Liesel's Family History Finds

The Puskarich Public Library System in Harrison County, Ohio recently digitized it's local historical newspapers, creating the Community History Archive which is free, online, and searchable. I was so excited to delve into this new resource and see if any of my relatives are mentioned in the news. Most of my Holloways lived in Belmont and Guernsey Counties, but Harrison County borders both, and my relatives lived near the borders, so I was hopeful. So far I've found a number of articles related to collateral relatives (siblings of my direct-line ancestors, for instance). The only mention I found of my 4th great grandfather, Robert Holloway, was also my most amusing find: an advertisement from 1844: The Democratic Whig Standard And Public Advertiser, page 4. Published in Cadiz, Ohio on Saturday, November 9th, 1844. Courtesy of the Puskarich Public Library, Community History Archive. Available here:  https://puskarich.advantage-preservation.com/ These advertisements appeared reg

Hello! I'm trying to catch up on weekly ancestor posts for the 52 Ancestors genealogy challenge. ( www.amyjohnsoncrow.com ). Week 8: I Can Identify My Oma, Ernilore Marianne Wirth, was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1929. Her parents were Friedrich Wilhelm "Willi" Wirth and Annemarie Vera Helene "Vera" Eckhardt. When I was in high school, my family traveled to Frankfurt with my Oma to visit her sister, my great-aunt Ursula, and other family and friends. We saw the home where she grew up, at 72 Grunebergweg, and other landmarks of her childhood. Many years later, I was looking through some of the heirloom items from my Dad's side of the family. This book of photos looked interesting, so I took it with me to my daughter's Tae Kwon Do class, to page through while watching her practice. Cover of the small book, "Frankfurt am Main in alten Ansichten." By Franz Schaub, published in 1979, Europ ä ische Bibliothek - Zaltbommel/Niederlande. Much

Welcome to another catch-up post for my 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge ( https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/ ). Week 9: Gone Too Soon There are so many relatives in my family tree who died very young. At first I thought it would be hard to choose one to write about. For example, two of my maternal grandmother's aunts died as young women (in their 20s and 30s), leaving small children behind. Susan Wisneski died of breast cancer, and Cecelia Wisneski of a self-induced abortion (see earlier series about Cecelia and her daughters) . My Vrana/Wrona 2nd-great-grandparents lost 3 children of 6 during infancy, before they immigrated from an industrial city in what is now the Czech Republic to Pennsylvania. As part of a recent post about my Holloway direct line ancestors, my parents and I realized that my children and their cousins are the first generation of this family line who have known their Holloway grandfather personally. For every previous generation, starting with my brother and I,

Hello! I'm continuing to write shorter posts on different ancestors each week following Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy challenge. ( www.amyjohnsoncrow.com ). This is week 7! Week 7: Outcast I couldn't think of a particular ancestor who was cast out of their community. What did come to mind are two ancestors who changed their surnames because of possible stigma associated with the meaning of name, combined with a move into a new life. I figure broadly speaking they were trying to avoid being an "outcast" simply because of their names. Posladek to Nalepka My maternal 2nd-great grandmother, Margaret Posladek, went by other surnames after immigrating to the United States. Her Polish maiden surname, Posladek, translates to approximately "buttock." Perhaps she figured it was better to tell others that her maiden name was something else. It appears she used the name Nalepka, which is a relatively common surname from the region of Poland where Margaret was born, a

In the next installment of my series following the lives of my cousins, Esther and Ruth Caskey, I'm sharing a little more information about their father, Jacob Caskey. Thanks for coming back! Jacob Phillip Caskey (Kasky) was born December 9, 1898 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Albert Kasky, a naturalized Russian Polish immigrant. In 1918 Jacob registered for the draft and reported that he was a pipe fitter helper in the James Laughlin Company steel mill. He had light hair and blue eyes and was of medium height and build. In November 1918, Jacob eloped with my 2nd-great aunt, Cecelia Wisneski, who was pregnant. Their daughter Esther was born around April 1919, and the small, young family lived on Arlington Avenue on the South Side of Pittsburgh, near Jacob's family, at the time of the 1920 Census. At that time Jacob's occupation was "craneman" in the steel mill. A second daughter, Ruth, was born around 1923-24. Unfortunately, the family's trajec

Welcome to my blog! Today I'm sharing a trove of information about the orphanage where Esther and Ruth Caskey were raised. Please read the first two posts in this series for more background on how they came to be orphans. I wrote to Concordia Lutheran Ministries and received a quick and gracious reply. Their staff were eager to search the archives and share surviving records of my relatives, Esther and Ruth Caskey. They also mailed me a beautiful history book of the organization, which includes many photos and stories from the past 140 years of their ministry. They didn't find any intake records for either child, but there was one surprising note created just a few days after Ruth left the Orphans' Home. It says she entered  the home on April 10, 1927. Her mother, Cecelia, didn't die until October 22, 1927. Of course, this record appears to be a relatively informal note, written on a calendar page for June 9, 1941, about one week after it says Ruth left the home. Handwr

Hello! It's Week 6 in Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy challenge: writing about 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks ( www.amyjohnsoncrow.com ). Week 6: Social Media When I first started researching my family history, like many people, I focused on names, dates, and places. I still enjoy this piece of it, adding branches to my family tree, but what I've found is that the real excitement comes from stories. Even glimpses into the daily lives of my ancestors are thrilling and bring them to life in ways that the names and dates simply never could. One of the best sources for these more colorful bits of information is newspapers. I think we have a perception in modern times that our privacy has been confiscated by social media like Facebook and Twitter. But in reality, in most small towns and big cities across the U.S., local newspapers shared intimate details of people's lives daily to the public. I've found mentions of car accidents, social visits between family and friends, guest li

Welcome to the fifth week of Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy challenge: writing about 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks ( www.amyjohnsoncrow.com ). Week 5: Oops I had a hard time thinking of a topic to match this week's prompt. But this little notice in the newspaper that I found a couple of weeks ago popped into my mind. Excerpt from The Daily Notes, Canonsburg, PA. March 2, 1936. Accessed on Newspapers.com. Evidently, my great-grandfather, Joe Vrana, and his sort-of brother-in-law (his wife Lillian's older sister Agnes' husband, Harry Maloy), were in a car accident together. I take this as one more bit of evidence of the interconnectedness of the various families in this area and on branches of my family tree. Thanks for your time! What accidents or mishaps show up in your family history?

Welcome to Week 4 of Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy challenge for the year: writing about 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks ( www.amyjohnsoncrow.com ). Week 4: Education When I looked at the prompt "Education," my first thought was of my grandpa, Edwin D. Pirl. In several ways, education was a cornerstone of his life. Ed Pirl was born in 1928 in Adah, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and grew up in a coal-mining "patch" town called Gates. As soon as he graduated from German Township High School, he joined "the service," as he always called it, and he served about 4 years in the Army Air Force, in between World War II and the Korean War. When he returned home he went to college at West Virginia University, thanks to the financial benefits of the G.I. Bill, and he became a vocal proponent of programs like it. Ed Pirl during his service in the Army Air Force, ~1946-1949 Ed Pirl was a dedicated and respected public school teacher and lifelong union member. He served as

Welcome to Week 3 of Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy challenge for the year: writing about 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks ( www.amyjohnsoncrow.com ). Week 3: Out of Place As soon as I saw the theme for this week, I knew exactly who I was going to write about. My grandma, Arlene Dolores Vrana, was MISSING in the 1940 Census! Arlene Dolores Vrana, or Dolores as she was known, was born August 30, 1935 in Washington, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Joseph Vrana and Lillian Wisniewski. At the time of the 1940 Census, she would have been almost 5 years old. US Census, 1940. Delliner, Dunkard Township, Green County, Pennsylvania. As you can see, Joseph Vrana, his wife Lillian, and four sons: Joseph Jr., Raymond, Robert, and Regis are all listed in the census. But Dolores is not there. Why was she not counted and recorded? I don't think she was living with other family at the time, as she never mentioned it to me or to my mother. And she was too young to have been at a boarding school or living

It's Week 2 of Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy challenge for the year: writing about 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks ( www.amyjohnsoncrow.com ). Week 2: Favorite Photo Choosing a favorite photo is almost  as hard as choosing a favorite ancestor would be. But, one of   my favorites is this portrait of Margaret (Maggie) Cumberland, my 2nd-great-grandmother on the Pirl side of my family tree. Margaret Cumberland (1879-1945). Copy of framed photo shared with me by a cousin. Photo undated. Enhanced, repaired, and colorized by MyHeritage's free photo enhancement tools (www.myheritage.com). I think this one is the oldest in my collection. I love that it shows some personal resemblance to myself and my daughter. I think I see strength and resilience in the set of her jaw and the directness of her eyes. One of the reasons I love photos is that they raise so many questions. For instance, why was this photo of Maggie taken? She looks fairly young here, and based on that and her hair and clothin

Today I decided to attempt a genealogy challenge for the year: writing about 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Johnson Crow ( www.amyjohnsoncrow.com ). Each week of 2023 Ms. Crow has provided a prompt. They are intentionally broad or ambiguous to allow for lots of options and interpretations. I'm going to just jump right in (one week late)! Week 1: I'd Like to Meet Really, I'd love to meet all of my ancestors and collateral-line relatives. But, I have to pick just one, so I'm choosing George Pirl. George Pirl (Perl/Purl/Pearl) was my 3rd-great grandfather on my mother's side. He was born around 1806 and died in 1889 in Pennsylvania. The reason I'd like to meet him is that he is one of my biggest "brick walls" in my family history. On one census it says his parents were also both born in Pennsylvania, so I have some confidence that the Pirls were in the U.S. since the mid-late 1700s at least. But I do not know George's parents' names. Oth

Hello, and welcome back! Today I'm sharing a little more about childhood of Esther and Ruth Caskey, Cecelia's daughters. Please read the first post in this series for more background. As I shared in the first post of this series, two of my cousins (first cousins twice removed, to be exact), spent much of their childhood in an Orphans' Home in the 1930s and 40s. Their mother, Cecelia (Wisneski) Caskey, died suddenly and quite tragically in 1927. Their father, Jacob, was alive, but apparently became unable to care for the girls, since he was a patient in the Mayview state mental hospital by 1930.  On the 1930 and 1940 Censuses, it says that the Orphans' Home was located in Jefferson Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania. This was a little surprising to me, because the Caskeys, including Jacob's relatives, lived in the Pittsburgh area. Butler County is north of Pittsburgh, but adjacent. The Wisniewskis lived south of Pittsburgh, in Washington, PA by 1930. On the census

Hello! Thanks for joining me today!           My great-grandmother, Lillian Wisniewski, had an older sister named Cecelia (Wisneski). Cecelia was born around 1899-1900, probably in Allegheny or Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. She had older and younger siblings and lived with her family in Bethel Township, Allegheny County, PA in 1910. At that time her father Frank and older brother Stanley worked in the local coal mine.           In November 1918, Cecelia eloped with Jacob Caskey (alternate spelling Kasky), a young man who had just registered for the WWI draft. He was a pipe fitter helper in the steel mill in Pittsburgh. They were married in Wellsburg, West Virginia, where she provided her name as Cecelia Wesley, her age as 21 (older than reality), and her residence as Castle Shannon, PA (which is in the Bethel Township area, and where my great-grandmother eventually got married). Marriage License of Jacob Kasky and Cecelia Wesley (Wisneski). Nov. 19, 1918.           I believe Cecel