The Lapinsky Curse

Let me just get this out there... the curse isn't any spooky voodoo stuff. Nothing paranormal. Just genetics.

The Lapinsky women all have one thing in common (excluding maybe 1-2 females per generation). We used to all joke about it. But now I'm determined to beat it. Lets look at a photo to see if you all can guess what the common feature is.



These are the Lapinsky women (and Stanley in the middle). My great grandmother Mildred Bieda (Lapinsky) is in the greenish brown dress.

Now I'm going to go out on a limb and say potato pancakes, pierogies and kluskies and bacon *might* have been a contributing factor. Perhaps. Milly is the smallest of the others but she's not a skinny minny either. *pauses, waits for lightning strike or similar sign....*

In any case, most of the women on the Polish side of the family have a little extra weight particularly around the mid section or that little pooch. Annoying as hell.

Obviously I'm not going to show photo proof that we all have it. I value my life too much.

Anyway I've been working on that and so far so good. Lapinsky curse is slowly disappearing. But it got me thinking about family genetics and similarities. There may be a genetic tendency but thats no excuse. I'm going to kick the Lapinsky curse in the bum.

That's all for now folks. I'm toying with an idea for the next post. If you watch Who do You Think You Are on NBC you may or may not know there is a drinking game. For all interested you can go here. On a separate note, last week I was watching Harry Potter 3 and found a Harry Potter workout. Example: Harry faints from a dementor- 20 jumping jacks. And for everyone who has seen #3.... thats quite a bit. So I was toying with that and WDYTYA... What about a WDYTYA workout? Take some of the ideas from there and just switch out drinking for crunches or something (yes not as fun as alcohol... but healthier!) I'll work on the idea a bit more and hopefully post it before next week. Any suggestions would be appreciated. If no one's interested then hey I'll do it for me.

Until next time

There and Back Again: The Tale of Two Bridgets

I have returned! After a long final semester my wonderful internship is over, along with my days of college. And, since there are no jobs for me at the moment, I will return to the blogosphere.

Back in March, (that is so sad...) I wrote about the Hungerfords and mentioned two women named Bridget. The first was Bridget Shelley, who married Anthony. The second was Bridget Fettiplace who married John.

Bridget Shelley was the daughter of John Shelley and Mary.
Now, Geni.com is clearly trying to drive me insane. Last time I checked, Bridget would have been a great grandmother of some sort. now they're telling me she is my 12th great aunt's 3rd great aunt. I don't know. Shes related to me some how so I'll continue on.

John's parents: Sir William Shelley (another sir! woo!) and Alice Belknap. I love the name Alice. Random side-note hah...

Mary's parents (This is where I'm going to have fun): Sir William Fitzwilliam and Maud Mildred Sackville.

Now, if you don't get it from my username greenbibliophile, I love books. So here comes my inner nerd. Fitzwilliam makes me think of Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Yes yes, I know. The character is Fitzwilliam Darcy and Fitzwilliam is not used as a surname. Let me have my fun ok? Also, Jane Austen will come into play later.

Next literary reference: Sackville. If you notice in the title* I used There and Back Again, a Tolkien novel better known as The Hobbit. Now I haven't read that in a while but in the follow up Lord of the Rings Trilogy there is mention of the Sackville-Baggins family. Which, in my little world, I connect myself to those little fictional hobbits by the name of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. And if you don't think I've lost it, just wait. Later I'll pretend to connect myself to Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter. But that is for another time.

Nerdy-ness out of the way, lets move on to Bridget Fettiplace (who's hubby eventually leads to the le Strange family)

She was the daughter of John Fettiplace and Dorothy Danvers.
Dorothy's parents: Sir John Danvers and Ann Stradling.
-Sir John's parents: Richard Danvers and Elizabeth Langston
-Ann's parents: John Stradling and Alice Langford.

John's parents: Richard Fettiplace and Elizabeth Bessiles

Mind you most of these people were born in the 1400s. And it keeps going back.

Next time I'll discuss the line to the le Strange family and the connection to one of my favorite authors. Ta ta for now!

*As far as I know there is no link to Dickens, but I felt like using a reference to A Tale of Two Cities.

Hungerford Family Part 1

First of all its been way too long since I've posted and I definitely could have over spring break but that wasn't one of my priorities. But now I have an annoying assignment and this is the perfect opportunity to procrastinate a little.

Last time I introduced the Hungerfords a little bit. I still don't know who married who but that's ok. Either Fabyan or Thomas Farley married the Jane Hungerford I'm talking about.

To give you some perspective, Jane is my 12th GGrandmother

Jane Hungerford- born around 1578 ish. parents were Sir Anthony Hungerford and Bridget Shelley.

Sir Anthony Hungerford... thats pretty cool.... "sir"
I did a quick google search of the name and a million things popped up but it was for a different Anthony Hungerford.... yay for repeating names again! the one site where I found the right one had "(sir knight)" at the end of his name.

So now I have English Knights in my family... and hello I love the movie "A Knights Tale" and all of that medieval fair stuff. But I digress....

Anthony Hungerford "Sir Knight" 1540-1594
Parents: John Hungerford "Sir Knight" and Bridget Fettiplace.
-- Fettiplace is an interesting surname too. I'll get to that family in a later post I think... but for now a quick wikipedia segment...

Fettiplace is probably from old French "faites place" for 'make room', the shout given by the ushers/bodyguards/protectors of the French Kings and nobility. 
They are said to have arrived in England with William the Conqueror.. 


Hellooo awesomeness! Back to Hungerfords...

John was born around 1513. His parents were Anthony Hungerford b. 1494 (ah, theres a repeat...) and Jane Darrel b. 1490

Ok now we're into the 1400's. So over 500 years ago? Madness!

Next time I'll discuss Bridget Shelley's family and perhaps hit on Bridget Fettiplace's parents.

And if you think thats all I have... you are sadly mistaken. There is so much stuff.... its.... insane. just... insane.

Anyone interested on visiting the site where I found some info that goes along with my tree: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/HUNGERFORD.htm#Anthony HUNGERFORD (Sir Knight)1

Later peeps!

Bieda Polish Picture

My busia sent me pictures. Some of when my mom was young, but mostly of when my great grandmother (Mildred Bieda) went to Poland.

In the center is Walter Bieda. To his left is his wife whose name may or may not be Anna. In the back is their daughter, either Anna or Wanda. Mildred is on the right.

For more information on the Bieda family please look in the 2010 blog posts.

If by any chance you recognize any of these people please let me know :)

Short and Sweet

Once again sorry for the lack of posts.

I recently started an internship and thats the last place you imagine to find a potential relative correct? Well, I don't know what any of you think but hey. I wasn't looking for a long lost cousin or anything.

In Florida the Persing name isn't very common. That I know of anyway. I have limited family down here. Anyway I was introduced to someone with the same last name. He looked at me kind of funny at first like.. why are you saying my last name. (I had to give him my name to write down). We got to talking and it turns out his father was from the Williamsport area of Pa. Quick mapquest visit. Less than an hour from where I grew up. I've even been there before. So is it possible for two people with the same last name who have ties to the northeastern quarter of the state to be related? It seems pretty possible to me especially when geni.com has me connected to 51 million people.

When we talked about relatives and such I didn't hear any familiar names... but that doesn't mean they aren't there. In many of my posts I only talk about a direct line. I don't mention siblings, other children, etc. Try and add up all the names from the siblings of someone from the 1700s. Then calculate how many descendent's of that person are alive today. Try and figure out how many were around that original location. It's crazy how many people we are potentially related to.

I don't know for sure if I'm related to this guy. But I hope he talked to his family and put the idea of genealogy into his mind. I don't know if I'll get to see him during the rest of my internship either.

Goodnight everyone. If your up north stay out of the cold. If you're down south like me, laugh at the northerners. (kidding... sort of)

Hauck Part 1

The information I have on the Hauck family goes back to the 1720s. I won't get that far tonight. I'll only go back until the 1800s. I won't include much information on the Pitner or Lantz connections. Those surnames need their own entry.

My grandfather's mother was Eleanor Hauck. She was born in 1913. When I was younger I thought this was neat because I kept thinking that the Titanic sunk in 1912 (Mind you, that movie came out when I was in third grade and I was a bit obsessed with it). I used to call her Nana. She used to make the best Italian wedding soup, tapioca pudding, and milkshakes. She had this really cool thing on her counter. It was like the controls to a blender on one side and the attachment for a blender on the other. She also had a swing in the back with big stones underneath and ivy that would climb up the sides of the stones. I think I colored on her walls when I was little too. I heard stories about her not being a very good driver. I know she drove into a gas station at some point. When she was in the assisted living and nursing home I played with her wheelchairs (one was automatic. and very fun) She passed away in the summer of 2002.

She had a brother named Wilfred.
Their parents were: Marion H Hauck and Ruth Pitner. Ancestry.com has some draft cards (WWI and or II) for Marion.

Marion's parents were Wilfred R Hauck and Mary Eldora Swank (She went by Dora). They were both born in the 1860s.

Wilfred's parents were Henry L Hauck and Hannah Rhoads. Henry was born in 1841. He had many brother's and sisters. I won't get into that right now but it may play a role in a kind of mystery.

My grandfather has a civil war sword that was passed down from the Hauck side and I'm trying to find out who actually owned it. I'll get into that later.

Next time: Hauck family to the 1720s and details of the civil war sword. Maybe even a picture. Depends on how I'm feeling that day.