On This Date...

On March 25, 1913, my great grandfather Ludwik (Lewis) Bieda arrived in America with his parents and two brothers. I find it amazing that it was 99 years ago. Not even a year after the sinking of the Titanic. How scary would that be?

Left to Right: Ludwik, Jakob, and Anna Bieda

They sailed from Bremen Germany on the Kronprinzessin Cecilie. I found a few pictures of it online through Google.

 

 another view of the smoking room.

I doubt my Polish peeps would've been up in first class. I mean photos of Jakob make him look rather snazzy with a pocket watch and everything but the surname "Bieda" translates to "Poverty" in Polish. Lovely

 

Ever since the movie came out and we learned about it in 3rd grade, I've had a thing for the Titanic. When I found out they came to America not even a year later... I see the movie different now. Maybe all of you genealogist types see it too. When I watch the first half (pre iceberg) I feel... It helps me imagine what my ancestors might have been feeling when they boarded the Kronprinzessin Cecilie. Then when everyone is scurrying for the lifeboats... it just makes it more real knowing that it could've happened to my ancestors too. 

In other news... did you all hear Titanic is coming out in 3D? Excited! Just made plans to see it with some coworkers. I'm sure I'll post about that, as well as a whole Titanic themed post including distant cousins I'm apparently related to that were on the ship. I found some sad stories (surprise right?) about some of the families. I'll share those too (if I can remember where I stashed them).

Thats all for now folks!

The Other Half

This is called the Persing & Bieda family history for a reason. Up until about a week ago, I had no idea about the other half of my tree. My dad's side. Never met the guy. It awkwardly came up in conversation last week (how would that conversation not be awkward?) but I'm glad I know now. Besides. Every tree has some interesting tidbits in it. Some good some bad. But it is what it is.

I usually don't include names of living people in my blog, but I think I'll make an exception. Maybe I want him to randomly google something and find out that I exist, or to remind him that I exist. Maybe because they'res a teeny part of me that's angry and hurt and wants other people to know he's a jerk (maybe not 100% jerk. perhaps coward is a better word?)

So who is this man and his family and how much do I know? And how did I get past the little info I was given initially? Sit back and I'll tell you.

His name is Darrin Kay Snyder. He has a sister named Donna. His parents are Donald and Elaine K Snyder. The names of his parents I actually found on mylife.com. You know, that creepy website where you can find terrifying amounts of information. Hah. I have a free account but it didn't really help. I found more by not signing in. Anyway the names were confirmed by my mom so I know I have the right people. Another good tip for finding living relatives? Check the white pages online. If I wanted to I could call Darrin or send him a letter. Doesn't mean I'm going to.

Based on the birth dates of my grandparents, Ancestry.com couldn't help me with what I had. Well, not until the 1940 census comes out anyway. But I was googling here and there. And I found a Gedcom file online. I've never seen one or used one or anything before so the code took some getting used to. I think I could be a pro now.  Here is the link that I found: http://www.colcohist-gensoc.org/gedcoms/melich.ged

It shows all of them. I learned that Donald passed away in 1999 and he was a Korean War vet. It even said an occupation for prison guard. The file shows that Elaine's maiden name was Turner. Her mother's maiden name was Melick. The file has the Melick/Moelich family going back to the 1500s in Germany. So last week I had no idea.... and now I'm in the 1500s? In WDYTYA drinking game talk... thats like 10 shots right there.

Does it end there? Of course not! I plug everything into Ancestry.com... all generations from that page. No hints for Donald, except a ss. death record and military record. I was able to find my great grandparents, Minnie Melick and Ellis Turner. And guess what? THERE WERE PICTURES! You all know how I am with pictures. Heck how all of us are with pictures. There was even a picture for Elaine's sister. Apparently they were twins! I found more twins further back. Anyway long story short I found a crap ton of people back there. Mostly German ancestry. But all of them were in America since the 16-1700s. Another branch I found, now this is exciting, goes to England. I love the UK and Ireland. You have no idea. When I saw England on the ancestry tree I was about as excited as Amy Farrah Fowler on Big Bang Theory when Sheldon gave her a tiara. At this point I'm in the 12-1300s in England. And there's a castle.

I think I'm starting to ramble a little bit so this is where I'll end it. As always leave me comments. Please? Or if you are related to me don't hesitate to let me know :)

WDYTYA Workout

Right now I'm watching Reba on Who do You Think You Are. Apparently she's my 19th cousin. In the drinking game that means I should take a drink. But if I was going to follow that I would be completely smashed right now. (Actually I'm cheating on the exercise version only b/c i have a headache and jumping jacks don't help with that).

Like I said last post, I'm modeling this after the drinking game (link in last post too) so if some of the things are similar well, you know why.

So here we go. The WDYTYA Workout:

5 crunches if...

-we go back 3+ generations in several seconds

-celeb travels to another state in the U.S

-they look at an old document

-the celeb compares their life with their ancestor's life

10 crunches if...

-there are no gloves used on an old document and it bothers you

-celebs travel overseas

-name change

-impossibly quick "finding" of documents in the library. 

5 push ups if...

-ancestry.com mentioned in the show

-photograph found in a library

-emotional moment

10 jumping jacks if...

-they are shown a nice family tree

-wow!/ gasp/ shock/ surprise

-they go to a census

20 jumping jacks if...

-you are related to the celeb

-you've been to the city/town that they travel to

-they go to the 1600s or earlier

This is just a rough draft of course. I'm making it up as I go. 

Suggestions are welcome!

(Also, I'm not proofreading any of this. Long day at work plus distracted by the show. So if something doesn't make sense... just go with it. LOL)

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

Back to Bieda

This past week I noticed that I've had a lot of blog views from Poland. Particularly to the Bieda pages of my blog. It's been driving me crazy. I keep thinking "oo is it a relative?" So I thought I'd post some more stuff on the Bieda family. Or perhaps repeat some stuff. Who knows.

I have some documents that I need some help decoding. I can figure out the general stuff. Sort of. Its in Latin and Polish and the dreaded 18-1900s cursive writing.

Jakob Bieda's baptism record

So I know where Poreba Spytkowska is on a map. It's between Krakow and Tarnow and right next to Okocim. This is good. I know there are the parents listed and their parents. Also good. They're in my tree already. Don't know what the B name is under father though. And I don't know what the "Patrial" part is. Or what the stamps or signatures are.

Next up we have the marriage certificate for Jakob Bieda and Anna Klaus

Sponsas I'm guessing means parents? since... Those are the same names. Once again don't understand the box on the right.

Ludwik's Baptism record

Ok so he was born in 1902 BUT the bottom of the paper says 1913. I think it's March. That's when they got on the ship and came over to the good ole USA. So why would they wait to get the paper until then? Why wouldn't they have it on hand?

Ok next up we have a screen shot from the Ellis Island site. The ship manifest from the Kronprincessen Cecile (slightly edited in paint to point out my peeps)



Ok so this needs some translating. Luckily I know what it says. I just don't know what it means.

Jakob is on line 5. First red dot. Followed by Anna, Alex, Jozef and Ludwik

The area with the red ( and arrow is the "Whether going to join a relative or friend, if so their name and address"

It says "br. in law Wojciech Niemiec 412 Harrison St. Shamokin, Pa"

the br. in law is on 2 lines. Not sure about the numbers for the street.

Anyway, like I said in an earlier post, I did some digging and found a Wojciech and Petronella Niemiec in the same cemetery as Jakob and Anna. (Just realized "digging" may not have been the best word choice here... but it's gonna stay). Now I know, Wojciech and Petronella are such common names *eye roll*. Based on the manifest it means Petronella is either Anna or Jakob's sister. Probably Jakob's. Dunno why but that's what my brain says.

Anyone with suggestions about the documents feel free to comment because I sure wouldn't mind the help. 

And to those people from Polska looking at my blog posts... PLEASE COMMENT! If you know anything I'd love to hear it! Thanks in advance! I know you're out there somewhere.

“He who has no fools, knaves, or beggars in his family was begot by a flash of lightning.”

 Recently I've been into castles and the UK and such. Last night and today I've been going through a list of English castles to see who I'm related to. So I reached Herstmonceux castle and read that construction began in 1441. The man behind it was Sir Roger Fiennes. Now, if you've read my previous posts, particularly the one with Bellatrix Lestrange and the Peverell family, you know I'm into Harry Potter. Just a little bit. So when I see the name "Fiennes" I think of Harry Potter. Why? Because Ralph Fiennes plays Voldemort in Harry Potter (he also plays Francis Dolarhyde in Red Dragon... you all know I majored in Forensics and LOVE Hannibal Lecter right?) 

So I see the name Sir Roger Fiennes and I think to myself... "hmmm I wonder." So I plug it into geni.com and I find out he is my third cousin 20 times removed. Very cool. I'm related to another person who lived in a castle. At the same time, I wander over to wikipedia and type in Ralph Fiennes. Usually for actors it just gives the parents but it also lists his grandfather Sir Maurice Fiennes with years for birth and death. Plug that into geni. While geni was doing its search I see that Ralph is the 8th cousin of Prince Charles of Wales. Well I'm distantly related to the Prince of Wales. So I open up another geni tab on my computer and search for Prince Charles. Then I pushed the little pin to see if Sir Roger and Prince Charles are related. Prince Charles is Sir Roger's 16th great grandson. Yadda Yadda Yadda I keep going and see that Ralph is Roger's 18th great grandson. See my brain did know there was a connection between the two! 

So Ralph Fiennes is my 16th cousin once removed. I'm related to the man who portrayed Lord Voldemort and Francis Dolarhyde. Both psychopathic serial killers. Ah I love it.

Which brings me to my next point. In every family tree there the potential for that crazy one person. Well my tree is full of them. In the WSJ article it said I was related to Charles Manson but I could't remember how. Well of course I wouldn't find the answer until AFTER the article is published. Anyway, on the online version of the article there's a video with the editor talking to a woman. She says "the one woman interviewed is related to Charles Manson" and the other woman was like... and she brags about this? Truth is... I'm a forensics nerd. I love criminal minds. I love Silence of the Lambs. I read Kathy Reichs. Bones. Murder. Love it all. 

So here are some of my creepy relatives:

Charles Manson: 18th cousin once removed

Vlad the Impaler (Dracula): first cousin 21 times removed's wife's second cousin once removed 

Countess Elizabeth Bathory (bathed in blood of the girls she killed): 12th cousin 19 times removed

Herman Mudgett (built a "castle" for torture): 12th cousin 6 times removed

Lizzie Borden (murdered father & stepmother with hatchet): 10th cousin 7 times removed

Ivan the Terrible: 8th cousin 17th times removed

I'm sure I'll find or remember more crazy people that I'm related to. But I'd say that is plenty for now.

Extra Extra!

Ok I'll warn you, I am very excited right now. Like that one person in the SNL skit "Surprise Party". Haven't seen it? Well you should. But right now I'm just so FRIGGIN EXCITED.

No, its not a huge genealogical discovery. I haven't found the long lost Polish relatives. I haven't found any new documents. I haven't seen new pictures of my relatives.


BUT

My ancestors are in the news.

From the itty bitty towns of Elysburg and Shamokin.... The Bieda and Persing families are in the news. The coal miners that came from Poland and left a brother behind. My nana in a tree. Even a picture of my pap's dad in a video.

Not just the news mind you. The Wall Street Journal.

Not just a local paper. THEEE Wall Street Journal. Excuse me whilst I squeal in excitement.

Theres the article, an interactive graphic, and a video!

Here is the link