1940 Census: Paternal Grandfather

After not being able to look at any images of the 1940 census yesterday, I made a lot of progress today, finding all 4 of my grandparents!  The fastest way I found to search the images was to download the entire enumeration district and then flip through it in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Grandparent number 1 (according to my pedigree chart), and the second found today, is my paternal grandfather, Theodore Acquard.  In 1940 he was 6 and living on a farm on Alleghany Rd. Bennington, Wyoming Co., NY.  He is listed with his parents, Florian and Stella (Karpinski), younger brothers Daniel and Ronald, grandfather Joseph Acquard and uncle Walter Acquard.  His name is misspelled as “Theadore”.

Source: 1940 U.S. census, Wyoming County, New York, population schedule, Bennington, enumeration district (ED) 61-8, sheet 7B, dwelling (blank), family 150, Florian Acquard household; digital images, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 Census (http://1940census.archives.gov/ : accessed 3 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 02816. 

Finding the Karpinski Family: Step 1, What I Know

A new season of Who Do You Think You Are? is on, life here has slowed down after the holidays and I miss genealogy.  In the past, I have always focused on my mother’s family, as I have relatives who have traced my father’s side back many generations.  Looking at my database, however, it is easy to see that not all lines were traced back multiple generations.  One of these lines is the Karpinski’s, my paternal grandfather’s mother’s line.

I am going to document my search for this family on my blog for a variety of reasons.  First, the whole point of a is to show the research I have done, get help for problems I can’t solve (especially since I have never done Polish research before), and hopefully meet cousins.  Second, if you are brand new to genealogical research, this can show you one method a genealogist takes to find their family.  You can follow along, see what conclusions you come to and then use that information to search for your own family

Step 1

Step one for any genealogical search is to start with what you know.  Although it can be easy to say “Well, I heard we are related to *insert famous person here* so let me start with them and connect backwards to my family” or “I have always been curious about my 3rd great grandmother who has the same first name as I do, so I am going to go to Ancestry.com and search for her”, these are not the best methods to do historical research.  Always begin with yourself and move backwards through time.

Write down as much information about each person as you can, including vital statistics, alternate name spellings and nicknames (particularly for immigrant ancestors), spouses, children, religion, occupation and organizations they belonged to.  The more you have, the easier it will be to find them in records and to know that you are looking at the right “John Smith”.

What I Know

What you know can be listed in a wide variety of ways.  The most basic way is in a simple list format:

Me: Amanda Acquard Perrine

Father: Dad Acquard (no, that is not his actual first name… I tend to keep that info off my blog for living people)

Grandfather: Theodore Frank Acquard

• b. 21 Sept 1933, Bennington Center, Wyoming County, New York
• m. 12 July 1958, Alden, Erie Co., NY
• d. 29 Nov 2009, Cheektowaga, Erie Co., NY

Great-Grandmother: Stanislawa “Stella” Frances Karpinski

• b. 6 May 1916, Buffalo, Erie Co., NY
• m. 28 Dec 1931, Bennington Ctr., Wyoming Co., NY to Florian Dana Acquard
• d. 26 Jan 1987, Batavia, Genesee Co., NY of Thyroid Cancer
• buried: Bennington Ctr., Wyoming Co., NY
• other: 6 children, remarried to Walter John Acquard 30 Aug 1952 in Bennington Ctr. after death of Florian.  Walter was Florian’s brother.

Great-Great Grandparents:

Franciszek “Francis” Karpinski

• b. 16 Sep 1880, Poland
• m. Unknown
• d. 22 May 1942, NY
• buried: Holland, Erie Co., NY
• other: 6 children (Florence, Thaddeus, Genowefa, Roman, Stanislawa and Alfreda)

Jozefa “Josephine” Szydlik

• b. 16 Sep 1886, Poland
• d. 4 April 1973, Warsaw, Wyoming Co., NY
• buried: Holland, Erie Co., NY
• other: Her parents were Thomas Szydlik and Barbara (last name unknown).  They had 3 children (Jozefa, Stefania and Apolania)

As you can see, this can get lengthy and confusing.  As such, genealogists use forms such as pedigree charts, family charts and genealogy programs to keep all of their information organized (I recommend Legacy Family tree, it’s free and tremendously simple to use, but also offers a lot of power).

Here is my pedigree chart for Stella:

Here is a family group sheet for Franciszek:

This is much more organized and easy to understand.  Once these are completed, I print them out and place them in my research binder, along with family group sheets for Stella and for Thomas Szydlik.  The printed sheets also have all of my sources for the information (in this example, all of the information I have was provided to me by my Aunt Dottie).

Now it is time to start researching, starting with your relatives.  Please read about this step tomorrow!

Fearless Females: Marriage Records

In honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogistblog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.

As both of my grandmothers are still living and probably wouldn't want this information on my blog, I will focus on my great grandparents for this post.

Alfred Marco Casell and Lillian L. Eichhorn married 11 July 1928 in Buffalo, Erie County, New York.  Al was 22, Lillian, 19.  Witnesses were Al's father Marco and Frank J. Condon.

William Herbert Whitehead married Vera Julia Gress 28 March 1921, also in Buffalo.  He was 24, she was 21.  Witnesses were Bill's brother Hobson and Alberta Suess.  Their wedding announcement was:

Whitehead-Gress.  The marriage of Miss Vera [piece ripped off] daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. [also ripped; Gress] of Forest avenue, to Mr. William H. Whitehead , took place Easter Monday night at 8:30 o'clock at the home of the bride's parents, the Rev. J. Ward officiating.  The attendents were Miss Alberta Suess and Mr. Hobson Whitehead.  Mr. and Mrs. W. Whitehead will be home at 173 Forest avenue after a trip to New York, Washington and Baltimore.

Florian Dana Acquard and Stanislawa Frances Karpinski married 28 December 1932 in Bennington Center, Wyoming County, NY.  Florian was 33, Stella was 16.

Albert Emil Nuwer married Edna Agnes Roll 22 June 1932 in Alden, Erie County, NY at St. John's Roman Catholic Church.  He was 26, she was 21.

[caption id="attachment_814" align="aligncenter" width="235" caption="Al and Edna's Wedding"][/caption]

This is the only wedding picture I have for my great grandparents.  I love the "Just Married" sign on the car.  I had calla lilies as my wedding flowers,just  like they did.

Sources

Erie County marriage certificate (short form), 4024 (1921), Whitehead-Gress; Erie County Clerk's Office, Buffalo.

New York State Department of Health, marriage certificate 2251 (1928), Casell-Eichhorn; WNYGS Erie Co. Clerk's Office Marruage Licenses microfilm 132.

"Whitehead-Gress," (Buffalo) Unknown Newspaper; Article owned by Barbara Mueller.  Copied from her home by Amanda E. Perrine 23 May 2009.

 

 

SNGF - Ancestral Name List Roulette

Courtesy of Randy at Genea-Musings:

Instructions:

1) How old is one of your grandfathers now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel"). Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."

Theodore Frank Acquard was born 21 Sept 1933, so he would be 77.  77/4 = 19.25, which we will put as 19.  Spinning the ahnentafel chart, we get Jozefa Szydlik, my great-great-grandmother.

Jozefa was born 26 Sep 1886 in Poland.  One of my goals for 2011 is to look into my Polish ancestry more and figure out where in Poland they came from.  She came to New York state with her family and died in Warsaw, Warsaw Co., NY 4 Apr 1973.  She was married to Franciszek Karpinski.  Good thing we only need to give three facts because that is about all I have on her.

A Letter For Grandpa

[caption id="attachment_654" align="aligncenter" width="291" caption="With my Grandpa Acquard (1985)"][/caption]

Dear Grandpa,

It's hard to believe it has been a year.  Time is strange, I have learned, sometimes it feels like minutes, sometimes decades, and when is far beyond my control.  Did you ever think about that?  Did you wonder when you grew old?  When your children and grandchildren grew up?

It has been quite a year.  Aaron and I got married about two months ago.  I put a poinsettia on the alter in memory of you.  I wish I had gotten to dance with you at the reception.  We got Grandma to dance a few times and I think everyone had a wonderful time.  I am glad you met each other a few times, that he can have memories of you, too.

I went to Germany for 4 months.  I know you always worried when I traveled alone, but I was careful, and went to amazing places in Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark and even Iceland.  I didn't get to any ancestral villages like planed, but Aaron and I will be making a trip someday.

I am still a reader.  In fact, we have a huge stack of your books and magazines that Grandma let us have.  I'm still doing genealogy, when I get the time.  I promise to start on your mother's Polish side when I finish with school, since I know you and Aunt Dottie haven't done much of it.

I'll be 29 in a week and a half.  Pretty crazy, huh?  Can you believe you eldest grandchild is nearing the end of her 20s?  I also finish my third semester of graduate school that day.  Come May I'll have my masters degree.  I think this next year is going to be a good one... I'll keep you updated...

I miss you,

Love,

Mandy

A New View of the SSDI

As a genealogist we collect dead ancestors and other relatives.  We happily search for tombstones, death certificates, parish burial records and SSDI records.  We do it for different reasons, some to know where they come from, others, for the mystery and challenge and still others, like me, to make sure people are not forgotten.  In my search for dead relatives, I have continually striven to go further back and further outward in the cluster to learn more and more about these formerly-living, rather-distant relatives.

Today, I searched once again for another ancestor on the SSDI at RootsWeb, this time knowing exactly who would be posted there.  On Sunday, 29 November, my grandfather, Theodore Frank Acquard died.  It feels even more official now that I have this strip of information to paste into my Legacy and RootsMagic databases:

THEODORE F ACQUARD

21 Sep 1933

29 Nov 2009 (V)

14086 (Lancaster, Erie, NY)

(none specified)

090-26-2411

New York

At nearly 28 I had never had someone close to me die before.  I think that made for an interesting genealogist.  I collected these dead relatives without ever comprehending what it meant for them to be dead.  I fill in the birth, marriage, death dates, add some random facts about employment or military service and think that I am preserving my family history.  In a way I am, but I now understand what items like the SSDI listing can never explain and what the hundred of fact listings on a Legacy database cannot tell either.

With my Grandpa Acquard 4 July 1985 (Age 3)

Theodore Frank Acquard, also known as Ted, husband, brother, son, uncle, godfather, friend, dad, grandpa and great-grandpa, was born 21 Sep 1933 in Bennington Center, NY to Florian Dana Acquard and Stanislawa "Stella" Frances Karpinski.  He was their first child and the first grandchild on one side (I was the first grandchild on both, he understood why things like that were important).  His father died when he was only 15, which made him grow up faster than children should have to.  He was tremendously intelligent, skipping two grades in school and had a lifelong love of reading, which he passed on to his eldest son, who passed it on to me.  He was in the military and then married my grandma in 1958 and had 5 children, 2 boys and 3 girls.  He raised them in a 3 bedroom house in Lancaster, NY, which had a big backyard that he could watch those children and, later, grandchildren, run around in, as well as watching all of his birds as they sat at the multitude of bird feeders he set up.  He always loved his machines and worked in construction, even after he "retired" from it.  He loved sports and watching the news and doing genealogy.  He told the best stories, which as a child I could listen to endlessly, especially when they involved family history.  He talked to everyone he met, built wonderful things, like a swing set for my sister and I, and bought poinsettias for his daughters and daughters-in-law's, which he dutifully delivered every Christmas Eve. He always remembered to kiss me goodbye and say "I love you Mandy."

My baptism, 1982, he's on far right

On 29 November 2009, the world lost a good man.  On 2 December I told those who already knew how wonderful he was what I would always remember of him, in a eulogy similar to what I wrote above.

Last drink for Grandpa

I have now learned the true meaning of being a genealogist: to preserve not the bare-bones dates and facts of a person's existence, but to tell the story of someone who was loved, who amazing traits, who had flaws, and who, most of all, existed and should never be forgotten.

Surname Saturday: Acquard

In the new year, I am finally going to start doing the Surname Saturday theme.  My plan is to go alphabetically through each of my surnames in order to get them all on the internet and, hopefully, meet some more cousins:-)

The first surname of the year is Acquard.  This is my surname and almost always has me first on any list.

According to the World Names Profiler, Acquard is only in the United States:

Clicking on the US, it is shown to predominately be in  New York, Minnesota and Indiana:

When my immigrant ancestor and his brothers came to America from France, my ancestor stayed in New York state, while his brother moved to Minnesota.  I am unclear as to when Indiana became a popular place for the Acquards.

I do not do much research on the Acquard family, as my great Aunt Dottie has traced back many, many generations in France, as well as many cousins here in America.  She could easily create a one-name study and amazing book with her research.   Her work is incredible and something I hope to emulate with other lines.

My branch of the Acquard family came from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France.  They settled in Western New York, primarily in Erie, Genesee and Wyoming Counties.

If you ever meet an Acquard, odds are they are related to me:-)

Advent Calender - Opening Day 2

The GeneaBlogger Advent Calender prompt #2: December 2 - Holiday Foods
Did your family or ancestors serve traditional dishes for the holidays? Was there one dish that was unusual?

My favorite holiday food story is also always brought up by my Gramma Acquard every time I see her:-) We spend Christmas each year with my father's family and for every Christmas dinner my grandmother makes baked beans. Every year she also forgets to take them out of the oven, which is where I come in. I always remember that they aren't out on the counter in the buffet line with everything else, so she will pull them out of the oven and find a place for them with everything else. This is apparently a long running tradition, as my mother used to always remind her before I was old enough to. She makes fantastic baked beans.

SNGF - My 16 great-great-grandparents

From Randy over at Genea-Musings: Here is your SNGF assignment for the evening (if you choose to accept it - this is not stump the genealogist or even Mission Impossible):

1) List your 16 great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places.

2) Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them.

3) Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 - 6.25% for each (obviously, this is approximate).

4) If you don't know all 16 of your great-grandparents, then do it for the last full generation you have.

5) Write your own blog post, or make a comment on Facebook or in this post.

1. Joseph Francis Eugene Acquard, Jr.: born 17 Jan 1855 in Cheektowaga, Erie, NY; married 15 Oct 1878 in Bennington Ctr., Wyoming, NY; died 10 Sept 1943 in Bennington Ctr., Wyoming, NY. FRENCH
2. Mary Ann Kollin: born 15 Oct 1878 in Bennington Ctr., Wyoming, NY; died 5 Feb 1938 in Bennington Ctr., Wyoming, NY. 1/2 GERMAN and 1/2 BELGIAN
3. Franciszek Karpinski: born 16 Sep 1880 in Poland; died 22 May 1943 in Erie or Wyoming, NY. POLISH
4. Jozefa Szydlik: born 26 Sep 1886 in Poland; died 4 Apr 1973 in Warsaw, Wyoming, NY. POLISH
5. John George Nuwer: born 21 Mar 1869 in Lancaster, Erie, NY; married 19 Apr 1893 in Lancaster, Erie, NY; died 1 Feb 1948 in Alden, Erie, NY. FRENCH
6. Anna M. Zaepfel: born 28 Sep 1874 in Elma, Erie, NY; died 7 Aug 1943 in Alden, Erie, NY. 1/2 GERMAN & 1/2 FRENCH
7. Edward Roll: born about 1888 in Alden, Erie, NY; married 22 Jun 1910 in Alden, Erie, NY; died 12 May 1941 in Alden, Erie, NY. FRENCH
8. Lidwina Agnes Pautler: born 16 Jan 1888 in Alden, Erie, NY; died 11 Oct 1975 in Batavia, Genesee, NY. FRENCH
9. Marcantonio Casillo: born 11 Jan 1868 in Italy; married 5 Sept 1901 in Buffalo, Erie, NY; died 26 Nov 1937 in Colden, Erie, NY. ITALIAN
10. Carolina Izzo: born 3 May 1876 in Italy; died 2 Oct 1934 in Buffalo, Erie, NY. ITALIAN
11. William Fred Eichhorn: born 22 Jun 1874 in Chippewa, Ontario, Canada; married 14 Jun 1899 in Buffalo, Erie, NY; died 9 Mar 1931 in Buffalo, Erie, NY. GERMAN
12. Augusta M. Tross: born 6 Sept 1877 in Germany; died 1 Jan 1939 in Buffalo, Erie, NY. GERMAN
13. Charles William Whitehead: born 12 Jun 1872 in Burlington, Ontario, Canada; married prior to 1896; died 27 Dec 1927 in Buffalo, Erie, NY. ENGLISH
14. Anna May Sanderson: born 17 Jun 1871 in Burlington, Ontario, Canada; died 29 Apr 1928 in Buffalo, Erie, NY. ENGLISH
15. Jacob J. Gress: born 26 Jan 1869 in Buffalo, Erie, NY; married prior to 1888; died 11 Aug 1932 in Buffalo, Erie, NY. GERMAN
16. Elizabeth Fink: born 6 Jul 1867 in Buffalo, Erie, NY; died 24 Apr 1957 in Buffalo, Erie, NY. GERMAN

That gives me 31.25% German; 28.125% French; 12.5% Polish; 12.5% Italian; 12.5% English ; and 3.125% Belgian. The French and German parts are hard to tell as most of my fathers family came from the Alsace-Lorraine region which kept changing hands. The fact that my 3rd great-grandmother was born in Belgium (like the waffle) has always been cool to me. Oddly, I most identify with the Italian part of my heritage, even though it is way down on the list.

The Story of Me

My parents were high school sweethearts. Apparently my father liked a dress my mother was wearing and then they took a class together and started dating. She was a freshman and he was a sophomore. It also didn't hurt that my mom's best friend was my dad's sister, so it was easy for them to meet.

After my mom got her associates degree my parents married. It was 5 September 1980, my mom was 20 and my dad 21. About five months later my mom was pregnant with me.

I was due on Thanksgiving and the story goes that my great aunt Marilyn wanted me named Tom Turkey if I was a boy (this is the same aunt that later convinced one of my cousins that my aunt was pregnant with a mouse, a la Stuart Little). I ended up not coming on Thanksgiving, or the week after, and the doctors had decided to come get me on 10 December. Even in the womb I didn't like being told what to do, so I decided to make my entrance on the 9th instead.

According to my father, while driving to the hospital he stopped at Ted's (a fantastic hot dog restaurant in Buffalo, NY) and grabbed a hot dog. My mother doesn't recall this, although she said it is possible...

I came out screaming (and haven't been quiet since) and received a 9+ out of 10 on my tests (always the high achiever:-)). As you can see from the picture, I was also completely adorable.

As the first grandchild on both sides, my parents wanted to honor my grandmothers with my name. Both grandmothers said no to their first names (Marlyn and Agnes) and one to her middle name as well (Loretta). Therefore, my middle name became Elizabeth, my paternal grandmothers middle name. It also happened to be my mothers middle name and one that has much family history. My first name I believe came from a soap opera, which is why there are so many Amandas my age.