Posts Tagged genealogy
Black Irish – I am sure my mother didn’t know the meaning
I was 15 when my sister, mother and I drove out to relocate my sister to San Diego, California. She was moving in with her boyfriend currently stationed at the naval base. It was April of 1975. We encountered a late winter snow storm outside of Albuquerque, NM. I didn’t know then it snows in New Mexico. I had to lend my mom money for the hotel room because the hotel didn’t take credit cards. My mother always knew I had a stash of cash. I have always been the saver in my family.
We stayed a few nights with my uncle in Gallup, NM and moved across west to California. Did we want to stop at see the continental Divide, “No”. See Death Valley? Well, we stopped at the hotel, I lost my turquoise ring, the long drive through the desert was enough for me, thank you.
We were apartment hunting with my sister, trying to find a place where she and the boyfriend could live off base. We found a place and the landlady was asking questions about the boyfriend. I piped up and said he was “Black Irish”. It was an expression I heard my mother say when describing the boyfriend. I saw a confused look on the face of the landlady. I assumed she never heard the expression before and went on to explain.
That the boyfriend had dark hair and dark eyes and was not blonde or fair or red for that matter. I think she was still confused with that explanation. But the expression lingered in my mind for years. I always assumed that is what Black Irish meant. You had dark hair and eyes vs. blond/red hair, blue/green eyes. All I could remember from my biology class at that time is Mendel’s pea pod experiment.
I was thumbing through Cyndi’s List this weekend and found an interesting discussion regarding Ethnic Myths. Cyndi’s list includes an article on the Pennsylvania Dutch for those who didn’t know are actually German. The two links regarding Black Irish make for an interesting read. One author makes his case that Black Irish are not descendents from a shipwrecked Spanish Armada from the 1588 who co-mingled with Irish inhabitants. Irish Central (www.irishcentral.com) has an article on the etymology of “Black Irish”. The article is called Who Were the Black Irish.
The article starts with a history lesson of various invaders to Ireland. Then goes on to explain the semantics of Gaelic names as a possible origin to the term Black Irish. Both articles provide an interesting interpretation of the possible origin of the word and its modern usage. There are over 175 comments on the Irish Central with individuals offering their opinion of the meaning to be Black Irish.
Who’s right and who is wrong? Is it a little bit of all theories? Well, I am going to stick with the modern terminology. I’m going to stick with one label, “Heinz 57”. With a few exceptions, most people today are a mixture of many ethnic regions. My two DNA test results indicate that I have up to 3% Neanderthal DNA in my chromosomes. My top three ethnicity estimates, in order, are Great Britain, Eastern European and Scandinavia, followed by Italy/Greece (WHAT?), and Ireland. To add fuel to the Black Irish debate of Spanish Armada survivors co-mingling in Ireland, my DNA results indicate I have less than one percent DNA from the Iberian Peninsula.
Pass the ketchup, please.
They Went to Florida
Posted by Caroll in Uncategorized on November 23, 2013
As a genealogist you also study the anthropological aspects of your family tree. Some of the history behind the migration pattern of the moving to new states or territories is relevant and interesting. Others not so much. It is intriguing to know why someone moved to a new location. Why did they move, what was their motivation, did they flourish, move on, or did they have regrets. Some assumptions can be made. Better jobs, living conditions, owning their own land, business adventures, wars, religious reasons are usually the main ones.
When you hit a brick wall in your genealogy research, it is a good idea to take a look as to why your ancestor relocated to new cities, states or countries. This can help discover kinship or identify relatives not known. There may be clues in court, church, land grants, or military records and newspaper archives in the new locations that may assist you in your search. Don’t discard family stories that so and so lived in such and such place. There may be clues hidden waiting to be discovered.
I moved three times in my life. Michigan to Utah and back, Michigan to Seattle and this past March to Florida. Basically because I wanted to try something new and different. That may be the answer as to why my maternal grandparents move to Florida in the mid 1940’s. Right now I am fixated as to when and why they move to Florida and then back to Michigan.
Why? I because I ended up in the same city my Mother remembered very fondly growing up. However, didn’t recall her mentioning Bradenton, FL until after I moved here. My sister and Dad reminded me of the coincidence when I gave them my new location. And my interest in piqued, why? Because the records I have of them during the brief period they lived here, doesn’t put them in Bradenton. They were located in the Tampa area and listed in the Hillsborough County 1945 Census. My great grandmother Mabel Baumgartel and my grandmother’s half sibling John moved down first, so I think they did. I have a photo I discussed with my grandmother Olive, long ago, that showed the house in Mango, FL.
Mabel’s husband Borden Baumgartel, Sr died in Dearborn, MI in January 1944. The 1945 Florida census was conducted in May 1945. So my grandparents move between those dates. The Baumgartel’s were originally from Kentucky. So Florida was a new venture for this family. I thought the story from my mother was that grandpa was looking to move to the country so the older boys would stay of out trouble living in the big city of Dearborn. Dearborn was still rural them. My grandparents and mother also lived in Pinckney, MI. I have yet to determine which occurred first, did they live in Pinckney before Florida or after they moved back from Florida? The family moved back to Michigan around 1948 or 1949.
In my earlier research, I found that a relative of my grandmother’s sister-in-law moved to Florida and thought that could be the connection. However, the dates don’t match as my uncle didn’t marry into that family until 1949. Recently I was checking on an Ancestry leaf hint which lead me to a new direction. The hint was for a brother of Mabel’s first husband, Ollie Roll. This brother David Roll lived and died in Bradenton, FL. He died in December 1944. This could be why Mabel moved down here. To find some type of kinship with family. If, she moved down before he died.
I may not ever find the reason why the family moved in Florida. But I did discover new clues. Is this David Roll my great grand uncle? I search the Bradenton Library newspaper archive for an obituary. The obit listed two sisters as survivors. One is named Annabell Shrewsbury and David and Ollie have a sister named Annabell. The other is Mrs with an unfamiliar last name. I might have to pay for a death certificate to see if David Roll’s parents are a match.
It’s a small world after all….(I do live in Disney country)
Annabell Shrewsbury resided in Maricopa, AZ. One of Mabel’s brother moved to the Phoenix area in Maricopa County, AZ. Lets play six degrees of separation. What coincidences can you find in your family history.
Devil in the Details – My experience with a Polish Genealogist Researcher
Posted by Caroll in Genealogy, Polish Genealogy on November 11, 2013
I hired a Polish genealogy researcher located in Poland three years with mediocre results. Mostly my compliant was with the incorrect of labeling the documents correctly and email correspondence. I also thought the costs were a bit high at that time. Especially, since I had to ask for clarification of the document labeling and spelling errors.
I quite aware of language translation barriers and would expect semantic errors. But these typing errors muddled family names in the same sentence. I could not tell if it was a spelling variant or different person. When I followed up for clarification, sometimes, I had to ask twice. Lack of details and follow through is not a good trait for a researcher. My email asked if they spelled the name incorrectly. The reply was a lesson on grammatical gender rules regarding the family names. Budna and Borucka are the feminine forms or Budny and Borucki.
No, I asked about spelling. The name you wrote was “Budy”; did you mean “Budny”? I had five years of French and one year of German. I know all about grammatical gender naming. The other misspelling was Bogucki for Borucki. That’s frustrating for when you are trying to verify family names. My last name is Polish if you have not figured that one out. I seen Budny spelled in a few different ways. We were not sure how the name was spelled in Polish. My goal is this research request was to verify the Polish spelling.
The records for a birth and death certificate were in Russian. The Russian spelling just adds to confusion. Then add writing styles on top of that create more chaotic spelling variations. The documents had two variants of spelling by the same writer. I included three snapshots of the Russian spelling of Budny is this blog.
One emailed listed the names of the god-parents as Ksawery and Julianna Borucki. Michal the researcher said that Julianna’s maiden name was “Budy” and could be a relative. Now, did he mean to write “Budny” or “Budna”? When asked for clarification, he said her maiden name was “Borucka”; I’m frustrated and confused.
I am getting no closer to enlightenment with my corresponding. Though now I have a few extra names to pursue. Further research was needed and requested by me. However, a lack of follow through by Michal ended our contract.
I am ready to do additional Polish research and looking to hire another firm in Poland. I was wondering if any one had recommendations. Here is a few that I found on the web. Cyndislist has quite a few at http://www.cyndislist.com/poland/professionals. Let me know if you have used them and what your experience was like.
http://www.ancestralattic.com/
http://genopolisgenealogy.com/#home
The Borucki / Borucka family is from Mamino, Makow Mazowicki in Poland. The birth and death certificate were located in Pultusk State Archives. They were from the Civil Registry Office of the Roman Catholic Church in Gasewo Poduchowne.
Records for the Budny side were not located in this particular search. Information is sketchy, but a possible locate is Kolaki, Poland and may be in the Sielun parish. A researcher with ties to Makow Mazowicki would be ideal.
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