What's in a name?

I hope everyone had a good Easter Sunday and a successful first week of census searching.

After the initial frustration on release day I've been pretty successful so far. Only a handful of relatives missing.

The first batch I was able to view was on my dad's side, the Turner and Melick families in Mount Pleasant Twp, Pa. I found his mother, my grandmother and her six siblings. Yes, six. Holy cow. Elaine Turner is a twin, I don't know if I mentioned that in one of my other posts. Her sister was Eilean Turner and she passed away a few years ago. One of the other Turner sisters is named Della Jane. I kind of like that name and I don't know why. Anyway the parents (Ellis Turner and Minnie Melick) were listed there too and her father's occupation was a farmer. Shocker in Pa woo! Lol. I also found Ellis Turner's parents Harry and Lovina. A few other Melick's as well but I'm not 100% sure on a connection, if any.

I figure that was a good start considering I didn't know anything about those guys and never talked to any of that side of the family. Onto the next one!

I was finally able to get into Ralpho Twp that night YAY! I found Clinton, Ida, and Dora Pitner in one place. Then I found my great great grandfather Marion Hauck with Ruth Pitner and my great grandmother Eleanor and her brother Wilferd. In Shamokin I found Morris Yeager with Florence Persing and their brood including Elizabeth/Betty Yeager who I met last December. I also foun Russel/Rudy Persing with Jessie and someone named Doris. Walter Persing (my great grandfather who married Eleanor) was living with his mother Cora in Shamokin. It said he worked in a dye and paint mill. Next I found E. W Persing who is Earl, confirmed by the fact his occupation is listed as Potato Chip factory.

Those were all pretty easy. The Polish on the other hand. Sheesh. I tweeted that they were harder to find than  Waldo, Carmen Sandiego, and Voldemort's nose.

Well apparently they weren't hiding in Shamokin Borough like I thought (or not all of them anyway)

The borough is apparently inside of Coal Twp. and has completely different ED numbers. Today I finally realized this and looked in 49-11 and 49-12.

I found some type of cousins. Or aunts and uncles. I don't know anymore. Stanley Kozloski married Frances Lapinsky so I found those two and their children WITH Anthony Lapinsky. Oh wait sorry. The census says Lipinski have to be correct here. He would be my great great grandfather (Mildred's father). He was 79, not working (duh) and had 0 education. Cioci Francy (aunt there it is I remembered) had a 3rd grade education.
Next up is Frank Yucha and his wife Charlotte (Frances' daughter I think) with 2 of their children. Charlotte just passed away in March.
Then I found Lawrence Matlock (?) with Louise Lapinsky (also goes by Julie. see these people can't make up their minds!) Their kids are shown along with two daughters (+ on of their husbands) from Louise/ Julie's first marriage (surname Glock/Gloc).  One of the Gloc's was lucky enough to be in the extra questions but only thing I learned was Polish was spoken in the home.
Then we have Stanley Lapinsky (actually spelled Lapinsky) with his wife and 2 children.

Ok so the Lapinsky/Lipinski thing I've seen before. No surprise.

But these damn Bieda's are going to kill me.

I mentioned before there was a name change to Biedzinski but my great grandfather Ludwik/Lewis/Louis changed back to Bieda. Well apparently not until after 1940.

The census lists Budzinskie. Louis, Mildred, and my uncle Emil (my Busia's brother). I found them after remembering I had a directory saved to Ancestry.com from 1930 and 1941. 1212 Hemlock St. Shamokin Pa. I actually passed them by the first time I looked through the 49-12 section.

So then I went back to the Shamokin Borough and the million of pages that section. I had Joseph and Mary in a directory for 1928 saying they were at 442 Pearl St. and Jakob and Anna were at 440 Pearl St. Well I only found Joseph and Mary. I think Anna had passed away by then but I still didn't find Jakob. In 1950 he's listed as living with Jozef in the directory. Anyway, you would think Jozef would be listed under Biedzinski or Budzinskie. Nope. Beginskie. I'm tellin ya they want to drive me mad!

But if you think of it, in Polish the dz combo sounds like a dg sound. I think.

So I still need to find Jakob Bieda... or whatever.... and then Aleksander/ Alex/ Alexandor is somewhere in Philly at this time. But I have no address or anything so I might have to wait until the indexed version is out. And then of course deal with the possible name combinations. But I won't think about that now.

Sorry this was so long! Gotta go, I'm going out tonight. Titanic 3D Yes!!!

Pictures in Boxes- Part 4

It seems like these will never end... then again... what will I write about when I'm done?

Where did I leave off... oh yes... cool FDR photo. Moving on.

Eleanor

Jessie Persing and my uncle. (grandpa's brother)

Eleanor/ Nana. on a horse.

Back says "Ruth Hauck?"

my nana again

Emma McCormick 

Nana

Nana and her friend "Boots"

Nana & her brother

"Hauck reunion 1961"

Marion Hauck, Front row on the left. Those are his parents in between.

Marion on the left.

Guessing its an anniversary party.

Marion Hauck & Carrie

No idea. But I love the lady on the left.

I think Nana is the girl in the middle

On the back it says Persing 1949 49 yrs old. My guess is it *might* be Earl Persing because he was born in 1899

Marion and Carrie

My mom! haha!!

Louis Bieda

Shamokin High School 1925. Walter Persing is the one on the right not in uniform.

I'll either have two more of these or one large picture post. My Polish peeps are coming up (or a more concentrated section of them in the next set of photos)

Ta ta for now!

Pictures in Boxes- Part 3

Happy October! This time (ish.. actually on the 12th...) last year I started my blog! Hard to believe.

Ok time for more pictures. I know I've been skipping around a bit but thats how I came across the pictures. I tried to group some of the potato chip fire pictures together...

before.... obviously.. 

Pretty sad. They made Jalapeno hot chips. I love chips. and Jalapenos.. alas.

Report Card

Aunt Jessie. Married Russel I believe.

Eleanor and her brother

Marion & Carrie

Now this is an interesting one. Clinton Kase is second to the right. Picture was taken in 1870. J.D. Clinton Kase was born in 1827, died in 1906

Harriet & Dora Pitner in Florida. Hmm... wonder what part

Betty Yeager (Florence Persing + Morris Yeager)

Chester Persing. Went out to Illinois. Did some military stuff and edited childrens books.

No idea who she is. but the dress is awesome.

Face cut off in the back. It was stuck to the notebook in the background at some point....

This is exciting... who can tell me who that nifty lookin man in the middle is?

"Our president and the president of Panama at the pier just when he got off the boat."

 If you answered FDR you would be correct! No idea when this was taken. Or where. Who took it. But isn't that cool?

Presbyterian Chapel Cemetery

I am very proud of this one. I started researching my cemeteries about a month before my vacation. Via Find a Grave, I knew that Lambert Pitner was in this cemetery. Also that the cemetery was in Northumberland county. And I had a picture of Lambert's headstone. That was it. No location. No address. Nothing. Finally I did an ancestry.com message board search. I highly recommend this if you are stuck!!

1795... I repeat. 17... 95...
Also note it says Shamokin. I'd consider it more Elysburg but hey.

There were two people talking about this cemetery. From there I gathered that it was 2.5 miles outside of Elysburg on Snydertown Rd. It was passed the industrial park and on the right side. It was in a grove of trees between a house and a bible church. Now I could have just waited until I got up north and drove down the street until I found a cemetery. But no no. Why do that when we have technology?

Google maps. Ahh. How I love you. Now what I did on good ole google map satellite view was first locate the start of Snydertown Rd in Elysburg. Pretty simple. It starts on market street and just keeps heading to the left of the screen. Next use that little measuring thingy on the bottom and figure out how far 2.5 miles is. Follow the road and landmarks to make sure. In google maps I passed the industrial park and about 2.5 miles on the "right" side of the road I saw two buildings and a grove of trees in the middle. But alas no matter how far I zoomed it only got blurry. But it was promising.

Next thing to do is try the street view. It's as if you're standing on a street and looking around. "Brilliant!" says I. I could probably see the cemetery from the road! Alas, no. Pennsylvania is hill/mountain country. My computer and I virtually stood on Snydertown Rd looking at a hill. With a street sign and part of a house visible.

Next tip for searches like this: When you are on the road looking for these places (or having someone drive while you look) it is good to have an iPhone. Or a phone with google or maps or any combination. In my app there was a little blue dot signifying where we were and I had a pin where the cemetery might be. It helps you know when you are getting close.

Now at this point in my trip my grandparents (yes I do love them) were starting to... how do you say... get on my nerves? Hey it happens. I think we were on day 10 of constant contact. So my mom and I hijacked the car and went out to the cemetery.

Now in previous posts I've mentioned the crime scene photography technique. I cannot stress this enough. I used it SO much this day. Ready for the insane amount of photographs? Ok.

360 photos (ok more like 180):

"Victory Bible Church"

"Laurel Rd"

Remember, signs are important for landmarks.

Ok so first do you're over all pictures. Next we do what? Correct we zoom! *hands readers cookies*

If you look hard you can see a tombstone. 

Lovely progressive shots. It's like you're walking through.

Ok so we've reached the actual cemetery. Time for more overall shots.

When starting overalls in a second location try to include a landmark. The sign for the cemetery is in this picture. It show's I'm inside a little bit but still near the starting point.

Part of the sign is still visible. Continuing the 360.

take a picture even if there's not much there.

And theres a little tiny bit of the sign area on the far left. very little.  but Daniel Kase's headstone is in both this picture and the first so the 360 is complete. Woo!

As you explore take progressive photos. 

No idea if I'm related to this little girl but I just love this stone. "Herelyeth". Fabulous. Born in 1803 & died 4 days later.  Very sad.

Some pictures show the state of this cemetery. So sad. It makes me want to clean it up. Very much.

Its like the tree... ate it or something...

A Pitner? Hmmm...

Le gasp! Can it be?

Captain Lambert Pitner!

Now he was pretty far in. After I stepped back a ways I took some pics to show the location...

Ok Lambert is in the middle ish...

Using my moms pink purse as a reference on the left... theres a shot of the edge of the cemetery with the sign. 

Ok now sometimes in the excitement of arriving at the cemetery you may forget to take a picture of the surrounding location. Just remember to take it before you leave. :)

See. Sign for a bible church. and a house. Google maps for the win.

I hope you enjoyed my cemetery posts! That's not the end of my genealogy filled vacation though. Oh no. 

I found photos and documents in a garage at my great grandmothers. I found old photos hidden in boxes at my grandma's house. And of course I documented all of it. Stay tuned!

(Also.. 5 posts in a row? Thats a record people!)

Also also! I would like to announce that this month for the first time ever.... my blog has had 100+ views. WOOO! Thanks guys!!