L is for Law - 2017 A to Z Challenge

One of the challenges to understanding the documents left by our ancestors is understanding the law at that particular time and place.

I was privileged to hear Judy G Russell The Legal Genealogist, speak at an all-day seminar in February of this year. To most of us, law seems like a pretty dry and dull subject but Judy makes it lively as she reminds us how pertinent and valuable it is to our genealogy.

In some places and times, women were not permitted to inherit land.

In some places and times, a widow’s children were given to her husband’s family to raise. 

Why wasn’t the eldest son mentioned in the will?  Perhaps the law of primogeniture guaranteed the he automatically inherited the land; and the will merely distributed other property. Don’t assume that he was dead.

Why wasn’t the wife mentioned in the will?  If the law of dower was in place, it may mean only that he intended to leave her only what the law of dower allowed.  Again, don’t assume that she was deceased or divorced.

Did you know?  I certainly didn’t.  Here are a few resources:

The Legal Genealogist

FamilyTreeWebinars – Ms. Russell has done several of these

FamilySearch WIKI

Hathi Trust

And check state archives for information on statutes and legislation.

Sometimes we don’t know what it is that we don’t know.

K is for Kismet - 2017 A to Z Challenge

Kismet: Destiny, Fate  

This is a recurring theme for me with my Family History projects. As I look back at my families over the past 200+ years. I often wonder what if things had been different at any given place and time.

Early on in my research, I was in touch with a man in Germany who has my same last name: Dachtera. He, too was doing research.  We exchanged emails and he sent photos of his mother, and of his father in his WW II German army uniform.  I sent photos to him including one of my father in his US WW II army uniform.  That got me thinking.

With so many immigrants in the US what were the odds on the front lines in WW II that cousins were unknowingly shooting at one another??  Could have happened in Russia, Germany and Italy. That’s the basis of at least a few novels.

History can get the mind spinning with “what if’?”   That’s what makes us keep on reading Harry Turtledove and other alternate history authors.

As curious as I am, it is probably best not to know “what if?”.  I’ll stick with my kismet.

J is for Just - 2017 A to Z Challenge

J is for Just. As in I just  cannot think of anything to write for the letter J.

So even though this post is empty of content, I keep my alphabet string going - sort of.

Bummer

I is for Ignatz Ganas - 2017 A to Z Challenge

Ignatz Ganas is my maternal Grandfather.  Family lore from my mother makes me especially curious about him.

Here’s what I know for certain:

·         Vitals

o   Born:              29 June, 1870  Chorzalki, Poland

o   Immigration:  17 August,.1893 Baltimore, Maryland, USA

o   Married:          18 October, 1898  St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

o   Died:               12 January, 1940 St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

·         His mother’s family owned an inn (tavern)

·         His father died in 1873

·         His mother remarried in 1876

Based on my mother’s stories, his youth was different from my other ancestors.

At some point he was sent to live in Berlin with his mother’s twin brother who was a tailor.

Why?

Was he sent to be an apprentice to his uncle?  Seems a reasonable guess because he did learn tailoring and taught it to my mother.

When?

What was the age at which boys became apprenticed? Perhaps I can learn this and make a guess at his age.

When he was 16 years old he left Germany to avoid conscription into the army.

This makes sense because his father, Joseph, was in the military when he died. I’ve not yet been able to find any military records.  An 1873 church record shows Joseph as a “deceased soldier”

If he left Germany at 16 and came to the US at 23, where was he and what did he do for those years?

My mother said that he spoke 6 languages so he probably spent time in several European countries?  Which ones?

How did he manage?

Did he make use of his tailoring skills?

Was he an itinerant laborer? 

My imagination comes up with all kinds to possibilities, some grand, some very ordinary.

Come visit me in my dreams, Grandpa, and tell me all about it.

H is for Heirloom - A to Z Challenge

Joseph & Magdalena Dachtera

My heirlooms are very precious.  But they have no monetary value.

Things that were very ordinary to our ancestors’ lives take on an exceptional charisma as they age and our ancestors’ lives become more distant in time.

I cherish a piece of inexpensive costume jewelry, an apron, a prayer book, a rosary, and, some photographs. 

They are priceless.

G is for Grunt Work - A To Z Challenge

Grunt work is the stuff that needs doing but isn’t fun or interesting to do.  It’s what I’m doing now; and for me it takes much more discipline than I usually have.  I’m more a big picture person than a detail person. I’ll take care of the details, but first…..

I have a couple of genealogy projects on hold waiting for FHL films to arrive. This is the perfect time to fill in the holes in my citations.  And, boy, do I have holes!

Yes, I know that I should include citations immediately when I add new information. I do that when I have just a few new data points. Good. But when I’ve come across a lot of new information, I’m just anxious to get it all in and see how the pieces fit in with the old information. Hence: procrastination.

If you were to look up the definition of “Pay me now, or pay me later” you’d find my picture.

F is for Facts - A to Z Challenge

We all know what a fact is:  Something than can be proven to be true.

Perhaps. 

In recent months, the phrase “alternative fact” has come into common usage having been coined by someone in Washington, DC.  That is nothing new to genealogists and family historians.

We deal with alternative facts on a regular basis.  How many ways can that surname be spelled or misspelled?  Are Sally and Sarah the same person? Is that person a biological parent or a step parent?  An official document states a birth year as 1885; but then another document, also “official”, pins the birth year as 1887. Just how many nicknames are there for Margaret?

Genealogy software and online genealogy sites have us record facts for each individual in our family trees.  I wish there was a better word. Sometimes a fact is just the best information we have at the time.  Unless we have absolute proof, there’s always the chance that our “fact” will be contradicted or disproved.

As frustrating as that can be, it is also what keeps us digging through old records and keeps us on our toes.

And that’s a fact.