CategoriesNewsReview

Who Do You Think You Are?

I wrote this for another site, so it may have more general genealogy info than I would have written if it was on this blog. But, you already know about all of this stuff.

As you know from other posts and podcasts, I do enjoy genealogy and the research that goes into unraveling my family tree. Last year, I came across a show on BBC Television in the UK called Who Do You Think You Are? I was able to watch most of the last (seventh) season and scattered other episodes from different seasons in the English and Australian versions via YouTube and other methods. (Since it’s only on British television and the DVDs are only Europe and UK region-coded, so I can’t watch them easily.) I have yet to watch an episode didn’t completely captivate me. Maybe it’s my love of Genealogy, or my love of hunting down a mystery, but the show grew on me.

CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: February 7th-13th

February 9th

1898 – Died – Herman RATHKE – Herman is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born 23 Feb 1831 in Germany and immigrated with his family to Wisconsin in 1887. He passed away in Grafton, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried at Union Cemetery in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin.

February 11th

1674 – Born – Petrus van CRAYBECK – Petrus is my 8th-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born in Kuringen, Belgium. He married Elisabeth BROUCKX in 1707. He passed away sometime before 1745 at Genk, Limburg, Belgium.

1867 – Married – Mathias Balthazar FIRMENICH & Paulina Henrietta THOMPSON – Mathias & Paulina are my 3rd-great-grandparents on my father’s side. They were married at Holland, Brown Co., Wisconsin and together had 13 children including my great-great-grandmother, Emma Jane FIRMENICH. Their marriage ended in 1910 when Paulina passed away.

February 12th

1779 – Died – Jean Claude MARIZOT – Jean Claude is my 7th-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born about 1720 in Contréglise, Haute-Saône, France. He married Thérèse DARD in 1751. He passed away at Contréglise, Haute-Saône, France.

February 13th

1811 – Married – Pierre-Jean QUINET & Marie-Françoise GRANGIER – Pierre and Marie are my 5th-great-grandparents on my father’s side. They were married at Menoux, Département de Haute-Saône (Franche-Comté), France and later immigrated to Wisconsin with their family. They had 9 children including my ancestor, Claude-Françoise (Francesca) QUINET. I am able to last track them to Fredonia, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin in the 1860 census and then I can no longer find them. I’m assuming they passed away are buried in the Ozaukee County area, but have yet to locate their headstones.

1899 – Died – Henry Peter THIELKE – Henry is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born October 1813 in Mecklenberg, Germany. He married Marie SPECHT sometime before 1840 in Germany. He and his family immigrated to Wisconsin and settled in the Grafton area. He passed away in Grafton, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried at Union Cemetery in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin.

CategoriesFollow FridayLinks

Follow Friday

Here are some useful posts I’ve read this week.

  • Elyse at Elyse’s Genealogy Blog talks about “Who Do You Think You Are?” coming on NBC in March and how important it is to get the word out.
  • A guest post over at Mountain Genealogists talks about “Preservation and Interpretation of our Ancestor Stories.”
  • At Digging Up Stones there is a good post about finally finding that document or piece of information you’ve been looking for. I know I’ve been there.
  • Over at Stories of My Ancestors, they post about reaching outside of the box when looking for those elusive ancestors. A good idea for any researcher.
CategoriesTreasure Chest Thursday

Treasure Chest Thursday

My first Treasure Chest Thursday. It seems like this will replace the “Tell Me Thursday” posts I used to do. I compressed that into Wordless Wednesday. I can’t guarantee I’ll have a post for every Thursday, but I’ll try.

Click for larger image

This is my great-grandfather, Joseph Zalewski’s, badge from when he was a Milwaukee Police Officer. He became a police officer on February 1, 1918 after returning from World War I. He served until he retired on September 21, 1951. In the recent collection of documents I received was a letter written to him from the Chief of Police about his resignation.

CategoriesWay Back Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday (Now With Words)

I’ve decided to start putting the descriptions with my Wordless Wednesday posts instead of posting them the next day. I feel it’s sometimes confusing and more work to post the same thing twice rather than just saying it all on one day. I will still call it Wordless Wednesday, since that’s the name that everyone uses, but it will have words. Sue me.

Click for larger

This is a photo of my great-great-grandother, Clara (Szulta) Troka and her two daughters, Francis & Emily. Emily is my great-grandmother who married Joseph Zalewski. Francis was better known as Sister Mary Clarentine when she joined the convent. There is no exact date written on this photo, but if I would have to guess I would say it was taken around 1910-1911 since Francis looks very young.