Memory Tree Genealogy Journal

Welcome back!  Yes, that was self-directed.  The entire month of January - it seems - was a bit of a wash, due to our upcoming move, a kitty health "cat"-astrophe, and overall craziness after the Christmas holiday season.  Our home is packed and all belongings are on their way to Virginia from Sicily.  The day of the pack-out, the movers did a fantastic job...but I was sweating bullets over my large plastic tote of genealogical files.  Of course I have scanned copies of the critical documents - but the remainder of the files represent hours of digging, printing, browsing through old newspaper archives online.  Buried stories resurrected with care.  Please, oh please do not let anything happen to my box of treasures!  Yesterday, while the boys napped, I worked a bit on my #1 genealogical goal for 2015 - tracking down naturalization paperwork, passenger lists, and potential hometowns for my half-dozen "German" immigrant relatives.  For each f...

  Topographic View of the City of Reading, Pennsylvania, 1881.  Library of Congress Research Goal: To locate information about John ETZEL (1826-1904) and wife Maria SCHUMACHER (1837-1894) prior to their listing in the 1860 US Federal Census in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Context: John Etzel  is my 3rd great-grandfather on my mother's maternal side of the family.   In 1860, John and Maria ETZEL are listed in the US Federal Census in Reading, Berks, Pennsylvania - John, age 35, male, laborer, birthplace - Baden Mary, age 23, female, birthplace - Baden Rose, age 6, female, birthplace - Ohio Lizzie, age 2, female, birthplace - Pennsylvania. This indicates to me that John and Mary lived in Ohio at some time between 1855-1858, based on birth date and location for daughter Rose ETZEL.  Census records are notoriously "off" when it comes to specific birth dates, and late US Census records give an approximate birth year of 1855 for Rose Etzel...

Following my mother's maternal side of the family, connected by marriage to the OSTHOLTHOFF branch, Lawrence Zeller and Rosine Schumacher (also spelled Schuhmacher and Shoemaker) lived in Reading, Hamilton County, Ohio in the mid-to-late 1800s. I am still working to locate the Zellers' immigration information and passenger lists.  However, I do know from census records that they arrived at some point before 1860 from Bavaria.  According to the 1860 census, youngest daughter Anna is 3 months old and listed to have been born in Bavaria.  SO - if that is correct, maybe they arrived just prior to the census in June 1860?  It's also possible that Anna was born in Ohio and the census taker didn't record correct information.  Here is a snippet from the 1860 US Federal Census in Hamilton County, OH: Lorenz Zeller - age 33, male, butcher (boocher!  the spelling!), value of real estate $1100, value of personal estate, $500, birthplace - Bavaria. Rosina,...

Matrilineal Monday - sharing photos, stories, or genealogical information about women in our family tree.  Today, I'm sharing a photo of my great-grandmother, Catherine Margaretha Miller.  What's not to love about this sweet photograph?  Taken at my great-grandparents' home in Samoht Ridge, Delhi, Hamilton County, Ohio, a copy of this photo was passed to me as part of a collection of family history information from my maternal grandfather.  Catherine passed away while my grandfather was bravely serving the United States abroad during World War II.  Some of the details I love most about the photograph include her beautiful outfit, lapel pin, and necklace, the fact that my hair appears so much like hers (I get my dark hair from both sides of the family, though!), the brickwork on the front facing of the home, and the family dog making a cameo in the back left.  Old photographs like this one really enable me to feel a personal connection to relatives I...

IMAGE SOURCE There's just something about finding a marriage license application on file from a relative that just speaks to my heart.  I imagine the excitement...the butterflies...the feeling of "are we really doing this?!?!" that must have accompanied the happy couple.  While working on a little genealogical detour of my own, I came across this license application and subsequent marriage certificate for my paternal great-grandparents William Ray SMITH and Catherine Margaretha MILLER.  A few months back, I featured Catherine Miller's family IN THIS ARTICLE pertaining to her father's trade in the steel industry.  William and Catherine are the parents of my paternal grandfather (Papa).  Most significant for me in this record is the listing of William's parents' names - E. A. Smith (Edward A. Smith - 1852-1918) and Cora B. Mead (1863-1919).  Feeling the love in the air!

Ever since I received my AncestryDNA results and discovered my Turkish/Persian/Caucasus ethnicity and – even more surprising – my LACK of Central European ethnicity,   I’ve made a concerted effort to look further into the lives of my immigrant ancestors and their lives across the ocean.   Most of my time until recently has been tracing family roots on American soil; diving into international genealogy is a completely new ball game.   My first experience with international research was working through my husband’s Norwegian family history…and involved learning new terms in a new language (words like church, parish, baptism, marriage, death, etc.).   It also involved in-depth geography lessons, advancing my understanding of migration, patronymic naming systems, and even digging into common routes of immigration from Norway to the United States.   Thanks to Google Translator, I have been able to use the wonderfully-detailed Norwegian Archives website to lo...

Have you ever heard of the WWII-era  "Old Man's Draft"?  While it may be surprising to find draft registration for relatives who seemed too "old" to serve, these cards were required by the Selective Service in their fourth of six registration periods in April 1942 [1] According to a FamilySearch.org article on the World War II Draft Registration process, the fourth registration – or “Old Man’s Draft” – was specifically for men with birthdays “ from April 28, 1877 to February 16, 1897” (FamilySearch Wiki).   Like finding a WWI draft registration card, the WWII documents provide very helpful genealogical information…birthdate, next of kin, physical description, place of employment, etc.  Here - I have included the registration for my mother's grandfather, Mr. George Henry Ostholthoff.  Resident of Wyoming, Hamilton County, OH, he is listed in 1942 as being married to Mrs. Elizabeth Cecelia (Luden) Ostholthoff.  Place of employment - American Agri...