Since I'm starting a day late, on April 2, this post is both A and B
A is for Ambrose Dachtera, my father.
Born in 1914, the 10th child of Polish immigrant parents.
Ambrose was a devout Catholic who lived his faith. He was a hard-working, self-scarificing, kind and generous man. The best Daddy a girl could have. He will always live in my heart.
B is for Bronislawa, one of my mother's sisters.
Until I started doing family research, I never understood why, even though her name was Bernice, she was known as Aunt Bro; and my grandmother referred to her as Bronie. My Polish maternal grandparents had all their children baptized with Polish names - some translated easily to English but others did not. They actually used American names throughout their lives so the Polish names were a surprise to me when I found the church records of their baptisms.
Saturday, April 2, 2016
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Jumping on the Birthplace Chart Bandwagon
The latest craze is doing a five or six generation pedigree
type chart that shows birthplaces rather than names – with each unique
birthplace a different color. While some
of them are a riot of colors, as a second generation American, mine is very
dull. Another generation would just add more blue.
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These charts can be a great way to look at migration patterns.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Free DNA test from Genes for Good
The University of Michigan is conducting a huge DNA study
called Genes for Good.
To encourage participation, they are offering free DNA tests
to those who complete Health History, and Health Tracking surveys. Once testing is complete, you can download
your raw data and then upload it to online DNA matching sites. This study is available to residents of the USA.
Read the FAQ for some pretty comprehensive information.
Again the site is: Genes for Good
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Unplanned Hiatus
There I was, diligently working on a project on my children’s
paternal heritage, when I volunteered to become more active in my local
genealogy society, Indian River Genealogical Society. A chair was needed for the Education
Committee. This committee consists of several special interest groups
(Genealogy Interest Groups or GIGs in our parlance) and had been running along
smoothly without a chair for the past few years. How hard could it be?
At the same time, I volunteered to lead a new group focusing
on genealogy beginners.
Turned out to be a steeper learning curve than I expected.
Getting familiar with and involved in the inner workings of the Society as well
as planning the monthly meetings of my beginners group. February was completely consumed by the two
new jobs. Personal research? Not! But I think that things are finally beginning
to come together. At least I hope they are.
I’m ready to get back to trying to understand the history of
Bohemia and find my kids’ paternal European ancestors. And I’m ready to learn
more about genetic genealogy in hopes of finding living distant cousins.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Back to the History Books
My quest for my children’s paternal Filek ancestors has me
back to countries with elastic borders.
The bad news is that I do not know exactly where they
lived. I am trying to narrow it down by
using Google Earth to locate ancestral towns of other immigrants named Filek
hoping that they will be clustered fairly close to one another.
This particular family emigrated from Bohemia .
But exactly where were Bohemia ’s
borders when they lived there?
Conquests and royal intermarriages seemed to modify borders
with each new king, There were dynasties, duchies and kingdoms. In more modern
times there was, of course, the Hapsburg Empire, and later the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. Small nations like Bohemia ,
Moravia and Silesia
disappeared and reappeared depending on who ruled where.
There’s a great deal of information on the internet but the
most comprenhensive I’ve found so far is A History of the Czech Lands
edited by Jaroslav Panek and Oldrich Tuma
One of these days, I’ll make some progress.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Next stop: Bohemia
My focus is shifting from my Polish ancestors to the
Bohemian ancestors of my children’s father. There’s a brick wall here because
the usual sources have not, thus far, identified immigration or naturalization
information for their Filek ancestors.
The history of the Czech lands of Bohemia ,
Moravia and Silesia
shows that boundaries changed fairly often as various kings ruled that part of Europe .
US census records show this Filek family’s homeland as Bohemia ;
but what was the land called when they emigrated? Other searches for Filek show origins as Austria
or Hungary .
Some say just Czech. Yet it is possible
that many of these people lived in the same region.
I’m studying the history and maps and getting clues from the
Facebook Czech Genealogy Group. Anyone
out there have Filek in their family tree?
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Heritage or Lineage?
Is genealogy about heritage or about lineage? Short answer: Yes. It is about both. They are related but not
the same. My main interest is heritage.
My ancestors were Polish peasants. For most of my lines, I
trace ancestors back to the 18th century. (There are still a couple
of brick walls in the 19th century.)
I know who they were and how they earned their livelihood. I study the history of their times to learn
what shaped their daily lives. Their lives then helped shape my life now. As
much as I’d like to know the names of my more ancient ancestors, that is not
necessary to understand how peasants lived in their time.
There are some gaps that need filling; but my current
thinking is that I’ll not try to go back any farther in time with my ancestors
now. I will concentrate on the heritage
for now and perhaps get back to lineage some time in the future.
There are stories to write and research to do. Life in
Prussian Poland . Traveling steerage class to the USA
in the 19th century. Settling
in a new land. Life in the US
at the turn of the 20th century. Subsequent generations and how
they/we fared.
My lineage projects will focus on my ex-husband – my
children’s father whose paternal ancestors emigrated from Bohemia .
I’ve found no passenger lists, no immigration papers, no nothing before they
arrived in Chicago in the 1860’s.
2016 will be a challenge.
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