywhere else.
I learned that one of my husband's great uncles chose his bride from two pictures presented to him. He chose the one he thought more attractive, and she was notified in Croatia and then she emigrated to America. I also learned that the husband of one of his great aunts died in Chile where he had gone to make money. Of course, the cousins repeated a number of "family secrets" which were probably scandalous at the time but would bore people today- and laughed over the name the Croatian women called American women - "Chuhas." According to one cousin, this was because they had noticed how many American women chewed gum. Don't know if that's true or not, but it made for a good story.
I learned how a number of men tried their hand at farming, while others opened restaurants or worked for the railroad. I learned that two brothers had a fight with each other in the street one day that left them estranged. I learned how some of the women called their sisters-in-law "vixens." I learned of some who died in the flu epidemic of 1918, and how others had died young for unknown reasons. I learned how they helped each other when they first arrived in America - finding places for new immigrants to live, often offering rooms in their own homes, helping them find jobs, learn English, enroll their chldren in school.
I learned that they came because there was no way for them to survive on the island of their birth, where an insect infestation had destroyed the vineyards, their main source of income. One by one, they left their mothers and fathers behind, knowing they might never see them again. And the parents encouraged them to go, knowing it was the only way for them to survive.
It is an amazing set of stories, stories that are repeated in Irish, German, Italian, Mexican, Indian, and Chinese familes - the stories of immigrants who risked everything for a better life, and left everything behind. It is the story of incredibly courageous people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)