Steve’s Genealogy Blog

I had searched for my Great Aunt Mary in the 1910 US Federal Census without much luck.  Much to my surprise Barb Poole, who contributed a GuestBlog on May 20, found the record!   I guess there’s a lesson here… just because you can’t find someone in the census doesn’t mean they’re not enumerated.  Sometimes searching again at a later time or having someone else look for the record can result in success!  This isn’t the first time someone helped me find a record I couldn’t find on my own.  Genealogists seem to be some of the most helpful and supportive people around, and they seem to delight in helping someone else break down their brick walls almost as much as they enjoy their own discoveries.  Thanks again Barb!

The 1910 Census Record for Mary Danko shows that she was working as a servant in the home of the Cusenberg [?] family at 48 Coral Street in Worcester, Massachusetts.  This address is not far from where my grandfather, Michael Danko, was living at the time, and it is also not far from Our Lady of Częstochowa Church, the Polish parish in Worcester.  The census shows that she was 22 years old in 1910, indicating that she was born in 1887-1888, a date that agrees with all the other birth information I’ve found for Mary after she immigrated.  The Census record also shows that she was single, she was from Austria, she was Polish, and she immigrated in 1909.  All this information is consistent with what I already know about her.

This information is, however, still at odds with the date of birth I found on her birth/baptismal, emigration, and immigration records.  This discrepancy begs the question again; did my grandfather have two sisters named Marya and Marianna?  I took another look at the Ellis Island records for 1909.

A search of the Ellis Island records using Stephen Morse’s forms at http://www.stephenmorse.com provided three hits for the year 1909:

• Marianna Danko, age 25, from Nienadowa, Austria
• Marya Danko, age 27, from Nienadowa, Austria
• Marya Danko, age 22, from Wesoła, Austria

I believe that the first of these entries is the record for my Great Aunt Mary, and I know that the second of these entries is the record for my grandmother, Mary.  These two Marys listed my grandfather as brother and husband, respectively, and said that they were going to stay with my grandfather in Worcester.

The third immigrant is an enigmatic Marya Danko who was from Wesoła, Austria and traveled to Chicago.  Oddly enough, the manifest for this Marya Danko is the right age to be a match with my Great Aunt Mary (22 years old in 1909, meaning she was born in 1886-1887).  She listed her nearest relative as her father Jocolry [?] Danko living in Wesola.  This is clearly not my Great Aunt Mary, since Great Aunt Mary’s father Jakub died before 1909.

However, there are some interesting coincidences here:

• The village of Wesoła is located near my ancestors’ village of Nienadowa in Poland.
• Marya Danko from Wesoła stated that she was going to stay with her brother-in-law Jestrycj [?] Majda [?] in Chicago (Majda could be a misspelling of the surname Wejda).  My grandfather’s cousin Marcin Wejda accompanied Marianna Danko to Worcester.
• Marya Danko from Wesoła was traveling with Franciszka Sowa.  My great grandmother’s maiden name was Agnieszka Sowa.

While Marya Danko from Wesoła is not my Great Aunt Mary, perhaps there is a family connection there, nonetheless.  There are still mysteries here, but one mystery solved is where Great Aunt Mary was and what she was doing in 1910!

Great Aunt Mary (Danko) Golinski was married in 1915 and she had several children, including Victoria and John. 

Mary’s marriage record and the birth record for her first child, Victoria, were recorded in a ledger, rather than on standardized marriage and birth certificates.  The birth of Mary’s son John, however, was recorded on a standard certificate.  When I requested copies of these three documents, I was somewhat disappointed by the documents I received for Mary’s marriage and Victoria’s birth because I received transcriptions rather than photocopies of the original records.

Mary’s marriage record arrived as a Copy of Record of Marriage and contained several misspellings and a couple of crossed out entries.  The entries that appear to be transcription errors are:

• The name of the groom’s father is recorded as Gan Golinski, but should be Jan Golinski
• The name of the groom’s mother is recorded as Mary Darasz, but should be Mary Daraz 
• The name of the bride’s mother is recorded as Agnes Sousa, but should be Agnes Sowa
• The name of the bride’s father is recorded as Joseph Jacob Danko, apparently to correct an error during transcription since the father’s name was Jacob Danko
• The form used to record the transcription was outdated, since it assumed that the document would be recorded in the 20th century and included the preprinted year 19__, which had to be crossed out to write in the correct year 2002

The marriage record reports Mary’s age at the time of the marriage as 28 years on October 4, 1915, indicating that Mary was born in 1886 or 1887.

The birth of Mary’s first child, Victoria, is reported as a Copy of Record of Birth.  This document also contained an apparent transcription error:

• Mary’s maiden name is reported as Dauleo, but should be Danko

The transcription unfortunately doesn’t include the parents’ dates of birth.

The Return of a Birth for John Golinski is more complete than that for Victoria, and is the original record rather than a transcription.  Still, this document includes two entries that were apparently erased and typed over:

• The birthplaces of both the father and mother were originally entered as Poland, but were corrected to read Austria Poland

The record does, however, show that Mary was 33 years old when John was born on Jan. 2, 1922, indicating that Mary was born between 1888 and 1889.

Let me summarize the information I have on Mary’s date of birth:

• Marianna’s Birth and Baptismal Record, a Church Record from Poland, shows that her birth date was January 12, 1884
• Marjanna’s Hamburg Passenger Record, shows that she was 25 years old in 1909, indicating that she was born in 1883-1884
• Marianna’s Passenger Arrival List, shows that she was 25 years old when she arrived at Ellis Island on June 26, 1909 and indicating that she was born in 1883-1884
• The Copy of Record of Marriage shows that she was 28 years old on October 4, 1915, indicating that she was born in 1886-1887
• The Copy of Record of Birth for Mary’s daughter Victoria does not show Mary’s age or date of birth
• The Return of a Birth for Mary’s son John shows that Mary was 33 years old on January 2, 1922, indicating that she was born in 1888-1889
• Mary’s SS-5 Application for Social Security Account and Tax Number shows that she was born on March 12, 1887
• The Social Security Death Index shows that Mary was born on March 12, 1887
• Information from Mary’s daughter Fran, indicated that Mary was born on March 12, 1887
• The Massachusetts Death Index does not show Mary’s birth date
• Mary’s Cemetery Burial Record shows that Mary was born in about 1886-1887
• Mary’s Gravestone Epitaph shows that Mary was born in 1887

So, where does all this lead me?  My grandfather’s sister, Marianna, was born on January 12, 1884, which is consistent with records up through her immigration to the United States.  My grandfather’s sister, Mary, was born on March 12, 1887, which is consistent with records after her immigration into the United States (with the exception of the Return of John’s Birth, which suggests she was born in 1888-1889).

Are Marianna and Mary the same person?  If so, why are there two apparently different birth dates?  If Marianna and Mary are different people, they must be sisters, but there is no evidence for two sisters named Marianna Danko and Mary Danko.  Perhaps Mary changed her birth date after her arrival in America.  I’d like to find a Census Record and other records for Mary between the time she arrived in America in 1909 and the time she was married in 1915, but finding those records will take some additional research.

Online Death Indexes provide useful sources of birth and death information.  For the most part, these Death Indexes are transcriptions of other Indexes and are subject to the errors associated with transcriptions. 

Ancestry.com offers the following State death indexes:

• Alabama 1908-1959
• Arkansas 1914-1950
• California 1940-1997
• Connecticut 1949-1971
• Florida 1877-1998
• Georgia 1919-1998
• Idaho 1911-1951
• Indiana 1882-1920
• Kentucky 1911-2000
• Louisiana 1900-1949
• Maine 1960-1997
• Massachusetts 1970-2003
• Michigan 1971-1996
• Minnesota 1908-2002
• Montana 1907-2002
• North Carolina 1908-1996
• Ohio 1958-2002
• Oregon 1903-1998
• Rhode Island 1630-1930
• South Carolina 1915-1952
• South Dakota 1905-1955
• Texas 1964-1998
• Utah 1905-1951
• Vermont 1981-2001
• Washington 1940-1996
• Wisconsin 1820-1907

Ancestry.com also holds the following Provincial Death Indexes:

• British Columbia 1872-1979
• Ontario 1869-1932

Other significant online death indexes include:

• Arizona 1878-1975 (with images of documents)
• Missouri pre-1910 (1883-1893)
• Missouri 1910-1955 (with images from 1910-1923)
• VitalSearch (scans of some state indexes)

My Great Aunt Mary is listed in the Massachusetts Death Index at Ancestry.com.  The information provided there includes:

• Name:  Mary M. Golinski
• Certificate Number:  045417
• Death Place:  Worcester
• Death Date: 18 Sep 1975
• Birth Place:  Other
• Birth Date:  –

For many of the entries in the Massachusetts Death Index, the birth date is provided.  Unfortunately, this is not the case for my Great Aunt Mary.  Nonetheless, the Death Index can certainly be considered a secondary source for death information and may even help locate the death certificate itself.

Social Security Records, including the Social Security Death Index and the SS-5 Application for a Social Security Account Number, are some of the first records I examined when I first started to compile my family tree.  I used the information in the Social Security Death Index to discover or verify dates of birth and dates of death.  I also requested copies of the SS-5 cards, the Application for a Social Security Account Number to discover or verify information such as names of parents, place of birth, occupation, and address at the time of application.

The Social Security Death Index is generated from the Death Master File of the Social Security Administration (SSA).  The SSA does not generate the index itself.  The Death Master File currently includes over 77 million records of individuals who had a Social Security Number and whose deaths were reported to the SSA, usually when someone applied for Social Security Death Benefits.  In 1935 the Social Security Act was passed, and in 1936, the first Social Security cards were issued.  However, the Social Security Death Index was not initiated until 1962, when the SSA began using a computer database to process benefit requests.  For that reason, few individuals who died before 1962 are listed in the Social Security Death Index.  More information on the Social Security Death Index is available at Ancestry.com, and interesting information on the first Social Security Card and the lowest Social Security Number is available at the Social Security website.

The Social Security Death Index is available at Ancestry.com for a fee, but it is also available for free from other sources, including RootsWeb.com, and FamilySearch.org.  I prefer to use the Ancestry.com version of the index because the information is formatted in a way that I can directly cut and paste the information into the source information area of my genealogy database.  The RootsWeb version, however, has the most comprehensive search feature on the web; all the information in the Index is searchable.  The FamilySearch version of the index is not as full-featured as either of the other two indexes.  That said, if you can’t find someone in one index, you can always try the others.  Differences in the search algorithms and in the search interfaces may provide different results.

A copy of the original SS-5, the Application for Social Security Account Number, can be ordered from the Social Security Administration, as long as the requestor is the individual named, or if the individual is deceased.  A copy of the SS-5 can be ordered whether or not the individual is listed in the Social Security Death Index.  Currently, the SSA charges $27 for this copy, if the Social Security Number is provided, and $29 if the Social Security Number is not provided.  The SSA also offers a Numident, a computerized Numerical Identification record for a reduced price, but the Numident doesn’t provide all the information on the SS-5 and may contain transcription errors, so it’s not as useful for genealogical purposes as the SS-5.  The SSA also offers a copy of the Claim File for $14, but these Claim Files are usually destroyed within a few years after the final decision on a claim is made.  Once, instead of receiving the SS-5 I requested, I received a Form OAAN-7003, Employee’s Request for Change in Records instead.

Well, back to my Great Aunt Mary.  The information in the Social Security Death Index states:

Name: Mary Golinski
SSN: 033-38-4218
Last Residence: 01527 Millbury, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
Born: 12 Mar 1887
Died: Sep 1975
State (Year) SSN issued: Massachusetts (1964-1965)

A couple of points to note here.  Sometimes, as in this case, the complete date of birth or death is not included.  If you search for a complete date, but don’t find what you’re looking for, try including only the month and year, or just the year.  The second point is that the Last Residence is not necessarily the place of death.

Finally, I obtained a copy of Mary’s SS-5.

The SS-5 states that:

• Her Social Security Number was 033-38-4218
• Her name was Mary Golinski
• Her full name at birth was Mary Danko
• Her date of birth was 3/12/87
• She was born in Austria Poland
• She was 77 years old on her last birthday
• She was a white female
• Her parents were Agnes Sawa and Jacob Danko
• She had never previously applied for or had a Social Security Number
• Her mailing address was Sullivan Place, Millbury, mass.
• She signed the form on 1/18/65

There are some miscellaneous notes on the card, including a stamp that reads “ORIGINAL PULLED FOR CLAIM”, a date APR 05 1965, another date JAN 2 [illegible], a stamp that reads “DAD-[illegible], the notation 5-11, and what appear to be two sets of initials in the two lower corners.

What I learned from the Social Security Death Index and the SS-5 was that Mary’s birth dates recorded in these two records agree with all the rest of the birth information I have found for her in other records generated after her arrival in the United States.  Records prior to and at the time of her arrival report an earlier birth date. 

Believe it or not, there are still more records to search to try to figure out this mystery.

From the 1920 and 1930 US Federal Census Records, I discovered that my Great Aunt Mary immigrated in either 1909 or 1910.  A search of the Ellis Island Passenger Lists reveals a Marianna Danko who arrived at Ellis Island in 1909 on the S.S. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria.

The S.S. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria

The Passenger Arrival Manifest states that:

• Marianna Danko left Hamburg on June 16, 1909 on the S.S. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria and arrived in New York on June 26, 1909
• She was a 25-year-old single female who worked as a servant
• She could read and write and was of Polish descent and Austrian nationality
• She was from Nienadowa, Austria
• She listed Marcin Slowak as her nearest relative or friend in the country from which she came
• Her final destination was Worcester, Massachusetts
• She did not have a ticket to her final destination, she paid for her own ticket and she carried $6 with her
• She had never been in the US before
• She was going to stay with her brother, Michael Danko on Redding Street in Worcester, Massachusetts
• She was 5 feet 4 inches tall, of fair complexion, and had light hair and blue eyes
• She was born in Nienadowa, Austria 

Auguste Viktoria, Germany’s Last Kaiserin

The Marianna Danko listed on the manifest is definitely my grandfather’s sister, and the description matches that of my Great Aunt Mary.  Marianna Danko, according to this manifest, was 25 years old on June 26, 1909, meaning that she was born in about 1883-1884. The fact that Marianna departed from Hamburg provides another document - the record of her departure from Hamburg.  The Family History Library has the Hamburg Passenger Lists on microfilm, a set of 486 film reels including indexes and the lists themselves recording departures from Hamburg from 1850 to 1934 (excluding 1915-1919 when records were not kept because of World War I).  Many libraries have written descriptions of the Hamburg Passenger Lists, and these lists are described in detail in many books on immigration.  In short, there are two sets of lists, the Direct Lists for passengers traveling directly from Hamburg to their final destination, and the Indirect Lists for passengers planning to stop at another European port before traveling to their final destinations. Since I knew the name of the ship and the departure date, I quickly found Marianna in the indexes, which told me that she was listed on page 1300 of the lists.  Sure enough, on FHL INTL Film [473001], Marianna (spelled Marjanna on this record) is listed on line 830.  The manifest states that Marjanna Danko was a 25-year-old woman from Nienadowa, Galicia.  The manifest contains additional information, but I can’t read what it says.  Again, Marjanna’s age indicates that she was born in about 1883-1884.  I only have one page from the Hamburg Passenger List, but I’d like to look at the rest of the pages to see if there’s more information on her departure. Well, here’s the information on Great Aunt Mary’s birth date, so far:

• Marianna’s Birth and Baptismal Record, a Church Record from Poland, showing that her birth date was January 12, 1884
• Marjanna’s Hamburg Passenger Record, showing that she was 25 years old in 1909, indicating that she was born in 1883-1884
• Marianna’s Passenger Arrival List, showing that she was 25 years old when she arrived at Ellis Island on June 26, 1909 and indicating that she was born in 1883-1884
• Information from Mary’s daughter Fran, who told me Mary was born on March 12, 1887
• A Cemetery Burial Record, showing that Mary was born in about 1886-1887
• Mary’s Gravestone Epitaph, showing that Mary was born in 1887

So, the evidence in sources up through June 26, 1909 is all consistent with a birth date of January 12, 1884, and the evidence in sources thereafter is all consistent with a birth date of March 12, 1887.  Do all of these documents represent one person or two?  If they represent one person, it appears that Mary changed her birth date after she arrived in the United States.  There are still more documents to examine.  Perhaps one of these other documents will provide more clues. Finally, notice that Marianna was traveling with Marcin Wejda from Nienadowa.  In the Ellis Island Passenger Arrival List, Marcin indicated that he was going to stay with his cousin, Michael Danko, in Worcester, Massachusetts.  I’ll write more about Marcin on another day.

My grandfather, Michael Danko, was the first of my ancestors to immigrate to the United States.  After arriving in America, he lived in Worcester, Worcester Co., Massachusetts the rest of his life.  He and his family are enumerated in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 US Federal Census records and his sister, my Great Aunt Mary, is enumerated in the 1920 and 1930 Census records.

The 1910 Census shows my grandfather living at 3 Moran Court in Worcester.  Of special interest is that not only are he, his wife Mary, and his children John and Sophie (Zofia) listed, but no fewer than seven boarders are living with them!

1910 Census Record for the Michael Danko Family

In 1920, my grandfather is living at 19 Prescott Place.  This time, the family has grown, and no boarders are living with them.  Living near them and enumerated on the same page of the Census, at 11 Prescott Place Court, is Paul Golinski and his family.  Paul’s wife Mary is my grandfather’s sister, Mary.

1920 Census Record for the Michael Danko Family and the Paul Golinski Family

In 1930, except for my Aunt Sophie, my grandfather and his family are living at 19 Prescott Street, and the Golinskis are living at 11 Prescott Place Court.

1930 Census Record for the Michael Danko Family

1930 Census Record for the Paul Golinski Family

Towards my goal of learning my Great Aunt Mary’s date of birth, I started to examine the paperwork that documents her birth date.  Yesterday, I presented four documents:

• Mary’s Birth and Baptismal Record, a Church Record from Poland, showing that her birth date was January 12, 1884
• Information from Mary’s daughter Fran, who told me Mary was born on March 12, 1887
• A Cemetery Burial Record, showing that Mary was born in about 1886-1887
• Mary’s Gravestone Epitaph, showing that Mary was born in 1887

With two conflicting birth dates, I need to search other records to determine which date is correct.  It’s possible that the Birth and Baptismal record is not for Mary, but for a sister named Marianna.  My family knows that my grandfather had a sister named Mary and is unaware of another sister Marianna, so it’s likely that Mary and Marianna are the same person.

The census records provide more information about Mary’s birth date.  In the 1920 Census, Mary (Danko) Golinski is 32 years old, indicating that she was born in about 1887-1888.  In the 1930 Census, Mary is 42 years old, again indicating that she was born in about 1887-1888.  This appears to be evidence that the Birth and Baptismal Record I have is not for my Great Aunt Mary.

The 1920 and 1930 Census Records also show that Mary immigrated to the United States, but the two records show different years of immigration!  The 1920 Census shows that she immigrated in 1909, and the 1930 Census shows that she immigrated in 1910.  So, here is another possibility.  Mary’s emigration and immigration records should show her age. 

If Mary immigrated before April 15, 1910, she should be enumerated in the 1910 Census.  I have not yet found Mary in the 1910 Census, but since she was single in 1910, I may have to wait until the every-name index for 1910 is available.

Finally, the Census Records show that Mary had filed her First Papers for Naturalization.  This is yet another source that will show her birth date.

So, there are more records to find to solve this mystery.  Tomorrow, Great Aunt Mary’s emigration and immigration records.

My Great Aunt Mary, the sister of my grandfather Michael Danko, was the only one of my grandfather’s siblings to come to America.  When I first started to assemble information on my family, I contacted Mary’s daughter Fran and asked her for the names, dates, and places for births, marriages, and deaths in her family.  Fran had already assembled a wealth of information on her side of the family and generously provided me with anything for which I asked.

According to Fran, who has recorded vital events for her family for years, Great Aunt Mary was born in Nienadowa, Galicia (Austria-Poland) on March 12, 1887.  She married Paul Golinski in Barre, Worcester Co., Massachusetts on October 4, 1915.  She gave birth to six children from 1916 to 1928, and she died in Fairlawn Hospital in Worcester, Worcester Co., Massachusetts on September 18, 1975.  She was buried in St. John’s Cemetery, Worcester, Worcester Co., Massachusetts.  So far, so good.  Now it was time to verify the information Fran provided me with documented sources.

The easiest place for me to look for verification of the information Fran provided was in the cemetery.  I visited St. John’s Cemetery and obtained a copy of the computerized burial record for the Golinski Plot in 2002 and I visited the grave.  I returned and obtained an updated computerized burial record for the Golinski Plot in 2005 and noticed that the format had changed.  The new format did not provide the ages of those interred.  In any case, the record from 2002 showed that Mary Golinski was buried on September 22, 1975, and she was 88 years old when she died.  This information meant that she was born in 1886 or 1887 and died before September 22, 1975, all consistent with the information Fran gave me.  Upon visiting the grave, I noted that the tombstone inscription read:  1887 MARY DANKO WIFE 1975.

As you may recall, I obtained a number of church records from the Church in Dubiecko, the church of my Dańko ancestors.  One of these was for Great Aunt Mary.  One bit of information that I had obtained was that in Poland the names Maria, Marja, Marya, Marianna, Marjanna, and Maryanna were all the English equivalent of Mary, and sometimes the spellings were used interchangeably for the same person.  Great Aunt Mary’s birth and baptism listed her name as Marianna.

Marianna Dańko’s Birth and Baptismal Record provided the following information:

• Marianna was born on January 12, 1884 and baptized on January 14, 1884
• She was the fifth child born that year in Nienadowa
• Her parents lived in house numbers 122/207 (I’m not sure why two house numbers are listed here)
• She was a Catholic girl, and the birth was legitimate
• Her father was Jakub Dańko son of Pawel Dańko and Agnieszka Szymańska, farmers, legally married
• Her mother was Agnieszka Sawa, daughter of Maciej Sowa and Katarzyna Jach, farmers, legally married
• The godparents were Antoni Sowa and Marianna, wife of Andrzej Giergont
• The midwife was Marianna Szymańska
• The priest was [Achesej?]

Since the original image did not provide column headers, I created those headers myself, based on what I knew should be in the record, and created a composite record for Marianna.

There are a couple of problems here, right off the bat.  First, Great Aunt Mary was supposed to be born on March 12, 1887, not January 12, 1884.  Second, Jakub Dańko’s mother was Zofia Szymańska, not Agnieszka Szymańska.

Is the the birth record for my Great Aunt Mary, or is this a different child?

Tomorrow, more records and more questions.

Back in November, my nephew Lukas sent me Flat Stanley, a project for his first grade class.  I had heard about the Flat Stanley Project and was excited to take Flat Stanley on a tour of San Francisco.  In the book, Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown, Stanley is squashed flat by a bulletin board, but, happily, he can now visit his friends by traveling in an envelope.  The official Flat Stanley Project involves sending Flat Stanley to students in another school, but I’ve heard stories of Flat Stanley being sent to relatives.  Today, I’ll share with you the report I sent back to my nephew’s class about Flat Stanley’s San Francisco Adventure, and if this isn’t enough, you can read Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak’s article Flat Stanley Does His Roots.

Hi, this is Flat Stanley.  I went on a trip to San Francisco, California to visit Lukas’ Uncle Steve.  We drove all over the city and saw lots of sights.  First, we went to the place Uncle Steve works.  He works for a company called Telik.  They make medicine for sick people.

Then we went to Lombard Street in San Francisco.  This street is called the Crookedest Street in the World.

We saw Coit Tower, a famous tower on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.  Even though it was still daytime, the moon was already out.

I waited for Uncle Steve, while he took a picture of Coit Tower.  Here I am, waiting at Uncle Steve’s car.  Boy, the streets here are steep!

We went to the Palace of Fine Arts.  This place was built 90 years ago in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition.

Then we went to the Palace of the Legion of Honor.  This is a famous art museum in San Francisco.

Uncle Steve took this picture of me with this statue at the Palace of the Legion of Honor.  It is called “The Thinker“.  What do you think The Thinker is thinking about?  I’m sure I don’t know.

We drove to the Golden Gate Bridge.  This is a suspension bridge in San Francisco.  It is built where the Pacific Ocean meets the San Francisco Bay.  Other tourists stopped to talk to me here.

Then we drove to Golden Gate Park and visited a Tulip Garden named after Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.  The windmill is over a hundred years old.

From there we walked to a beach on the Pacific Ocean.  We got there just when the sun was setting over the Pacific Ocean.  It was beautiful.

Finally, it was time to go home.  It was a very busy day.  But, before we went home, Uncle Steve took one last picture of the windmill with the moon behind it.

Today’s blog is a special GuestBlog from Barbara Poole, with whom I recently took an online class on using Family Tree Maker.  Thanks, Barbara, for giving me a day off!

Tidbits from Barbara:  Newsletters, Blogs, and New Magazine

So much of my information comes from the genealogy newsletters I subscribe to. All four are free.  There has been a big change in several of the newsletter formats.  The two mentioned in this paragraph have gone to a blog format (blog explained later).  Most have an archive where you can look at past articles, and if at any time, you decide you don’t want the publication, it is easy to unsubscribe.  Three are delivered weekly, on different days and one is now monthly.  Not discussed is the newsletter by RootsWeb, which is free, but I no longer subscribe to.  Four is enough for me.

My favorite newsletter is by Dick Eastman and you can subscribe by going to http://www.eogn.com and sign up for the Free Standard Newsletter.  This is delivered every Monday, with updates during the week (a new feature of his).  You can also get his more detailed version for $20 per year, and receive it Sunday evening.  Dick Eastman tends to have very up-to-date bits of information.  The second newsletter discussed is The Ancestry Weekly Journal (formerly the Ancestry Daily News), in blog format since March 2006, and more changes are in store for this newsletter.  It arrives every Monday and to sign up, go to http://www.ancestry.com and select The Learning Center tab, on the right side is where you can sign up for the free version.

I also receive The National Genealogical Society’s newsletter on a monthly basis.  To subscribe, go to http://www.ngsgenealogy.org and under tab for NGS Publications, select the UpFront With NGS.  And, The New England Historic and Genealogical Society’s free newsletter delivered on Wednesday.  To subscribe, go to http://www.newenglandancestors.org and on the home page is a link to sign up to eNews.

The first two newsletters are in blog format.  From Wikipedia, the definition of Blog means: A blend of the terms web and log (usually shortened to blog, but occasionally spelled web log or weblog) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles, most often in reverse chronological order.  The first two newsletters allow you to make comments and read what others have written.  It is a nice way to exchange information.  Often there is an archives of past issues, a calendar, and various tidbits from the author.

Another blog devoted to genealogy is http://www.genealogyguys.com maintained by two well known genealogists.

A new genealogy magazine has arrived on the scene; it is Internet Genealogy and can be ordered as a hard copy or downloaded from the internet (different prices for each).  To order go to http://www.internet-genealogy.com and you can see the specifics as well as download a preview issue.

While in Poland, my companions and I stayed in Łańcut, a Polish village with a rich history not far from the villages of my ancestors.  We had reservations at the hotel connected to the Łańcut castle.  When we arrived at the gate to the castle, a guard told us that there had been a fire and that our reservations had been transferred to another hotel nearby.  We eventually were able to tour the castle and were awed by the beauty and splendor of the castle and the grounds.  In contrast to my preconceived notion that a castle was a drafty, stone structure with turrets, minarets, and drawbridges, the Łańcut castle was more like an enormous, opulently beautiful mansion equipped with every comfort.

The Castle in Łańcut 

My ancestors lived in a village south of Łańcut, but I doubt if they ever visited Łańcut.  After my trip, I hired a professional genealogist to visit the church in Dubiecko, Poland to find the church records of my ancestors.  By far, most of the records he delivered were birth and baptismal records.  He also found some marriage records, but of the fifty-one records he delivered to me, only three were death records: one for my great great grandfather, Paweł Dańko, one for my great great great grandfather, Adalbert Dańko, and one for Józef Dańko, who may have been my great great great great grandfather.

The reason I am equivocating here is that the death record for Józef contains very little information.  However, Józef’s death record does show that he was living in house number 161 when he died, and other records report that my third great grandfather, Adalbert Dańko, lived in house number 161 after Józef died.  Other known relatives lived in house numbers 158 and 160.  This is weak evidence that Józef was my fourth great grandfather, but he was probably related to my ancestors in some way.

The death record contains the following information:

• Dies mortis - Day of death
• Mensis - Month
• Nrus Domus - House number
• Nomen mortui - Name of the deceased
• Religio (Catholica, Aut alia) - Religion (Catholic, Other)
• Sexus (Mas, Foemina) - Sex (Male, Female)
• Dies Vitae - Days of Life [Age at time of death]
• Morbus et Qualitas Mortis - Disease and Cause of Death

Jozef Danko’s Death Record is similar to other Church Records in Galicia:  it was written in Latin and the information was written in a columnar format in books with preprinted pages.  Józef’s death record reports that:

• Józef Dańko died on October 26, 1787
• He lived in house number 161
• He was a male Catholic
• He was 70 years old when he died
• His cause of death was Morbograpante, but I don’t know how to translate this word or phrase

The other death records I have are more recent records that include the name of the spouse of the deceased, the date of burial, the name of the officiating priest, and the occupation of the deceased.  Since the earliest death records contain so little information, I may never be able to positively connect Józef with my family.

Genealogical Trivia

Approximate Numbers of Deaths due to:

• The Black Death (Bubonic Plague) 1330’s - 25 million 
• Irish Potato Famine 1845-1851 - 1.5 million 
• American Civil War 1861-1865 - 620,000 
• Spanish Flu Pandemic 1918-1919 - between 20 and 40 million
• World War II 1939-1945 - 56 million 
• AIDS since 1981 - 25 million
• SARS 2002-2003 - 813
• Avian Flu (Total as of May 19, 2006) - 123