Top 10 Genealogical Finds of 2017

Photo by Pierce Place

As 2017 comes to a close, I’d like to step back and reflect on what I’ve learned over the past year.  So in my best David Letterman voice, I bring you my seventh (and a half) annual Top 10 genealogical finds of 2017.  You can read my previous years’ discoveries here.  2016  2015  2014  2013  2012  2012.5  2011

It seems like it’s been a pretty quiet year for me.  I’ve focused on documenting things and less time on actual research and this list validates that.  So my takeaway from this is to get back to researching!

Number 10:  This is a late development and brings me back to my takeaway of researching more since this genealogical find is going to require A LOT of that.  Was my mother’s step father, and the only “Grandpa” I knew on her side, married TWICE before he married my grandmother?  I’d known about Harriet Pease, who I thought was the mother of Robert Melvin Hunter, my mother’s step brother who was killed at Pearl Harbor.  But when I found reference to Lyda Viola Souza, who died in 1920 from tuberculosis at the age of 24, as the “beloved wife of Sheldon A. Hunter”, I knew I needed to add this to my list.  If Lyda died in 1920 and Robert was born in 1918, was she his mother?



Number 9:  Was I finally able to put a name to a previously unnamed face?  Could this handsome man be Earle Norton, an early beau of my grandmother’s?



Number 8:  I was able to put photos all in one place and learned that my ancestors liked cars – who knew?  MACHINES AND ROADSTERS AND CARS



Number 7:  I learned a lot about my grandmother’s only sibling, Wilton Louis Gunzendorfer.  I have so many memories of Uncle Wilt but as I’m sure isn’t that different from most kids, it never connected that he was my grandmother’s brother.  Grandmothers had brothers?  And what fun to learn that Wilt wrote a song!  Read about him HERE and HERE.

 Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy and Wilt Gunzendorfer, c. 1980

Number 6:  I knew my family loved to scrapbook (I don’t have that gene) but I really had no idea of the extent of it until I finally opened up the box of scrapbooks and found this.



Number 5:  As part two of the scrapbooks, I discovered a scrapbook outlining the Levy Family Motoring Trip of 1940.  What fun to read about the trip my dad, his brother, and his parents took from California to Washington and back again.

Number 4:  The total eclipse on August 21 this year was all anyone could talk about for weeks (or probably even years) before hand – special glasses were flying off the shelves and people were traveling hundreds of miles to get the best view.  It occurred to me that the previous total eclipse that spanned the country was nearly 100 years before in 1918.  WAIT!  My grandparents were writing letters back and forth during that time and I wondered if they might have “talked” about it with each other – turns out they had!  Eclipse Fever

Number 3:   My Top 10 Genealogical Find of 2015 was having my grandfather’s home movies from 1936-1942 converted to DVD and how wonderful it was to see my ancestors at play.  But I knew there were more as my dad was an avid photographer and besides still photos he liked to take movies.  So we (my siblings and I) took those films and had them converted to DVD – thanks to my brother for spearheading the project.  When they arrived, my husband and I sat down to watch a movie of my life.  What made it particularly fun was that we had music from the time period (1952-1980) playing in the background.  I gotta say – it was an episode from This is Your Life! 



Number 2:  Right as I was celebrating my 6th blogiversary, I connected with a woman in Atlanta who had found my Uncle Rob’s hat!  It turns out my cousin, Rob’s daughter, had given the hat to the Goodwill by mistake and a kind soul bought the hat and found ME so that I was able to get it back in the right hands! 



Number 1:  My number 1 genealogical find of 2017 turned out to be a Christmas gift, as well.  One of the first people I connected with when I started this journey nearly 10 years ago was Victoria, a woman who was contributing and editing a book about the Jews of Santa Cruz.  We shared information and she ‘introduced’ me to the author, George Fogelson.  While I didn’t have much new information to share with George, I did share some photos that he seemed interested in and thought he might use in the book.  As part of the research, I was able to learn where my 3x great grandfather was buried (in the same cemetery as my parents!) and other tidbits that I’ve tucked away.

So how excited was I when I went to the post office on Christmas Eve and found this with MY PEEPS MENTIONED AND MY PHOTOS INCLUDED!



There is so much information about my ancestors but a couple of facts I found particularly interesting.

• In 1860, the population of Santa Cruz was 950 of which 15 were Jewish.  And on that list were my 3x great grandparents, Hannah (Plotzky) and Joseph Steen, and my 2x great grandparents, Rebecca (Steen) and Louis Schwartz.
• Rebecca’s sister, Lillie/Lily, was the first documented Jewish child born in Santa Cruz.
• The Eulogy for Louis Schwartz, delivered by Rabbi Marcus Friedlander of Temple Sinai, was delivered on May 27, 1893 and it is included in the book!

George even signed the book with a personalized message.



So that’s what I’ve been up to in 2017.  24 hours ago I wasn’t sure I could even come up with 10 significant genealogical finds but here I am with 10 plus a few others in reserve.  I’m looking forward to more research in 2018 and hope I can break down a few brick walls to add to my list next year.

Who knew?

Sig’s Weekly and His Camera Men

While many times finding a photo enables us to finally answer some questions, many times the newly discovered photo brings about more questions.  Who is in the photo?  What was going on?  What was the date?  If only our ancestors had left us more clues.

Case in point is this photo.



Yep, that’s Sig on the right.  But who are the others and why are they called Camera Men?  And what about the person on the left – is that a man or a woman? 

I know from the back of this Post Card that the date was February 8, 1916 and was taken by C. Laval ("Pop"), a prominent photographer in Fresno.  But other than that, I can only guess as to what is going on.

At that time Sig worked for The Fresno Bee Republican so my guess is that this has something to do with his work there.  But since he was the Advertising Manager, just exactly what was going on?  Was this some sort of advertising photo shoot?  My Dad used to exclaim at times that it was “all about marketing” – maybe this was one of those times?  At any rate, it’s a fun photo even if I don’t know much about it.

Another fun camera themed photo of which I know even less about is this.



So many questions, so few answers.  Time to zoom in and see these folks up close.



Oh boy, that’s grainy and tough to see but that’s Sig on the right.  I can’t be 100% certain but I’m pretty sure that’s my grandmother, Loraine Gunzendorfer, on the left.  And being that she’s one step below him and shorter than he is, I’d have to say that based on their height that makes sense.

If I’m correct, where are they and what’s the happy occasion?  They met in about 1916 so maybe it is one of their first dates?  She lived in Monterey at that time and I’m fairly certain that is not her family home.  So just where was it?

Too many questions without any answers!

It started with a hat

As I was going through things a few weeks ago to prepare for a blog post, I found an interesting little “package”.



Hmmmm, wonder what was inside?



Was that my grandfather’s Shriner’s Hat (or Fez, as they are called)? 

The inside of the hat was stamped with Los Angeles Fraternal Supply Co. (LAFS Co.), 3704 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007.  This Fez belongs to ___________________.  It’s blank? 

I found that the LAFS Co. was founded in 1945 and moved from 3704 S. Main Street to Carson, California in 2009 so this could be anyone’s hat.  Of course I don’t know why my grandfather would have saved a hat that wasn’t his but maybe it was my dad’s?

WAIT!  I remembered that Grandpa had sailed to Honolulu for some sort of Shriner’s event in 1949.  In fact, I blogged about it HERE.  And then I remembered I recently found a group picture of a bunch of Shriner’s.  Time to get out my handy dandy Flip Pal scanner and get that photo scanned.



Normally I find my grandparents in the front row (that’s what being about 5’1” to 5’4” will get you but I didn’t see them.  And then I zoomed and found them (circled above).  And then I zoomed in even farther.



Yep, sure enough – that’s them.  But Sig has on a Tehran Fez with Tehran being the Fresno chapter.  There were some other men in the photo wearing Islam Fezzes and as you can see here, a few had on an Aloha or even Hello Fez. 

The notation on the photo says “Luke’s Photo Studio, April 27, 1949, Honolulu” so I have proof that they were there.  In fact, even more proof when I found the passenger list.

Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Honolulu, Hawaii, 1900-1953; (National Archives Microfilm Publication A3422, 269 rolls)

There they are on the last two lines.  And after some further research, I learned that they arrived in Honolulu on April 27, 1949 so the photo was taken on their first day on the island.  What a crowd!

I went through some menus that I had and found what looks to be the last dinner menu from the Lurline on April 26, 1949.



And inside was ‘A word about the subject of the cover painting’.

Since it’s saying Aloha it makes me think this was their final dinner on board.

I also found some menus from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel the first week of May (I also found some from January and March, 1949 which is another mystery I’ve yet to solve) which tells me they stayed for a week or more to enjoy a relaxing vacation.  So I thought I’d look through more passenger lists and see if I could find their return trip and I did!

Registers of Persons Held for Boards of Special Inquiry at the San Francisco, California, Immigration Office, February 1910-May 1941

WHAT?  They returned to San Francisco by plane?  May 10, 1949, United Airlines #648.  I only remember them traveling to/from Hawaii by sea so I was surprised to find this.  It’s really hard to see but they are on line 21 (Mildred) and 22 (Sigmond).  But their address of 1549 Echo Avenue, Fresno is listed so I know it’s them.  Of course the first thing I thought was how long did it take to make that trip by air in 1949?  And from what I could find, it took 7 hours, 20 minutes as opposed to 5 hours, 5 minutes today.

I don’t think the note above about Persons Held for Boards of Special Inquiry means much but it is an interesting notation.

So back to the hat.  Was it Sig’s?  Or maybe my dad’s?  I’m always so happy when I’m left with bread crumbs but, unfortunately, I didn’t get any this time.