Genealogical Gems

The New York Times, in an untitled article in its supplement On This Day in 1897, discussed immigration. Immigration statistics were not gathered until 1820. The article provides immigration totals by decades for 1820 to 1890. That first decade (1820-1830) saw 128,393 immigrants. From 1830 to 1840, there were 539,391 immigrants. The number more than doubled the next decade as 1,423,337 people immigrated to American between 1840 and 1850. There were another 2,799,423 immigrants from 1850 to 1860. Even with the Civil War going on here, immigration did not slow drastically. Between 1860 and 1870, there were 1,964,061 immigrants. From 1870 to 1880, there were 2,834,040 immigrants. The next decade saw an even greater increase with 5,246,613 immigrants arriving between 1880 and 1890. From 1890 to 1896 (remember this was from an 1897 article), another 2,878,492 had arrived. As expected, the economy played a large role in the number of immigrants. England suffered a commercial depress...

James Still is my great uncle. Specifically he is my maternal grandfather’s brother. Born 5 September 1910, he is the elder son of Pierson George Still and Mary Kilpatrick. He died 18 February 1979. His funeral service was held at Albert F Kuzo Funeral Home in Kennett Square , Chester County. He is buried at the Doe Run Presbyterian Cemetery in East Fallowfield Township , Chester County . The front of his card shows a cross made of a thorn branch, a bible and a fern-like branch. It reads: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:5) Funeral Card Friday is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers. © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2016

Challenger exploded as nation watched. Wikipedia Photo It was 1986 – my junior year at Octorara High School . It must have been a snow day because everyone was home. It was still too early for the noon news normally but there was a special broadcast because of the space shuttle Challenger. To be honest I was not really that into the space program but – tot eh rest of the world – it was a big deal because this would be the first time a US civilian would be aboard. New Hampshire high school teacher Christa McAuliffe won a competition that afforded her the opportunity to be the first civilian in space. Everyone could appreciate that 28 January 1986 would be a historic day. No one could have realized how historic a day it would be. The shuttle was supposed to have launched on the 23 rd but, due to weather delays and then technical delays, it did finally lift off until the 28 th . That morning, at 11:38 a.m., the nation watched as finally the Challenger lifted off. And ...

A nationwide search for a missing man began – and ended – in Duryea in 1941. Duryea is in Luzerne County . State Police in Pennsylvania were looking for him, assumably to give notice of his father’s passing. An article titled “Missing Youth Returns” ran in the Wilkes-Barre Evening News on 17 April 1941. It read: Wilkes-Barre Evening News 17 April 1941 Frank Matys, 1216 Spring Street, Duryea, for whom a nation-wide search was instituted two weeks ago when his father, Peter Matys, was fatally injured when struck by an Erie train, returned to his home. He received the first notice of his father’s death when he purchased a newspaper in Colorado . Had he run away or gone for work? If he went for work, why did his family not know his whereabouts? So why was Frank Matys in Colorado ? Two weeks prior, on 4 April 1941, the same paper ran its initial article, titled “See Frank Matys.” It read: Wilkes-Barre Evening News 4 April 1941 State Police were requested ...

My great grandmother is Bessie Matys Hruszczak. In searching for information regarding her, I stumbled upon the obituary of a Harry Matys. I have not yet connected the two and do not know if in fact they are related but what a coincidence to have two families from the same area end up living relatively close to each other here in the US as well. Harry’s obituary reads: The funeral was to be today in Reno, Nev, for Harry Matys, 92, 1670 Dayton Way, Reno, who died Monday at the Riverside Hospital, Reno. He was a former Chester grocer, retiring 25 years ago. Mr. Matys was born in the Ukraine , came to the United States in 1910, and first settled in Chester . He moved to Reno in 1970. He was one of the area musicians, The Matys Brothers. He is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Vera Leary, Reno ; four sons, Walter, John, and Emil of Elko , Nev. and Eugene of Las Vegas; 13 grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. Burial and a graveside services will be at noon Saturday a...

Genealogy blasphemy alert! Records on Ancestry.com are not always accurate! There I said it. My tree did not burn down or crumble at its roots. My laptop did not blow up and Ancestry.com did not fold. What did happen is that … wait for it … I had to sort through the information and determine what is accurate and what is not. Between Ancestry.com dropping Family Tree Maker and this Blizzard of 2016 on the East Coast, it seemed like a perfect day to continue sorting through files and database and such. It is almost 2 p.m. and I have been at this for almost nearly eight hours and I am still just on my father. Daddy is still living (and God willing, will be for many more!) so I won’t be including too many specifics. Since he was born after 1940, there are not too many records available on Ancestry anyway (due to the 72 year privacy rule for US Census records).   One often overlooked record is the US Public Records Index and similar databases. They can be found under “Schools, Dir...

John Yuzwiak is my great uncle. Specifically he is my paternal grandmother’s brother-in-law. He was born 29 August 1904. He married my Baba’s (grandmother’s) sister Catherine Kurenda. He was died 3 February 1984. His funeral service was held at Maclean Funeral Home in Coatesville, Chester County . He is buried at the Holy Ghost Ukrainian Cemetery in Valley Township , Chester County . Funeral Card Friday is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers. © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2016

This Throw Back Thursday post is from 21 June 2007. My girls were swimming for the SECA Sharks under Coach Robin. SECA is Southern End Community Association. © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2016

A jury found Michael Snyder not guilty On This Day in 1880 for selling liquor on Sunday. Snyder kept a saloon at Schoenberger’s Park, a hotel in Lancaster City, but testified he never sold liquor on Sunday.   from Lancaster Daily Intelligencer 20 January 1880 John Potts testified he never drank on Sunday thre nor did he see anyone else be served there on Sundays. Henry Gardner however said he drank there but the drink was actually paid for on Saturday when Lawrence Snyder had been married. Benjamin Schaum, like Potts, testified he never drank there nor did he see anyone else drink on Sunday. John Fritsch testified he drank there on a Sunday in May 1878. Fritsch did not know if Snyder was there at the time but said his father E.E. Snyder had been there. The court instructed the jury they could not consider anything prior to August 1878. If Snyder had sold anything after October 1878 then he could be charged. The jury rendered a not guilty verdict. Sourc...

George Downing Still is a grandson of my 3 rd great grandfather, George David Still, and the great grandson of my 4 th great grandmother, Margaret Still. He and his wife Ida are buried at the Hephzibah Baptist Church Cemetery in East Fallowfield Township , Chester County . George & Ida Still Buried at Hephzibah Baptist Cemetery Their stone reads: Still Ida C. Still                   1872-1937 George D. Still             1875-1922 George was born 8 April 1875 to Robert and Albina Williams Still. His brother Alban Williams Still was born when George was four. (Side note – this makes me curious as to where the middle name Downing came from since Robert’s father is George David). George married Ida C. Groce in 1898. They had two children: Robert W. and Isabel May. Both the 1880 and the 1900 Census show George was a farm...

Edgar Allan Poe Wikipedia photo It was On This Day in 1809 in Boston , Massachusetts , that a literary great was born. Edgar Allen Poe was born today to a pair of travelling actors. Poe’s parents had both died by the time he was just three years old. He left Boston to live with his godfather, John Allan. Allan was a tobacco merchant in Richmond , Virginia . Poe’s brother and sister, both older, went to live with other families. William Henry Leonard Poe, a poet as well, is his brother. Rosalie Poe, his sister, taught penmanship at a girls’ school. Source Edgar Allan Poe is born. This Day in History. History.com. 19 January 1809. On This Day is a prompt to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2016

Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been 87 today. He was born on 15 January 1929 however, as a nation, we remember him today. On This Day is a prompt to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2016

Ennis Cosby Wikipedia Photo Actor and comedian Bill Cosby has been in the headlines a lot lately however On This Day in 1997 it was his son who sadly tragically was in the news. Cosby’s 27 year old son Ennis William Cosby was driving his Mercedes Benz convertible on Interstate 405 in Los Angeles , California when he got a flat tire. He pulled over to fix the flat and was shot and killed. It was around 1 a.m. when Mikahail Markhasev, a teenager, and his two friends were hanging at a nearby park-and-ride lot. Reportedly high on drugs, Markhasev approached the young Cosby and demanded money. In August 1998, now 19, Markhasev was sentenced to life in prison. At the time, he showed no remorse. In 2001 however, he confessed and apologized to the Cosby family. The young Cosby had been a graduate student at Columbia University Teachers College . He wanted to work with children with learning disabilities. Source Entertainer Bill Cosby’s son murdered along CA intersta...

The Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs took to the field On This Day in 1967 for the first AFL-NFL World Championship, an event which would soon be known as the Super Bowl. The game was played at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles . The Chiefs started strong, keeping the first half close. However, the Packers were on fire in the second half and won 35-10. There was just shy on 62,000 fans in attendance that first year. The Packers have been back times four more times over the years: 1968 – Super Bowl II – Won 33 to 14 over Oakland Raiders 1997 – Super Bowl XXXI – Won 35 to 21 over New England Patriots 1998 – Super Bowl XXXII – Lost to Denver Broncos (31-24) 2011 – Super Bowl XLV – Won 31 to 25 over Pittsburgh Steelers Their five appearances however does not hold the record. That distinction is shared by three teams. The Dallas Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots have all made it to the Super Bowl eight times. Incidentally, ...

Michael Joseph Welsh is my great great uncle. Specifically he is my maternal grandmother’s uncle. Born 31 March 1893, he was the son of Michael Walsh and Anna Keating of Shenandoah, Schuylkill County . He died 16 December 1968, at 75 years old. His funeral service was held at Worrall & Kuzo Funeral Home in Kennett Square , Chester County. He is buried St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Kennett Square . Funeral Card Friday is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers. © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2016

After my great grandmother (Mary Kilpatrick Still) died from complications of childbirth, my great grandfather Pierson George Still brought on a housekeeper to help take care of my grandfather and his brother. That housekeeper was Edith L Maltby. I obviously never knew Edith Maltby but every once in awhile my Uncle Jim (James Franklin Still) and my grandfather (Lloyd Pierson Still) spoke of her – always fondly. So who was she? And what happened to her? I first found out about her in the the 1920 Census. It lists my great grandfather and the two boys as well as Edith L. Maltby. She was 33 then. The 1920 Census notes she was born in Pennsylvania and both her parents were born in England . If she were 33, that would put her birth about 1887. Ten years later, now 47, she is still the housekeeper. My uncle, being the elder of the two boys, is no longer at home. My grandfather is though. He would have been 15. The census also notes that Edith was born in England , as were her paren...

Lancaster Daily Intelligencer 13 January 1890 The Law and Order Society elected its annual officers On This Day in 1890. Elected president was Ezra Reist, of Manheim borough. D S Bursk, of Lancaster , was elected one of two vice presidents. Miss Ellen Wright was elected secretary and Luther S Kauffman was elected treasurer. The one that caught my attention was the other vice president. Brinton Walter, of Christiana, was elected to the position of the other vice president. I lived many years in Sadsbury Township , just outside Christiana Borough. There is a road known locally as Walter’s Hill. I think it’s actually called High Street – maybe. The name Walter was just always synonymous with Walter & Jackson, a lumber company. The 1890 City Directory lists many Walters throughout Lancaster County , including Brinton in Christiana. His occupation is listed as “grain, coal, etc.” That same year, another directory – Williams; Lancaster County Directory – lists him unde...

My great grandfather with my cousins, Ken & Beth. Today is the day my great grandfather - Pierson George Still – passed away in 1977. I was just shy of eight when he died. I don’t recall how my parents told me of his passing. I don’t remember his funeral service but I do recall his burial. That winter was a frigid winter. I remember people talking about the possibility of postponing the burial until the ground thawed enough to dig. The Farmer’s Almanac shows the temperature in nearby Coatesville the day of his funeral was just 21.9 degrees. There was a reported three inches of snow on the ground as well. The wind speed that day registered between eight and 11 MPH. The cold wouldn’t have bothered him though. He and my Uncle Jim (his elder son and my maternal grandfather’s brother) took a farming / ranch job out in Colorado for a few years. Uncle Jim had gone West first as an employee of King’s Ranch. My great grandfather joined him sometime between 1935 and 1940. By 194...

Hattie Caraway Wikipedia Photo Hattie Ophelia Wyatt Caraway became the first elected female senator On This Day in 1932. Caraway had been appointed two months earlier to fulfil her late husband’s Senate seat. She was re-elected in the 1938 elections. Caraway was an Arkansas Democrat who had been born in Tennessee . Her husband was Thaddeus Horatio Caraway. In 1944, failing to win a third term, she was appointed to the Federal Employees Compensation Commission by President Franklin D Roosevelt. She had also been the first widow to be appointed to fill her late husband's seat. She and her husband had three boys. Source First elected female senator. This Day in History. History.com. 12 January 1932. On This Day is a prompt to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2016

Nicholas Hruszczak (my grandfather’s brother) was just 20 years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor . The next year, in August 1942, he enlisted in the US Army. His Veteran Compensation Application shows he served domestically from enlistment to 30 December 1942 and then again from 2 November 1945 until he was honorably discharged on 9 November 1945 at Fort Indiantown Gap. Photo from the Coatesville Record 28 August 1944 In between – specifically, 31 December 1942 to 1 November 1945 – he served in foreign service. On 20 July 1943, according to the National Archives World War II Diaries, he came aboard the USS Rigel. He boarded, along with many other men, at Pontoon Landing, Laulan Island , Milne Bay , New Guinea . At that time his rank was PFC. These “war diaries” are daily operational journals created by naval command throughout the Navy during the Second World War. They were decommissioned on 31 December 2012. The original source is the National Archives. T...