Emanuel Weiss

Emanuel (Mandl) Weiss was born on September 28, 1826 in Hungary. He is my second great-grandfather on my mother's side.

Almost nothing is known about him at this time. In question is the number of marriages he may have had. His daughter Sophie alluded to the fact that Emanuel’s son Josef, may have been her half-brother. (As related to me by my mother, Sophie’s granddaughter) This story warrants further investigation as Emanuel and Theresia were married in 1860, four years previous to Josef’s birth, so why wouldn't he have been a FULL brother?

William Ackerly Setchel

I need to preface today's post for three reasons:
1) It is belated by 1 day. I was in Maryland celebrating the life of my wonderful brother-in-law, John Holman who passed away in June after a valiant 6 year battle with cancer.

2) It occurred to me that readers may want to know the familial connections to person being described. I am working on creating a family tree to include on this blog so it will easier to figure out how people are connected.

3) Our "birthday celebrant" is not technically related. This presents me with a good opportunity to express my philosophy on family history. Well...actually....I should save that for a post all its own. Let's just say, if you're somehow connected to me and my family, no matter how...you have a place in my family history.

This quote sums it up:

"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof."                                                                                                                   - Richard David Bach

From "The Onandagan"
Syracuse University 1940

William Ackerly Setchel

When William Ackerly Setchel was born on September 21, 1918, in Cuba NY, his father, Hayden, was 25 and his mother, Helen, was 23. William’s father worked as a bookkeeper at the local bank.

John "Jack" Winchester Holman

John Winchester "Jack" Holman was born on 12 Sep 1871 in Indianapolis, Indiana His parents were Aaron John Holman and Elizabeth L. Winchester. The Holman side of family dates back to a land deed in Virginia in the 1620's. They had some Scottish blood and were among the early English colonists.

Importance of Blogs in Genealogy - A Mystery Solved!

A Mystery Solved!

A few years ago, my siblings and I were going through a pile of pictures belonging to our grandmother, Rose Spiegel Lichtenthal. Included in the group was a picture of four women, two of whom were obviously our grandmother and her mother, Sophie Spiegel. But who were the other women? We didn't have a clue.

Thanks to a recently-forged connection with Luctor Herwig, the mystery is solved!!

Hattie Kesner

Today would have been Hattie Kesner's 135th birthday. Hattie was born on September 4, 1878 in New York. She would become the oldest of six children born to George Ralph Kesner and Jessie Davis. The Kesner's second child, a son named Harry George, would eventually marry Estelle Byk becoming my paternal great-grandparents. That makes Hattie my "great grandaunt."

Rene Berger

 Rene Mendel was born in Budapest, Hungary on September 3, 1883. She was the third and youngest child of Jacob Berger and the former Cecilie Schoen.

Rene’s sister, Rosa (b. 1875) married Sigmund Lichtenthal in 1899, becoming my maternal great-grandmother. Rene’s brother Rudolph was born in 1872.

Rene married Adolf Mendl. They had one son, Kurt, born in 1919. Prior to WWII, the family lived in Vienna, Austria. On or about May 20, 1942, Rene was transported on Transport 22 Train Da 203 from Vienna to Minsk, Belorussia (USSR). Her prisoner number was 164. 

To learn more about this transport see: Transports to Extinction