Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Keeps You From Doing Genealogy?

I find this week's topic for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun somewhat ironic, because the main thing that has been keeping me from doing genealogy in general is pretty much the same thing that has been keeping me from posting on my blog, including for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music here), is:

1.  What keeps rou from doing genealogy?  What real-life activity do you have to do, or like to do, that takes time away from genealogy research?

2.  Write your own blog post, or add your response as a comment to this blog post or in a Facebook Status post or note.

My thoughts on the subject:

The primary thing that has been keeping my from genealogy during the past three to four years or so is my health.  While I absolutely love living in the Portland area, having moved here from Oakland, California in 2017, I have had an unfortunate series of health events that have prevented me from doing everything I want and need to do.  Most of them are resolved now, and I am hoping that I will regain my strength and really be able to start catching up.

That said, the other activity that I love to do that sometimes might take away from genealogy voluntarily is spending time with my grandchildren and other family members.  One of the wonderful benefits of having moved here is that all five of my grandchildren are within easy driving distance.  I admit that I take every opportunity I can to visit them.

I do have a few favorite things to watch on television that take up about ten hours a week:  the nightly news and weather forecast, Chopped!, Name That Tune (notwithstanding the constant mugging from Jane), and The Masked Singer.  I actually watch much less TV now than I did in California.

And, like Randy, my body does need sleep every night, although I usually get about 6 hours.

Honoring the Lost Members of My Family on Yom HaShoah

Yom HaShoah is the annual day of remembrance to commemorate the approximately 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust during World War II.  It falls on 27 Nisan on the Jewish calendar, which measures days from sunset to sunset.  This year on the Christian calendar it began at sunset on April 27 and will end at sunset on April 28.

The following is the list of my family members I have been told died in the Holocaust.  All of them are from the Mekler/Nowicki branch of my family and lived in what was Grodna gubernia in the Russian Empire (now in Belarus).  May their memory be for a blessing.

Beile Dubiner
Eliezer Dubiner
Herschel Dubiner
Moishe Dubiner
Sore (Mekler) Dubiner
Aidel Goldsztern
Golda Goldsztern
Josef Goldsztern
Pearl (Gorfinkel) Goldsztern
Tzvi Goldsztern
Esther Golubchik
Fagel Golubchik
Lazar Golubchik
Peshe (Mekler) Golubchik
Pinchus Golubchik
Yechail Golubchik
Mirka (Nowicki) Krimelewicz
— Krimelewicz
Beile Szocherman
Chanania Szocherman
Mobsza Eli Szocherman
Perel Szocherman
Raizl (Perlmutter) Szocherman
Zlate Szocherman

Auschwitz processing form for Mobsza Eli Szocherman, dated January 31, 1943.
He is presumed to have been killed at Auschwitz that day or the day after.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Jill Ball's 2011 Ancestor Meme Revisited

It's hard to get back into the swing of things when your routine has been seriously disrupted.  So I didn't quite post for last week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, although I intended to.  But I'm gamely trying again this week, as Randy Seaver brings back a meme from 2011 for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (which we did a variation on in 2017).

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music here), is to:

1.  Participate in the Ancestors GeneaMeme created by Jill Ball on the Geniaus blog back in 2011!

2.  Write your own blog post, or add your response as a comment to this blog post or in a Facebook Status post or note.

The Rules:

The list should be annotated in the following manner:

Things you have already done or found:  bold face type
Things you would like to do or find:  italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to:  plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments after each item.

Okay, here are my answers.

The Meme

 

Which of these apply to you?

1.  Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents (I can also do this from memory)

2.  Can name more than 50 ancestors (yup)

3.  Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents

4.  Have an ancestor who was married more than three times
5.  Have an ancestor who was a bigamist (so far)

6.  Met all four of my grandparents
7.  Met one or more of my great-grandparents (so I was told)
8.  Named a child after an ancestor
9.  Bear an ancestor's given name/s (but have the initials of two of my great-grandfathers)
10.  Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland

11.  Have an ancestor from Asia
12.  Have an ancestor from continental Europe
13.  Have an ancestor from Africa (do I count what shows in my DNA?)
14.  Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer (many)
15.  Have an ancestor who had large land holdings

16.  Have an ancestor who was a holy man:  minister, priest, rabbi (ministers and rabbis!)
17.  Have an ancestor who was a midwife
18.  Have an ancestor who was an author (would be nice)
19.  Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy, or Jones (plenty of cousins, but no ancestors)
20.  Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki, or Ng (I have some Wongs in extended family, but that's it0)

21.  Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X
22.  Have an ancestor with a forename beginning with Z
23.  Have an ancestor born on 25 December
24.  Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day (whose New Year?)
25.  Have "blue blood" in your family lines (everyone with ancestors from Western Europe is descended from Charlemagne, right?)

26.  Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
27.  Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
28.  Can trace a direct family line back to the 18th century
29.  Can trace a direct family line back to the 17th  century or earlier
30.  Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents

31.  Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X
32.  Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university
33.  Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence (I think so)
34.  Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime
35.  Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine (oh heavens yes)

36.  Have published a family history online or in print
37.  Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries (in beautiful New Jersey)
38.  Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family (I believe so)
39.  Have a family bible from the 19th century
40.  Have a pre-19th century family bible

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Four Things!

Well, I certainly haven't posted in a while!  My last post was January 15 for my blogiversary, and before that it was December 1.  I have nothing but my health to blame, but I've decided I need to start writing again anyway, and what better day to start than on my birthday?  I turned 60 today, and coincidentally Randy Seaver provided a theme for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun that works nicely with a birthday — writing about myself.  So let's get back in the blogging habit!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music here), is:

1.  Let's have some genealogy fun tonight and answer some family-history-related questions with four responses (Four Things!).

2.  Share your answers with us in your own blog, in a Facebook or Instagram post, or in the comments on this blog post.  Please leave a link to anything you post elsewhere in a comment.

Okay, here are my answers.

Four Names I Go By
1.  Janice
2.  Jan-Jan (but only for my maternal grandmother)
3.  Bubbie
4.  Amanda Rycroft (Faire character)

Four Places I've Lived (Resided)
1.  Maroubra Junction, New South Wales, Australia
2.  Niceville, Florida
3.  Oakland, California
4.  Gresham, Oregon

Four Ancestral Places I Have Been
1.  Mount Holly, New Jersey
2.  Manhattan, New York
3.  Miami, Florida
4.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Four Interesting Places I Have Been
1.  Athens, Greece
2.  San Sebastian, Spain
3.  Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
4.  Tallinn, Estonia

Four Favorite Ancestors
1.  Ann (Ridgway) Gaunt, 1710–1794
2.  Gershon Itzhak Novitsky, ~1858–1948
3.  Minnie Zelda (Nowicki) Meckler, ~1880–1936
4.  Moses Mulliner, 1741–1821

Four Favorite Genealogy Record Collections
1.  Historical newspapers
2.  Religious records (all, not just BMD!)
3.  Probate files
4.  Military pensions and service records