As I get older, I become more interested in my family history, and with the Internet, I’ve been able to track down all sorts of things that would have taken years of research to discover. A few years ago, I managed to find my grandfather’s Ellis Island entry (at http://www.ellisisland.org/) and even get a copy. And just a few days ago, I discovered a new (free) site that has a ton of information gathered in one spot: http://www.familysearch.org/.
I discovered things like my grandfather’s draft registration from World War II (he was too old to serve, but was required to register). But two reall stood out:
I found an entry for my great grandfather from the 1900 census. But the family name was listed as “Rotman.” I have no idea if that was just a misspelling (I’ve seen several others elsewhere), of if the family changed the name later. No one is around who might have any idea.
But the big surprise was when I looked up my grandmother. I had known her name was Gertrude Fichman, but it never showed up in the searches. But the site had some nice ways to narrow a search, so I just typed her last name, and narrowed to females, born in the 1890s in Romania, and living in New York State. One name came up in the 1910 Census data: Gissella Fichman. I was going to chalk it up to a failed search, until I saw the names of her parents – Bernard and Mary.
Those were my great grandparents’ names. I looked further and discovered that Gissella Fichman’s brothers’ names were the same as my great uncles’. It was her.
She also showed up in a 1905 Census of New York State, this time as Gisella Fichman. Same parents, everyone the right age. This had a link to the original census form. She was living in a tenement in Manhattan. It was also nice to see that my great uncle Max was listed as a US citizen, having been born after they immigrated. So much for “anchor babies.”
I found out later that she had hated the name Gisella and changed to Gertrude (which was a popular name at the time). I had never heard the name before; Neither had my brothers.
I have my maternal grandmother’s baptism certificate. Somewhere between 1903 and 1910, she lost 4 letters in her last name. Her mothers’ family lost 6 letters. They also lost a person - was in the 1900 census, but in a 1905 article was no longer listed. No death notices in the Polish churches / Polish newspapers, nothing.
On my dad’s side, Freidrich and Maria (my great grandfather/mother) became Fred and Mary, and they ADDED a letter to their last name.
My mom has been going through old papers and giving me ‘assists’ - old marriage certificates / baptism certificates / wills. It’s been really neat.
I looked up my wife’s ancestors in the 1911 Irish Census. I discovered that my wife’s great-aunt Agnes had a different last name than her 9 siblings. Nobody living seems to know why, or at least they’re not telling us. She used the family surname publicly, but she was clearly not my wife’s great grandfather’s child and may not have been her great grandmother’s child either. It’s possible that the cousins on that branch of the family tree aren’t really my wife’s cousins at all.
Found out my grandparents were married in Utah. As far as I had known, neither had ever left Minnesota. He was from Minneapolis, and she came north from Iowa.
They lived the rest of their lives in Minnesota as well.
I kind of envy the people in this thread. For me, it would be more difficult. All the records of my ancestors from before the 1950s would be in Hungarian, which I don’t read. And what records there were were probably largely destroyed in WWII.
Oh, families are fun. We were going through my father’s papers and found the real reason my stepmother (also deceased) divorced her first husband… and then my sister mentioned that she had seen my stepmother’s diaries and the page where she wrote that Dad had stayed over for the first time. :: a :: little :: too :: personal ::
And if there’s anyone from the Dennis family of Saskatchewan here? I seem to be related to you.
When we went to Ellis Island, we found out that my husband’s last name was misspelled on the intake, and they added an extra “U”. Which explains why there is no one in America with his last name.
And, since he had no uncles, and (so far) his only brother has no kids, when he goes, there will be only one left - my son.
I think you’ll find a lot of name changes if you go back far enough (we were discussing this at lunch time). It can be for a large number of reasons including lack of ability to write, error, marrying someone else or desertion and re-enlisting in the military.
The town my great grandmother came from in Hungary is apparently no longer there. But, it looks like it was close to the Romanian or the Serbian border, depending on which town name you want to take.
Again, too bad being Jewish means that all your family’s documentation is destroyed… along with the synagogue, the neighborhood, the town…
I’ve seen records spelling my family surname in THREE different ways. The way that I spell it is apparently the dominant one, at least in my family. There was an alternate spelling in either the 1860 or 1870 census (need to check), and service or draft records during WW1 spelled in in a third way.
For some reason, I had been fascinated by the LDS religion (though I never joined it), and then later, my mom told me that she had found out something interesting about our ancestry. It turns out that one of my ancestors had
Left a wife and child to travel to Utah with Brigham Young, and married polygamously and had like 20 more kids.
RealityChuck, thank you for posting that link to familysearch.org. I was able to find some information about my grandfather and his parents that I was unable to find on ancestry.com. I knew the family name had changed but I never knew exactly what it was before. My grandfather’s birth record and great-grandparents’ death records were on that site so now I know the family last name and have some information on my great-grandparents. I found out their names, occupation, when they died, how they died and where they are buried.
Turns out they were both dead before my grandfather turned 5. I guess that is one reason there was so little information passed along. I don’t even know who raised him. Apparently he had a sister too but I can only find her birth record.
I discovered my grandfather went to prison for murder. My father’s paternal branch is like something from a Faulkner novel – murder, suicide, insanity, decaying gentry of the Old South.
This is pretty neat. Myself, my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all have/had the same first name. I share the same middle name as my great-grandfather. I just now found out that it was my great-great-grandfather’s wife’s maiden name. I’m stuck now as I need records from the mid-1800s from Wales to get back any further.
As far as I had known, neither had ever left Minnesota. He was from Minneapolis, and she came north from Iowa.
I guess that is one reason there was so little information passed along. I don’t even know who raised him. Apparently he had a sister too but I can only find her birth record.