Zalewski Family Genealogy » Way Back Wednesday

Way Back Wednesday: Corrigans

Brian — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:36:56 +0000

Circa 1927 - Maurice Corrigan Family

Today’s Way Back Wednesday photo is from a recent scan from my grandmother’s photo collection. This is a photo of her family. Her parents, Maurice & Agnes (BRAATZ) CORRIGAN, along with her twin, Thomas, and her older sister, Shirley. The photo is probably from around 1927 or so based on the age of the twins.

Way Back Wednesday: Remembering Grandma

Brian — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:43:14 +0000

I was put in charge of creating the memorial video that was to be played at my Grandmother’s funeral today, so that everyone could remember her through the years. I assume this is due to the fact that I seemed to have inherited the title of “Family Historian” which I have no problem with. I love seeing all of these old documents and photos. I ran across this photo of my grandmother from 1938 and I really like it. She looks like she’s saying, “Hurry up and get that picture taken!” I also notice on a lot of the older photos of my grandmother that she had prominent freckles. I don’t remember seeing them on her when she was older. It must be her Irish heritage shining through.

Mary Jane Corrigan - 1938

After the break, I have embedded the memorial video that I created. Even though you may not know her, I hope you enjoy the video.

I tried uploading it to YouTube, but it kept finding one of the songs in the movie and flagging the video for copyright, which then removes the audio track. I didn’t feel like refuting that due to “Fair Use” and then have to wait. I just hosted it myself. Hopefully, it will stream nicely for you, though you may need to let if buffer.

Get the Flash Player to see this video.

Thank you for the inspiration
Thank you for the smiles
All the unconditional love
That carried me for miles
It carried me for miles

But most of all thank you for my life

These were the best of times
I’ll miss these days
Your spirit lit my life each day

My heart is bleeding bad
But I’ll be okay
Your spirit guides my life each day

– Dream Theater – “The Best of Times”

The music in the video, in case anyone was curious. Use the links to hear samples and/or purchase the songs.

Jordan Rudess – “The Spirit Carries On” which is actually a piano cover of his band Dream Theater’s version of “The Spirit Carries On.”
Dream Theater – “The Best of Times” which the lyrics above are from. The movie uses the intro part.
Piano cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” composed by Scott D. Davis.
“Let Me Call You Sweetheart” by Bing Crosby. I’m told my Grandpa used to play it for my Grandma.

Way Back Wednesday: Agnes

Brian — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:07:09 +0000

A photo of my great-grandmother, Agnes (BRAATZ) CORRIGAN. If I had to take a guess, I’d say the photo was taken around 1904-05 since she looks to be about 1-2 years old.

Way Back Wednesday: Moran Family

Brian — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:46:38 +0000

This is a photo of my wife’s great-great-grandparents, Charles & Emma (DIETER) MORAN, and three of their children. The child on the left is her great-grandfather, Fred MORAN, born in 1891. Basing the date off of the children, this photo was probably taken in about 1900. The other two children are probably the twins, Alma & Allan. Charles was one of the first Moran children of Robert & Dorothea (COOK) MORAN to be born in Wisconsin. The rest were born in Quebec, Canada as Robert & Dorothea must have immigrated there from Ireland and later married. There were a lot of Irish immigrants in that specific area of Quebec.

Way Back Wednesday: Troka Family

Brian — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:38:43 +0000

This is a photo from my paternal Milwaukee line. I don’t know the names of everyone in the photo, but there are a few I know. My great-grandmother, Emily (TROKA) ZALEWSKI, is at the top-left. Her mother, Clara (SZULTA) TROKA, is right below her. Clara’s mother (and my 3rd-great-grandmother), Nepomuncena (SYLDAKT) SZULTA, is to the right of her. The only other name I know is that of Nepomuncena’s son, John SZULTA, in the middle of the back row. The remaining people are either part of the SZULTA family or TROKA family. I have other photos from this day that include other family members. Click photo to enlarge.

Way Back Wednesday: Augusta

Brian — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 22:52:05 +0000

This only the second photo I have of my great-great-grandmother, Augusta (LUEDTKE) LAST. She lived to be 100-years-old, passing away after 1 century and 2 weeks. She looks tough, and she should, she also had at least 16 children.

Way Back Wednesday: US Navy

Brian — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 22:02:00 +0000

For Wayback Wednesday, I’m going to give you more than just the one photo shown here. I’m going to give you a whole collection of 119 photos. I recently uploaded my grandfather’s Navy photo collection to Flickr. I was hoping that maybe somebody from the photos, or their families, will find them. It would just be nice to let them see the photos. He has a lot of photos of his fellow navymen from when he was stationed in the Hilo, Hawaii area from about 1942 to 1946. There is also a lot of Hawaiian history in some of his photos, like of old Honolulu.

I’d love for you to visit the Flickr photo set and enjoy the history.

Way Back Wednesday: Surrounded

Brian — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:47:43 +0000

A photo from 1921 that includes my 3rd-great grandmother, Nepomuncena (SYLDATK) SZULTA, in the middle. This is a photo of her with a bunch of her grandchildren. Since it seems to be sometime in Summer or Spring 1921, my grandfather would not have been born yet. Though, the little girl in her lap on the right looks an awful lot like my grandfather’s sister, Irene, who was born in 1920.

Wayback Wednesday: Irene & Richard

Brian — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:38:45 +0000

A photo of my grandfather, Richard ZALEWSKI, and his older sister, Irene. My guess is that this photo is from 1925-26 as Richard looks to be 3 or 4 years old.

Way Back Wednesday: St. Casimir’s School

Brian — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:17:25 +0000

My Aunt and Uncle let me scan this photo from my grandfather’s collection. It’s a photo of his 8th grade class at St. Casimir’s School in northeast Milwaukee in February 1936. As you can tell by the names, if you can see them, it was a very Polish-heavy area. I’ve magnified my grandfather’s photograph. The original image is very large, so I didn’t want to put the whole thing on the site. The girls got the top area of the photo, the boys on the bottom, and the teachers in the middle.

On a side note, I plan to start posting more often again. I’ve been busy recently, with a new baby on the way and all, and have also not had the genealogy bug for a bit.