Zalewski Family Genealogy Wiki - User contributions [en]

Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 1

2013-05-21T19:52:04Z

Brianjz:

'''I will be adding more related links and other helpful info soon.'''



'''January 24, 1995'''

Thank you for you recent letter – it was surely nice that you could get to the reunion in July at Channing, MI. Just wished we could have talked more, but being so many there it was hard to get to visit much. Only wished I had taken some more pictures, as I have very few. Thought some of the kids would have sent me some more – I being the only member of the original Corrigan family. It was saddening, as the years went by to see the family gradually passing on. Guess, I have been blessed to be able to be around. Guess I must have done something right to live to 85!

To begin with, the were two Corrigan families – the first four children were born in Orillia (Mara county, Ontario.) Pa's first wife, Ellen Ferguson, was buried in Washburn, WI across the bay from Ashland. Don't know just when they came to the area – nor how long they lived in Washburn. The youngest child, Thomas Francis, was born in Washburn, Sept. 15, 1886. Shortly after that they must have moved to Sanborn, where Pa built a saloon and boarding house (the building is still there, but has had an addition put on it.) Three of our family members were born while the folks lived in Sanborn, the rest born (at the Summit) in Ashland. Due to an early stroke, Pa had to get out of the business. He did some kind of a trade with property and got property on the outskirts of Ashland, which included a small five room house and building which house a saloon, dance hall and gambling rooms. Remember these were in the early logging days when Ashland housed many saloons, houses of ill-repute, etc. They lived a short time in the large building and then had the small house moved closer to the road – eventually he sold the building (the hall, etc) to the Town of Sanborn to be used as the Town Hall.

The property was on a five-acre plot which had a large sand pit which had real fine sand – PA supported the family by selling sand to the blast furnace in Ashland (produced Pig Iron which was shipped out of Ashland to lower Great Lakes Ports.) He also sold sand to builders which was used for plastering houses – no plaster board in those days. He would probably haul two loads per day – one and one-half mile to the furnace. He would also get jobs working for the town grading the roads and putting culverts. We had two small barns on the property – one housed the horses (two) and the chicken coop – the other housed the two cows and the hay barn.

By the time the folks moved to Ashland all of the members of the first Corrigan family had moved or gotten their own places. My dad married my mother in April 1892 – he being much older than she with his five children. Don't know the circumstances of the marriage, but think that Mother must have worked as a hired girl, helping with house work and taking care of the children. Mother had a miscarriage early and didn't conceive until when Maurice was born in Dec 1898 – the the flood gate opened and there were eight more children, including Ethel and me, the twins.

My mother's dad, Grandpa Firmenich, was a millright in Ashland and homesteaded just north of Sanborn – he had a family of five girls and two boys – Mother was born in Wrightstown, WI – and the family came up to Ashland in the early eighties. Lived in Ashland and during that time, Grandpa homesteaded the property at Sanborn and then moved the family out there. My folks moved from Sanborn in the spring of 1905 – Grandpa with the remaining daughter Claire sold the property and moved to Ashland in 1915.

My dad, your great grandfather, died on July 25, 1915 at Ashland. Mother was in the hospital expecting the birth of Sadie – she was brought out to the house to the funeral. Funerals were from the homes in those days. I was 6, but can remember the casket and funeral, although I can't remember going to the cemetery, which was just kitty-corner from our house – across the line into the city of Ashland.

At that time Maurice was 16 – he did some of the selling of the sand for that summer, then got a job with the Kellogg grocery store, delivering groceries, those were the horse and buggy days – he later got a job working in a saw mill at Odanah, 12 miles east of Ashland, later got a job as a night clerk in the Menard Hotel downtown Ashland. As each of our family members got old enough to work they did so. I recall that when I was 11 I got a job driving horse on a farm when they hauled in the hay – also had to help with the milking and chores. Henry was two years older than I and he got a job when about 14 working at Gingles farm, that is after he finished the eighth grade.

Later on I worked on the same farm for board and room while going to high school – in my senior year I got a job for the Molls where they had 125 colonies of bees, a five-acre orchard and a little garden, I stayed there the next two years while attending the Ashland County Normal to become an elementary teacher. Molls also raised about 300 turkeys each year.

We grew up with very little, but appreciated the fact that Mother was able to keep the family together. I recall that many night when we were about the heater stove, she would shed tears, as she didn't know what was in store for her and the 9 children.

In the fall of 1924 we moved to Iron Mountain, MI where the Ford Motor company was paying $5 per day – That was unheard of in our area where many farm workers got $30 a month and board and room and other laborers were earning $2 per day. Our oldest sister, Beatrice, had gone to Detroit to work – Agnes and Mary of the first family were there – so she got a job as a telephone operator – one in awhile we would get a call from her late at night – free to her, I guess. Sister Clarice married and moved to Iron Mountain. Maurice, Clayton and Henry had gone up before we moved there. Maurice and Clayton got work at Ford's – as did Clarice's husband, Ed Olsen. Henry was only 17 and they wouldn't hire him at the plant, but he got a job with the Village of Kingsford as a grader operator. When we moved up there we were able to rent a new house. We paid $55 per month – unheard of is Ashland where houses were renting for about $15 or $20. I entered Iron Mountain high school in October 1924 and stayed the year. In the fall of 1926, the Kingsford High School opened, so we had to go there.

We were all quite happy there as several of our relatives had moved there, also. This was a kind of melting pot – as it were. Many people just build garages, lived in them and then eventually built regular houses. When the Ford models changed the plant would be down for quite some time. In the spring of 1926, they closed for quite some time, so we had to move back to Ashland – so I finished high school there. That fall mother remarried to T.E. Martin and moved to Milwaukee. I didn't want to change schools, so got jobs in the two above mentioned places and never did move to Milwaukee. With the folks in Milwaukee (Mother, Lenore, Ethel, Sadie and Henry) our interests turned there. Henry got a job as a taxi driver (must have been brave, but guess he got a map of the city and took off from there.) Our step-dad Martin was in partnership in a building company. Lenore and Ethel didn't get into school, but got jobs in a laundry near where the folks lived. Lenore eventually got a job at Phoenix Hosiery Co. Both got married shorty after that. Henry got a job with the city as a bus and street car conductor – Henry married Mercedes Mischo – built a home in Granville – later moved to California to run a farm for a brother-in-law – returned to Milwaukee for a short time and then went back to Healdsburg, CA.

Henry, along with a cousin, Ray O'Brien, wrote civil service exams and were awarded jobs with the Wisconsin Correctional Division of Prisons. He moved to DePere, WI where he a guard at the State Reformatory for some time. I recall visiting them at DePere when I was on furlough from the Air Force in WWII – hitchhiked there and then on to Iron Mountain to visit. He later was transferred to Amberg, WI where he was a guard at a stone quarry which employed prisoners. I believe they moved back to Milwaukee – held the afore-mentioned jobs before going to California.

In regard to Maurice's work before going to Iron Mountain, he wrote a civil service exam to become a rural mail carrier on our route. He passed that and held it for a few years. When the time came for the next exam, he passed it with a high score, but at that time ex-service men were given preference and the added points he lost out. Shortly after that he went to Iron Mountain. The rural mail carrier job paid $150 per month, which at that time was a good wage. However, he had to have two driving horses, a wagon for summer and cutter for winter. His route came past our home, south to Sanborn, then east and again north back into Ashland – about 28 miles. While on that route, he bought a 1921 or 22 Ford Touring car. Probably in the range of $300.

I recall that when we knew he was bringing the new car home, we got out on the road waiting to see him. He finally appeared weaving from side to side of the road. During the winter, the roads weren't plowed and the car was set up on blocks, drained of water, battery taken in the house and he had to use the horses on the route. I believe it was in December of 1922, we had a real warm spell, so he and Clayton decided to get the car running – guess we had very little snow at that time. When they started the car to let it warm up, they went in the house for awhile and lo and behold the car caught fire and burned out. Almost burned down the shed the car was in. However, later on her took the back seat off the car and put a box on it – that was the car we rode in when us kids and mother were taken to Iron Mountain in. That was the fall of 1924 – Maurice was married in April 1923. He built a two room house, like many of the new workers. Henry and Clayton then went up and got work there. Henry was 17 and got a job for the Village of Kingsford – he was too young to get in Fords where Ed Olsen, Clarice's husband, Maurice and Clayton got jobs – five dollars per day – that wage brought many people to Iron Mountain. We moved there in October 1924 – Clayton and Henry were sleeping in a tent in front of Maurice's house – so I, being in the ninth grade, moved in with them. The first night I found I had a bed partner – a dog came in and slept with us. Don't know who owned it! Shortly after that we got a brand new house on Rexford St. Only two bedrooms, but we managed. Us three boys slept in one bedroom, Mother and Sadie in the other and we had a roll-out davenport that Lenore and Ethel slept on. This house had a nice furnace – which we had never had, so we felt very city-fied in a new house with a furnace.

I attended the Iron Mountain High School in the fall of 1924-25, then the new Kingsford High School opened. I went there until April of 1926, when the Ford plant went down to get ready for new models. We were paying $55 per month rent, and without both boys working we had to return to our old home in Ashland. People were renting houses in Ashland and elsewhere for about $15 or so. I managed to get back into High School and finished in 1928 – as president of our class of 144 – don't know how a bashful country boy got elected by all those city kids. Went to the County Normal in Ashland 1928-29 and got a job teaching grades 4-5-6 out in Sanborn. The County Supt. of Schools took me out to Sanborn and I met the school clerk, a Mr. Lampson – he asked if I was Tom's boy, and I said 'YES' so I had the job.

After we moved back to Ashland, Mother renewed her friendship with Thomas Martin – so happens that she had met him before we went to Iron Mountain. They wrote back and forth (in the meantime, he had gone back to St. Louis) suddenly the letters stopped and Mother didn't know what happened. Later she found out that Martin's daughter in St. Louis, not wanting her dad to remarry, didn't give him Mother's letters. So he thought she wasn't interested and quit writing. When we got back to Ashland he came to visit in Ashland and found that Mother was back there. They renewed their friendship and were married in the fall of 1926. The kids and mother moved to Milwaukee. As time went on Lenore, Ethel and Henry married. Ethel married Eddy Strelka, Lenore married Norert Enders, and Henry married Mercedes Mischo – Norbert and Mercedes were cousins who moved to Milwaukee from Wabeno, WI. The Mischo's managed a rooming house and I think Lenore and maybe [Ethel] roomed there before their marriages. Going back to Mr. Martin, mother met him through Aunt Edna, her younger sister, who lived in the west end of Ashland across the street from where Martin had a cabinet shop. He happened to come over to Aunt Edna's when mother was visiting there – they stuck up a friendship and it ended in marriage.

Tragedy hit in June on 1929 when Dad Martin, who had stepped on a nail, got lock jaw and died within a few days in a Milwaukee hospital. I had gone down to visit for awhile and he was to pick me up at the depot in downtown Milwaukee. He missed me and I took a cab. In the meantime, he returned and I noticed that he was limping and had a bedroom slipper on his foot – kidding him I said, “guess we'll have to take you out and shoot you, like they do with horses who get lame.” He laughed and little later the pain got so bad that Mother and I took him to the hospital, the immediately put him to bed and gave him excessive doses of antitoxin. However, it was in vain, as the poison had gone too far. That was on a Thursday night and the following Monday he passed away. Shortly after the funeral mother and kids moved to another house – later to an apartment house that she and Henry managed – that was on Marshall and Knapp on the east side of Milwaukee.

In the summer of 1931, Grandpa Firmenich was ailing and Mother came up to see him in August. Grandpa died on Sept. 26, 1931 – it was customary in those days that someone sat up all night with people who were ill – it so happened that it was my night to sit up. About 1:30 I heard Grandpa kind of cough and choke – I went into the bedroom and he was breathing his last breath. Grandpa died at 91!

While there, Mother visited several of our former neighbors. She visited with the Molls (Pa and Ma and the Molls were very close and played cards together often.) So happens that Maurice's wife, Agnes, is a half-sister to Mrs. Moll. While at the Moll's one afternoon, a Mr. George Cook, the City Street Commissioner, came there and met mother. Things began to happen and they got friendly – George had lost his wife back some time ago – he had no children – so romance began that ended in marriage in Nov. 1932. Mother then moved back to the home at the Summit – along with Sadie, Ethel and Lenore. Shortly after that Lenore and Ethel went back to Milwaukee and got work and got married. Sadie and Mother rhen moved to town to the big 14-room house that George owned. He had a housekeeper who cooked for him and took care of the many rooms – had about 8 roomers at that time. Sadie then took over helping with the housework – Mother did the cooking. I was teaching Sanborn and boarding and rooming out there.

The Great Depression hit and the fall of the stock market in 1929. The whole country was affected with the loss of jobs and a great drop in the economy of the country. This continued for several years leading to the closing of all the banks in 1933, right after the election of Roosevelt. I was teaching at that time for $100 per month. After paying my board and room. Clayton had gotten laid off at the Ford Plant in the fall of 1932 and came back to Ashland to live in our house at the Summit. When Mother married George Cook, she left all of the furniture in the house, so Clayton moved in. Part of the time we would stay over the weekends with him. Later on he got a job on the WPA project in Ashland and then moved in the big house with Mother. He had gotten to know Lena Raspolic, a pupil who was in the 9th grade in Sanborn when I got there. She chummed some with Sadie and Clayton started dating her. They were married in April 1933 in Iron Mountain. Earlier the Ford Plantcalled back workers, so Clayton went back to work.

I taught in Sanborn for eight years, 1929 to 1937. I continued my college education thru summer schools at Superior State Un. And some night school courses, plus a semester now and then. In the fall of 1937, I was asked by the county superintendent to be the county supervising teacher, which I accepted. I was on that job for a period of 17 years, with time off for some additional college work and three-and a half years in the Air Force in WWII – I got my Bachelor of Education in January of 1942 and entered the service in April 1942 until the war ended. I was discharged on Oct 5, 1945 at Traux Field in Madison, WI. Went back to work as supervising teacher in January of 1946. There were no new cars available, as the government had contracts with auto companies for all cars. In Nov. of 1945, I met one of my former students who was buying old cars and repairing them. So I bought a 1937 Ford V-8 from him. There was no heater in it, but it did get me around. In the summer of 1946, new cars became available, as I was able to get a new Plymouth four-door. The car came minus a speedometer, hub caps, gas gauge, etc. Eventually I was able to get the missing parts. We did have much trouble with flat tires – synthetic rubber tires were subject to splitting. So one never knew when he would have a flat tire. Each morning I held my breath when I went to get my car hoping that all the tires were OK.

I had been instrumental in getting a Boy Scout troop started in Sanborn in 1936 – so in the summer of 1946, one of my former scouts, now grown, decided to take our troop to Yellowstone. He had a car like mine, but it had a gas gauge, etc. In order not to run out of gas, I would stop mine when he did and also keep my speed the same as his. I stayed Scoutmaster until 1954 and then continued in scouting in Glidden and White Pine. I was awarded the Silver Beaver, the highest award to lay people and the Scoutmaster's Key. After 50 years, I was awarded the 50 Year Medallion.

After leaving the supervising teacher job, I was elected to the position of President of the Wood County Teacher's College at Wisconsin Rapids, WI. I had previously gained my Master of Science degree in Education at the University of Wisconsin. We offered a two-year course for elementary teachers, who could teach in the rural schools. We had only five faculty members, so I had to teach several courses each semester – Reading Methods, Psychology, Ecology, and Learning Theories. So I was kept very busy. Esther had a job working in a Ladies Ready-to-Wear shop at that time.

We stayed there only the one year, as the salary was low. So I was invited to come back up north to Glidden to be Superintendent of Schools – stayed there nine years and then found a much better paying position as Elementary School principal at White Pine. So, when I finished my career I had 46 years of public service.

I had known Esther since I was about ten. Her family were originally from Illinois, but had moved out to a ranch at Reeder, North Dakota and then came to Ashland when she was about 10. She attended the Shores Clearing School with our family members. She and Lenore were in the same grade and chummed together for many years. When I was in fifth grade and Ethel in fourth (she was a grade behind me, as she had been sickly and missed a year) we decided to go into St. Agnes School and then make our first Holy Communion. Esther and I were in high school together, she being a grade behind me. However, we did go on a few dates then. She married a Harry Roffers, another country boy, in 1931 and raised two children, Byron and Shirley. Sadly, Harry was killed in a motorcycle accident in the fall of 1945. I was home quote some time before we started going together. We were married on Nov. 11, 1950. Byron was in first year of college and Shirley in 11th grade. I had been rooming in the house on Ellis, so I moved in the apartment Esther and the kids were in. Dad Cook had died in Dec. of 1939 leaving the large house to Mother and Sadie. Mother died in April of 1941, leaving Sadie and me to take care of the house. So in the fall of 1942 when I was home on furlough for Harlingen, Texas, our family met in Iron Mountain and signed the property over to Sadie so she could sell it. We sold the 14-room house for the great sum of $2800 – included most of the furniture, bedding, etc. Sadie then went to Detroit to stay with Beatrice and Harry. She worked in the Federal Tire Company plant.

[[Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 2|Continue to Part 2]]

Helpful Links

2012-11-09T19:53:29Z

Brianjz:

Here are a few links I've kept in my bookmarks over the years.

==General==
* [http://www.membership-gyra.blogspot.com/ The Association of Graveyard Rabbits] - useful cemetery information from around the world
* [http://stevemorse.org/census/ocodes.htm 1930 Census Occupation Codes] - covert the codes in the census to useful information
* [http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/Englisch/Tips_and_tricks.htm Tips for deciphering old scripts]
* [http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kobie/script.htm Examples of German Scripts]
* [http://script.byu.edu/german/en/welcome.aspx German Script Tutorial]

==Genetic Genealogy==
* [http://jgg-online.blogspot.com/ Online Journal of Genetics and Genealogy]

==Surnames==
* [http://family.braatz.com/ Braatz/Bratz Family Genealogy]

==Locations==

===Belgium===
*[http://www.netradyle.be/ Nétradyle] - search for Belgian vital records. May need to run it through [http://translate.google.com Google Translate] since it looks to only be in local language.

===Poland/Germany===
* [http://polish.slavic.pitt.edu/polish/ Online Interactive Polish/English dictionary]
* [http://poliqarp.wbl.klf.uw.edu.pl/en/slownik-geograficzny/ Online Slownik Geograficzny] - very helpful in finding info on Polish towns. Much more info here on [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/2011/04/10/slownik-geograficzny a post I wrote].
* [http://www.dad-recherche.de/hmb/index_engl.asp German Emigration Search]
* [http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein/home.html 1883 Atlas of the German Empire] - find historic towns and download high-quality versions of the maps.
* [http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/databaseuwe.asp Kartenmeister] - extremely helpful site to find historic names of newer cities, local churches, other researchers, and much more info from Germany/Poland.
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_placenames_in_the_Province_of_Pomerania List of placenames in the former Province of Pomerania]
* [http://www.polishroots.org/Research/faq/translating/tabid/213/Default.aspx Helpful translations] for German and Polish records.
* [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/maprg/wiki/Links More Polish Links] at the Milwaukee Polish Researchers Group website.

===Wisconsin===
* [http://www.ci.cedarburg.wi.us/cemetery_records.htm Cedarburg, Wisconsin Cemetery Records] - contains burial information for all of Cedarburg's city cemeteries
* [http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/maps/county.htm Detailed County Maps] - large PDFs of each county
* [http://www.cemeteries.org/genealogy.asp Milwaukee Catholic Cemeteries] - search most of Milwaukee's Catholic Cemetery burial information (including graves located near and around other graves.)
* [http://www.milwaukeegenealogy.org/index.html Milwaukee County Genealogical Society]
* [http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=jvrRlaHg2sAC Milwaukee Journal Archives] on Google News
* [http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=wZJMF1LD7PcC Milwaukee Sentinel Archives] on Google News
* [http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/digilib/Milwaukee/records/maps.cfm Milwaukee Neighborhoods] Photos and Maps 1885-1992
* [http://www.deathindexes.com/wisconsin/ Online Wisconsin Death Indexes and Records]
* [http://dnr.wi.gov/maps/gis/dataplss.html Wisconsin Public Land Survey Township Indexes] - helpful in finding township info for land records, etc
* [http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/vitalrecords/ Wisconsin Vital Records] search at Wisconsin Historical Society for ordering, etc
* [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/SurveyNotes/Search.html Original Field Notes and Plat Maps] for Wisconsin Townships
* [http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/forms/F0/F05280.pdf Wisconsin Death Record Application] [PDF]

==Misc==
* [http://www.therainwatercollection.com/ The Rainwater Collection] - the site that inspired me to start my [http://www.thezalewskiproject.com Zalewski Project] website.

Helpful Links

2012-11-09T19:50:19Z

Brianjz:

Here are a few links I've kept in my bookmarks over the years.

==General==
* [http://www.membership-gyra.blogspot.com/ The Association of Graveyard Rabbits] - useful cemetery information from around the world
* [http://stevemorse.org/census/ocodes.htm 1930 Census Occupation Codes] - covert the codes in the census to useful information
* [http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/Englisch/Tips_and_tricks.htm Tips for deciphering old scripts]
* [http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kobie/script.htm Examples of German Scripts]
* [http://script.byu.edu/german/en/welcome.aspx German Script Tutorial]

==Genetic Genealogy==
* [http://jgg-online.blogspot.com/ Online Journal of Genetics and Genealogy]

==Surnames==
* [http://family.braatz.com/ Braatz/Bratz Family Genealogy]

==Locations==

===Belgium===
*[http://www.netradyle.be/ Nétradyle] - search for Belgian vital records. May need to run it through [http://translate.google.com Google Translate] since it looks to only be in local language.

===Poland/Germany===
* [http://polish.slavic.pitt.edu/polish/ Online Interactive Polish/English dictionary]
* [http://poliqarp.wbl.klf.uw.edu.pl/en/slownik-geograficzny/ Online Slownik Geograficzny] - very helpful in finding info on Polish towns. Much more info here on [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/2011/04/10/slownik-geograficzny a post I wrote].
* [http://www.dad-recherche.de/hmb/index_engl.asp German Emigration Search]
* [http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein/home.html 1883 Atlas of the German Empire] - find historic towns and download high-quality versions of the maps.
* [http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/databaseuwe.asp Kartenmeister] - extremely helpful site to find historic names of newer cities, local churches, other researchers, and much more info from Germany/Poland.
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_placenames_in_the_Province_of_Pomerania List of placenames in the former Province of Pomerania]
* [http://www.polishroots.org/Research/faq/translating/tabid/213/Default.aspx Helpful translations] for German and Polish records.

===Wisconsin===
* [http://www.ci.cedarburg.wi.us/cemetery_records.htm Cedarburg, Wisconsin Cemetery Records] - contains burial information for all of Cedarburg's city cemeteries
* [http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/maps/county.htm Detailed County Maps] - large PDFs of each county
* [http://www.cemeteries.org/genealogy.asp Milwaukee Catholic Cemeteries] - search most of Milwaukee's Catholic Cemetery burial information (including graves located near and around other graves.)
* [http://www.milwaukeegenealogy.org/index.html Milwaukee County Genealogical Society]
* [http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=jvrRlaHg2sAC Milwaukee Journal Archives] on Google News
* [http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=wZJMF1LD7PcC Milwaukee Sentinel Archives] on Google News
* [http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/digilib/Milwaukee/records/maps.cfm Milwaukee Neighborhoods] Photos and Maps 1885-1992
* [http://www.deathindexes.com/wisconsin/ Online Wisconsin Death Indexes and Records]
* [http://dnr.wi.gov/maps/gis/dataplss.html Wisconsin Public Land Survey Township Indexes] - helpful in finding township info for land records, etc
* [http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/vitalrecords/ Wisconsin Vital Records] search at Wisconsin Historical Society for ordering, etc
* [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/SurveyNotes/Search.html Original Field Notes and Plat Maps] for Wisconsin Townships
* [http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/forms/F0/F05280.pdf Wisconsin Death Record Application] [PDF]

==Misc==
* [http://www.therainwatercollection.com/ The Rainwater Collection] - the site that inspired me to start my [http://www.thezalewskiproject.com Zalewski Project] website.

Helpful Links

2012-11-09T19:37:20Z

Brianjz:

Here are a few links I've kept in my bookmarks over the years.

==General==
* [http://www.membership-gyra.blogspot.com/ The Association of Graveyard Rabbits] - useful cemetery information from around the world
* [http://stevemorse.org/census/ocodes.htm 1930 Census Occupation Codes] - covert the codes in the census to useful information

==Genetic Genealogy==
* [http://jgg-online.blogspot.com/ Online Journal of Genetics and Genealogy]

==Immigration==
* [http://www.dad-recherche.de/hmb/index_engl.asp German Emigration Search]

==Maps/Geography==
* [http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein/home.html 1883 Atlas of the German Empire] - find historic towns and download high-quality versions of the maps.
* [http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/databaseuwe.asp Kartenmeister] - extremely helpful site to find historic names of newer cities, local churches, other researchers, and much more info from Germany/Poland.
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_placenames_in_the_Province_of_Pomerania List of placenames in the former Province of Pomerania]

==Surnames==
* [http://family.braatz.com/ Braatz/Bratz Family Genealogy]

==Locations==

===Belgium===
*[http://www.netradyle.be/ Nétradyle] - search for Belgian vital records. May need to run it through [http://translate.google.com Google Translate] since it looks to only be in local language.

===Poland===
* [http://polish.slavic.pitt.edu/polish/ Online Interactive Polish/English dictionary]
* [http://poliqarp.wbl.klf.uw.edu.pl/en/slownik-geograficzny/ Online Slownik Geograficzny] - very helpful in finding info on Polish towns. Much more info here on [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/2011/04/10/slownik-geograficzny a post I wrote].

===Wisconsin===
* [http://www.ci.cedarburg.wi.us/cemetery_records.htm Cedarburg, Wisconsin Cemetery Records] - contains burial information for all of Cedarburg's city cemeteries
* [http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/maps/county.htm Detailed County Maps] - large PDFs of each county
* [http://www.cemeteries.org/genealogy.asp Milwaukee Catholic Cemeteries] - search most of Milwaukee's Catholic Cemetery burial information (including graves located near and around other graves.)
* [http://www.milwaukeegenealogy.org/index.html Milwaukee County Genealogical Society]
* [http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=jvrRlaHg2sAC Milwaukee Journal Archives] on Google News
* [http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=wZJMF1LD7PcC Milwaukee Sentinel Archives] on Google News
* [http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/digilib/Milwaukee/records/maps.cfm Milwaukee Neighborhoods] Photos and Maps 1885-1992
* [http://www.deathindexes.com/wisconsin/ Online Wisconsin Death Indexes and Records]
* [http://dnr.wi.gov/maps/gis/dataplss.html Wisconsin Public Land Survey Township Indexes] - helpful in finding township info for land records, etc

Helpful Links

2012-11-09T19:23:47Z

Brianjz: new

Main Page

2010-08-07T00:13:32Z

Brianjz:

'''Welcome.'''

I'm going to be using this to let you get more information on the people, places, and items in my family tree, and possibly out of it. It gives me a lot of power to inter-link items, etc. Stay tuned.

'''Here is what is posted so far:'''
*[[Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 1|Letter from Edwin Corrigan]] - '''Added another page - 4/30/07'''
*[[:Category:Zalewski|Zalewski Surname Information]]
*[[Zalewski DNA Study]] - Trace the Zalewski surname with DNA
*[[Zalewski Family Tree Project]] - Trying to collect all of the Zalewski family trees in one location.
*[[Mathias Firmenich]] Obituary
*Story about [[Mr. and Mrs. Peter Muhm]] in the Antigo Daily Journal, 1933

Main Page

2010-08-07T00:13:23Z

Brianjz:

Mr. and Mrs. Peter Muhm

2010-08-07T00:12:44Z

Brianjz: New page: From ''The Antigo (Wisconsin) Daily Journal'' - 25 May 1933 Mr. and Mrs. Peter Muhm and their two children came into the woods of northern Wisconsin in March 1879, making the trip from Ap...

From ''The Antigo (Wisconsin) Daily Journal'' - 25 May 1933

Mr. and Mrs. Peter Muhm and their two children came into the woods of northern Wisconsin in March 1879, making the trip from Appleton with a yoke of oxen belonging to Mr. Menting. Their household goods consisted of a bed, two chairs, a rocker, a stove, and their bedding. Their first home was a log cabin. With no roads, the only way they had of finding their way through the woods was by blazes on trees. They were first made with an ax by a man who used a compass to guide him. Each succeeding year the trail was remarked with new blazes to keep the marks bright.

The nearest doctor was at Clintonville. People nursed their own sick the best they knew how.

For five years Mr. and Mrs. Muhm farmed with only a grub hoe, pitchfork, and hoe. Grain and hay were carried from the field to the barn on the pitchfork. Sometime after beginning their clearing, a cow and a few chickens were bought, and with other additions, little by little, they soon had a prosperous little farm. At the beginning fish, wild game, and deer afforded the only meat the family had. Mr. Muhm had shot 99 deer before he sold his farm in 1902 and went to Portland, Oregon. As a pioneer he built many of the first houses and barns in the county, and also made coffins for the dead.

Three years after moving to Portland, Mr. Muhm died as the result of a fall he suffered when a scaffold collapsed. Mrs. Muhm continued to live there for sixteen years, then returned here to make her home with her daughters, Mrs. Joe Narlow, and Mrs. Fred Van Atter. Another daughter, Mrs. Peter Van Price lives in Port Washington; a son Edward in San Francisco, and an older son, George, in Portland, Oregon.

Mrs. Muhm is 81 years of age and now lives in Mattoon. She is still active and in fairly good health.

Zalewski Family Tree Project

2010-01-29T16:52:17Z

Brianjz:

[[image:FrankZalewskiFamily1909.jpg|right]]
I'd like to compile the largest database of Zalewski Family Trees. As we get more and more family trees entered and merged together, we may find connections that we've never known about before. This could help all Zalewski family researchers.

'''I will take your family tree in almost any format:'''
*GEDCOM
*Family Tree Maker
*XML
*HTML
*Text Files
*Hard Copy

As long as I can easily import it into my software and website. I don't mind if I have to enter it by hand.

View the posting that contains the link to send your file: [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/2007/03/21/calling-all-zalewskis/ Zalewski Family Tree Project].

Once I have a good collection of these trees, I will put together the database. '''Let’s work together and make this the biggest and best Zalewski Database!'''

Check out the current database. There isn't a ton listed in there, but it's a start I created from some quick record searches, including Census. [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/family/browsetrees.php?tree=allzalewski Zalewski Database]

Zalewski Surname Info

2008-03-17T03:53:19Z

Brianjz:

Surname Origin: Slavic, Polish

Alternate Spelling: Zelewski, Zaleski, Zeleski, Zalewska, Zalescy, Salewski

'''Zalewski''' (feminine: '''Zalewska''', plural '''Zalewscy''') is one of the most popular Polish surnames in Poland and the 3rd most popular in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podlachia Podlachia] (5,165).

Zalewski comes from a topographic name for someone who lived by a flood plain or bay. Two locations that this may be connected to are ''Zalew'' in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sieradz Sieradz] voivodeship or ''Zalewo'' in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olsztyn Olsztyn] voivodeship.

Several famous people have the surname '''Zalewski''' or a variant of it:

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Zaleski August Zaleski] - Polish Politician of the early Twentieth Century
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_dem_Bach_Zalewski Erich von dem Bach Zalewski] - SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zalewski
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michał_Zalewski Michał_Zalewski] - Polish "White Hat" Hacker, computer security expert.

The town of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaleski Zaleski], Ohio is a small village in South Eastern Ohio.

==Definitions==

'''ZALEWSKI''' - Polish - [[topographic name]] for someone who lived by a flood plain or bay, Pol. zalew, or [[habitation name]] from a place named with this element, with the addition of [[-ski]], suffix of [[local surname]]s. There has been considerable confusion with Zaleski.
Cognate: Jewish (E Ashkenazic) Zalewsky

'''ZALESKI''' - Polish - [[topographic name]] for someone who lived ‘''on the other side of the wood''’, from Pol. za beyond + les, las wood, with the addition of [[-ski]], suffix of [[local surname]]s, or [[habitation name]] from a place, Zalesie, named with the elements za + les. ''var of Zalewski.'' Variations: Zalasa, Zalasik. Cognates: Czech: Zálesky; Jewish: (E Ashkenazic) Zalesky

[[Category:Zalewski]]

Zalewski Surname Info

2008-03-17T03:52:44Z

Brianjz:

Surname Origin: Slavic, Polish

Alternate Spelling: Zelewski, Zaleski, Zeleski, Zalewska, Zalescy, Salewski

'''Zalewski''' (feminine: '''Zalewska''', plural '''Zalewscy''') is one of the most popular Polish surnames in Poland and the 3rd most popular in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podlachia Podlachia] (5,165).

Zalewski comes from a topographic name for someone who lived by a flood plain or bay. Two locations that this may be connected to are ''Zalew'' in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sieradz Sieradz] voivodeship or ''Zalewo'' in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olsztyn Olsztyn] voivodeship.

Several famous people have the surname '''Zalewski''' or a variant of it:

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Zaleski August Zaleski] - Polish Politician of the early Twentieth Century
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_dem_Bach_Zalewsk Erich von dem Bach Zalewski] - SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zalewski
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michał_Zalewski Michał_Zalewski] - Polish "White Hat" Hacker, computer security expert.

The town of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaleski Zaleski], Ohio is a small village in South Eastern Ohio.

==Definitions==

'''ZALEWSKI''' - Polish - [[topographic name]] for someone who lived by a flood plain or bay, Pol. zalew, or [[habitation name]] from a place named with this element, with the addition of [[-ski]], suffix of [[local surname]]s. There has been considerable confusion with Zaleski.
Cognate: Jewish (E Ashkenazic) Zalewsky

'''ZALESKI''' - Polish - [[topographic name]] for someone who lived ‘''on the other side of the wood''’, from Pol. za beyond + les, las wood, with the addition of [[-ski]], suffix of [[local surname]]s, or [[habitation name]] from a place, Zalesie, named with the elements za + les. ''var of Zalewski.'' Variations: Zalasa, Zalasik. Cognates: Czech: Zálesky; Jewish: (E Ashkenazic) Zalesky

[[Category:Zalewski]]

Main Page

2007-05-13T05:23:27Z

Brianjz:

Mathias Firmenich

2007-05-13T05:22:21Z

Brianjz: New page: '''From Superior Telegram, Sept 29, 1931''' == AGED PIONEER LAID TO REST == '''M.B. Firmenich, 91, Buried in Ashland Cemetery After Final Rites''' ASHLAND, Wis - Final rites for Mathias...

'''From Superior Telegram, Sept 29, 1931'''

== AGED PIONEER LAID TO REST ==
'''M.B. Firmenich, 91, Buried in Ashland Cemetery After Final Rites'''

ASHLAND, Wis - Final rites for Mathias B. Firmenich, 91, pioneer resident of Ashland and a charter member of the Chequamegon Bay Old Settler's club. who died Saturday were to be held Tuesday morning at the A.F. Anderson residence, 900 Ninth avenue west at 9 o'clock and at the St. Agnes church at 9:30. Burial was to be made in St. Agnes cemetery.

Born in Cologne, Germany, February 11, 1840, Mr. Firmenich came to Milwaukee in May 1847 and settled with his parents on a farm located in the wilderness 25 miles from that city.

Coming in contact with Indians who the inhabited the region, he learned to weave baskets from ash wood, a hobby which he enjoyed until the time of his death. His marriage to Miss Pauline Thompson took place at Green Bay, February 11, 1867. Mrs. Firmenich preceeded him in death by 21 years.

==== Lived With Daughter ====

Mr. Firmenich first worked in Ashland as a millright for the Miller and Ritchie company. He was employed there for four years. and later became connected with D.W. Mowatt firm where he was employed until 1905. He also lived on a farm near Sanborn until 1916. For the past few years he has been making his home with his daughter. Mrs. Andrew Anderson on Ninth avenue west.

==== Survivors Listed ====

Surviving are: Five daughters, Mrs. Emma Martin, Milwaukee; Mrs. William McKinley, Seattle; Mrs. Tom Gorman, Iron Mountain, Mich.; Mrs. Joseph Fabro and Mrs. A.F. Anderson, Ashland. Two sons, Henry of Elma, Manitoba, and Albert of International Falls; fifty-two grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Six of his grandchildren saw service in France during the World war.

Main Page

2007-05-01T02:43:06Z

Brianjz:

Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 2

2007-05-01T02:42:34Z

Brianjz:

While I was in the service, we lost our brother Clayton in Iron Mountain due to leukemia. He had been ailing for some time and had been taking some treatments in Green Bay. He left his wife, Lena (Magdelene) and four children. That was on Sept. 8, 1943 (ironically, brother Harry died on that same date in Sept. 1986.) Sister Clarice passed away in July of 1955 at Iron Mountain. She was plagued with cancer of the pancreas. We had just moved from Wisconsin Rapids to Glidden, WI where I assumed the position of High School Principal. The grades and high school were in the same building, so I had charge of all students. I was always called Superintendent, but really I was a supervising principal under the County Superintendent. Our daughter, Lynn, was born on March 26, 1956 at Parkfalls, WI. Esther had been under the care of a doctor there as it was the closest hospital, Ashland 40 miles north was much farther. Incidentally, we were fortunate to have the 16 miles to go when Esther went into labor. We were doing supper dishes and she complained of some pains. So, I said “Let's get going,” even though Lynn wasn't due for over a month. Never having had a child, I guess something told me to grab a towel. It was in the spring and our roads then had many frost boils. As we hit one Esther warned me to slow down, then when on even ground I would speed up. As we got to the hospital a nurse came out with a wheelchair and put me in a room and took Esther to the delivery room. Of course, I thought it would surely be a false alarm, but lo and behold, we were there only about 15 minutes. I was reading a sports magazine, very unconcerned, when the nurse came in and said, “You have a baby daughter!” She was about 6 weeks early and had to stay in the nursery for about two weeks. Seeing her later, you would never know that she was a premee.

Believe it or not, we stayed there nine whole years. Those were challenging years, but very interesting. I think I set the record for principals in the number of years. We were well accepted as many people knew me, as I had supervised in the grade and high schools for many years before. I knew all the teachers and found that they were good workers and very cooperative. We had many good times there and still go back over the Fair week in September each year and get there off and on. We have so many friends in the area, but as time goes on we don't see many people we know. Our trips back to Ashland, we see very few people we know – of course, as of now (1995) we have been gone 31 years. When we moved to White Pine, I was Elementary Principal, we expected to here about five years, but I held that Elementary job for 11 years and we've been here now for over 31 years. I thought it was time to retire after 46 years of public service, including three and on-half years in WWII in the Air Force – state side!

In the Air Force I was an instructor in an airplane maintenance school for about a year and a half. Then went to an instructors school at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas. From there I was sent to Parks Air College in East St. Louis, Illinois. There I was an airplane inspector of the small Fairchild planes that were used to train cadets. I was also in charge of the engineering department and kept track of maintenance on all of the 105 planes we had. When that operation ended in June of 1944, I was sent to South Plains Army Air Field at Lubbock, Texas. I was there only a short time, when orders came through transferring me to another primary flying school at Cuero, Texas. When I arrived there I found the young captain who had charge of the field in East St. Louis and some other personnel from there. He has been transferred there and made arrangements to have the dependable men he knew transferred to his command. That field closed in November 1944 and I was transferred to Sheppard Field at Wichita Falls, Texas only to find out that it was a training center for recruits. Referring back to South Plains, Texas. This was a base where they were training pilots to fly gliders. The large gliders were towed up into the air and let loose to glide on the currents. Many would stay up for hours choosing various currents to maintain their height. Many of these gliders were made in Iron Mountain and the Ford Plant. Earlier, when back on a furlough, I visited the glider plant and encountered both Maurice and Clayton working on the gliders. Never knowing then, that I would be at a glider base. When I left Sheppard Field, I was transferred to a B24 base in Liberal, Kansas. There I took more training and became a mechanic on these 4-engine planes. Many had been returned from the South Pacific. I had a crew who worked only on the landing gear, brakes and hydraulics. Each crew had a special thing to do. Some on engines only, others on radio and electronics, etc. I stayed there from December 1944 until October 1945. Japan had surrendered in August and being close to 35, I was sent to Truax Field in Madison, WI and was at the separation center on my 35th birthday and was discharged on October 5th. Found out that the University of Wisconsin was playing football with Northwestern, I stored my two barracks bags, with all my belongings, and went to the game. Took the train after the game to Milwaukee and went to Ethel and Eddy's. They were just going into the grocery business, so I stayed a few weeks to help. Then went to Detroit to see Sadie, Bea and Harry, Ag and Joe (half-sister) and Mary and Bill (half-sister.) Also had a date with my old high-school girlfriend – to a stage show downtown Detroit – Harry lent me his car.

I returned to Milwaukee, then to Iron Mountain and then to Ashland. When I got back to Ashland, I didn't have a home! So I went to Aunt Claire's and stayed awhile. Later, I got the front bedroom of our house that we sold on Ellis Ave. This was originally Ma and Dad's room. So, being back there, I felt at Home again. Recall many of the good times we had in the big house. I didn't go back to my supervising teacher's position until January 1, 1946. So I had two months then of loafing around. I finally got a car from a young fellow I had had in grade school and in my scout troop. It was a 1937 Ford V-8. Used that on my work until in early July I was able to buy a new Plymouth. That was the car I mentioned earlier that we took the Sanborn scout troop out to Yellowstone in.

Going back to the earlier times when the folks moved from Sanborn to the little house at the Summit in Ashland in the spring of 1905, as Clayton was born in June. I mentioned that the property contained a large building which was formerly a saloon and dance hall. It had quite a large bar room petitioned off from the dance hall part. The Town of Sanborn bought the building and it became the Town Hall. It was used for dances, town meetings and even as church for an Evangelist – who held a revival meeting there. The annual town meeting was held in April and the elections were also held there. The Town of Sanborn at that time encompassed about a fourth of the Ashland County. It included all the land south of the Ashland city limits and east to the Iron County line – a distance of about 18 miles. This included the very large Bad River Indian Reservation. The Indians had to come from Odanah to the town hall to vote. As a kid I recall when the Indians came over to vote, we were afraid of them. It so happened that on election day the saloons were to be closed. However, some of the Indians go some liquor by way of the back door of of the saloon that was across from us and the town hall. Some times when we came home for Shores Clearing we would find some Indians sleeping on the side of the hall. A few inmbied [sic] too freely. Somehow or other they got back to the reservation. As the farming population increased in the area, the area we were in drew away from the Town of Sanborn and became the Town of Gingles. Mr .Gingles was the town chairman and other local men were members of the town board. Shortly after that, the area south of us, which contained the Village of Sanborn, broke away and became the Town of White River. The town board met at the hall during the warmer months and then met in the homes of some of the board members during the colder months. There were four smaller rooms on the north side of the building which were used as a cloakroom, a kitchen and two smaller storage rooms. During dances the sponsors served sandwiches and coffee – sandwiches were ten cents and coffee was a nickel.

Around 1916 or so, several members of the area formed what was called the White River Athletic Club with headquarters at the hall. They had a baseball team made up of farm boys and once in awhile would get some players from Ashland. They bought a mat for wrestling, boxing gloves, a punching bag and then a couple of basketballs. So they started a basketball team which played in the dance hall part of the building. The room had only a 12-foot ceiling, so very few shots were made from any distance out from the baskets. I recall that none of these farm boys had gone to high school, nor any of them had played basketball. Hence, their games became very rough, almost like football. I recall that Maurice got knocked out in one of the games. The soon found out that the playing area was too small, so one Sunday afternoon they decided to tear out the petition between what was formerly the bar room and dance hall part. So, without permission from anyone they began ripping out the partition. Somehow, someone got word to Mr. Gingles, the town chairman, what was happening. He lived only a short distance and came over and really chewed the fellows out and made them stop. The damage had already been done so Mr .Gingles then hired my Grandfather Firmenich to put in an arch to support the ceiling. At that time we still didn't have electricity out in our rural area so Grandpa put two shelves on either side of the partition to put lamps in. Shortly after that the Coleman gas lamp and latern came in being. This was such a better system that helped a lot with the game. As the lamps ran out of air pressure, they would stop the game, pump in more air, or ever put in more gasoline. The team didn't have a regular referee, so they would call on any timid soul to referee. So many of those early games turned into football. As I recall, none had attended high school where they could have gotten some experience in their gym classes. This hall proved to be a boon to us kids as we grew up, as we could go aver and play when it was raining. Seems that most of the time hall had one door open. When there was to be a dance someone would call my mother and ask if we would sweep out the hall. I guess we were rewarded by allowing 'us kids' to stand in the side room when orchestra started playing – dances started at nine, but generally didn't get into full swing until near ten. As soon as many people came, we were beckoned back to our house and off to bed. Before the prohibition days, the saloon across the way sold whiskey in unlabeled bottles, pints or half-pints. They were filled from a large barrel and the empty bottle were returnable. On Sunday morning before we went to church we combed the area for empty bottles. We would wash them and take them to the saloon (to Mr. Talaska) and we got once cent for half-pints and 2 cents for the pints. Those pennies found their way into the glass-jarred Spanish peanut machine. You would put a penny in, push the little handle and get a small cup of peanuts. If we had an extra nickel we would get a Hershey bar! After prohibition, when Roosevelt was elected, many taverns opened up. Of course, from 1918 to 1932 , moonshine and home-brew became the forbidden drink. However, many of the farmers found they could distill moonshine, and it wasn't long when the drinkers found where to procure 'moon' and home-brew. So called 'blind pigs' grew up in former saloons.

Getting back to the town hall, we had many parties there for the younger folks. The earlier dances were waltzes, two-steps and square dances. Mother taught us kids how to waltz and all of us later took in a lot of dances. Recall that one day the back door of the hall was left open and one of our cows made her way onto the floor and left several splotches – her trademark! Of course, us kids had to get busy and clean up the mess! We didn't get electricity out into the town until the summer of 1923.

I can't remember very much of the happenings prior to five or six. I can recall faintly that Pa used to come in the house, especially in the winter, and make himself a “hot toddy.” He would take a cup glass and put some whiskey and add hot water and I think some nutmeg. When the kitchen fire was out, Mother would put the teakettle on the heater stove in the dining room. It was a Round Oak and to me it was huge. It stood away from the wall by a few feet and I recall that we would stand between the stove and wall to get warm. The dining room (also the front room) had a register in the ceiling above the stove that let heat come up into the bedrooms. During the winter, the fire downstairs would burn out, leaving the house very cold. Mother would take a glass of water in case she got thirsty during the night, but many mornings the glass had ice in it. When we got up we would stand over the register in the bedroom to get warm while we dressed. After Pa died, Maurice was the one who got up and built the fire and the kitchen stove and the heater stove. He was the one that made sure we had wood for the fires. Although sometimes when we came home from school and would have to go out in the shed and 'buck' wood for the night and the next day. On weekends he would go over to a neighbor's woods and cut trees down and have them hauled to the back of the house. I believe Gingles had a saw rig that was run by a one-cylinder gas engine that would run the circular saw to cut the wood. Most of the wood was 'poplar', a very soft wood that burned quickly, however, sometimes some stumps from the early cuttings were brought in and when sawed up and split made the kindling for starting fires.

There was also the chore of splitting the wood into smaller pieces, especially for the cook stove. Then each night after school we had to haul wood into the shed and into the house. The wood was piled back of the kitchen stove. When we got the trees and were ready to cut the wood, several of the neighbors would come and help. Us kids were real happy when we would come home from school and find that we had a big wood pile back of the house. In addition to the poplar wood, Maurice would take the team and go downtown to one of the many saw mills and bring home 'slab wood' which was already cut into stove lengths and was used for kindling and for cooking.

I understand that at one time there were 14 saw mills along the bay in Ashland. When the lumbering business died out, the iron ore shipping took over. We had four large ore docks with most of the ore coming from the Gogebic [?] range in Ironwood, Hurley and other towns in that area. We had one blast furnace in the west end of town. When I was about ten, I went with the Solbergs, neighbors, down at ten o'clock in the evening when they were running molten iron out of the furnaces. That was a sight to behold. Each night the skies were reddened with the light from the smelter. The hot iron was run into small sand-ridged compartments (some of this sand came from our sandpit.) It was called 'pig iron' as the uneven shapes about 2 ½ feet long and maybe 4 to 8 inches wide, were compared to a mother pig and her little ones nursing. The were loaded onto a narrow-gauge railroad and that went under the two streets and on down to Chicago and Milwaukee or other down lakes ports to be refined into steel. The furnace did not run long after about 1921 or so, as it was cheaper to send the ore down to the cities in Ohio, etc, than to ship the coal up to run the smelter. One of the high smoke stacks still remains as a beacon to the smelting business.

Ashland, at the heads of the lakes, became quite a railroad town. Shipping out ore was a big industry. Trains with man carloads of ore were backed up onto the docks and emptied into pockets, which held tons and tons. When the ships came in they were brought up close to the docks so that the shoots could be lowered to allow the order to pass into the holds. Where we lived we could hear the trains bringing ore to the docks and look out our back bedroom window and see the lights on the docks. The boats would come in as early as possible in the spring and continue hauling ore until late in the season. When it got cold, some of the wet ore would freeze in the cars and in the pockets. The 'ore punchers' had long pike poles and would dislodge the frozen ore and let it drop into the shoots. Some years ice-breakers had to come in and open the harbor and make a trail so ships could get down state.

Getting back to our family, I think I mentioned before that we had two draft horses for hauling sand. After Pa died, Maurice hauled some sand. The horses' names were Jerry and Morgan. Morgan developed, from some infection, a large club foot. It was necessary to dispose of him. In those days, sick or injured animals were taken out in the woods and shot. This happened to Morgan. Don't recall who did the shooting, but do recall how us younger kids cried and cried. The same happened when we had to dispose of our dog, Teddy. Later, Jerry was sold and we got a driving horse. Her name was Bird. Maurice used her on the mail route along with another horse, Nell. We had a buggy and a cutter as our transportation to town. We had two cows, Mollie and Bessie. Between us, we made sure the cows were milked and taken to pasture. On one occasion, we were taking, after dark, the cows to a small pasture up the road. There weren't many cars then, but the merchant who ran the hardware store happens along and struck one of the cows. She had to be taken to the nearby slaughter house and butchered. Of course, the family got the meat and the merchant paid mother $75 for the loss. AS time went on we got rid of the other cow and then bought milk each night from some of the neighbors at 10 cents a gallon. We had to go each night and get it, no home delivery for one gallon!

We always had a garden and raised our own potatoes, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, etc. We had no refrigeration, but we did have a dug-out under the house that was cool. We had a hole in the kitchen floor with a cover that let us down to get food, etc. However, we never put our milk down there. When we milked the cows, we would bring the milk in. Mother would strain it through a clean dish towel and pour it in large crocks, set it in the cupboard and let the cream rise. In the morning, she would skin the cream and save it until we had enough to make butter. We did have a large churn and a stand with a crank on it, so we could make our own butter.

Wash day was always a very busy, long day for Mother. With a large family and no washing machine, it was a chore. Our biggest problem was having enough water. We did have a well, which was 221 feet deep and a windmill. When we had wind all was well. Pa had fixed the pump with a pipe that could send the water to the trough for watering the cows and horses. When the trough was full, he could switch the pipe to run the water in to a cement cistern. In the house, we had a small hand pump where we could pump the water into the kitchen. Later on, the cistern got leaky and we either had to get water pumped by the windmill or pump it by hand. Pumping the water from a 221 foot well was no easy task. We had to put an extension on the pump handle and it would take two of us younger kids to pump water. Different times the pump was out of order, we had to haul water from the Gingles. We had a small wagon in the summer and a sled in winter. We would fill a five-gallon can. You can imagine how long 5 gallons laster with the large family. Sometimes we would catch rain water or melt snow for washing clothes. Those were the days!

[[Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 3|Continue to Part 3]]

Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 3

2007-05-01T02:41:38Z

Brianjz: New page: When mother married Pa, she was 18 years and 9 months old. Pa was 39. He had five children: William – 14 years and 10 months, Joseph – 12 years old, Mary – 10 years and 1 month, Agne...

When mother married Pa, she was 18 years and 9 months old. Pa was 39. He had five children: William – 14 years and 10 months, Joseph – 12 years old, Mary – 10 years and 1 month, Agnes – 8 years and 1 month, and Thomas (Francis) – 6 years and 1 month old.

When Maurice was born on December 28, 1898, Mother was 25 years and 3 months old, William was 20 years and 8 months, Joe was 18 years and 9 months, Mary was 16 years and 10 months, Agnes was 14 years and 2 months, and Frank was 12 years and 2 months old.

Pa died with a stroke when he was 62 years and 2 days. Mother died with a heart attack on April 28, 1941; she was 67 years, 10 months, and 5 days old.

The folks moved from Sanborn to the Summit in the spring of 1905. Clayton was born in Ashland on June 16, 1905. None of the first Corrigan family lived at the Summit. William bought a farm southwest of Sanborn which is now occupied by the Miller girls. Agnes and Mary went to Detroit, as some of the older uncles and/or aunts lived there. Joe worked in the woods around Sanborn. Frank (Francis) went into the navy at an early age and wasn't heard from for quite some time, but did come back to visit at times. He married Vera in Detroit and lived in the Detroit area and Chicago area, finally moving to West Palm Beach, Florida. Esther, Lynn, and I visited them in the summer of 1964. Frank died in 1966 and Vera in 1972. Sadie had heard from her after Frank died. I went to the World's Fair in 1933 and stayed with them for a few days. Frank and Vera came up to Milwaukee when step-dad Martin died in 1929.

== Our swimming days: ==
In the hot summer days we would take our suits and walk down Sanborn Avenue to the road that led past the swimming beach on the west end of town. There were no bath houses, so we had to change into our suits in some of thick alder bushes. We never had a towel with us—that was too sissy! After several attempts to swim, we went farther west to what was called Short Bridge. I recall going under the bridge and wading out as far as possible and pushing myself in toward the shore. After many tries, I finally succeeded in keeping myself up. Then I would venture out into deeper waters. To the south of the bridge, Fish Creek came into the lake. Many of the better swimmers went there, generally without suits, as the water was much deeper than on the shoreline. One had to walk out quite far first, crossing several sand bars before one got into deeper swimming water. Lenore and Ethel usually went with me and stayed in the shallower waters. They generally put their suits on at home. Then came the long trek up the hill back home, to the Summit. Later years, most of our swimming was done at the White River Dam, which was about three miles to the south. Most of the time we swam on the north edge of the dam and dive off the bridge. One had to be careful to stay away from the grid that allowed water to go down to the Power Plant. It was always refreshing after a long day in the hay field, chores, etc., to get a good swim. Not many baths at home during the summer. Not many in the winter time either. When I got into High School, we had gym and showers three times per week.

==Maurice's camera:==
In about 1919 or so, Maurice bought a camera. It was the kind that folded shut and when you opened it you pulled out a lens which was on a kind of bellows. Very few people had camera at that time. Most photos were taken in studios in Ashland, of which there were at least four—I.E. Bailey, Chequamegon, Raven, and Irvin. Later, some of these closed and two others were opened, Johnssons and Pferkorn. Around Christmas time, Maurice took some flash pictures. He had a flat board with the handle under it on which he poured gun powder. Then all would line up and he would open the lens and would put a match to the powder, which made quite a flash. The camera also had a slot wherein you could write what information you wanted on it.

==Lenore's pet chicken:==
When Lenore was nine or ten, she had a pet chicken, a Rhode Island Red. The chicken followed her all around and would come when she called. Had a picture of her holding the chicken, but it got lost.

==Henry's first bicycle:==
Not having enough money to buy a new bike, Henry collected parts from all over, put them together, got tires somehow. He was very proud of it. Seems that he was very mechanical minded and he grew up, always took care of his own cars. I learned to ride a bike that he put together. There was no tire on the front wheel, just the rim! I practiced and practiced on the side road and finally managed to keep my balance. The was a real achievement of mine that I never forgot.

==Fourth of July for us kids:==
We lived on a small farm just outside the city limits of Ashland. Each Fourth of July we were awakened around four o'clock by a blast of dynamite set off by the Olson boys, who lived just east of us. It seems they never missed doing this each year. We always looked forward to going downtown to see the parade, buy firecrackers and light some—always keeping some for when we got back home around six. We also bought sparklers and had fun lighting them after dark and enjoyed making circles with them, eventually throwing them up in the air before they were ready to go out. After dark, we could watch fireworks blasted off on the commercial dock at the end of Ellis Avenue in Ashland. We could only see the highest ones, as the trees in the cemetery next door cut our view of lower sparks.

We saved our money, the little that we could earn, for fireworks. The strawberries would ripen shortly before the fourth and we would pick berries for the Braatzes or the Gingles. We were paid 1-1/2 cents per box most of the time. Some years, we may have gotten five cents. Some money was used for pop at five cents per bottle and ice cream cones at five cents. For ten cents we could get a package of very small firecrackers, which when lit all went off at about the same time. We would buy some of the larger firecrackers also. Mr. Talaska, who lived across from us, used to buy some of the Roman candles that shot quite high in the sky.

At that time the street cars were still running. They were taken out around 1932. You could buy an explosive called a 'torpedo,' which you could throw down hard on the pavement and it produce quite a noise. Some of the kids would put these on the street car rails; they were set off as the car moved over them. By five or six in the afternoon, Second Street was full of litter. By that time in the afternoon, we were ready to hike back up the Cemetery Hill to our house.

Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 1

2007-04-19T02:35:27Z

Brianjz:

'''I will be adding more related links and other helpful info soon.'''

Written by [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/family/getperson.php?personID=I211&tree=zalewski Edwin Corrigan]

'''January 24, 1995'''

Thank you for you recent letter – it was surely nice that you could get to the reunion in July at Channing, MI. Just wished we could have talked more, but being so many there it was hard to get to visit much. Only wished I had taken some more pictures, as I have very few. Thought some of the kids would have sent me some more – I being the only member of the original Corrigan family. It was saddening, as the years went by to see the family gradually passing on. Guess, I have been blessed to be able to be around. Guess I must have done something right to live to 85!

To begin with, the were two Corrigan families – the first four children were born in Orillia (Mara county, Ontario.) Pa's first wife, Ellen Ferguson, was buried in Washburn, WI across the bay from Ashland. Don't know just when they came to the area – nor how long they lived in Washburn. The youngest child, Thomas Francis, was born in Washburn, Sept. 15, 1886. Shortly after that they must have moved to Sanborn, where Pa built a saloon and boarding house (the building is still there, but has had an addition put on it.) Three of our family members were born while the folks lived in Sanborn, the rest born (at the Summit) in Ashland. Due to an early stroke, Pa had to get out of the business. He did some kind of a trade with property and got property on the outskirts of Ashland, which included a small five room house and building which house a saloon, dance hall and gambling rooms. Remember these were in the early logging days when Ashland housed many saloons, houses of ill-repute, etc. They lived a short time in the large building and then had the small house moved closer to the road – eventually he sold the building (the hall, etc) to the Town of Sanborn to be used as the Town Hall.

The property was on a five-acre plot which had a large sand pit which had real fine sand – PA supported the family by selling sand to the blast furnace in Ashland (produced Pig Iron which was shipped out of Ashland to lower Great Lakes Ports.) He also sold sand to builders which was used for plastering houses – no plaster board in those days. He would probably haul two loads per day – one and one-half mile to the furnace. He would also get jobs working for the town grading the roads and putting culverts. We had two small barns on the property – one housed the horses (two) and the chicken coop – the other housed the two cows and the hay barn.

By the time the folks moved to Ashland all of the members of the first Corrigan family had moved or gotten their own places. My dad married my mother in April 1892 – he being much older than she with his five children. Don't know the circumstances of the marriage, but think that Mother must have worked as a hired girl, helping with house work and taking care of the children. Mother had a miscarriage early and didn't conceive until when Maurice was born in Dec 1898 – the the flood gate opened and there were eight more children, including Ethel and me, the twins.

My mother's dad, Grandpa Firmenich, was a millright in Ashland and homesteaded just north of Sanborn – he had a family of five girls and two boys – Mother was born in Wrightstown, WI – and the family came up to Ashland in the early eighties. Lived in Ashland and during that time, Grandpa homesteaded the property at Sanborn and then moved the family out there. My folks moved from Sanborn in the spring of 1905 – Grandpa with the remaining daughter Claire sold the property and moved to Ashland in 1915.

My dad, your great grandfather, died on July 25, 1915 at Ashland. Mother was in the hospital expecting the birth of Sadie – she was brought out to the house to the funeral. Funerals were from the homes in those days. I was 6, but can remember the casket and funeral, although I can't remember going to the cemetery, which was just kitty-corner from our house – across the line into the city of Ashland.

At that time Maurice was 16 – he did some of the selling of the sand for that summer, then got a job with the Kellogg grocery store, delivering groceries, those were the horse and buggy days – he later got a job working in a saw mill at Odanah, 12 miles east of Ashland, later got a job as a night clerk in the Menard Hotel downtown Ashland. As each of our family members got old enough to work they did so. I recall that when I was 11 I got a job driving horse on a farm when they hauled in the hay – also had to help with the milking and chores. Henry was two years older than I and he got a job when about 14 working at Gingles farm, that is after he finished the eighth grade.

Later on I worked on the same farm for board and room while going to high school – in my senior year I got a job for the Molls where they had 125 colonies of bees, a five-acre orchard and a little garden, I stayed there the next two years while attending the Ashland County Normal to become an elementary teacher. Molls also raised about 300 turkeys each year.

We grew up with very little, but appreciated the fact that Mother was able to keep the family together. I recall that many night when we were about the heater stove, she would shed tears, as she didn't know what was in store for her and the 9 children.

In the fall of 1924 we moved to Iron Mountain, MI where the Ford Motor company was paying $5 per day – That was unheard of in our area where many farm workers got $30 a month and board and room and other laborers were earning $2 per day. Our oldest sister, Beatrice, had gone to Detroit to work – Agnes and Mary of the first family were there – so she got a job as a telephone operator – one in awhile we would get a call from her late at night – free to her, I guess. Sister Clarice married and moved to Iron Mountain. Maurice, Clayton and Henry had gone up before we moved there. Maurice and Clayton got work at Ford's – as did Clarice's husband, Ed Olsen. Henry was only 17 and they wouldn't hire him at the plant, but he got a job with the Village of Kingsford as a grader operator. When we moved up there we were able to rent a new house. We paid $55 per month – unheard of is Ashland where houses were renting for about $15 or $20. I entered Iron Mountain high school in October 1924 and stayed the year. In the fall of 1926, the Kingsford High School opened, so we had to go there.

We were all quite happy there as several of our relatives had moved there, also. This was a kind of melting pot – as it were. Many people just build garages, lived in them and then eventually built regular houses. When the Ford models changed the plant would be down for quite some time. In the spring of 1926, they closed for quite some time, so we had to move back to Ashland – so I finished high school there. That fall mother remarried to T.E. Martin and moved to Milwaukee. I didn't want to change schools, so got jobs in the two above mentioned places and never did move to Milwaukee. With the folks in Milwaukee (Mother, Lenore, Ethel, Sadie and Henry) our interests turned there. Henry got a job as a taxi driver (must have been brave, but guess he got a map of the city and took off from there.) Our step-dad Martin was in partnership in a building company. Lenore and Ethel didn't get into school, but got jobs in a laundry near where the folks lived. Lenore eventually got a job at Phoenix Hosiery Co. Both got married shorty after that. Henry got a job with the city as a bus and street car conductor – Henry married Mercedes Mischo – built a home in Granville – later moved to California to run a farm for a brother-in-law – returned to Milwaukee for a short time and then went back to Healdsburg, CA.

Henry, along with a cousin, Ray O'Brien, wrote civil service exams and were awarded jobs with the Wisconsin Correctional Division of Prisons. He moved to DePere, WI where he a guard at the State Reformatory for some time. I recall visiting them at DePere when I was on furlough from the Air Force in WWII – hitchhiked there and then on to Iron Mountain to visit. He later was transferred to Amberg, WI where he was a guard at a stone quarry which employed prisoners. I believe they moved back to Milwaukee – held the afore-mentioned jobs before going to California.

In regard to Maurice's work before going to Iron Mountain, he wrote a civil service exam to become a rural mail carrier on our route. He passed that and held it for a few years. When the time came for the next exam, he passed it with a high score, but at that time ex-service men were given preference and the added points he lost out. Shortly after that he went to Iron Mountain. The rural mail carrier job paid $150 per month, which at that time was a good wage. However, he had to have two driving horses, a wagon for summer and cutter for winter. His route came past our home, south to Sanborn, then east and again north back into Ashland – about 28 miles. While on that route, he bought a 1921 or 22 Ford Touring car. Probably in the range of $300.

I recall that when we knew he was bringing the new car home, we got out on the road waiting to see him. He finally appeared weaving from side to side of the road. During the winter, the roads weren't plowed and the car was set up on blocks, drained of water, battery taken in the house and he had to use the horses on the route. I believe it was in December of 1922, we had a real warm spell, so he and Clayton decided to get the car running – guess we had very little snow at that time. When they started the car to let it warm up, they went in the house for awhile and lo and behold the car caught fire and burned out. Almost burned down the shed the car was in. However, later on her took the back seat off the car and put a box on it – that was the car we rode in when us kids and mother were taken to Iron Mountain in. That was the fall of 1924 – Maurice was married in April 1923. He built a two room house, like many of the new workers. Henry and Clayton then went up and got work there. Henry was 17 and got a job for the Village of Kingsford – he was too young to get in Fords where Ed Olsen, Clarice's husband, Maurice and Clayton got jobs – five dollars per day – that wage brought many people to Iron Mountain. We moved there in October 1924 – Clayton and Henry were sleeping in a tent in front of Maurice's house – so I, being in the ninth grade, moved in with them. The first night I found I had a bed partner – a dog came in and slept with us. Don't know who owned it! Shortly after that we got a brand new house on Rexford St. Only two bedrooms, but we managed. Us three boys slept in one bedroom, Mother and Sadie in the other and we had a roll-out davenport that Lenore and Ethel slept on. This house had a nice furnace – which we had never had, so we felt very city-fied in a new house with a furnace.

I attended the Iron Mountain High School in the fall of 1924-25, then the new Kingsford High School opened. I went there until April of 1926, when the Ford plant went down to get ready for new models. We were paying $55 per month rent, and without both boys working we had to return to our old home in Ashland. People were renting houses in Ashland and elsewhere for about $15 or so. I managed to get back into High School and finished in 1928 – as president of our class of 144 – don't know how a bashful country boy got elected by all those city kids. Went to the County Normal in Ashland 1928-29 and got a job teaching grades 4-5-6 out in Sanborn. The County Supt. of Schools took me out to Sanborn and I met the school clerk, a Mr. Lampson – he asked if I was Tom's boy, and I said 'YES' so I had the job.

After we moved back to Ashland, Mother renewed her friendship with Thomas Martin – so happens that she had met him before we went to Iron Mountain. They wrote back and forth (in the meantime, he had gone back to St. Louis) suddenly the letters stopped and Mother didn't know what happened. Later she found out that Martin's daughter in St. Louis, not wanting her dad to remarry, didn't give him Mother's letters. So he thought she wasn't interested and quit writing. When we got back to Ashland he came to visit in Ashland and found that Mother was back there. They renewed their friendship and were married in the fall of 1926. The kids and mother moved to Milwaukee. As time went on Lenore, Ethel and Henry married. Ethel married Eddy Strelka, Lenore married Norert Enders, and Henry married Mercedes Mischo – Norbert and Mercedes were cousins who moved to Milwaukee from Wabeno, WI. The Mischo's managed a rooming house and I think Lenore and maybe [Ethel] roomed there before their marriages. Going back to Mr. Martin, mother met him through Aunt Edna, her younger sister, who lived in the west end of Ashland across the street from where Martin had a cabinet shop. He happened to come over to Aunt Edna's when mother was visiting there – they stuck up a friendship and it ended in marriage.

Tragedy hit in June on 1929 when Dad Martin, who had stepped on a nail, got lock jaw and died within a few days in a Milwaukee hospital. I had gone down to visit for awhile and he was to pick me up at the depot in downtown Milwaukee. He missed me and I took a cab. In the meantime, he returned and I noticed that he was limping and had a bedroom slipper on his foot – kidding him I said, “guess we'll have to take you out and shoot you, like they do with horses who get lame.” He laughed and little later the pain got so bad that Mother and I took him to the hospital, the immediately put him to bed and gave him excessive doses of antitoxin. However, it was in vain, as the poison had gone too far. That was on a Thursday night and the following Monday he passed away. Shortly after the funeral mother and kids moved to another house – later to an apartment house that she and Henry managed – that was on Marshall and Knapp on the east side of Milwaukee.

In the summer of 1931, Grandpa Firmenich was ailing and Mother came up to see him in August. Grandpa died on Sept. 26, 1931 – it was customary in those days that someone sat up all night with people who were ill – it so happened that it was my night to sit up. About 1:30 I heard Grandpa kind of cough and choke – I went into the bedroom and he was breathing his last breath. Grandpa died at 91!

While there, Mother visited several of our former neighbors. She visited with the Molls (Pa and Ma and the Molls were very close and played cards together often.) So happens that Maurice's wife, Agnes, is a half-sister to Mrs. Moll. While at the Moll's one afternoon, a Mr. George Cook, the City Street Commissioner, came there and met mother. Things began to happen and they got friendly – George had lost his wife back some time ago – he had no children – so romance began that ended in marriage in Nov. 1932. Mother then moved back to the home at the Summit – along with Sadie, Ethel and Lenore. Shortly after that Lenore and Ethel went back to Milwaukee and got work and got married. Sadie and Mother rhen moved to town to the big 14-room house that George owned. He had a housekeeper who cooked for him and took care of the many rooms – had about 8 roomers at that time. Sadie then took over helping with the housework – Mother did the cooking. I was teaching Sanborn and boarding and rooming out there.

The Great Depression hit and the fall of the stock market in 1929. The whole country was affected with the loss of jobs and a great drop in the economy of the country. This continued for several years leading to the closing of all the banks in 1933, right after the election of Roosevelt. I was teaching at that time for $100 per month. After paying my board and room. Clayton had gotten laid off at the Ford Plant in the fall of 1932 and came back to Ashland to live in our house at the Summit. When Mother married George Cook, she left all of the furniture in the house, so Clayton moved in. Part of the time we would stay over the weekends with him. Later on he got a job on the WPA project in Ashland and then moved in the big house with Mother. He had gotten to know Lena Raspolic, a pupil who was in the 9th grade in Sanborn when I got there. She chummed some with Sadie and Clayton started dating her. They were married in April 1933 in Iron Mountain. Earlier the Ford Plantcalled back workers, so Clayton went back to work.

I taught in Sanborn for eight years, 1929 to 1937. I continued my college education thru summer schools at Superior State Un. And some night school courses, plus a semester now and then. In the fall of 1937, I was asked by the county superintendent to be the county supervising teacher, which I accepted. I was on that job for a period of 17 years, with time off for some additional college work and three-and a half years in the Air Force in WWII – I got my Bachelor of Education in January of 1942 and entered the service in April 1942 until the war ended. I was discharged on Oct 5, 1945 at Traux Field in Madison, WI. Went back to work as supervising teacher in January of 1946. There were no new cars available, as the government had contracts with auto companies for all cars. In Nov. of 1945, I met one of my former students who was buying old cars and repairing them. So I bought a 1937 Ford V-8 from him. There was no heater in it, but it did get me around. In the summer of 1946, new cars became available, as I was able to get a new Plymouth four-door. The car came minus a speedometer, hub caps, gas gauge, etc. Eventually I was able to get the missing parts. We did have much trouble with flat tires – synthetic rubber tires were subject to splitting. So one never knew when he would have a flat tire. Each morning I held my breath when I went to get my car hoping that all the tires were OK.

I had been instrumental in getting a Boy Scout troop started in Sanborn in 1936 – so in the summer of 1946, one of my former scouts, now grown, decided to take our troop to Yellowstone. He had a car like mine, but it had a gas gauge, etc. In order not to run out of gas, I would stop mine when he did and also keep my speed the same as his. I stayed Scoutmaster until 1954 and then continued in scouting in Glidden and White Pine. I was awarded the Silver Beaver, the highest award to lay people and the Scoutmaster's Key. After 50 years, I was awarded the 50 Year Medallion.

After leaving the supervising teacher job, I was elected to the position of President of the Wood County Teacher's College at Wisconsin Rapids, WI. I had previously gained my Master of Science degree in Education at the University of Wisconsin. We offered a two-year course for elementary teachers, who could teach in the rural schools. We had only five faculty members, so I had to teach several courses each semester – Reading Methods, Psychology, Ecology, and Learning Theories. So I was kept very busy. Esther had a job working in a Ladies Ready-to-Wear shop at that time.

We stayed there only the one year, as the salary was low. So I was invited to come back up north to Glidden to be Superintendent of Schools – stayed there nine years and then found a much better paying position as Elementary School principal at White Pine. So, when I finished my career I had 46 years of public service.

I had known Esther since I was about ten. Her family were originally from Illinois, but had moved out to a ranch at Reeder, North Dakota and then came to Ashland when she was about 10. She attended the Shores Clearing School with our family members. She and Lenore were in the same grade and chummed together for many years. When I was in fifth grade and Ethel in fourth (she was a grade behind me, as she had been sickly and missed a year) we decided to go into St. Agnes School and then make our first Holy Communion. Esther and I were in high school together, she being a grade behind me. However, we did go on a few dates then. She married a Harry Roffers, another country boy, in 1931 and raised two children, Byron and Shirley. Sadly, Harry was killed in a motorcycle accident in the fall of 1945. I was home quote some time before we started going together. We were married on Nov. 11, 1950. Byron was in first year of college and Shirley in 11th grade. I had been rooming in the house on Ellis, so I moved in the apartment Esther and the kids were in. Dad Cook had died in Dec. of 1939 leaving the large house to Mother and Sadie. Mother died in April of 1941, leaving Sadie and me to take care of the house. So in the fall of 1942 when I was home on furlough for Harlingen, Texas, our family met in Iron Mountain and signed the property over to Sadie so she could sell it. We sold the 14-room house for the great sum of $2800 – included most of the furniture, bedding, etc. Sadie then went to Detroit to stay with Beatrice and Harry. She worked in the Federal Tire Company plant.

[[Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 2|Continue to Part 2]]

Main Page

2007-04-19T02:29:55Z

Brianjz:

'''Welcome.'''

I'm going to be using this to let you get more information on the people, places, and items in my family tree, and possibly out of it. It gives me a lot of power to inter-link items, etc. Stay tuned.

'''Here is what is posted so far:'''
*[[Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 1|Letter from Edwin Corrigan]]
*[[:Category:Zalewski|Zalewski Surname Information]]
*[[Zalewski DNA Study]] - Trace the Zalewski surname with DNA
*[[Zalewski Family Tree Project]] - Trying to collect all of the Zalewski family trees in one location.

Main Page

2007-03-21T20:08:55Z

Brianjz:

'''Welcome.'''

I'm going to be using this to let you get more information on the people, places, and items in my family tree, and possibly out of it. It gives me a lot of power to inter-link items, etc. Stay tuned.

'''Here is what is posted so far:'''
*[[Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 1|Letter from Edwin Corrigan]]
*[[:Category:Zalewski|Zalewski Surname Information]]
*[[Zalewski DNA Study]] - Trace the Zalewski surname with DNA
*[[Zalewski Family Tree Project]] - Collecting all of the Zalewski families in one location.

Zalewski Family Tree Project

2007-03-21T20:06:02Z

Brianjz:

File:FrankZalewskiFamily1909.jpg

2007-03-21T20:05:14Z

Brianjz: Frank & Anna (Lindner) Zalewski family - circa 1909

Frank & Anna (Lindner) Zalewski family - circa 1909

Zalewski Family Tree Project

2007-03-21T20:04:02Z

Brianjz:

[[image:http://www.brianzalewski.com/photos/d/18-2/frank-annafamily-1909.jpg|left]]
I'd like to compile the largest database of Zalewski Family Trees. As we get more and more family trees entered and merged together, we may find connections that we've never known about before. This could help all Zalewski family researchers.

'''I will take your family tree in almost any format:'''
*GEDCOM
*Family Tree Maker
*XML
*HTML
*Text Files
*Hard Copy

As long as I can easily import it into my software and website. I don't mind if I have to enter it by hand.

View the posting that contains the link to send your file: [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/2007/03/21/calling-all-zalewskis/ Zalewski Family Tree Project].

Once I have a good collection of these trees, I will put together the database. '''Let’s work together and make this the biggest and best Zalewski Database!'''

Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 1

2007-03-11T03:30:26Z

Brianjz:

'''I will be adding more related links and other helpful info soon.'''

Written by [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/family/getperson.php?personID=I0211&tree=zalewski Edwin Corrigan]

'''January 24, 1995'''

Thank you for you recent letter – it was surely nice that you could get to the reunion in July at Channing, MI. Just wished we could have talked more, but being so many there it was hard to get to visit much. Only wished I had taken some more pictures, as I have very few. Thought some of the kids would have sent me some more – I being the only member of the original Corrigan family. It was saddening, as the years went by to see the family gradually passing on. Guess, I have been blessed to be able to be around. Guess I must have done something right to live to 85!

To begin with, the were two Corrigan families – the first four children were born in Orillia (Mara county, Ontario.) Pa's first wife, Ellen Ferguson, was buried in Washburn, WI across the bay from Ashland. Don't know just when they came to the area – nor how long they lived in Washburn. The youngest child, Thomas Francis, was born in Washburn, Sept. 15, 1886. Shortly after that they must have moved to Sanborn, where Pa built a saloon and boarding house (the building is still there, but has had an addition put on it.) Three of our family members were born while the folks lived in Sanborn, the rest born (at the Summit) in Ashland. Due to an early stroke, Pa had to get out of the business. He did some kind of a trade with property and got property on the outskirts of Ashland, which included a small five room house and building which house a saloon, dance hall and gambling rooms. Remember these were in the early logging days when Ashland housed many saloons, houses of ill-repute, etc. They lived a short time in the large building and then had the small house moved closer to the road – eventually he sold the building (the hall, etc) to the Town of Sanborn to be used as the Town Hall.

The property was on a five-acre plot which had a large sand pit which had real fine sand – PA supported the family by selling sand to the blast furnace in Ashland (produced Pig Iron which was shipped out of Ashland to lower Great Lakes Ports.) He also sold sand to builders which was used for plastering houses – no plaster board in those days. He would probably haul two loads per day – one and one-half mile to the furnace. He would also get jobs working for the town grading the roads and putting culverts. We had two small barns on the property – one housed the horses (two) and the chicken coop – the other housed the two cows and the hay barn.

By the time the folks moved to Ashland all of the members of the first Corrigan family had moved or gotten their own places. My dad married my mother in April 1892 – he being much older than she with his five children. Don't know the circumstances of the marriage, but think that Mother must have worked as a hired girl, helping with house work and taking care of the children. Mother had a miscarriage early and didn't conceive until when Maurice was born in Dec 1898 – the the flood gate opened and there were eight more children, including Ethel and me, the twins.

My mother's dad, Grandpa Firmenich, was a millright in Ashland and homesteaded just north of Sanborn – he had a family of five girls and two boys – Mother was born in Wrightstown, WI – and the family came up to Ashland in the early eighties. Lived in Ashland and during that time, Grandpa homesteaded the property at Sanborn and then moved the family out there. My folks moved from Sanborn in the spring of 1905 – Grandpa with the remaining daughter Claire sold the property and moved to Ashland in 1915.

My dad, your great grandfather, died on July 25, 1915 at Ashland. Mother was in the hospital expecting the birth of Sadie – she was brought out to the house to the funeral. Funerals were from the homes in those days. I was 6, but can remember the casket and funeral, although I can't remember going to the cemetery, which was just kitty-corner from our house – across the line into the city of Ashland.

At that time Maurice was 16 – he did some of the selling of the sand for that summer, then got a job with the Kellogg grocery store, delivering groceries, those were the horse and buggy days – he later got a job working in a saw mill at Odanah, 12 miles east of Ashland, later got a job as a night clerk in the Menard Hotel downtown Ashland. As each of our family members got old enough to work they did so. I recall that when I was 11 I got a job driving horse on a farm when they hauled in the hay – also had to help with the milking and chores. Henry was two years older than I and he got a job when about 14 working at Gingles farm, that is after he finished the eighth grade.

Later on I worked on the same farm for board and room while going to high school – in my senior year I got a job for the Molls where they had 125 colonies of bees, a five-acre orchard and a little garden, I stayed there the next two years while attending the Ashland County Normal to become an elementary teacher. Molls also raised about 300 turkeys each year.

We grew up with very little, but appreciated the fact that Mother was able to keep the family together. I recall that many night when we were about the heater stove, she would shed tears, as she didn't know what was in store for her and the 9 children.

In the fall of 1924 we moved to Iron Mountain, MI where the Ford Motor company was paying $5 per day – That was unheard of in our area where many farm workers got $30 a month and board and room and other laborers were earning $2 per day. Our oldest sister, Beatrice, had gone to Detroit to work – Agnes and Mary of the first family were there – so she got a job as a telephone operator – one in awhile we would get a call from her late at night – free to her, I guess. Sister Clarice married and moved to Iron Mountain. Maurice, Clayton and Henry had gone up before we moved there. Maurice and Clayton got work at Ford's – as did Clarice's husband, Ed Olsen. Henry was only 17 and they wouldn't hire him at the plant, but he got a job with the Village of Kingsford as a grader operator. When we moved up there we were able to rent a new house. We paid $55 per month – unheard of is Ashland where houses were renting for about $15 or $20. I entered Iron Mountain high school in October 1924 and stayed the year. In the fall of 1926, the Kingsford High School opened, so we had to go there.

We were all quite happy there as several of our relatives had moved there, also. This was a kind of melting pot – as it were. Many people just build garages, lived in them and then eventually built regular houses. When the Ford models changed the plant would be down for quite some time. In the spring of 1926, they closed for quite some time, so we had to move back to Ashland – so I finished high school there. That fall mother remarried to T.E. Martin and moved to Milwaukee. I didn't want to change schools, so got jobs in the two above mentioned places and never did move to Milwaukee. With the folks in Milwaukee (Mother, Lenore, Ethel, Sadie and Henry) our interests turned there. Henry got a job as a taxi driver (must have been brave, but guess he got a map of the city and took off from there.) Our step-dad Martin was in partnership in a building company. Lenore and Ethel didn't get into school, but got jobs in a laundry near where the folks lived. Lenore eventually got a job at Phoenix Hosiery Co. Both got married shorty after that. Henry got a job with the city as a bus and street car conductor – Henry married Mercedes Mischo – built a home in Granville – later moved to California to run a farm for a brother-in-law – returned to Milwaukee for a short time and then went back to Healdsburg, CA.

Henry, along with a cousin, Ray O'Brien, wrote civil service exams and were awarded jobs with the Wisconsin Correctional Division of Prisons. He moved to DePere, WI where he a guard at the State Reformatory for some time. I recall visiting them at DePere when I was on furlough from the Air Force in WWII – hitchhiked there and then on to Iron Mountain to visit. He later was transferred to Amberg, WI where he was a guard at a stone quarry which employed prisoners. I believe they moved back to Milwaukee – held the afore-mentioned jobs before going to California.

In regard to Maurice's work before going to Iron Mountain, he wrote a civil service exam to become a rural mail carrier on our route. He passed that and held it for a few years. When the time came for the next exam, he passed it with a high score, but at that time ex-service men were given preference and the added points he lost out. Shortly after that he went to Iron Mountain. The rural mail carrier job paid $150 per month, which at that time was a good wage. However, he had to have two driving horses, a wagon for summer and cutter for winter. His route came past our home, south to Sanborn, then east and again north back into Ashland – about 28 miles. While on that route, he bought a 1921 or 22 Ford Touring car. Probably in the range of $300.

I recall that when we knew he was bringing the new car home, we got out on the road waiting to see him. He finally appeared weaving from side to side of the road. During the winter, the roads weren't plowed and the car was set up on blocks, drained of water, battery taken in the house and he had to use the horses on the route. I believe it was in December of 1922, we had a real warm spell, so he and Clayton decided to get the car running – guess we had very little snow at that time. When they started the car to let it warm up, they went in the house for awhile and lo and behold the car caught fire and burned out. Almost burned down the shed the car was in. However, later on her took the back seat off the car and put a box on it – that was the car we rode in when us kids and mother were taken to Iron Mountain in. That was the fall of 1924 – Maurice was married in April 1923. He built a two room house, like many of the new workers. Henry and Clayton then went up and got work there. Henry was 17 and got a job for the Village of Kingsford – he was too young to get in Fords where Ed Olsen, Clarice's husband, Maurice and Clayton got jobs – five dollars per day – that wage brought many people to Iron Mountain. We moved there in October 1924 – Clayton and Henry were sleeping in a tent in front of Maurice's house – so I, being in the ninth grade, moved in with them. The first night I found I had a bed partner – a dog came in and slept with us. Don't know who owned it! Shortly after that we got a brand new house on Rexford St. Only two bedrooms, but we managed. Us three boys slept in one bedroom, Mother and Sadie in the other and we had a roll-out davenport that Lenore and Ethel slept on. This house had a nice furnace – which we had never had, so we felt very city-fied in a new house with a furnace.

I attended the Iron Mountain High School in the fall of 1924-25, then the new Kingsford High School opened. I went there until April of 1926, when the Ford plant went down to get ready for new models. We were paying $55 per month rent, and without both boys working we had to return to our old home in Ashland. People were renting houses in Ashland and elsewhere for about $15 or so. I managed to get back into High School and finished in 1928 – as president of our class of 144 – don't know how a bashful country boy got elected by all those city kids. Went to the County Normal in Ashland 1928-29 and got a job teaching grades 4-5-6 out in Sanborn. The County Supt. of Schools took me out to Sanborn and I met the school clerk, a Mr. Lampson – he asked if I was Tom's boy, and I said 'YES' so I had the job.

After we moved back to Ashland, Mother renewed her friendship with Thomas Martin – so happens that she had met him before we went to Iron Mountain. They wrote back and forth (in the meantime, he had gone back to St. Louis) suddenly the letters stopped and Mother didn't know what happened. Later she found out that Martin's daughter in St. Louis, not wanting her dad to remarry, didn't give him Mother's letters. So he thought she wasn't interested and quit writing. When we got back to Ashland he came to visit in Ashland and found that Mother was back there. They renewed their friendship and were married in the fall of 1926. The kids and mother moved to Milwaukee. As time went on Lenore, Ethel and Henry married. Ethel married Eddy Strelka, Lenore married Norert Enders, and Henry married Mercedes Mischo – Norbert and Mercedes were cousins who moved to Milwaukee from Wabeno, WI. The Mischo's managed a rooming house and I think Lenore and maybe [Ethel] roomed there before their marriages. Going back to Mr. Martin, mother met him through Aunt Edna, her younger sister, who lived in the west end of Ashland across the street from where Martin had a cabinet shop. He happened to come over to Aunt Edna's when mother was visiting there – they stuck up a friendship and it ended in marriage.

Tragedy hit in June on 1929 when Dad Martin, who had stepped on a nail, got lock jaw and died within a few days in a Milwaukee hospital. I had gone down to visit for awhile and he was to pick me up at the depot in downtown Milwaukee. He missed me and I took a cab. In the meantime, he returned and I noticed that he was limping and had a bedroom slipper on his foot – kidding him I said, “guess we'll have to take you out and shoot you, like they do with horses who get lame.” He laughed and little later the pain got so bad that Mother and I took him to the hospital, the immediately put him to bed and gave him excessive doses of antitoxin. However, it was in vain, as the poison had gone too far. That was on a Thursday night and the following Monday he passed away. Shortly after the funeral mother and kids moved to another house – later to an apartment house that she and Henry managed – that was on Marshall and Knapp on the east side of Milwaukee.

In the summer of 1931, Grandpa Firmenich was ailing and Mother came up to see him in August. Grandpa died on Sept. 26, 1931 – it was customary in those days that someone sat up all night with people who were ill – it so happened that it was my night to sit up. About 1:30 I heard Grandpa kind of cough and choke – I went into the bedroom and he was breathing his last breath. Grandpa died at 91!

While there, Mother visited several of our former neighbors. She visited with the Molls (Pa and Ma and the Molls were very close and played cards together often.) So happens that Maurice's wife, Agnes, is a half-sister to Mrs. Moll. While at the Moll's one afternoon, a Mr. George Cook, the City Street Commissioner, came there and met mother. Things began to happen and they got friendly – George had lost his wife back some time ago – he had no children – so romance began that ended in marriage in Nov. 1932. Mother then moved back to the home at the Summit – along with Sadie, Ethel and Lenore. Shortly after that Lenore and Ethel went back to Milwaukee and got work and got married. Sadie and Mother rhen moved to town to the big 14-room house that George owned. He had a housekeeper who cooked for him and took care of the many rooms – had about 8 roomers at that time. Sadie then took over helping with the housework – Mother did the cooking. I was teaching Sanborn and boarding and rooming out there.

The Great Depression hit and the fall of the stock market in 1929. The whole country was affected with the loss of jobs and a great drop in the economy of the country. This continued for several years leading to the closing of all the banks in 1933, right after the election of Roosevelt. I was teaching at that time for $100 per month. After paying my board and room. Clayton had gotten laid off at the Ford Plant in the fall of 1932 and came back to Ashland to live in our house at the Summit. When Mother married George Cook, she left all of the furniture in the house, so Clayton moved in. Part of the time we would stay over the weekends with him. Later on he got a job on the WPA project in Ashland and then moved in the big house with Mother. He had gotten to know Lena Raspolic, a pupil who was in the 9th grade in Sanborn when I got there. She chummed some with Sadie and Clayton started dating her. They were married in April 1933 in Iron Mountain. Earlier the Ford Plantcalled back workers, so Clayton went back to work.

I taught in Sanborn for eight years, 1929 to 1937. I continued my college education thru summer schools at Superior State Un. And some night school courses, plus a semester now and then. In the fall of 1937, I was asked by the county superintendent to be the county supervising teacher, which I accepted. I was on that job for a period of 17 years, with time off for some additional college work and three-and a half years in the Air Force in WWII – I got my Bachelor of Education in January of 1942 and entered the service in April 1942 until the war ended. I was discharged on Oct 5, 1945 at Traux Field in Madison, WI. Went back to work as supervising teacher in January of 1946. There were no new cars available, as the government had contracts with auto companies for all cars. In Nov. of 1945, I met one of my former students who was buying old cars and repairing them. So I bought a 1937 Ford V-8 from him. There was no heater in it, but it did get me around. In the summer of 1946, new cars became available, as I was able to get a new Plymouth four-door. The car came minus a speedometer, hub caps, gas gauge, etc. Eventually I was able to get the missing parts. We did have much trouble with flat tires – synthetic rubber tires were subject to splitting. So one never knew when he would have a flat tire. Each morning I held my breath when I went to get my car hoping that all the tires were OK.

I had been instrumental in getting a Boy Scout troop started in Sanborn in 1936 – so in the summer of 1946, one of my former scouts, now grown, decided to take our troop to Yellowstone. He had a car like mine, but it had a gas gauge, etc. In order not to run out of gas, I would stop mine when he did and also keep my speed the same as his. I stayed Scoutmaster until 1954 and then continued in scouting in Glidden and White Pine. I was awarded the Silver Beaver, the highest award to lay people and the Scoutmaster's Key. After 50 years, I was awarded the 50 Year Medallion.

After leaving the supervising teacher job, I was elected to the position of President of the Wood County Teacher's College at Wisconsin Rapids, WI. I had previously gained my Master of Science degree in Education at the University of Wisconsin. We offered a two-year course for elementary teachers, who could teach in the rural schools. We had only five faculty members, so I had to teach several courses each semester – Reading Methods, Psychology, Ecology, and Learning Theories. So I was kept very busy. Esther had a job working in a Ladies Ready-to-Wear shop at that time.

We stayed there only the one year, as the salary was low. So I was invited to come back up north to Glidden to be Superintendent of Schools – stayed there nine years and then found a much better paying position as Elementary School principal at White Pine. So, when I finished my career I had 46 years of public service.

I had known Esther since I was about ten. Her family were originally from Illinois, but had moved out to a ranch at Reeder, North Dakota and then came to Ashland when she was about 10. She attended the Shores Clearing School with our family members. She and Lenore were in the same grade and chummed together for many years. When I was in fifth grade and Ethel in fourth (she was a grade behind me, as she had been sickly and missed a year) we decided to go into St. Agnes School and then make our first Holy Communion. Esther and I were in high school together, she being a grade behind me. However, we did go on a few dates then. She married a Harry Roffers, another country boy, in 1931 and raised two children, Byron and Shirley. Sadly, Harry was killed in a motorcycle accident in the fall of 1945. I was home quote some time before we started going together. We were married on Nov. 11, 1950. Byron was in first year of college and Shirley in 11th grade. I had been rooming in the house on Ellis, so I moved in the apartment Esther and the kids were in. Dad Cook had died in Dec. of 1939 leaving the large house to Mother and Sadie. Mother died in April of 1941, leaving Sadie and me to take care of the house. So in the fall of 1942 when I was home on furlough for Harlingen, Texas, our family met in Iron Mountain and signed the property over to Sadie so she could sell it. We sold the 14-room house for the great sum of $2800 – included most of the furniture, bedding, etc. Sadie then went to Detroit to stay with Beatrice and Harry. She worked in the Federal Tire Company plant.

[[Edwin Corrigan Letter 1995 - Part 2|Continue to Part 2]]

Zalewski DNA Study

2007-03-02T21:01:55Z

Brianjz: /* What surnames can join? */

==Are you a Zalewski?==
Ok, all of you [[Zalewski]] people out there, want to find out as much information as you can about the [[Zalewski Surname Info|Zalewski surname]] and where it comes from? Is your Zalewski ancestor related to one of the many Zalewski families being researched by others?

With advances in genetic testing, genealogists now have another tool to aid us in our family history endeavors. The Zalewski Surname DNA Project was recently organized to determine whether there are genetic links between the various Zalewski families throughout the world. It can also serve to validate research within established lines, and to prove or disprove relationship theories when no documentation has been found through traditional research.

If you are researching a Zalewski family, we invite you to participate in our study! The success of this project depends on the number of participants, so please pass this information along to other Zalewski researchers!

The success of our Project will depend on the number of male participants who join our testing group, as well the documentation of the research connected with each line regarding dates and locations of birth, death, marriage, etc. Please, contact and encourage males of the above surnames to participate in our Project to help to ensure its success.

==Here's how it works==
The Zalewski DNA Project is a study of the [[Y-Chromosome DNA]], which is passed from father to son unchanged, except for occasional mutations.

We have chosen Family Tree DNA of Houston, TX as our testing company. The testing laboratory will be analyzing either the 12, 25, or 37 markers on the Y-chromosome. If two people have a match, that means they have a common male ancestor somewhere in the past. The test won't tell you specifically who that ancestor was, but it can narrow down a time frame of when the most recent common ancestor ([[MCRA]]) lived. Though, possibly through the sharing of family information with other participants, that ancestor could be found. It is our opinion that the 25 or 37 marker test is much better at reporting the kind of data that we need to determine that we are related, as the 12 marker test can find many matches that are not close in generations to most research. You can upgrade from the 12 marker to the 25 marker or 37 marker at a later date, if desired.

As a member of the surname project, it is expected that you will share what you know of your family history and its earliest known ancestor. This is to help to identify each line and assign an ID#.

==Can I join the study?==
Because only males carry a Y-chromosome, participants must be males with the ZALEWSKI surname or direct male bloodline. But that doesn't eliminate females, or males with another surname, from becoming involved. You can ask any male relative (father, brother, uncle, distant cousin) with the Zalewski surname to represent your family line, as long you both descend from a common Zalewski ancestor.

==How do I JOIN?==
Well, visit the current [http://www.familytreedna.com/public/zalewski/ Zalewski Surname DNA Study] website.

==What surnames can join?==
We are currently seeking Zalewski or similar surnames for the study. If you surname is not listed, [http://www.zweb-network.com/contact.php contact Brian] and let him know. Here are the current surnames: '''Zalewski, Zalewska, Zalewsky, Zaleski, Zaleska, Zalesky, Salewski, Salewsky, Saleski, Salesky, Zelewski, Zalocki, Zalucki'''

==Questions and Answers==
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/faq.html DNA Testing & FamilyTreeDNA FAQ]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/kit.html What's included in a DNA Testing kit?]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/flash/presentation1.html How does it work?]
*'''Privacy concerns?''' [http://www.familytreedna.com/privacy.html View the privacy & confidentiality statement]

==Helpful Links==
Here are some other Surname DNA project websites that will help you get the feel of how they work, and what they can do for your research.
*[http://blairgenealogy.com/dna/ Blair DNA Study]
*[http://www.bartondna.info/ Barton DNA Study]

==Disclaimer and Conditions==
The project organizer, [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/ Brian Zalewski], has no commercial affiliation with any profit making organization and receives no compensation for services or expenses involved with the project. At present, the websites involved with this project are for information, lineages, and posting DNA matching results of participants.

Although, as a participant, you receive a discount at Family Tree DNA, that by no means suggests a business partnership or other relationship between the Project and the Laboratory. All funds are payable only and directly to the Laboratory. The project organizer will not be the recipient nor steward of any DNA samples and has no responsibility for their care, handling or return to participant, nor duty to act on behalf of participant in mediation of any dispute between the Participant and the Laboratory.

While a match between two participants may indicate that they share a common male ancestor, it will not identify the specific ancestor and there is no guarantee that every participant will match another participant.

By participation in the project, the participant agrees to all conditions of the Project.

[[Category:Zalewski]]
[[Category:Genetic Genealogy]]

Zalewski DNA Study

2006-03-06T16:12:31Z

Brianjz:

==Are you a Zalewski?==
Ok, all of you [[Zalewski]] people out there, want to find out as much information as you can about the [[Zalewski Surname Info|Zalewski surname]] and where it comes from? Is your Zalewski ancestor related to one of the many Zalewski families being researched by others?

With advances in genetic testing, genealogists now have another tool to aid us in our family history endeavors. The Zalewski Surname DNA Project was recently organized to determine whether there are genetic links between the various Zalewski families throughout the world. It can also serve to validate research within established lines, and to prove or disprove relationship theories when no documentation has been found through traditional research.

If you are researching a Zalewski family, we invite you to participate in our study! The success of this project depends on the number of participants, so please pass this information along to other Zalewski researchers!

The success of our Project will depend on the number of male participants who join our testing group, as well the documentation of the research connected with each line regarding dates and locations of birth, death, marriage, etc. Please, contact and encourage males of the above surnames to participate in our Project to help to ensure its success.

==Here's how it works==
The Zalewski DNA Project is a study of the [[Y-Chromosome DNA]], which is passed from father to son unchanged, except for occasional mutations.

We have chosen Family Tree DNA of Houston, TX as our testing company. The testing laboratory will be analyzing either the 12, 25, or 37 markers on the Y-chromosome. If two people have a match, that means they have a common male ancestor somewhere in the past. The test won't tell you specifically who that ancestor was, but it can narrow down a time frame of when the most recent common ancestor ([[MCRA]]) lived. Though, possibly through the sharing of family information with other participants, that ancestor could be found. It is our opinion that the 25 or 37 marker test is much better at reporting the kind of data that we need to determine that we are related, as the 12 marker test can find many matches that are not close in generations to most research. You can upgrade from the 12 marker to the 25 marker or 37 marker at a later date, if desired.

As a member of the surname project, it is expected that you will share what you know of your family history and its earliest known ancestor. This is to help to identify each line and assign an ID#.

==Can I join the study?==
Because only males carry a Y-chromosome, participants must be males with the ZALEWSKI surname or direct male bloodline. But that doesn't eliminate females, or males with another surname, from becoming involved. You can ask any male relative (father, brother, uncle, distant cousin) with the Zalewski surname to represent your family line, as long you both descend from a common Zalewski ancestor.

==How do I JOIN?==
Well, visit the current [http://www.familytreedna.com/public/zalewski/ Zalewski Surname DNA Study] website.

==What surnames can join?==
We are currently seeking Zalewski or similar surnames for the study. If you surname is not listed, [http://www.zweb-network.com/about/contact.php contact Brian] and let him know. Here are the current surnames: '''Zalewski, Zalewska, Zalewsky, Zaleski, Zaleska, Zalesky, Salewski, Salewsky, Saleski, Salesky, Zelewski, Zalocki, Zalucki'''

==Questions and Answers==
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/faq.html DNA Testing & FamilyTreeDNA FAQ]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/kit.html What's included in a DNA Testing kit?]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/flash/presentation1.html How does it work?]
*'''Privacy concerns?''' [http://www.familytreedna.com/privacy.html View the privacy & confidentiality statement]

==Helpful Links==
Here are some other Surname DNA project websites that will help you get the feel of how they work, and what they can do for your research.
*[http://blairgenealogy.com/dna/ Blair DNA Study]
*[http://www.bartondna.info/ Barton DNA Study]

==Disclaimer and Conditions==
The project organizer, [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/ Brian Zalewski], has no commercial affiliation with any profit making organization and receives no compensation for services or expenses involved with the project. At present, the websites involved with this project are for information, lineages, and posting DNA matching results of participants.

Although, as a participant, you receive a discount at Family Tree DNA, that by no means suggests a business partnership or other relationship between the Project and the Laboratory. All funds are payable only and directly to the Laboratory. The project organizer will not be the recipient nor steward of any DNA samples and has no responsibility for their care, handling or return to participant, nor duty to act on behalf of participant in mediation of any dispute between the Participant and the Laboratory.

While a match between two participants may indicate that they share a common male ancestor, it will not identify the specific ancestor and there is no guarantee that every participant will match another participant.

By participation in the project, the participant agrees to all conditions of the Project.

[[Category:Zalewski]]
[[Category:Genetic Genealogy]]

Zalewski DNA Study

2006-03-03T20:42:31Z

Brianjz: /* Attention Zalewski */

==Are you a Zalewski?==
Ok, all of you [[Zalewski]] people out there, want to find out as much information as you can about the [[Zalewski Surname Info|Zalewski surname]] and where it comes from? Is your Zalewski ancestor related to one of the many Zalewski families being researched by others?

With advances in genetic testing, genealogists now have another tool to aid us in our family history endeavors. The Zalewski Surname DNA Project was recently organized to determine whether there are genetic links between the various Zalewski families throughout the world. It can also serve to validate research within established lines, and to prove or disprove relationship theories when no documentation has been found through traditional research.

If you are researching a Zalewski family, we invite you to participate in our study! The success of this project depends on the number of participants, so please pass this information along to other Zalewski researchers!

The success of our Project will depend on the number of male participants who join our testing group, as well the documentation of the research connected with each line regarding dates and locations of birth, death, marriage, etc. Please, contact and encourage males of the above surnames to participate in our Project to help to ensure its success.

==Here's how it works==
The Zalewski DNA Project is a study of the [[Y-Chromosome DNA]], which is passed from father to son unchanged, except for occasional mutations.

We have chosen Family Tree DNA of Houston, TX as our testing company. The testing laboratory will be analyzing either the 12, 25, or 37 markers on the Y-chromosome. If two people have a match, that means they have a common male ancestor somewhere in the past. The test won't tell you specifically who that ancestor was, but it can narrow down a time frame of when the most recent common ancestor ([[MCRA]]) lived. Though, possibly through the sharing of family information with other participants, that ancestor could be found. It is our opinion that the 25 or 37 marker test is much better at reporting the kind of data that we need to determine that we are related, as the 12 marker test can find many matches that are not close in generations to most research. You can upgrade from the 12 marker to the 25 marker or 37 marker at a later date, if desired.

As a member of the surname project, it is expected that you will share what you know of your family history and its earliest known ancestor. This is to help to identify each line and assign an ID#.

==Can I join the study?==
Because only males carry a Y-chromosome, participants must be males with the ZALEWSKI surname or direct male bloodline. But that doesn't eliminate females, or males with another surname, from becoming involved. You can ask any male relative (father, brother, uncle, distant cousin) with the Zalewski surname to represent your family line, as long you both descend from a common Zalewski ancestor.

==How do I JOIN?==
Well, visit the current [http://www.familytreedna.com/public/zalewski/ Zalewski Surname DNA Study] website.

==What surnames can join?==
We are currently seeking Zalewski or similar surnames for the study. If you surname is not listed, [http://www.zweb-network.com/about/contact.php contact Brian] and let him know. Here are the current surnames: '''Zalewski, Zalewska, Zalewsky, Zaleski, Zaleska, Zalesky, Salewski, Salewsky, Saleski, Salesky, Zelewski, Zalocki, Zalucki'''

==Need more information?==
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/faq.html DNA Testing & FamilyTreeDNA FAQ]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/kit.html What's included in a DNA Testing kit?]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/flash/presentation1.html How does it work?]
*'''Privacy concerns?''' [http://www.familytreedna.com/privacy.html View the privacy & confidentiality statement]

==Disclaimer and Conditions==
The project organizer, [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/ Brian Zalewski], has no commercial affiliation with any profit making organization and receives no compensation for services or expenses involved with the project. At present, the websites involved with this project are for information, lineages, and posting DNA matching results of participants.

Although, as a participant, you receive a discount at Family Tree DNA, that by no means suggests a business partnership or other relationship between the Project and the Laboratory. All funds are payable only and directly to the Laboratory. The project organizer will not be the recipient nor steward of any DNA samples and has no responsibility for their care, handling or return to participant, nor duty to act on behalf of participant in mediation of any dispute between the Participant and the Laboratory.

While a match between two participants may indicate that they share a common male ancestor, it will not identify the specific ancestor and there is no guarantee that every participant will match another participant.

By participation in the project, the participant agrees to all conditions of the Project.

[[Category:Zalewski]]
[[Category:Genetic Genealogy]]

Zalewski DNA Study

2006-03-03T20:42:08Z

Brianjz:

==Attention Zalewski==
Ok, all of you [[Zalewski]] people out there, want to find out as much information as you can about the [[Zalewski Surname Info|Zalewski surname]] and where it comes from? Is your Zalewski ancestor related to one of the many Zalewski families being researched by others?

With advances in genetic testing, genealogists now have another tool to aid us in our family history endeavors. The Zalewski Surname DNA Project was recently organized to determine whether there are genetic links between the various Zalewski families throughout the world. It can also serve to validate research within established lines, and to prove or disprove relationship theories when no documentation has been found through traditional research.

If you are researching a Zalewski family, we invite you to participate in our study! The success of this project depends on the number of participants, so please pass this information along to other Zalewski researchers!

The success of our Project will depend on the number of male participants who join our testing group, as well the documentation of the research connected with each line regarding dates and locations of birth, death, marriage, etc. Please, contact and encourage males of the above surnames to participate in our Project to help to ensure its success.

==Here's how it works==
The Zalewski DNA Project is a study of the [[Y-Chromosome DNA]], which is passed from father to son unchanged, except for occasional mutations.

We have chosen Family Tree DNA of Houston, TX as our testing company. The testing laboratory will be analyzing either the 12, 25, or 37 markers on the Y-chromosome. If two people have a match, that means they have a common male ancestor somewhere in the past. The test won't tell you specifically who that ancestor was, but it can narrow down a time frame of when the most recent common ancestor ([[MCRA]]) lived. Though, possibly through the sharing of family information with other participants, that ancestor could be found. It is our opinion that the 25 or 37 marker test is much better at reporting the kind of data that we need to determine that we are related, as the 12 marker test can find many matches that are not close in generations to most research. You can upgrade from the 12 marker to the 25 marker or 37 marker at a later date, if desired.

As a member of the surname project, it is expected that you will share what you know of your family history and its earliest known ancestor. This is to help to identify each line and assign an ID#.

==Can I join the study?==
Because only males carry a Y-chromosome, participants must be males with the ZALEWSKI surname or direct male bloodline. But that doesn't eliminate females, or males with another surname, from becoming involved. You can ask any male relative (father, brother, uncle, distant cousin) with the Zalewski surname to represent your family line, as long you both descend from a common Zalewski ancestor.

==How do I JOIN?==
Well, visit the current [http://www.familytreedna.com/public/zalewski/ Zalewski Surname DNA Study] website.

==What surnames can join?==
We are currently seeking Zalewski or similar surnames for the study. If you surname is not listed, [http://www.zweb-network.com/about/contact.php contact Brian] and let him know. Here are the current surnames: '''Zalewski, Zalewska, Zalewsky, Zaleski, Zaleska, Zalesky, Salewski, Salewsky, Saleski, Salesky, Zelewski, Zalocki, Zalucki'''

==Need more information?==
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/faq.html DNA Testing & FamilyTreeDNA FAQ]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/kit.html What's included in a DNA Testing kit?]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/flash/presentation1.html How does it work?]
*'''Privacy concerns?''' [http://www.familytreedna.com/privacy.html View the privacy & confidentiality statement]

==Disclaimer and Conditions==
The project organizer, [http://www.zalewskifamily.net/ Brian Zalewski], has no commercial affiliation with any profit making organization and receives no compensation for services or expenses involved with the project. At present, the websites involved with this project are for information, lineages, and posting DNA matching results of participants.

Although, as a participant, you receive a discount at Family Tree DNA, that by no means suggests a business partnership or other relationship between the Project and the Laboratory. All funds are payable only and directly to the Laboratory. The project organizer will not be the recipient nor steward of any DNA samples and has no responsibility for their care, handling or return to participant, nor duty to act on behalf of participant in mediation of any dispute between the Participant and the Laboratory.

While a match between two participants may indicate that they share a common male ancestor, it will not identify the specific ancestor and there is no guarantee that every participant will match another participant.

By participation in the project, the participant agrees to all conditions of the Project.

[[Category:Zalewski]]
[[Category:Genetic Genealogy]]

Most recent common ancestor

2006-03-03T16:23:06Z

Brianjz:

#REDIRECT [[MRCA]]

MRCA

2006-03-03T16:22:47Z

Brianjz:

The '''most recent common ancestor''' ('''MRCA''') of any set of organisms is the most recent individual which is an ancestor of '''all''' of them. The term is most frequently used of humans.

The MRCA of a set of individuals can sometimes be determined by referring to an established pedigree.
In general, however, it is impossible to identify the specific MRCA of a set of individuals, but an estimate of the time at which
the MRCA lived can often be given; such estimates can be given based on DNA test results and
established mutation rates, or by reference to a non-genetic genealogical model.

==MRCA of two individuals==
The most recent common patrilineal ancestor of any two males, and the most recent common matrilineal ancestor of any two individuals can be determined by genealogical DNA tests. The tests use [[mitochondrial DNA]] for matrilineal inheritance or [[Y-chromosome]]-DNA for patrilineal inheritance.

==MRCA of all living humans ==
Also, the existence of an MRCA does not imply any sort of population bottleneck or ''first couple''. The MRCA of everyone alive today co-existed with a large human population, most of whom either have no living descendants today or else are ancestors of almost everyone alive today.

===Patrilineal and matrilineal ancestry===
The most recent common patrilineal ancestor of all living male humans, and the most recent common matrilineal ancestor of all living female humans have been established by researchers using tests of the same kinds of DNA as for two individuals. Notions such as [[Mitochondrial Eve]] and [[Y-chromosomal Adam]] yield common ancestors that are more ancient than for all living humans. (Hartwell 2004:539) Mitochondrial Eve is estimated to have lived about 150,000 years ago. Y-chromosomal Adam is estimated to have lived between 60,000 and 90,000 years ago.

===Time estimates===
Depending of the survival of isolated lineages without admixture from Modern human migration, taking into account long-isolated peoples, such as historical tribes in central Africa, Australia and remote islands in the South Pacific, the human MRCA is generally assumed to have lived in the Paleolithic period.

However, Rohde, Olson, and Chang (2004), using a non-genetic model, estimated that MRCA of all living humans may have lived within historical times (3rd millennium BC to 1st millennium AD). Rhode (2005) refined the simulation with parameters from estimated historical human migrations and of population densities. For conservative parameters, he pushes back the date for the MRCA to the 6th millennium BC (p. 20), but still concludes with a "surprisingly recent" estimate of a MRCA living in the second or first millennium BC (p. 27). An explanation of this result is that, while humanity's MRCA was indeed a Paleolithic individual up to Early Modern times, the European explorers of the 16th and 17th centuries would have fathered enough offspring so that some "mainland" ancestry by today pervades even remote habitats. The possibility remains, however, that a single isolated population with no recent "mainland" admixture persists somewhere, which would immediately push back the date of humanity's MRCA by many millennia. While simulations help estimate probabilities, the question can only be resolved authoritatively by genetically testing every living human individual.

Other models reported in Rohde, Olson, and Chang (2004) suggest that the MRCA of Western Europeans lived as recently as AD 1000. The same article provides surprisingly recent estimates for the '''identical ancestors point''', the most recent time when each person then living was either an ancestor of all the persons alive today or an ancestor of none of them. The estimates for this are similarly uncertain, but date to considerably earlier than the MRCA, according to Rohde (2005) roughly to between 15,000 and 5,000 years ago.

==References==
* Chang JT (1999) "Recent common ancestors of all present-day individuals". ''Advances in Applied Probability'' 31: 1002-1026.
* Hartwell L, Hutchison F, Hood L, Goldberg ML, Reynolds AE, Silver LM, Veres R (2004) ''Genetics: From Genes to Genomes''. McGraw-Hill.
* Rohde DLT, Olson S, Chang JT (2004) "Modelling the recent common ancestry of all living humans". ''Nature'' 431: 562-566.
* Rohde, DLT , ''On the common ancestors of all living humans''. Submitted to American Journal of Physical Anthropology. [http://tedlab.mit.edu/~dr/Papers/Rohde-MRCA-two.pdf] (2005)

==External links==
*[http://www.dnaheritage.com/statistics.asp DNA Heritage - Understanding MRCA for genetic genealogy]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/faq2.html Family Tree DNA - Understanding MRCA]
*[http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038%2Fnature02842 Nature - 30 September 2004 - Modelling the recent common ancestry of all living humans]
* [http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v431/n7008/abs/nature02842_fs.html&dynoptions=doi1096481466 "Modelling the Most Recent Common Ancestry of All Living Humans"]
*[http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/158/2/897#ABSTRACT Paper on estimating MRCA from Y-chromosomal or mt-DNA data]
*[http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/GENEALOGY-DNA/2001-12/1008355259 link to a downloadable MRCA calculator (".exe" file)]
*[http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040927/pf/040927-10_pf.html identical ancestors point] - explaining the relationship of "most recent common ancestor" and "identical ancestors point"
*[http://tedlab.mit.edu/~dr/Papers/Rohde-MRCA-two.pdf "On the Common Ancestors of All Living Humans"]
*[http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040927/pf/040927-10_pf.html "Human populations are tightly interwoven"]
*[http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/04-09-29-02.all.html "Most Recent Common Ancestor of All Living Humans Surprisingly Recent"]

[[category:Genetic Genealogy]]

MCRA

2006-03-03T16:22:36Z

Brianjz:

#REDIRECT [[MRCA]]

Most recent common ancestor

2006-03-03T16:22:06Z

Brianjz:

#REDIRECT [[MCRA]]

Y-chromosome

2006-03-03T16:21:45Z

Brianjz:

#REDIRECT [[Y-Chromosome DNA]]

MCRA

2006-03-03T16:20:44Z

Brianjz:

Zalewski Surname Info

2006-03-02T23:04:05Z

Brianjz:

Surname Origin: Slavic, Polish

Alternate Spelling: Zelewski, Zaleski, Zeleski, Zalewska, Zalescy, Salewski

'''Zalewski''' (feminine: '''Zalewska''', plural '''Zalewscy''') is one of the most popular Polish surnames in Poland and the 3rd most popular in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podlachia Podlachia] (5,165).

Zalewski comes from a topographic name for someone who lived by a flood plain or bay. Two locations that this may be connected to are ''Zalew'' in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sieradz Sieradz] voivodeship or ''Zalewo'' in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olsztyn Olsztyn] voivodeship.

Several famous people have the surname '''Zalewski''' or a variant of it:

** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Zaleski August Zaleski] - Polish Politician of the early Twentieth Century
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_dem_Bach_Zalewsk Erich von dem Bach Zalewski] - SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zalewski
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michał_Zalewski Michał_Zalewski] - Polish "White Hat" Hacker, computer security expert.

The town of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaleski Zaleski], Ohio is a small village in South Eastern Ohio.

==Definitions==

'''ZALEWSKI''' - Polish - [[topographic name]] for someone who lived by a flood plain or bay, Pol. zalew, or [[habitation name]] from a place named with this element, with the addition of [[-ski]], suffix of [[local surname]]s. There has been considerable confusion with Zaleski.
Cognate: Jewish (E Ashkenazic) Zalewsky

'''ZALESKI''' - Polish - [[topographic name]] for someone who lived ‘''on the other side of the wood''’, from Pol. za beyond + les, las wood, with the addition of [[-ski]], suffix of [[local surname]]s, or [[habitation name]] from a place, Zalesie, named with the elements za + les. ''var of Zalewski.'' Variations: Zalasa, Zalasik. Cognates: Czech: Zálesky; Jewish: (E Ashkenazic) Zalesky

[[Category:Zalewski]]

Zalewski Surname Info

2006-03-02T22:54:35Z

Brianjz:

Surname Origin: Slavic, Polish

Alternate Spelling: Zelewski, Zaleski, Zeleski, Zalewska, Zalescy, Salewski

'''Zalewski''' (feminine: '''Zalewska''', plural '''Zalewscy''') is one of the most popular Polish surnames in Poland and the 3rd most popular in [[wikipedia:Podlachia]] (5,165).

Zalewski comes from a topographic name for someone who lived by a flood plain or bay. Two locations that this may be connected to are ''Zalew'' in [[wikipedia:Sieradz]] voivodeship or ''Zalewo'' in [[wikipedia:Olsztyn]] voivodeship.

Several famous people have the surname '''Zalewski''' or a variant of it:

** [[wikipedia:August Zaleski]] - Polish Politician of the early Twentieth Century
** [[wikipedia:Erich von dem Bach Zalewski]] - SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zalewski
** [[wikipedia:Michał Zalewski]] - Polish "White Hat" Hacker, computer security expert.

The town of [[wikipedia:Zaleski]], Ohio is a small village in South Eastern Ohio.

==Definitions==

'''ZALEWSKI''' - Polish - [[topographic name]] for someone who lived by a flood plain or bay, Pol. zalew, or [[habitation name]] from a place named with this element, with the addition of [[-ski]], suffix of [[local surname]]s. There has been considerable confusion with Zaleski.
Cognate: Jewish (E Ashkenazic) Zalewsky

'''ZALESKI''' - Polish - [[topographic name]] for someone who lived ‘''on the other side of the wood''’, from Pol. za beyond + les, las wood, with the addition of [[-ski]], suffix of [[local surname]]s, or [[habitation name]] from a place, Zalesie, named with the elements za + les. ''var of Zalewski.'' Variations: Zalasa, Zalasik. Cognates: Czech: Zálesky; Jewish: (E Ashkenazic) Zalesky

[[Category:Zalewski]]

Zalewski DNA Study

2006-03-02T22:52:18Z

Brianjz: /* Attention Zalewski */

Zalewski DNA Study

2006-03-02T22:51:44Z

Brianjz: /* Attention All Zalewskis */

==Attention Zalewski==
Ok, all of you [[Zalewski]] people out there, want to find out as much information as you can about the Zalewski surname and where it comes from? Is your Zalewski ancestor related to one of the many Zalewski families being researched by others?

With advances in genetic testing, genealogists now have another tool to aid us in our family history endeavors. The Zalewski Surname DNA Project was recently organized to determine whether there are genetic links between the various Zalewski families throughout the world. It can also serve to validate research within established lines, and to prove or disprove relationship theories when no documentation has been found through traditional research.

If you are researching a Zalewski family, we invite you to participate in our study! The success of this project depends on the number of participants, so please pass this information along to other Zalewski researchers!

==Here's how it works==
The Zalewski DNA Project is a study of the [[Y-Chromosome DNA]], which is passed from father to son unchanged, except for occasional mutations. The test provides you with a genetic fingerprint consisting of 12, 25 or 37 numbers, which will be compared with the results of other participants in the study. If two people have a match, that means they have a common male ancestor somewhere up the line. The test won't tell you specifically who that ancestor was, but it can narrow down a time frame of when the most recent common ancestor ([[MCRA]]) lived.

We have chosen Family Tree DNA of Houston, TX as our testing company. They are leaders in their field and are associated with Dr. Michael Hammer, Ph.D., Geneticist, associate research scientist in the Division of Biotechnology at the University of Arizona. The test involves the collection of cells by a painless swabbing of the inside of your cheek. The laboratory then analyzes the sample and prepares the results for comparison with other participants in the study.

==Can I join the study?==
Because only males carry a Y-chromosome, participants must be males with the ZALEWSKI surname or direct male bloodline. But that doesn't eliminate females, or males with another surname, from becoming involved. You can ask any male relative (father, brother, uncle, distant cousin) with the Zalewski surname to represent your family line, as long you both descend from a common Zalewski ancestor.

==Need more information?==
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/faq.html DNA Testing & FamilyTreeDNA FAQ]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/kit.html What's included in a DNA Testing kit?]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/flash/presentation1.html How does it work?]
*'''Well, we are dealing with DNA, I do have some privacy concerns?''' [http://www.familytreedna.com/privacy.html Fear not, view the privacy & confidentiality statement]

==It all sounds super! Where do I sign up?==
Well, visit the current [http://www.familytreedna.com/public/zalewski/ Zalewski Surname DNA Study] website.

[[Category:Zalewski]]
[[Category:Genetic Genealogy]]

Category:Genetic Genealogy

2006-03-02T22:51:11Z

Brianjz:

Genetic Genealogy/Genetealogy information.

Y-Chromosome DNA

2006-03-02T22:50:52Z

Brianjz:

===Y chromosome (Y-DNA) testing===
A man's paternal ancestry can be traced using the DNA on his Y chromosome (Y-DNA). This is particularly useful because the Y chromosome, like many European surnames, passes from father to son, and can be used to help study surnames. Women who wish to determine their paternal ancestry can ask their father, brother, paternal uncle, paternal grandfather, or a cousin who shares the same paternal lineage to take a test for them (i.e. any male family member who has the same surname as her father).

====What gets tested====
Y-DNA testing involves looking at segments of DNA on the Y chromosome (found only in males) where sequences of nucleotides repeat, known as short tandem repeats (STRs). These segments are considered "junk" DNA. The segments which are examined are referred to as [[genetic marker]]s and are designated by a DYS number ('''D'''NA '''Y'''-chromosome '''S'''egment number). These STRs may also indicate a likely [[haplogroup]] for the Y chromosome, though this can only be confirmed by specifically testing for that haplogroups' single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

====Understanding test results====
A Y-DNA test will look at between 10 and 43 markers on the Y chromosome. The results will tell how many repeats the test subject had at any given marker; the variations of repeats are known as alleles. For example, at DYS455, the results will show 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 repeats ([http://ybase.org/statistics.asp source]). The test results are then compared to another person's results to determine the time frame in which the two people shared a [[most recent common ancestor]] (MRCA). If the two tests match on 37 markers, there is a 50% probability that the MRCA was less than 5 generations ago and a 90% probability that the MRCA was less than 17 generations ago.

[[Category:Genetic Genealogy]]

Y-Chromosome DNA

2006-03-02T22:50:29Z

Brianjz:

Y-Chromosome DNA

2006-03-02T22:49:29Z

Brianjz:

===Y chromosome (Y-DNA) testing===
A man's paternal ancestry can be traced using the DNA on his [[Y chromosome]] (Y-DNA). This is particularly useful because the Y chromosome, like many European surnames, passes from father to son, and can be used to help study surnames. Women who wish to determine their paternal ancestry can ask their father, brother, paternal uncle, paternal grandfather, or a cousin who shares the same paternal lineage to take a test for them (i.e. any male family member who has the same surname as her father).

====What gets tested====
Y-DNA testing involves looking at segments of DNA on the Y chromosome (found only in males) where sequences of nucleotides repeat, known as [[short tandem repeat]]s (STRs). These segments are considered [[junk DNA|"junk" DNA]]. The segments which are examined are referred to as [[genetic marker]]s and are designated by a [[DYS (DNA)|DYS number]] ('''D'''NA '''Y'''-chromosome '''S'''egment number). These STRs may also indicate a likely [[haplogroup]] for the Y chromosome, though this can only be confirmed by specifically testing for that haplogroups' [[single nucleotide polymorphism]]s (SNPs).

====Understanding test results====
A Y-DNA test will look at between 10 and 43 markers on the Y chromosome. The results will tell how many repeats the test subject had at any given marker; the variations of repeats are known as [[allele]]s. For example, at [[List_of_DYS_markers|DYS455]], the results will show 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 repeats ([http://ybase.org/statistics.asp source]). The test results are then compared to another person's results to determine the time frame in which the two people shared a [[most recent common ancestor]] (MRCA). If the two tests match on 37 markers, there is a 50% probability that the MRCA was less than 5 generations ago and a 90% probability that the MRCA was less than 17 generations ago.

Category:Surnames

2006-03-02T22:47:34Z

Brianjz:

Surnames from my tree and information about them.

Category:Zalewski

2006-03-02T22:47:14Z

Brianjz:

This will be the repository for information on the Zalewski surname. Currently, we're in the process of redesigning/organizing everything. Check back for more info.

[[Category:Surnames]]

Main Page

2006-03-02T22:46:53Z

Brianjz:

Zalewski

2006-03-02T22:46:29Z

Brianjz:

#Redirect [[:Category:Zalewski]]

Zalewski

2006-03-02T22:45:48Z

Brianjz:

#Redirect [[Category::Zalewski]]

Category:Zalewski

2006-03-02T22:44:59Z

Brianjz:

This will be the repository for information on the Zalewski surname. Currently, we're in the process of redesigning/organizing everything. Check back for more info.

Zalewski

2006-03-02T22:44:46Z

Brianjz:

#Redirect [[Category:Zalewski]]

Zalewski DNA Study

2006-03-02T22:43:22Z

Brianjz:

==Attention All Zalewskis==
Ok, all of you [[Zalewski]] people out there, want to find out as much information as you can about the Zalewski surname and where it comes from? Is your Zalewski ancestor related to one of the many Zalewski families being researched by others?

With advances in genetic testing, genealogists now have another tool to aid us in our family history endeavors. The Zalewski Surname DNA Project was recently organized to determine whether there are genetic links between the various Zalewski families throughout the world. It can also serve to validate research within established lines, and to prove or disprove relationship theories when no documentation has been found through traditional research.

If you are researching a Zalewski family, we invite you to participate in our study! The success of this project depends on the number of participants, so please pass this information along to other Zalewski researchers!

==Here's how it works==
The Zalewski DNA Project is a study of the [[Y-Chromosome DNA]], which is passed from father to son unchanged, except for occasional mutations. The test provides you with a genetic fingerprint consisting of 12, 25 or 37 numbers, which will be compared with the results of other participants in the study. If two people have a match, that means they have a common male ancestor somewhere up the line. The test won't tell you specifically who that ancestor was, but it can narrow down a time frame of when the most recent common ancestor ([[MCRA]]) lived.

We have chosen Family Tree DNA of Houston, TX as our testing company. They are leaders in their field and are associated with Dr. Michael Hammer, Ph.D., Geneticist, associate research scientist in the Division of Biotechnology at the University of Arizona. The test involves the collection of cells by a painless swabbing of the inside of your cheek. The laboratory then analyzes the sample and prepares the results for comparison with other participants in the study.

==Can I join the study?==
Because only males carry a Y-chromosome, participants must be males with the ZALEWSKI surname or direct male bloodline. But that doesn't eliminate females, or males with another surname, from becoming involved. You can ask any male relative (father, brother, uncle, distant cousin) with the Zalewski surname to represent your family line, as long you both descend from a common Zalewski ancestor.

==Need more information?==
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/faq.html DNA Testing & FamilyTreeDNA FAQ]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/kit.html What's included in a DNA Testing kit?]
*[http://www.familytreedna.com/flash/presentation1.html How does it work?]
*'''Well, we are dealing with DNA, I do have some privacy concerns?''' [http://www.familytreedna.com/privacy.html Fear not, view the privacy & confidentiality statement]

==It all sounds super! Where do I sign up?==
Well, visit the current [http://www.familytreedna.com/public/zalewski/ Zalewski Surname DNA Study] website.

[[Category:Zalewski]]
[[Category:Genetic Genealogy]]

Zalewski DNA Study

2006-03-02T22:43:08Z

Brianjz:

Zalewski Surname Info

2006-03-02T22:42:27Z

Brianjz:

'''ZALEWSKI''' - Polish - [[topographic name]] for someone who lived by a flood plain or bay, Pol. zalew, or [[habitation name]] from a place named with this element, with the addition of [[-ski]], suffix of [[local surname]]s. There has been considerable confusion with Zaleski.
Cognate: Jewish (E Ashkenazic) Zalewsky

'''ZALESKI''' - Polish - [[topographic name]] for someone who lived ‘''on the other side of the wood''’, from Pol. za beyond + les, las wood, with the addition of [[-ski]], suffix of [[local surname]]s, or [[habitation name]] from a place, Zalesie, named with the elements za + les. ''var of Zalewski.'' Variations: Zalasa, Zalasik. Cognates: Czech: Zálesky; Jewish: (E Ashkenazic) Zalesky

[[Category:Zalewski]]