Elementary School Grades 5 & 6

1963 - 64 school year was a favorite of mine. Subjects were more interesting and social interactions important. Going to the Reading Public Museum for history and civics was awesome, mostly because we were served a taste of the foods original to the country we we studying. 

Our neighborhood had many children and my friends were close enough to visit everyday without getting permission to go off the block. The previous summer's fun didn't wear off until the second report period. Then it was back to soaking up all that came at me. I feel this year I realized I wanted organization in my day. Everything was black or white, no gray areas. And still today I balk at the gray areas in all aspects of life. 

The school chorus became my extra curricular activity.  Mr. George Yorgey, my 5th grade teacher and only male teacher in the building, was also the chorus director. The highlight was the holiday music show at the school gym in December 1963. Being on stage with my mom and brother in the audience was thrilling. Chorus members were split by gender, traditionally to keep the similar voices together. Boys with higher pitched voices and girls with lower pitched voices (like me) were in the center still next to our gender group. Mr. Yorgey was premature bald and we tried not to giggle when we saw the colored stage lights above us blinking on and off his head. Doesn't take much to amuse a 10 year old.

Report card cover

☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺

My 6th and final school year at Thomas H. Ford Grade School 1964-65 seems like eons. My first thought then was dancing to the top 40 on my transistor radio at WRAW 1340-AM. Miss Eshmont, as I recall, was the most stern teacher I had. Definitely different in character and teaching than the others. She presented herself as a younger Granny from the Beverly Hill Billies show on TV. That's how I remember her.

May Day Celebration in the spring of 1965 was the highlight of this grade. It's a European festival of spring celebrated by our ancestors including singing about the new growth of the spring season and dancing around a large pole while weaving long ribbon streamers from the top to the bottom. These ribbons were held by the dancers as they lifted them over a dancer and then under the next. Until now, that's what I always thought it was.  I found this after Googling the subject:

"May 1 marks the Celtic festival of Beltane, also referred to as May Day, which many neopagans and Wiccans around the world observe to celebrate the onset of summer. Beltane may refer to the “fires of Bel,” in honor of the Celtic sun god, Belenus. Though the origin of the practice of wrapping a tall pole in ribbon and woven tree branches is difficult to pin to a specific time and place, historians agree that the Maypole began as a part of the Pagan May Day festival known as Beltane in the UK and Ireland and Walpurgis in Germanic European countries."

The 6th grade students voted for the May Day Court. It may have been by a show of hands, though I could stand corrected. I was hoping to be selected and at the same time preparing for disappointment. I made the cut, phew!  

Then I found out I had to wear a real pastel dressy-dress! Ugh. My tomboy tendencies made this process unpleasant for everyone involved. I was in tears when I first put on the blue chiffon dress with shoulder streamers and a big gaudy fake rhinestone pin on my chest. Fake rhinestone, that's pretty bad, right?  If I had to wear this dress, I made sure that pin was not part of it! Including the pin, the only other thing missing in pictures below is the May Pole. Darn.

The May Queen was Margo, sitting front and center in a white dress pretty as a picture, and my best friend Margie was runner-up on her left in a pink dress. There were several pink dresses worn (parents did not coordinate) so it's easy to spot me in blue.

Oh yeah, my grades. Apparently my 'self control' was in question early on, as well as reading independently and my singing voice. I figure it's just the summer fun taking a while to wear off. 

Getting out of "grade school" was exciting and scary.  I had to find a way to get to Southwest Jr High School in town because the school district did not provide transportation that I can recall. Public transportation, before they called it BARTA, was ten cents one way. 

And last but not least.... my report card cover.  I have NO WORDS for this piece of art! 👀

Elementary Grade 4

School year 1962-63

I'd like to say I remember Mrs. Kamarousky, but I do not. I do remember German class. Not in a good way. To me, the language always sounded harsh. Perhaps the teacher presented it that way. We sang songs to learn counting and grammar rules. I skated through and glad it ended. But how dare I talk; my oral skills in English and Reading needed some improvement, too.

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 There is really nothing to see here. My grades have improved and more consistent. It was the year of book bags carried like an attache with buckle closures, saddle shoes, Crayola No. 8 crayon pack, vaccines, dental hygienist visits to the classroom, civil defense practice, analog clocks, and the Weekly Reader.

The finger-painted report cover this year cannot be commended either. My love for creativity in all things art was not represented well as I critique it 58 years later. However, mom didn't get a chance to write my name on the black border, so that's a win!

Elementary Grade 3

Well, there are two elephants in the room this year! My singing career is at an all-time low and those childhood diseases are back.

Which disease I had this year, I do not know for sure. Had to be Measles, German Measles, Mumps or Chicken Pox. This was still the days of doctor home visits and Dr. Gilmore showed up with his little black bag full of unknowns every time.  And no doubt kids were confused by these names.  I didn't live in Germany nor did I have a pet chicken. The adults weren't any help explaining it either. Had the internet been invented, this would all be moot.

I don't profess to be a great singer, then or now.  But I could belt out a song I knew in full voice on the playground or in the tub.  I'm pretty sure I learned many pop songs listening to WRAW 1340 AM when I was sick in bed and during summer vacation, which brings to mind "VA-CA-TION", the 1962 summer song by Connie Francis.  WRAW published the TOP 40 song list every week as a one-page bulletin, available at record department in stores like Two Guys, Nichols, W T Grants, and Woolworth's Five & Dime to name a few.  The bonus for me was the printed lyrics of a popular song on the back of that bulletin. Imagine if we could sing pop songs in music class. Those Cs would be history...well, either way I guess they still are.

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Miss Dawn Schaeffer was a short-haired blonde of average height with a nice smile. She took her vocation seriously and was fair to both boys and girls in the classroom. At the end of the school year, extra supplies of pencils, crayons, construction paper, erasers and glue were the incentive to school kids picked to help the teacher clean up the classroom once school was no longer in session. It's one of my favorite memories of grade school. Going to school in shorts and sneakers to help the teacher put chairs on desks, clean blackboards and remove everything from the cork boards didn't feel like work, it felt special and I was lucky to be picked twice.

Mom insisted on rewriting my name on these works of art!

Elementary Grade 2

Second grade at Thomas H. Ford Grade School, as I look back,  was a surprise on the academic side. It looks like I gave up. I waivered in English, Writing, Art and Work Habits!. After one year. Really?

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Though I hate to admit it, if my 1st grade report card cover was an indication of this year's art ability, I deserved those Cs. This year's cover is not an abstract work, and looks more like Mr. Potato Head than a self portrait. At least my singing career didn't take a hit!

Grade 2 Report Card Cover 1960

To be fair to myself, attendance played a large roll in grading this year. I had mumps, measles (both kinds), strep throat and the perennial cold during grade school years, so my 13.5 days absent in 1961 can be blamed on one of these transmittable childhood viruses. The go-to remedies for most anything at that time was bed rest, Bayer baby aspirin, ginger ale and saltines, Campbell's chicken soup, calamine lotion and WRAW-AM radio all day long.

Attendance Summary, 1960-61

I do not recall much about my teacher, Elnor K. Thompson.  Miss Thompson was my mother's age I believe. Penmanship was my favorite subject and I practiced hard to print just like her.  Miss Thompson added words to our spelling booklets in black magic marker for penmanship practice and spelling. And yes, I loved smell of black magic marker. Leaded gas came in a close second. Who knew?

My second grade classroom was probably located in the same area as first and third grades, but I have no recollection of it other than the room's interior perimeter was decorated with a large alphabet, construction paper red apples and green trees, and a big green "black" board, maybe two. I was intrigued by the three-pronged chalk holder used to add lines on the board for penmanship class. Not all teachers could draw those lines straight though.

The end of 1961 showed  I closed strong academically (think racehorse) earning the privilege of moving on to the next challenge, third grade.

Elementary Grade 1

First grade was a lot to take in. The day was long in kid time, but I took to it eventually when I realized all it offered.  That should explain the slow academic start my grades reflect. In fact, that's my style every year, so if I was a racehorse, I'd be called a "closer".

My teacher, Miss Beverly Katzenmoyer, was tall and had a great smile.  She had to be my mother's age in 1959, about 26 years old.  But, let's agree her name was a test to say as a six year old.  Looking at my report card, there was no spelling grade for this year, so I can assume I didn't have to spell it. 

My classroom was the middle one of three first grade classes on the side of the Thomas H. Ford Grade School building. A large macadamed play yard, complete with three large white painted circles, was easily accessible from a door in the back of the classroom. Recess time was easy in, easy out.  Tag, Duck-Duck-Goose and Simon Says made the play list over and over at this age.

Arithmetic and Writing were my best achievements, while Social Studies and Science suffered. As I look at all these categories, I can't imagine what each one involved, since the highlight of this grade for me was Bob, Alice and Jip the Dog stories including other three-letter words to complete their tales. 

Thomas H Ford Grade School, Reading PA S.D.

It was a big deal each year to make a construction paper cover for its journey home to get signed and returned. I'm a tad disappointed in this year's holder, but not even surprised that I picked a purple theme. My mother felt the need to identify my report cards more than was necessary in my opinion, but I discovered our printing style is very similar in that we mix caps and lower case letters freely. Let's hope creativity improves as we peek at second grade in my next post.

Grade 1 Report Card Cover

"Elementary, My Dear Watson."

Today I'm looking into the past but within my lifetime; elementary school report cards! These gems, at least to me, help me recall several stories of my youth and reminds me I loved school!  But first, some background.

Thomas H. Ford Grade School, 18th ward, Berks County, Reading Pennsylvania is where I attended 1st through 6th grade. It was a one-level building built four years earlier, sprawled over several acres of land and tucked back neatly at the corner of Margaret Street and Old Wyomissing Rd. The school was very modern for its time. I can still recall the cornerstone at the main entrance chiseled "1955".

Kindergarten was optional in the 1950s, so I didn't attend. My mom, brother and I moved to Patton Avenue in the Oakbrook Housing Project that year, perhaps it was too late to register. The housing project was quite new, too, so we lucked out all around as a low-income family.  I only realized that as an adult; I had no prejudice toward others or concerns about society status or using government assistance programs, I just loved being a kid and going to school.

Now I'm going to mention that truth anyone under the age of 40 can't relate to. I walked to school everyday. In all kinds of weather. Up hill (but not both ways). Without adult supervision. Lunch was not in a school cafeteria, it was at home. That's 4 times a day, everyday, I walked the school circuit. To me it was nothing to complain about; remember I loved school. I also walked that circuit, in shame, the day I wet my pants in class because I was unclear about the lavatory rules. Devastation for a 6 year old.

The grade school circuit 1959 - 1965

My report cards gave me a glimpse into my academic skills and work habits, my days absent for childhood diseases and how many time I couldn't get out of bed on time, for any number of reasons.  The grading system was A, B, C, D for grade achievement and 1, 2, 3 for individual progress.

In my next several posts, I will include a picture of the report card and add some colorful memories as I recall my teacher and school activities.  

Until then...

The Year of Coronavirus
I have mixed emotions today. The world is a different place. Change was in the air a few years ago and now Covid-19 has pushed it over the edge of the cliff.  It's not about politics anymore, it's about common sense versus fear. I am not fearful.

As a new retiree who was settling into a schedule of leisure activities with my husband and making new friends on the "senior circuit" (plus finding more time to follow my family history from branch to branch) I was living the life as they say.  The stay-at-home order and social-distancing requirement changed all that, for everyone.

I thought I'd do the obvious and post about my life during stutdown, but frankly, I'm sick of hearing about it every minute of every day. What I have to say is a thousand times what everyone is saying and feeling. Let that be the story for those who choose to look back to 2020 in the history books.  I will just be a number in that crowd of citizens that feel betrayed by their leaders, who do not know their job destription. I will vote to remove as many as I am able.   That's what I'm taking away from this disaster.

Instead of posting on the blog each week, I did a deep dive into organizing my data. Of course the road had a few bumps, rabbit holes, if you will. They are fun to persue, but distracting from the plan of the day. It gives me a few more tidbits to share in the coming weeks, so I'll leave it up to the rabbits to find the next post.  Until then.

Researching the "Little Redheaded Girl"

The plan to researching the newest photo found by my cousin Ken is this: We have to date the photo by the dress of the woman, estimate her age and search for information about the photographer's studio shown in the lower left corner.  That's a long shot, but worth it to find an archived record of the sitting. No stone left unturned.  

To date the photo, I used Google Images , uploaded it by clicking on the camera icon, then searched for similar images and checked the details of those I found. I also googled a broader search for the period of time I believe the person in the photo sat for the portrait and click on the "images" link below the search box. Other factors I considered was the photo's finish, black/white or color, and the style of the dress using clues like the collar style. Of course the dress may not be new. That means the woman may be wearing her "Sunday Best" purchased several years before the sitting.  I'm satisfied this photo was taken in the 1940s. What I'm not certain of is if it was before or after WWII. 

So far, my search for a studio named "Foto Liko" in Lithuania was unsuccessful.  At least that is the name I interpreted for the studio.  Fast forward...our cousin in Lithuania notes the studio name as "Foto Zilio".  This studio name produced nothing in English either. I reached out to Lithuanian Genealogy, a Facebook group I'm a member of in hopes someone has a better way to search a business from the past and/or can read Lithuanian on the handful of sites produced from googling the names.

FOTO LIKO or FOTO ZILIO ?

This studio logo is on another identified photo we received last year from our cousin connection in Lithuania. Remember, this unnamed woman's original photo is in my cousin Ken's possession, so we have two photos from the same studio; one in Michigan with Ken and one in Lithuania.  That fact alone has Ken and I hopeful we can make a family connection of our unnamed woman in this photo to be that "little redheaded girl" from family lore (who did not travel to the USA) to the other photos from Foto Zilio.

A Positive Spin on Self-Isolation

Many weeks have passed since my last post. No excuse, only a reason. With the new norm of self isolation during the COVID-19 scare, I find I'm indulging in deep research on several branches, well, because I can.  That deep dive kept me from coming up for air to post a tidbit or two during March 2020.

I wondered how my other family genealogists were spending their time, other than learning how to wash their hands and find the elusive TP in the stores. It could be they had too much time on their hands and lost the drive to get it done, or, like me, each record that solved one question begat another, a challenge I could not ignore. In Michigan, my 2nd cousin Ken's project was digitizing old family pictures.

Shortly after I sent birthday wishes via social media, he reached out to me with a catch-up email to tell me about his picture project and a new find. A black and white portrait of a woman between 50-60 years of age, no one he recognized, was tucked behind another picture in the album.  On the back was a short note written in cursive Lithuanian. The obvious first step is to translate the back.

There are a few ways to do that. Ken reached out to a Lithuanian distant cousin of ours and I posted the picture of the photo on a social media group page for Lithuanian genealogists hoping to get a speedier answer. As it turned out, my post was still warm when I got a reply and Ken's email to Lithuania came back soon after. And now unraveling the mystery of the Lithuanian woman begins. 

Unknown Lithuanian Woman

Translation below

The translation is:
"For a long remembrance. this photo (shows me) of the current age. Your sister Julia (Julija, Julė)"

A Jamitis family story about a "little redheaded girl" told to Ken in part suggests our great grandmother, Anna (Ambrazevičiūte) Jamitis, left a sister behind in Lithuania. There's also a possibility Anna left behind a daughter, perhaps conceived by mistreatment from a soldier occupying Lithuania during the regime struggles in the late 19th century. Both the story and the picture are about a female; we are assuming these items are connected. 

In my next post, I will lay out the thought process of researching the photo and story. Stay tuned...

Did They Really Print That?

Perusing the newspapers of our ancestors can be quite an eye-opener when it comes to what we now deem politically correct. I'm going to jump right in here and give you two archaic examples in one clipping from 1890 I found about my 3rd great aunt Elizabeth. See if you can pick them out.

Cullen, Elizabeth Pottsville Republican 2 Aug 1890, page 4

It was quite normal in the 19th century to refer to a widow as a relict. There are two definitions here and I only knew the one that referred to old museum pieces before stumbling onto this clipping. The other reference is old lady, which I heard growing up from most every married male adult in reference to his wife. And until I grew up, never gave it a thought as derogatory. As it's used in this obit blurb, it sounds more endearing than the point I'm making.

Speaking of wives, the majority of the time newspapers referred to a married woman as part of the couple Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Doe or just Mrs. John Q. Doe rather than Mrs. Jane Doe. This makes your married female ancestor a challenge to locate in newspapers without some additional facts to confirm her identity. Single women, and sometimes widows, were referred to by their given first name and current surname.

I came across an article about an unfortunate death of an elderly mother and her daughter, caught in a kitchen fire, being described as bodies burned brown and burned to a crust or a crisp as if they were an inanimate object.  I cannot imagine that write-up in today's papers let alone reading it about my own family member. It's too sensitive a subject to include an image here.

Then there is this humorous clipping, and I say that in light of the fact that the editor approved the reporters words verbatim.  Seeing the response of the immigrant in print made me cringe a bit as if it had been in a newspaper today, but I will not lie and say I didn't laugh at his response to the dilemma.

The Herald-Journal   Bessemer, Alabama   01 Mar 1906 Thu, page 2

Old newspapers are a window into the societies of our parents, grandparents and their parents. It's an eye-opener for me every time I scan one looking for family history clues. There are many headlines and sub-headlines to catch your eye, just not as many hours in a day to read them.

Unanswered Questions

The thing about researching is how easily the objective can be derailed. Well, at least in my genealogy research. How I get distracted I can't say specifically, but yesterday I found myself on my son's branch of his family after seeing an intriguing news article on Newspapers.com.  The last several years of his great grandfather's life have some unanswered questions.

According to a "Special to the Inquirer" news article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Fred Wegelin disappeared from his New Jersey home in November 1914 without mentioning anything to his wife, Minnie. After several days of absence, Minnie reported Fred missing.

I knew the Wegelin family line had ties to Birmingham Alabama, so my research went in that direction on a hunch. Narrowing down the search for Fred to Alabama newspapers and a time period starting from 1914, I hoped to find an article with the answer to this mystery. What I found was a vague item reporting his death in December 1917.

My next step was to find the death certificate. This record type shows the cause of death among other vital dates and information. Unfortunately, Alabama has not digitized their death records for online research. A copy can be obtained from the state for a fee or looked up in person at the repository where it's archived. The index information (the county of record, book volume number and page number) for Fred's record was found online and is a great help requesting the death certificate in person. The death being indexed also confirms the date and event is true, in light of the vague blurb in the newspaper.

Fred's will and his wife Minnie's petition of probate (to have the will authenticated) were found online.  This online transcript is of the court proceeding and Fred's will, not the original will document. According to the transcribed details of the will, it was written by Fred and witnessed by two gentlemen on March 3, 1917 in Birmingham Alabama, nine months prior to his death.

It's unclear to me if Minnie had to travel to Birmingham to petition in person or have a lawyer handle the process. A sentence in the petition transcript suggests to me she had the will in her possession and presented it to the Alabama authorities, but the transcription does not state she signed any document or was present at court as far as I can tell. The two witnesses signed a short statement confirming the will was the one they signed as witnesses in March 1917 and the judge officially sealed it.

The unanswered questions remaining are: Why did Fred leave his family without notice in 1914? Did Minnie have the original will? If so, did Fred return to New Jersey to give her the will or did he mail it to her? Where was he between November 1914 and the writing of the will in Alabama? Was Fred in some trouble during this period making him fear for his life and write a will at the age of 37? Was his death an accident (and what kind of accident) or was he killed?

"Update" ... After rereading the transcription of Minnie's petition closely, I find that she signed the petition in front of a Notary Public in Atlantic County New Jersey, close to her Egg Harbor City home. The NP mailed the sworn statement to Jefferson County Alabama to start probate of her deceased husband's will.

Data Management

After collecting family tree data at the Schuylkill County Courthouse Archive Department last week, I'm anxious to see it all in its place on the tree. Unfortunately, it doesn't just jump to the branch it belongs. So, rather than pick an ancestor to highlight this week, let's put the horse before the cart in my journey.

The new details must be analyzed against the current information on my family tree. And, just because it's on my tree, it doesn't mean it is correct. (News flash! I hadn't perfected my search plan when I first started this journey several years ago). My enthusiasm to get to the story outweighed my common sense to record all sources and evaluate what I found. The records I collected this year will be used to confirm or disprove research data I filed earlier on my computer.  The more the merrier, right?

I'm not afraid of research, in fact I enjoy researching any data that interests me. Having an abundance of data gives confirmation to the true facts and adds to the stories of my families. My main sources for facts are online ancestry websites and state archives. My favorite source for stories of my family is an online newspaper website. The articles I find tell of my ancestors' activities in school, social clubs, at work, their health issues, injuries, civil obligations, travel and talents. Some articles include information I can used to confirm birth, marriage, family members, where they live and death information.

I have an online family tree with ANCESTRY.COM that syncs with FAMILY TREE MAKER 2019 program on my computer. I can work online or on my computer and the changes made in either program will be synced. Currently I'm working in FTM 2019.

The app(lication) I use to store and manage my data is EVERNOTE. In my opinion, the best filing system for digital finds and scanned documents. It's akin to Microsoft's OneNote but more powerful. So I'm in the trenches daily analyzing my finds so my stories can be published as non-fiction.

Archive Research Day

First let me say this trip was more fun than I anticipated!  Meeting my 3rd cousins from Michigan after being research partners for a year was the highlight.  We all had the same drive to learn as much as we could and hopefully find some missing links. Researching with family on the same project is refreshing.

The Schuylkill County courthouse archive department is in the basement, not surprisingly, with a designated area for researchers...two large tables with comfortable chairs surrounded by shelves of index binders, first by category, then alphabetically by date and sometimes gender. Those books hold the information needed to find the records in the record room.  The department was small and cozy, nothing like the industrial, high-ceiling, uninviting room I envisioned.

Ken and Ron ran a smooth tag-team. Ken announced the ancestor and what records were needed as Ron scoured the indexes for the ancestor's name. Sound simple? Not with 8 to 10 different Lithuanian surname spellings and given names repeated through the generations. Josephs, Peters, Annas, Marys over and over. This made Ron pause and recall what our god-fearing grandparents vocalized when something was "unbelievable" ....
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

So there they were with open index binders and post-it notes keeping the research under control. The post-it notes were handed to our helpful assistant Abby, sending her into the depths of the record room to return with whatever we required.  The record books were huge and would fit right in the "Alice in Wonderland" world.

Ron, Kris and Ken

I assisted the guys using my prepared research on our shared family branch.  I jumped in where needed and took phone pics of what we found. Some records needed to be discussed to determine we had the correct family member. A few made us pause when we realized we were looking at our ancestor's own handwriting.

As my cousins "branched off" to another area of their family research, I had time to run down several records for my German branch before they locked the doors. The three of us were the only researches in-house and we made a day of it from open to close!

Fast forward to the aftermath...Our archive dive did not expose new information for our Mystery Man, Peter Jamitis, however, that's not to say there aren't hints to be found in the many new record images we have to reread and analyze. I'm ready to dig in!

Today's the Day

Heading off to Schuylkill County shortly in search of my Lithuanian ancestors' story.  I'm rarely late for any event and this is no exception. It's a curse sometimes because I'm too early and have to fill the time until I leave the house. So, here I am!

My Surface Pro tablet, paper tablets, phone, chargers, extra glasses (you never know, I could drop my only pair in excitement of a find!) and several pens...check, check, check.

My cousin called ahead and found the courthouse staff very helpful, digging out a few items for us to get a head start. I have several indexes to pull in case the staff cannot locate anything for us by surname. I already told you about the Lithuanian surname debacle, so this will be no surprise. The indexes will keep this trip from becoming a bust.

Once I get the hang of archive research, I'm quite sure this trip will be one of many.  The Lithuanians are my main concern, but I want to know more about my German, Irish and English branch, too.

Stay tuned...

Anticipation

After years of researching my family tree, I'm finally going to take the next step in the process. My first trip to a repository to search government archives is a week away.  My anticipation is ramping up for two reasons. Excitement for learning more about the Lithuanian branch of my tree is one.

The other is meeting my 2nd cousin for the first time.  Ken is making the trip from Michigan with his brother (who is my grandmother's godson) to meet me at the Schuylkill County Courthouse.  I have an hour drive, he has much more, but our drive to find facts about our family tree branch is equal.

Our immediate search is for family of Anna Jamitis, Peter's wife. Anna is our mutual great grandmother.  Our grandmothers were sisters Helen and Edith.  Though we know more about Anna than Peter, the mystery man, there are some leads Ken has exposed from a connection in Lithuania that we want to prove or disprove about Anna's family and the stories told to us. It's an important direction to pursue on our first trip to the archives.

Above is a picture Ken and I believe is Anna and Peter. We received it from a Lithuanian contact. I hesitate adding photos without a solid fact to accompany them. I personally think this couple is my great grandparents. Findings from this trip may help confirm this scenario.

I'm taking my tablet filled with facts and assumptions from my years of research. But, I've narrowed down and summarized the points of interest for this trip using Evernote, my favorite note-taking organizer software program.  It holds copies of census records, maps, death certs and obituaries from the newspapers plus docket information to look up marriage applications, wills and tax records.  The assumptions are at the ready to pursue the trail should we find collaborating evidence.

A new adventure in the new year...stay tuned....

A Wedding Feast

As you read in an earlier post, Peter and Anna's young life and their arrival from Lithuania is a mystery. I never met them which is all the more reason to get to know their story. I met their children, my great aunts and uncles, at an early age and can recall specific events in Schuylkill County we were all together.

Since I lived in Reading, these occasions were mostly weddings and funerals.  As a young girl, I was in awe of the elaborate feasts presented to attendees. I was equally naive about the person feted at these "up home" events since my place in the family was a granddaughter or great niece of the extended family we were visiting. So, after introductions to my elders and being compared to myself in size from the last time they saw me, my attention turned to the abundance of food tabled for the occasion.

Specifically, weddings. My brother and I never saw anything like it. A fire company hall or church social hall held long tables, end to end, filling the space to capacity less the obligatory dance floor.  Each table was served home-style with bottomless dishes of the most delicious food we ever had in our short lives. But, wait there's more.

The caterers cleared the tables, the guests mingled with the bride and groom and the band began to play.  And as if by magic, there appeared on each table various homemade cakes.  Not just one cake, several cakes per table...chocolate, spice, applesauce and carrot are the ones that caught my attention.  And eat we did.

These memories are so embedded in my mind because our family meals rarely included seconds or desserts. It's not to say we starved or felt deprived. My mother just followed the way she learned growing up in a German heritage home. Frugal covers it for the most part. And as I reflect now, the events were mainly on my father's side. The Lithuanians.  Add dancing the polka to this mix and this seven year old had the time of her life.

The Mystery Man

Most of my research in the last 6 months has been reexamining my family tree information for my Great Grandfather Peter Jamitis in my paternal line. Peter was Lithuanian, though at times the historic records show him as Russian, Russian-Polander, Russian-Lithuanian and Prussian.  I've determined this is due to the regime his birth home was ruled by when he answered the question of nationality on census forms, draft records or his marriage application. Lithuania had several border changes during his lifetime.

There's also issues with surname spellings.  I've seen Zamitis, Zemaitis, Gemaitis, Zamitus, Zimits...you get the idea. Jamitis is the only spelling I knew until I started my family tree. This issue alone made the research process lengthy within the United States record repositories.  Image this Lithuanian answering port authority's questions to board the ship for America and a census-taker's ears hearing this new language probably for the first time.  Phonetic spelling of surnames was most likely the option taken in this instance.

Peter is a mystery from the time he was born in 1870 until I find him in Pennsylvania in 1899 applying for a license to marry Anna Ambrosavage, also a Lithuanian who immigrated to the United States. And don't let Anna's surname spelling comfort you... that's another post.

I see him with Anna and their first born in the 1900 census and the next three censuses through 1930. Each census adds more children and more conflicting information, mainly event dates. Naturalization records have escaped me even with 1903 recorded as the year this citizenship event happened.  I was so hoping to find the petition or the application for Peter for there is much to mine from these records, opening the gate to finding his place of birth in Eastern Europe.

My next step is to visit the courthouse and search for wills, deeds, land records and the like. It will be my first time researching physical records and it's a fact that visits to your ancestor's county seat can unblock the the wall when online indexes and documents are fruitless.  Perhaps starting with the physical records was the best plan for Peter.  In hindsight, yes. But the enormous amount of online records available to genealogists the last several years is hard to resist from the comfort of your own home.

The 52-week Ancestors Challenge

How timely. I commit to start writing about my family tree with little knowledge of the art and what do I hear about on a December 2019 podcast, the 52-week Ancestors Challenge.

The commitment to write about a new ancestor each week for a year sounds heavy, but only if you make it so. There are no written rules or challenge police to hold you to the 52 writings. It is meant to be a personal challenge to start the conversation, a road map, a plan, a niche of time out of a week to put something down "on paper".

It's a free-flowing challenge not meant to stress you out, but to allow you to hear the information you gathered over the years, really hear the words instead of the facts. I'm sure just this alone will help find the gaps in the story you didn't know were missing or add questions to the follow-up research.  Should you find everything is in place, then the challenge is now the reward for all your hard work.

To understand the concept as it was told on the podcast, follow the link to Amy Johnson Crow's podcast page to hear it in her own words.     52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

If this is something you could get into yourself, sign up with Amy Johnson Crow using the link above. I just did.