What's in a name? (Part 2)

It occurs to me that I should have split the last post into two sections and just stick the Bieda family by itself. And I have to say this again. They are driving me crazy.

Today I started looking in directories again thinking the name changes I found yesterday will make a difference. I even looked in one with Lewis Bieda that I already saved. And then I saw it. Bigenski. Oh but isn't that the same one I found yesterday? Nope. The ole switcheroo with an i and an e. Well that's ok I thought. Not too bad I can deal with one more. So I go to another one. And again. Biegnski. Ok just put the i and e together now and slide the gn together. Sure.

Before today I had no record of my peeps in the 1930 census. After looking in all these directories I think to myself "Self!"... Sorry I had an Emril moment.. if you don't get that don't worry. Anyway I did a search in the 1930 census and found Joseph and his wife, Jakob and Anna, and Alex and his wife. With yet another spelling. So at this point I'm getting kind of ticked off. Not to mention that Alex, who already has several variations to his first name, is spelled Elex in this census. AH! I believe it was at this point where I wanted to crack open a bottle of vodka at 10:30am. But I digress. The last name this time was Bignskie. See it's not major differences but if you try to search for them, even using the soundex or whatever it's called on ancestry.com.... it's just annoying. I also want to add that Alex or whatever the hell his name is eventually moved to Philly with his family. Philly is a whole hell of a lot bigger than Shamokin and with this many name variations, and possibly more... how will I ever find him?

A brief note on the 1930 census, I actually did find some helpful info. For example Joseph's wife Mary (not to be confused with Alex's wife Mary) and her parents were born in Germany. Yet the language in the home was Polish. But go back to thinking about the crazy borders back then. It also said they arrived in 1908. That could be helpful, but then again for the Biedas they said it was 1912 and not 1913. I also saw Alex's children in the 1930 census: Joseph, Eleanor and Angela. Now I called my busia to confirm about Angela and she wasn't sure. She gave me the name Marie before, so I don't know. The last thing I found was that Joseph, Jakob, and Anna couldn't speak English. I can kind of see Jakob and Anna but Joseph? He was only 11 when he came over, and this was 17yrs later so he should have picked up something. Anyway.

Lewis was living in a different ED. So again I had to fiddle around to find it but it wasn't that bad. I had the address which helped me before. And when I got to 1212 Hemlock... dear lord I almost had a fit. Borzinskie.  Its not even a mistake in the indexing. Its clearly a cursive 'or' on the sheet.

So here they are:
Bieda
Biedzinski
Budzinskie
Beginskie
Bigenski
Biegnski
Bignskie
Borzinskie

And I thought the Lapinsky's were bad! I still haven't found Jakob. I know in 1936-37 he was living at 440 s. Pearl and in 1948 he was at 34 s. Franklin. I checked both on the 1940 census. So I don't know where the guy is. Or was I should say. Hopefully I won't have to do a part 3 for this name thing.

That's all for now!

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

Pictures in Boxes- Part 5

When I was looking through pictures I was happy and excited but I only did the genealogy happy dance when I found some of the following photos. If you've been following my blog you know that my Polish side is the hardest to find anything on.

Louis/ Ludwik Bieda... and his parents Jakob and Anna!

After some computer touch ups.

His face is dark compared to his hands. No idea why but I think he looks pretty classy.

Probably Jozef

Louis

Jozef on the left. Most likely Alex on the right. 

Anna Bieda

Love this picture.  Louis and Mildred.

Mildred and her friend.

ok once again I hate that these pictures turn around. especially these ones because I like them.

Ok turn your head and your attention to the woman in the middle. 

Notice any similarity between the woman above and the woman here?

If you answered yes... then good job on agreeing with me. I probably should have pulled out the picture from the photo album and looked on the back. Next time. Any way.

*Edit 10/9*

Ok I just got back from my aunt's and I showed her some pictures. She told me that It's Anna and her hubby Walter Bieda and their grandson Jerry.

Louis and Jozef

If you have any information on my Polish peeps please comment below :)

Pictures in Boxes- Part 2

Here I sit on a Friday night watching Criminal Minds and writing another genealogy post. I recently realized, via twitter, that many of the genealogy peeps I follow watch the show. So glad I'm not the only one. Kind of sad I'm doing this on a Friday night though. I really need a social life.

Ok time for more pictures. They're not really organized by which side of the family. It kind of goes in spurts. Some of my Polish peeps, some from my grandpas side.

Don't forget, info on these peeps can be found in my earlier posts. If you recognize anyone or think there might be a connection don't hesitate to comment :)

My Busia and Cioci Ernie (Cioci=Aunt in Polish)

My mom's the cute one

No idea... Possibly a cousin of my Busia's or something...

Ditto

Marion Hauck and "Grandma Carrie" Apparently Marion was married twice?

Pretty dress. no idea who they are. Really need to write down my stuff

Mildred

Yeah thats pretty much how I remember her.

my pap!

Well, those potato chips will be a little burned...

Marion Hauck's parents (Wilfred Hauck & Mary Swank)

Man I really hate this sideways stuff.  Ok on the bottom row we have Russel, Walter and Earl Persing. Behind Earl is Florence

Aunt Harriet (Pitner)

Wilferd (Eleanor's brother) Apparently they called him uncle wimp? No idea why...

Busia at first communion. 

My Busia is on the right. 

Mildred & Louis Bieda

Pictures in Boxes- Part 1

While I look at the pictures in the folder I created, I realized I took 500+ photos of.. well... photos. Don't worry. I won't post all 500. Some are the backs of pictures letting me know who they are, some are doubles, etc.

That reminds me of my first tip. When you are not near a scanner (my grandparents don't even have a computer) and are forced to photograph pictures, make sure you photograph the back too. Not all will have writing on the back. or even legible writing, but its a good idea to take a picture if you see something.

Ok ok. less talk. More pictures.

Yay newspaper articles! Photo taken 1924

Girl in middle with glasses is Eleanor Hauck Persing. Approx. 11 years old. She had all the cool stuff in the garage.

so THATS why I love potato chips... it's genetic!

They all look so happy! *sarcasm*

Myrtle? Don't blame her for using Eleanor instead...

Look at the size of the class! My H.S graduation had 400+ people!

Right side is my Busia

2nd row, 2nd in is Busia again

Aunt Harriet (Pitner) is in the outfit. Some kind of parade or something. My aunt and uncle are the little ones. Mom is the tallest. Scary thing? I looked like that. Minus those clothes. And I know you can't see the face b/c of the hair but I KNOW I  looked like her at that age.... *shudder*

 All the above were my Busia...

Mildred and Louis. I called her Shasha instead of Busia. No idea why. Did distinguish between the two though. In this picture you can see her knee highs. 

Terrified of the headpiece...

Busia, Uncle Emil and Shasha. Guessing my mom is in the blankets?

Love this one.

* Busia is Polish for grandmother in case you didn't know :)