A to Z Challenge – H is for Heritage

In a previous post, I explained that my focus is more on heritage than on lineage. In my view, those are two parts of the whole that is genealogy. Some people apparently concentrate on the names and dates and who begat whom without thinking very much about the people behind those names and dates. I need to know the names and dates and begats because I want to learn who my ancestors were.

My intent is to be a family historian. I am descended from Polish peasants. They may seem trivial in the broad scope of history, but like modern farmers and laborers, they were the backbone of their nation – providing the food and goods and services that keep things going.

Where and how did they live? What was life like for them in the 18^th and 19^th centuries?  What was life like in the US for my immigrant ancestors in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. 

One of my fantasies is a time machine that would let me go back and observe. My maternal grandmother was a goose girl – she tended the geese on the family farm. It would be wonderful to be able to see that farm and watch her as a child with her flock.  I guess I’ll have to settle for learning by reading and studying to try to get a hint of my distant past.

A to Z challenge – G is for Ganas

My mother’s maiden name was Ganas. Her father immigrated to the US from Poland. But Ganas is not typical of Polish surnames. I’ve traced the family back as far as my 3X great grandfather who was born in 1779 in Czerlejno, Poland so I know that the family has been in Poland for more than 300 years.

But I wonder where they originated.

When I’ve done searches on that surname, the results seem to be predominantly of Greek origin. Did my Ganas ancestors originate in Greece?  When and why would they resettle in Poland?

My reading of Polish history tells me that in past centuries, Poland was a melting pot.  There were immigrants from many other nations.

There are also the many wars that occurred in that part of the world over the centuries as various kings sought to enlarge their empires. Foreign soldiers could have stayed in Polish territories.

I also read that in the late middle ages, there were many Greek and Turkish merchants and traders doing business in Poland. 

Did one Greek trader decide to remain in Poland?  In love with the land? In love with a girl?

I have 3 male Ganas first cousins and with any luck I’ll be able to convince them to do DNA testing. I’d like to see what that Y chromosome has to say.

A to Z Challenge – F is for Family Lore (or Fantasy)

Family lore can provide good clues for the researcher. Or Not.

Stories that have been handed down for generations have some credibility simply because they’ve been repeated so often; and because the story tellers themselves are convinced of their validity. If your mother or grandmother told it, it must be true.

Unfortunately, they are often simply fantasy – the product of someone’s imagination or misinformation or wishful thinking.  Was distant cousin George truly a hero in the Civil War?  Or did his mother “pad” his resume? Or did George pad his own resume?  Are you actually descended from royalty?

The other side of that coin is lore about some long past scandal.  Was that grand uncle really a horse thief, or bigamist? Or was he merely the target of someone’s spite?

Inquiring minds want to know. Were they saints or sinners?

Today’s researchers are lucky to have sophisticated tools to help us find the truth behind the legends. We just have to make certain that we really want to know.

A to Z Challenge – E is for Emily

My mother, Emily Ganas Dachtera was born in 1912 – the 10^th of 11 children.

She was a gifted artist and seamstress who never had the opportunity to capitalize on her talents.  One of my favorite memories is of the year she produced a gorgeous landscape in icing on my birthday cake. There were many challenges in her life, not the least of which was a rebellious daughter (me). 

She died at the age of 98. I still miss being able to talk to her on the phone.

Love you, Mom

A to Z Challenge – D is for Dachtera

Dachtera is my maiden name.

Stella, Andrew, Anna,Valentine, Pauline
Rosalie, Joseph, Magdalena, Stanley

My great grandparents, Joseph and Magdalena Dachtera arrived in the US from Prussian Poland in 1881 with their 3 children:

Stanislaw (Stanley) – my grandfather

Rosalie

Stanislawa (Stella)

In spite of many hours reading LDS microfilmed records from parishes around Oborniki and Parkowo, and Lechlin – Prusce, I still have not identified their village in Poland.  There are more films to read.

They settled first in Pennsylvania. I don’t know for certain whether Joseph worked in the coal mines or steel mills. Two more children were born in Pennsylvania. Sons:  Andrew and Valentine.

Nor do I know where they lived in Pennsylvania. They were there between census years.  I’m hoping to find church records of the baptisms of the sons born there, but have not begun that search.

By 1887 they had moved to St. Paul, Minnesota where their youngest daughters Anna and Pauline were born.   

PLEA FOR HELP:  I’ll be forever grateful if anyone reading this can give me some ideas or information to help me fill the gaps.

A to Z Challenge – C is for Challenge

Family history is a never ending challenge.  If you’ve worked at tracing your family tree, you know that it is so much more that finding a leaf (hint) on your online tree data.  If only it was as simple as the TV ads make it seem.

Who were your ancestors? When did they live?  Where did they live? When? How did they get there? Why did they move? Which Solomon Rose is the one I’m looking for? (This is an ongoing question in one of the lines I’m working on.)  What was life like for them?

Sorting the clues is a challenge. 

One census record shows a person’s age as 24, but 10 years later, the next census shows the same person as 29.  ???

Did the people transcribing the records correctly interpret the handwriting? Is that an e or an a? 

Is John Smith truly the son of John Smythe?

The challenge, of course, is what makes it fun. There’s joy in every little success.

Passenger Lists – Beyond the “Majors”

Look beyond Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org for passenger and ship lists.

The Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild

has transcribed more than 17,000 ship manifests. This group of volunteers has been working for 14 years to make these lists available online.  But it is more than just lists.

The Compass page has several categories of links to other sites with additional information including immigration and naturalization; maritime resources; arrivals at non-USA ports

GG Archives

This site is so much more than passenger lists. It is a wealth of general and cultural information from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries to help flesh out the immigrant experience.

·       Information on steamship lines

·       Vintage brochures

·       Steamship tickets and menus

·       Daily life aboard a ship

·       Traveling steerage – multiple articles on the steerage experience.

The articles about traveling in steerage gave me a small idea of what my own immigrant ancestors went through - I'm certain that they never saw anything like the elegant menus shown on this site.

It is definitely worth spending time on this site.