Archive for category 52 Ancestors
#52Ancestors – Favorite Photo and Most Dreaded Photo
Posted by Caroll in 52 Ancestors, Genealogy Blog, Goals, Uncategorized on January 14, 2018
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2018 Edition Challenge – Post 2
To blog more consistently in 2018, I am undertaking the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge again. The #52Ancestors Challenge is where a group of us blog about our ancestors, collateral relatives, discoveries, etc., for each week of the year. To learn more about the challenge or if you are interesting in joining, visit Amy Johnson Crow’s site at Amy’s website.
Favorite Photo
Author as a young toddler
Oh my! Doesn’t this little tyke exude confidence. I love her happy expression. She does not shy away from the camera.
As I grew older, I preferred to be behind the camera so I would not get my picture taken. Why was she happy, who is taking the photo? One of my parents probably took the photo.
The photo is of me as a toddler taken at one of the many camping trips my family took in the 60’s. Decades later, nature or nurture of those early camping trips, has played a role that my retirement plan includes getting an RV to travel the United States and Canada.
Most Dreaded Photo
The photos must go!
Why do I dread this photo? It’s a tote filled with the physical photos in my possession, thousands of photos. This 40 pound, 62-quart tote is an albatross around my neck. I have no desire to preserve them. I do not have the interest, energy and the time to scan, label, and disseminate to whoever will take the photos. What! But, you are a genealogist, the family historian. Yes, and I have lost interest in being the Keeper of Photos.
The photos have to go! There is no room in the future motor home. I will scan, label, and find a home for the old black and white photos with family members. Photos showing pastoral scenes go to the trash heap. Photos of my trips to Europe, Australia and New Zealand, trash. Google Earth ™ displays a much better image then the photo I originally took anyways. The rest of the photos will be categorized by family grouping. Then sent to some niece or nephew who may be so inclined to save for posterity.
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2018 Edition Challenge
Posted by Caroll in 52 Ancestors, Genealogy Blog, Polish Genealogy on January 6, 2018
This is post 1 of the 2018 #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
To blog more consistently in 2018, I am undertaking the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge again. The #52Ancestors Challenge is where a group of us can blog about our ancestors, collateral relatives, discoveries, etc., for each week of the year. To learn more about the challenge or if you are interesting in joining, visit Amy Johnson Crow’s site at Amy’s website.
Revisiting the Lipinski Family
During the 2014 Edition of the 52 Ancestors Challenge, I wrote about Aleksandra Lipinska. Aleksandra is the wife of my second Great Uncle Ignacy Borucki. Over the New Year’s weekend, I went squirreling through the Polish genealogy website, Geneteka, to look a little closer at the Lipinski family.
Prior research of Ignacy and Aleksandra’s marriage record provided the names of Aleksandra’s parents, Jan Lipinski and Anna Czaplinska. My search in 2014 using the parent’s names in the Maków County, marriage records identified three siblings of Aleksandra. My recent foray led to the discovery of additional records of birth, marriages, deaths related to the Lipinski’s. I also found another sibling to Aleksandra, a brother named Antoni Lipinski, not previously known.
In 1920, Antoni Lipinski married Marianna Budna in Krasnosielc-Sielc, Poland. Most likely, this is a second marriage from Antoni as he was born in 1865 and presumably had an earlier marriage. I will have to give this Marianna Budna, a nickname to distinguish her from my Great Grandmother, Marianna (Borucki) Budny (Budna).
There are additional Geneteka records that provide clues to Jan Lipinski’s and Anna Czaplinska’s , siblings, parents and grandparents. Some Geneteka records are indexed only with no scan of the record to view. Gratefully, FamilySearch.org has microfilmed the parish records for Krasnosielc-Sielc. An image of Jan and Anna’s marriage record available at FamilySearch, lists their parents’ names. With Jan’s parents’ names, I located siblings, and his grandparents names, Gotlib/Gotleb Lipinski and Katarzyna Tomaszewska. It appears that I will be able to take at least one of my Polish collateral line back to the late 1700’s. Quite a feat for me, as my own direct Budny line only goes back to 1898.
Next week’s #52Ancestors prompt is “favorite photo.” Can I pick out a favorite photo to blog about? I do have an proclamation I want to share about preserving photos.
#52 Ancestors No. 26 – James White – Michigan Thumb Fire September 5, 1881
Posted by Caroll in 52 Ancestors, Genealogy Blog on September 5, 2015
This is post 26 of the 2015 #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website. 
Thomas MacEntee of GeneaBloggers tweeted of photo of a cartograph1 depicting the Michigan thumb area that mentions a fire that happen on this day in 1881, as a blogging prompt. Recognizing the all too familiar appendage of my birth state, I remembered that one of my ancestors lost their life during the fire.
Burnt District resulting from the Michigan Thumb Fire, September 5, 1881.
The illustrated cartograph showed the burnt district in the Michigan thumb area that resulted from the great fire on September 5, 1881. The Great Fire, as it is known, burned for three days. It destroyed a million acres of land, including forests, farms, mills, and businesses. The fire consumed the lives of over 280 people2.
James White was just five months old when he died on 16 September 1881. His death was caused by the effects of the fire 11 days earlier. It is not known if he suffered from smoke inhalation or from burns. The death was recorded in 1882 and is transcribed in the GENDIS2 database.
I have a mimeograph copy of a family history from an unknown source and date that includes two written pages of notes. The notes talk of Aunt Vi (Violet White), who would be James’ older sister. The letter mentions that Aunt Vi was five years old at the time of the Great Fire. The writer of the letter states, “Aunt Vi remembers them huddling under a quilt all but their father and one of the boys. They had to keep pulling out sparks that land on the quilt. Then all was over the quilt was full of little holes.” There is no mention of James’ death.
James’ parents are James Montgomery White and Persis DesJardins are my great great-grandparents. Th family were farmers in Minden, Sanilac County, Michigan. By the time of the fire, James and Persis had eight children. Two more children would come later. One was my great-grandmother, Minnie White.
Sources:
1http://www.geneabloggers.com/genealogy-blogging-beat-saturday-5-september-2015/#more-34852
2Wikipedia Great Thumb Fire, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumb_fire
3http://www.mdch.state.mi.us/gendisx/scripts/individual.asp?UniqueID=282434
Additional resources:
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ptruckin/greatfire.html
http://www3.gendisasters.com/michigan/5778/mi-quotgreat-thumb-firequot-sept-1881?page=0,1
#52 Ancestors No. 25 – Francisco Mine #2 1926 Coal Mine Disasters – Two Roll Family Members Lost
Posted by Caroll in 52 Ancestors on July 12, 2015
This is post 25 of the 2015 #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
Coal mining without a doubt is dangerous work. Toxic gases, coal dust, explosions, fires and flooding occur; taking the lives of over 10,000 just in the last two centuries. Tragedies continue today as the world continues to mine for precious minerals, gemstones, and energy sources. Health issues from mining may affect miners after they stop working in the mines.
Coal has been mined in Indiana and Kentucky since the early 1800’s. Coal was the fuel for steamships and railroads that helped expand the growth of United States. I have two family lines who settled both Indiana and Kentucky. Members of these families migrated from the back breaking, drought or disease ridden and labor intensive farming to the more dependable coal mining employment.
My own great-grandfather Oliver Cromwell Roll worked on the railroad. As did his uncles and cousins. My grandfather, Hugh A. Howes, did not want to work the mines or railroad and headed north to Detroit to work in the auto factories.
Inscription by Laufa Helsley Lockwood, the widow of Frank Helsley
The probability that my collateral ancestors would be affected by a mine disaster may have been marginal. Nevertheless, two of my relatives died in the same mine incident. My third great Uncle, Samuel W. Roll, son of Isaac Roll and Elizabeth Weir, lost a son and a grandson.
1926 Francisco Mine #2
The explosion occurred on December 9, 1926. 37 miners lost their life. The cause of the explosion was undetermined. Francisco Mine #2 was located near Princeton, Gibson Co, Indiana. Workers came as far as Evansville, IN, 40 miles away to work the mines.
Two of Samuel sons, John R. (b. 1863) and Shelby Jackson Roll (b. 1868), ended up as miners. John R. Roll mined in Spottsville. Shelby moved up to Evansville and mined at the Francisco Mines. John’s son, Ollie Roll (b. 1895), lived in Ohio Township, located near Evansville.
It is quite possible the two men, one an uncle, the other a nephew; rode to the mines together or stayed nearby in lodgings. Shelby was one of the missing after explosion and fire. His body was found the next morning. His was 58 years old. Shelby married late in life to a widow with three daughters. He did not have children
Ollie Roll was 31 years old on the day he died in Francisco Mine #2. He was survived by his wife Emma and their four young daughters.
Sources:
Princeton, IN Coal Mine Explosion and Fire, Dec 1926, originally submitted by Stu Beitler.
http://www3.gendisasters.com/indiana/19995/princeton-in-coal-mine-explosion-fire-dec-1926
Mining Accidents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_accident
Mine Safety and Health Administration www.msha.gov
Coal in Indiana – http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/etext/hoosier/CO-09.html
FindAGrave.com – Memorial Headstone, tlws (#47311297), http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=20754686&PIpi=43644854
Indiana Coal Mine Disasters http://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2014/01/29/coal-mining-explosions/4795285/
#52Ancestors: Week 24 – Olga Cartwright – Planted a Family Tree
Posted by Caroll in 52 Ancestors, Genealogy Blog on July 5, 2015
This is week 24 of the 2015 #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
On a far off branch of the Pittman section of my tree lies the Cartwright family. And wouldn’t you know it…the Cartwright family included a son named Ben Cartwright. Cue! Bonanza. “On this land we put our brand, Cartwright is the name, fortune smiled, the day we filed the Ponderosa claim.” Yes, there were lyrics to the opening tune. Humming the theme song now, aren’t’ you?
Olga Cartwright married John Barnett in 1912. This couple starts the twig in the line that descends down to lost cousins I have yet to connect. They are the grandparents to Kenneth Ralph Barnett, written in the 2014 series of #52Ancestors – No. 33.
Olga is the daughter of Mathew Thompson Cartwright (1857-1935) and Susan J. Melton (1859-1930). She had nine siblings including her brother Ben. The family lived in Cleaton, Muhlenberg Co., Kentucky. The unincorporated town south of Central City, KY, still has a rural appeal.
Olga and her husband John had a total of 12 children. John earned his living a miner in the coal mines. Olga lived from 1893 to 1974. Her relationship to me is labeled as mother-in-law of first cousin twice removed.
Bonanza Lyrics written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. http://ponderosascenery.homestead.com/lyrics.html
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