Sunday, May 27, 2018

52 Ancestors: Military

Sig Military
Sigmund Levy, c. 1918

My paternal grandfather, Sigmund Levy, served in WWI – I’ve written a lot about his time as a Flying Cadet (he had to sit on a pillow when flying!).  But it all became a little more real when I discovered some new information.


It looks like just an old binder but when I opened it up, I found this on the inside cover.



This is my grandfather’s “stuff” from his Flying Cadet Days!  It looks to be class notes, sketches, schedules – so much information that I could never capture it all.

And look – this shows the instructions for newly arrived cadets and that he was assigned to Squadron A 61. 

Squad Assignment

Binder tabs didn’t look all that much different in 1918.  Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to use them and just put everything loose inside the binder.



Lots of notes.  My grandfather didn’t have great handwriting but this is all really tough to read.  I’m sure he figured he’d be the only one to read it plus it’s all Greek to me.



He had a schedule of his daily activities.  This card was compliments of Aviator’s Exchange.  It’s interesting to see their advertisements along the side of the card – the Aviators could check their excess baggage free of charge.  I also notice they had Aviation Stationery – I wonder if that’s where Sig bought the stationery he used to write letters to my grandmother (which are safely tucked away in my closet).

Schedue Card

On Mondays and Tuesdays at 8:10 a.m., Sig attended Machine Guns (class, I guess).  Here’s a sample of his notes.

Machine Guns

Wanna know more about the Theory of Flight and History of Flying?  Good luck with that (I can barely read a word).

History of Fllight

And they learned about the Articles of War – I love that he reminded himself that Article II was important. 

Articles of War

Inside were a couple of folders – this one was about Airplanes.

Airplanes

The first page was an airplane sketch.  An airplane sketch today would sure look different.

Airplane Sketch


Of course they learned about Morse Code.  Is that even used these days?


Morse Code

They were really getting prepared.

Map Signs

Map Signs Detail

Thankfully, Sig never left the United States and went on to lead a long and productive life.  I don’t remember him ever talking about his time as a Flying Cadet and for that matter, I don’t remember my dad mentioning it, either.  Did Sig not talk about it or was I not listening?

*********************************************************************
As we honor the fallen this Memorial Day, I take this opportunity to remember my two ancestors who were killed in the line of duty.

My 2nd great grandfather, William J. Brooks, killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862.  Buried in Dials Cemetery, Laurens County, South Carolina.



And my mother’s step brother, Robert Melvin Hunter, killed aboard the USS Oklahoma, Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941.  Buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (aka The Punchbowl) in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Hunter Robert Melvin

Rest in peace.

Sunday, May 20, 2018

52 Ancestors: Another Language – Joseph Steen

This week’s prompt for the challenge is Another Language.  Not sure where to start or what to write, my brain churned for an inspiration.  While I assumed that many of my ancestors spoke another language since they came from Poland, Germany, and other countries in Europe, I don’t know that any of them spoke or understood another language.

But wait – being 50% Ashkenazi Jew meant there was sure to be some Hebrew or Yiddish, right?  And then I remembered that my 3x great grandfather, Joseph Steen, was buried with a beautiful Hebrew inscription on his headstone.



And, fortunately, I have a transcription.
Moshe Yosef 
HERE LIES
A noble and a faithful devoted man to God
Died on the eve of Shabat on 15 Av and was buried on 17 Av.
A man of integrity and honesty,
Hard worker and with clean hands and heart.
Never gossip nor lying.

From this world you departed but peace with God you found.

While I don’t know specifically that Joseph or his family spoke Hebrew, it was obviously important enough for them to inscribe his headstone with the words in Hebrew.

Joseph was born in Poland in about 1826 or 1827 and emigrated from Posen to England in about 1850.  With him when he emigrated were his wife, Hannah Plotzky, and his daughter, Rebecca (my 2x great grandmother).  Another child was born before they found their way to New York where son Samuel was born in 1855.  Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Santa Cruz where Joseph opened a bath house and five more children were born.

I don’t know much about Joseph’s short life.  He was enumerated in 1860 in Santa Cruz where he lived next door to Louis Schwartz, Rebecca’s future husband and my 2x great grandfather.  And next door to Louis and his business partner, Solomon Fisher, was the Barnet family.  I have a lot of research to do on this family but I do know that daughter Grace graduated from Santa Cruz High School with my great grandmother, Bertha Schwartz, and served as a bridesmaid in Bertha’s wedding to Abraham Gunzendorfer.  As I’ve started to research them, I found someone with a family tree on Ancestry that also shows up as a DNA match for me.  So maybe, just maybe, I’ll find that the Barnet family is in some way related to my family.


1860 Census Joseph Steen Family
Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data - 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records


In 1863, Joseph was listed on the IRS Tax Assessment List.  I have zero experience with this type of list so it’s all Greek to me.

Joseph Steen Tax Assessment May 1863
Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.Original data - National Archives (NARA) microfilm series: M603, M754-M771, M773-M777, M779-M780, M782, M784, M787-M789, M791-M793, M795, M1631, M1775-M1776, T227, T1208-T1209.


Uh-oh, he’s back on the list in October, 1864.  Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Joseph Steen Tax Assessment Oct 1864
Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.Original data - National Archives (NARA) microfilm series: M603, M754-M771, M773-M777, M779-M780, M782, M784, M787-M789, M791-M793, M795, M1631, M1775-M1776, T227, T1208-T1209.


In 1864, Joseph lost a stock certificate of 10 shares of stock.  I sure wish I knew if this was ever found.

Joseph Steen Lost Stock Certificate Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel 12 Nov 1864 Sat page 3
Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, 12 Nov 1864, Sat, page 3

And then his life was cut short.

Joseph Steen Obituary Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel 4 Aug 1866 Sat Page 2
Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, 4 Aug 1866, Sat, page 2

Consumption is an old term for wasting away of the body, particularly from pulmonary tuberculosis.  It has been said that tuberculosis was known as a “good death” as the slow progress of the disease allowed the patient to arrange their affairs.  I can’t imagine a 39 year old man with a young family facing the task of arranging his affairs.

To read the story of how I found Joseph’s grave (the same cemetery as my father!), click HERE for my #2 genealogical find of 2012. 

מנוחה בשלום, יוסף
Rest in peace, Joseph.




Sunday, May 6, 2018

52 Ancestors: Close Up

This week’s prompt was puzzling to me at first – close up?  What did that mean?  I read some comments from other bloggers and ideas starting swirling in my head.  I could look close up at the quilts my great grandmother and her mother made which are safely tucked away.  Or, I could take a closer look at the small tuxedo that surely belonged to my grandfather.  But as I rummaged around the storage closet, I came across this.



This was too good to pass up – the box of memories from our wedding in 1974.  Had I really kept this stuff - I needed to take a closer look!

Of course, I had to start with the invitation.  Remember, I was just 19 and this was the mid 70’s when daisies seemed to be quite popular.  I remember there was quite a bit of ‘drama’ because I’d failed to mention the groom’s father who, by then, had remarried.

Invitation

There were some really cute little response cards included with each invitation.  I remember being so excited to get the mail and find a card in the stack the mail carrier delivered.  Of course I had to keep the entire box (why keep just one – 50 would be much better) and even found a few stamps included.



I must have spent quite a bit of time planning for the special event.



And then came the shower.  Or maybe it was more than one?  I kept the decorations which were brilliantly made by Hallmark and even had matching napkins.



I went through a few of the cards – most of them had a small square of wrapping paper included which, I assume, was cut out from the paper the corresponding gift was wrapped in. 



And then came the big day.  All of the gift cards were inside the box. 



There must have been a shortage of card designs because we received 5 of the same card.  What’s especially humorous is that one of these was from my husband’s father and step-mother, one from his paternal grandmother, and one from her sister – they all shopped at the same place!



So many of the attendees are no longer with us – not just the older generations but many of our high school friends. 

There were a few very special notes.  Here’s one from my favorite uncle (shhh, don’t tell anyone he was my only uncle), my dad’s brother, Rob.  I love his reference of a cozy heart.

Rob Levy Envelope
Rob Levy Letter

And, of course, a very special card from my grandmother, Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy.  Grandma gave us the generous gift of a trip to Honolulu for our honeymoon – not bad for two young kids!

Card from Loraine frontCard from Loraine inside

And inside the card was another note.

Note from Loraine frontNote from Loraine inside

I laughed at her grandmotherly advice to put the check into traveler’s checks (are those even used anymore?) so I wouldn’t lose it.  And I laughed again when I found I had done just that.  No surprise that the wallet was empty!



We still laugh at some of the events of the day – the hair dresser who did my sister’s and my hair thinking we were going to the senior ball and the groom ‘forgetting’ to pick up my brother on the way to the event.  But it all worked out.  Unfortunately, these two memories have seen better days and I really am not sure what they even are – maybe the bells were on top of the cake?



And the book of wedding guests is priceless – so many names that probably didn’t mean much to me at the time but now from my research, I see so many familiar names.



I found so many honeymoon memories – why did I save our boarding passes from the plane? 

This was fun to see.



So nice that the hotel provided this waterproof utility bag and if they hadn’t told me it was “yours for the taking”, I might have left it behind.  But it was perfect to wrap the glasses we brought home with us.



What is that it is wrapped in?  Is that decorative toilet paper?  I do remember feeling quite adult since the drinking age was 18 in Hawaii so we were able to order drinks in the restaurant.  I guess it made such an impression that I decided to bring the glasses home.

While I was tempted to just toss everything once I’d gone through it, I remembered how exciting it was to find the wedding invitation for my great grandparents so I boxed up a few things and hope that, one day, my grandkids and their descendants will have a good laugh looking at these things.

Boy were we YOUNG!

Ron Debi wedding