Genealogical Gems

American soldier Pvt. Edward Donald “Eddie” Slovik was executed On This Day in 1945 for desertion. He was the only American soldier to receive this punishment during WWII and the first since the Civil War.   Slovik was drafted, beginning as an 4-F. He had a prison record which lowered his rank automatically until, due to personnel needs, those standards were lowered. Then he was reclassified as an 1-A. In August 1944 he was sent as a replacement to France to fight with the 28 th Infantry Division. He got lost on the way to the Front and ended up with a Canadian until 5 October when the Canadians turned him over to the military police. Men got lost all the time so that incident was accepted as is, so to speak. Once back though, Slovik told his commanders he did not want to fight and would not. His commanding officers did not accept this and Slovik deserted the next day. He returned, admitted to running away and was sent to the stockade.   He was offered a deal which re...

The Tribune Star this past Sunday published a nice read by Tamie Dehler titled “ Genealogy: Steerage Act a boon for genealogists centuries later .” The article discusses the Steerage Act of 1819. Without that Act, we would not find ourselves browsing through passenger lists for information on our immigrant ancestors.   Blog posts worth reading:   Helen Spear Youngblood wrote her post for Worldwide Genealogy this week. She wrote a timeline of her own life. She pulled in events like meeting President Eisenhower and attending school in the Brown vs. Board of Education era and the Civil Rights Movement. I do timelines on family/ancestors to help put things in perspective but never thought to do one for myself. What a great idea!    It is through genealogy that I have learned so much history in general. Dana Stewart Leeds, in her 52 Ancestors’ post titled “ Henry Bennett: A Settler of Kansas Territory ,” offers a nice history concerning Kansas while she write...

An unemployed house painter, Richard Lawrence, approached the President On This Day as he left a congressional funeral that was being held in the House chamber at the Capitol. As Lawrence neared President Andrew Jackson, he pulled out his firearm and shot at the President. The gun misfired though giving President Jackson beat the man with his walking club. Lawrence had a second firearm on him but it too misfired. President Jackson, then 67, believed Lawrence was acting on behalf of his political foes. The year was 1835.   Jackson served as President from 4 March 1829 to 4 March 1837. He was the Seventh President of our nation.     Photo: Wikipedia / Public Domain   On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

This week’s prompt for Amy Crow’s 52 Ancestors Challenge is: We will likely be plowing through a lot of snow by this time. What ancestor had a lot of struggles to plow through? Or take it more literally… It’s up to you. I have decided to take it literal. Hubby’s mother was a Deyoe by birth and her grandfather, and his father before him, was farmers in New York . While the Deyo family there is widely recorded, there is little about the Deyoe family, who may or may not be related.     My husband’s maternal grandfather was Morgan Gramelia Deyoe (1877-1944). He was born in New York to Daniel Gramelia and Louisa Sharp Deyoe. Morgan was born in Greene County , NY but did not take to farming. Instead he ends up in Philadelphia working on Hog Island . There he was, in 1918, a mechanic for the International Ship Building .   I have never been able to confirm when exactly Daniel died. I found Louisa, a widow, living in New Jersey in 1910. In researching for ...

The New York Evening Mirror published "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe On This Day in 1845. "The Raven" is a narrative poem, meaning the narrator tells a story usually in metered verse. Poe is known for his dark gothic work.   Despite being known for his writings, he was quite poor during his lifetime. He lived in Boston , Richmond , Baltimore , New York City and Philadelphia . He is widely remembered and loved. In Richmond , there is an Edgar Allen Poe Museum . Baltimore boasts the Edgar Allen Poe House and Museum. In Philadelphia the Edgar Allen Poe National Historic Site is maintained by the National Park Service. The Edgar Allen Poe Cottage is in the Bronx .   I love Poe. To be honest it is so hard to choose a favorite work by him. The first one that comes to mind though is "The Masque of the Red Death".   What is YOUR favorite Poe piece?     On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical event...

Yesterday I featured John and Catharine Eckman in my Tombstone Tuesday post . Since several of the children are buried with them and listed on the same stone, I included mention of all 11 children in the post. One of my girls read it and asked why so many never got married. Three of the four unmarried sisters were all teachers.   Teaching was one job at that time that was acceptable for ladies to do but it involved more than just teaching. Teachers then were expected to be role models. To my 16 year old girls this concept of them not marrying because they were teachers is foreign. I have been at this long enough that I never gave it a second thought. So today, on Workday Wednesday, I thought I would focus on the Eckman sisters.   The sisters are: Clara (1858-1927) never married Dora H. (1861-1882) never married. Died at age 21. Margaret Estella (1863-1939) married Lewis Eckman on 25 October 1894. Martha Ann (1865-1924) never married Winona Sue (1873-1950) ne...

Octorara was cancelled because of a snow storm On This Day 29 years ago. To be honest I do not recall the storm. That was my junior year and I remember we had off often that January. This day stood out thou because I was in the living room. I think my sister was in there with me. Mom was in the kitchen starting lunch and Daddy was at work. We were waiting to watch the Challenger take off. It was the first time a civilian would be included.   The civilian was teacher Christa McAuliffe from one of the New England states. There was a lot of hype about this flight because of her. Normally to be honest, I would not have wasted time watching a shuttle take off but it shortly before lunch, 11:38 am ET when the shuttle took off.    And then in just a little over a minute – 73 seconds to be exact – the Challenger exploded. There was an odd looking plume of smoke and fire. It was horrific and yet hard to turn away from.   The year, by the way, was 1986.   ...

Auschwitz Death Camp was liberated On This Day in 1945. The Soviet army entered liberated approximately 7,000 people in Auschwitz , Birkenau, and Monowitz. The majority of those 7,000 - mostly European Jews - were too old, too young or too ill to survive the Death March to another camp. These 7,000 were essentially left to die. The exact number of people sent to Auschwitz may never be known. It is estimated that approximately 1.2 million people were sent there and that 1.1 million of those died in the camp. Photo: Public domain image of child survivors liberated in January 1945. Source: Wikipedia. On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

John Eckman (1830-1889) and his wife Catharine (1840-1898) are buried at the Zion UCC Cemetery in New Providence with five of their 11 children. That said, five are included on their tombstone, two are buried adjacent to them and four are buried with their spouses.   John was born there in Strasburg Township , Lancaster County on 12 August 1830 to Henry and Elizabeth Eckman. Catharine Kezia was born on 13 October 1840 to James Cresswell and Elizabeth Herr. John was a painter.   On 7 January 1858 John and Catharine married in Providence , Lancaster County . They lived almost directly across the street from the Zion Reformed Church (now Zion UCC). They had, as mentioned, 11 children: Clara (1858-1927) never married Charles Henry (1860-1887) married Rosa Kirchner, buried at St. Joseph ’s in Lancaster . Dora H. (1861-1882) never married Margaret Estella (1863-1924) buried there with husband, Lewis Eckman, Martha Ann (1865-...

This week’s prompt is managing projects and tasks, and tracking searches and until I sat down to write it, I thought I was on top of things. I plan well and I know how to use my day planner and understand its necessity. But seriously, let’s be honest.    I sit down and I start a search and one thing leads to another and pretty soon there went the entire afternoon and even worse sometimes I get so sidetracked. Like earlier today. I went to Ancestry.com to confirm some information about Aunt Jo, who I wrote about in my MatrilinealMonday . A few clicks later I was looking at her husband in the 1930 census. At age 8 then he was in the St. John’s Male Orphan Asylum in Philadelphia .   I read Anne Faulkner’s Ancestor Archeology today and she is absolutely right about slowing down and doing things right. Genealogy should be about quality and not necessarily about quantity.      So tonight I am posting this, shutting down the laptop, watching Sons of Lib...

Josephine Eckman Pelikoski passed away peacefully two years ago today. So, today Matrilineal Monday just seems a perfect fit to remember her.    Born 25 July 1926 in Philadelphia , she is the daughter of John Charles Eckman and Mabel Eckman. She was the middle child. Her older brother is John Charles Eckman and he younger is Frank Raymond Eckman (Dad). They three kids grew up in Philadelphia , attended school there and worked there after high school.    During World War II, Aunt Jo worked in the payroll dept. of the John B. Stetson Co. when they were working on military contracts. The Stetson Hat Company was located on the corner of intersection where 5th Street , Germantown and Montgomery come together in the Kensington area. When the War ended, she worked for the So. Philadelphia National Bank in the bookkeeping department.   Then in 1948, after serving six years in the US Navy, she married Anthony Pelikoski. Their first son, named Anthony Jr., wa...

It was On This Day in 1979 when the Dukes of Hazzard premiered with their iconic 1969 Dodge Charger known as General Lee and the gorgeous Duke cousins. Luke and Bo Duke spent as much time getting out of trouble as they did helping people.    Luke Duke was portrayed by Tom Wolpat. Since the show he has done some tv but he has also performed in several musicals and recorded his own country music as well. He was by far my favorite actor on the show. I was 10 when the show first aired, so by “favorite actor” I mean I thought he was to die for! My favorite character, looking back, would have to be Uncle Jessie.    Uncle Jessie was played by Denver Pyle and his character epitomized the stereotype of a good ole back woods country boy. John Schneider portrayed the blond Bo Duke. He was easy on the eyes but not the brightest bulbs sometimes. He still acts and has been in some good shows and movies. He plays a wide range of characters too. Daisy Duke, best known for ...

Today we so often see monuments in every town. Rarely do people even stop and really look at them and remember those who the monument was set to honor. It was On This Day in 1776 that the first national monument was ordered.   The monument was to honor the memory of Revolutionary War Brigadier General Richard Montgomery . He was killed during an assault on Quebec on 31 December 1775. Jean Jacques Caffieri was commissioned to create the monument, which was finished in 1778. The monument is located at St. Paul ’s Chapel in New York City .   Photo: Public Domain image from Wikipedia   On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events. © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

Tuesday will be the fourth anniversary of the passing of a good friend and fellow parish member, John Dmytryk.    His obituary read: John Dmytryk, 87, of Coatesville, husband of Rose M. Szanyi Dmytryk, died Thursday, 27 January, 2011 in Brandywine Hospital . Born on 29 January 1923 in Newark , NJ , he was the son of the late Stephen and Sophia Prydun Dmytryk. John was a graduate of the former Scott High School , Coatesville. He was employed as a contractor for the Wright Brothers of Chester County for many years. He also was a deputy sheriff of Chester County and constable for the state of Pennsylvania . John was known as a man of many hats but his great enjoyment was mowing on his John Deere tractor and caring for his iris and blueberry gardens. He was a member of the Holy Ghost Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Coatesville. In addition to Rose, his wife of 15 years, he is survived by a son, John L. Dmytryk of Coatesville and two brothers, Nicholas Dmytryk and Peter ...

Thursday of this week is National Puzzle Day. I used to love putting jigsaw puzzles together but why I bring this up is because it dawns on me that genealogy is like a big family puzzle. We spend our time seeing if this person fits here or there and matching up events and such. So really Thursday could be “National Place An Ancestor Day”!   Birthdays Happy birthday this week to David and Mark Peters, and Doug Schlichter! May God grant you all Many Years.    Memory Eternal Today (25 January) is the 104 th anniversary of the death of Julia T Coursault. She is my husband’s 2x great aunt and the daughter of Oliver C Coursault, of Philadelphia , and Catherine Wren, of Ireland .   Monday is the second anniversary of Aunt Jo passing. Aunt Jo is Josephine Eckman Pelikoski. She was (hubby’s) Dad’s sister. She married Tony Pelikoski. Tomorrow I will share more about Aunt Jo during Matrilineal Monday.   That's her photo at right. It is also 152 ye...