52 Ancestors: Steps - Hills of Eternity

When I saw the blog prompt Steps, I immediately thought of a very special step at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma, California.

Yes, that step shows the name Gunzendorfer, which was the family name of my paternal grandmother.  There are several Gunzendorfers buried at Hills of Eternity.  The family plot shows a few.

Ferdinand and Fannie, seen in the foreground, were my second great grandparents.  They spent the later years of their lives in Monterey - I'm not sure what took them to the San Francisco area for burial.  To the right of the Gunzendorfer monument is their grandson (my grandmother's brother), Wilton, who was placed there after his death in 1989.

From the Hills of Eternity website:

Judaism views death as a natural part of life.  Hills of Eternity Memorial Park honors the two basic principles that are part of this natural life cycle:  k'vod ha-mayat - the dignified and respectful treatment of the dead - and k'vod he-chai - the honored treatment of the mourners.

Congregation Sherith Israel established its first cemetery in accordance with these principles when it was founded in 1850.  The cemetery was located in Pacific Heights on Vallejo Street, between Gough and Franklin [San Francisco].  In 1860, Sherith Israel dedicated its second cemetery in the area that is now Dolores Park.  Twenty nine years later, Sherith Israel's cemetery moved again to its current location in Colma.

I'm relieved to learn that the Gunzendorfers are interred in their original burial location.

Also from the website:

Hills of Eternity Memorial Park consists of twenty acres of graciously landscaped gardens at the foot of the San Bruno Mountains.  The grounds and mausoleums are respectfully maintained under endowed care.  Fresh flower placements and grave ornamentation plantings add to the dignified beauty and serenity of the park.

Also at Hills of Eternity is the Portals of Eternity mausoleum and chapel, which was built in 1934, and was designed by Samuel Human and Abraham Appleton.

Photo by jcemsf.org

It is the Portals of Eternity Mausoleum where my great grandparents, Abraham and Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer, are interred.

It's hard to see but that's them in the center with the arrow pointing to their name.  I did not add that in the picture - the arrow is actually scratched etched into the plate.  Why would that have been done?  They are very high up so really no way for vandals to have been able to accomplish that.  A mystery, for sure.

Also interred at Hills of Eternity are some of the Steen family - Bertha's mother was a Steen and while she is not there, these are some of her relatives.

Interred here are:  Dena Steen (1866-1894), Hannah (Plotzky) Steen (1828-1909), Hyman Steen (1887-1924), Jacob Steen (1831-1909), Julius Steen (1862-1876), Lena (Jacobson) Steen (1848-1927), Meyer Steen (1861-1926), Rosalind Steen (1885-1902).  

I was so fortunate to have been able to spend time in this cemetery in 2012 and, hopefully, will be back again one day.

52 Ancestors: Fashion - Hats off!

This week's blog prompt, Fashion, had me going through some photos to discover a theme.  It was then that I noticed how many hats there were in my family, particularly on the paternal side.  It is amazing how many different style of hats there are.  So, hats off to those in hats!

My grandmother, Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy, had a lot of hats.  Here's a few through the years.

Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer, 1896

On her honeymoon?  1919

I remember "back in the day" when we would dress up to fly on a plane.  Looks like Loraine did just that before she took her seat.

I remember Grandma wearing a hat like this.

Grandmother back from Hawaii, c. 1959

Her mother, Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer, also liked hats and the two of them liked to show them off together.

Abe and Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer, Loraine Gunzendorfer c. 1919

Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer, Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy

She was sporting quite a hat at Dad's graduation from Stanford in 1949.

Here's an old one - check out all of these hats!  Bertha and Abe are in the front.

Even Bertha's family liked hats!

Parents Louis and Rebecca (Steen) Schwartz, 

Brothers Milton and Colman Schwartz

Looks like little Colman didn't have a hat - but he found a few!

Colman Schwartz, 1890

Colman Schwartz, 1896

And the Levys liked hats, too!

Sig Levy, 5th from the right - you'll see that style of hat again

Sig on the right with his WWI hat on

Sig Levy, ready for a costume party

Looks like Sig posing while on his honeymoon.  Is that the same hat?

Keeping the head warm!

My dad liked hats, too.  I remember in the 60's he always matched a hat to his suit.  Sadly, I haven't found any photos of that.  Check out this hat!

Gordon Levy, Vancouver BC, 1936 - Like father, like son

This one is a little goofy but SO "Dad".

Gordon and Gerry (Martin) Levy

Believe it or not, the hats got even goofier.

Now they're ready for a costume party

Keeping his head warm AND dry!

Crazy Hat Night at Family Camp

Even my sister and I got into the act.

What a pose!

And a few of our own creations from Crazy Hat Nights.

I'm in the middle - 1958

1961

But the most elaborate hat I came across was modeled by my grandmother's first cousin, Henrietta Schwartz.  Grandma's mother (Bertha Schwartz) was the younger sister of Henrietta's father, Joseph Schwartz.  Maybe she was going to the Kentucky Derby?

Henrietta Schwartz, date unknown

That's a lot of hats!!!

52 Ancestors: Cousin Bait - Mrs. Gunzendorfer's Nut Cake

One of the best things about having the name Gunzendorfer in my tree is that the name is cousin bait all by itself.  My first blog post told about my start with genealogy when my mom exclaimed "there are no more Gunzendorfers in the United States", which you can read about HERE.  Here's a post from early this year talking about the Beginnings of my blog where I can finally admit that she just might have been right.    

Early in my research I connected with George Fogelson, the author of a book that was my #1 Top 10 Genealogical Find of 2017 - you can read it HERE.  Over the years we've kept in touch and shared information and photos - it's so great to talk with someone who "knows" my family.  A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from George with the subject line Gunzendorfer.  Boy did that pique my interest and I immediately opened it up to see this:

Mrs. Gunzendorfer's Nut Cake?  What the heck?  George was with a friend, Ann, cleaning out some things and this was in her mother's cookbook.  Where and how did her mother get this?

The three of us talked on the phone and it turns out that her grandmother lived in Monterey which is where my Gunzendorfer's lived from about 1860 until 1944.  While my grandmother wasn't born in Monterey, she was raised there and two generations of the family owned/operated the mercantile The White House.  You can read some posts HERE and HERE.

The White House, Monterey, California

Ferdinand Gunzendorfer on top step

Since I had two Mrs. Gunzedorfner's who lived in Monterey - my 2x great grandmother, Fannie, and my great grandmother, Bertha - I didn't know which one made such a delicious Nut Cake that someone would hang on to the recipe all these years.  But her grandmother and mother did!

I don't know too much about censuses but I did determine that in 1900 Ann's great grandparents lived at 422 Franklin Street and my 2x great grandparents lived nearby on Webster Street.  Both families can be found in District 0009, her family on page 18 and my family on page 10.  I'm sure Monterey wasn't that large in 1910 but they were almost neighbors.  Since they weren't too far apart in age, my guess is that the two ladies 'hung out' together and maybe made Nut Cake!

So while not really a cousin, the name Gunzendorfer (who can forget that name, anyway?) "baited" me a new recipe.  Thanks for the introduction, George!

52 Ancestors: Fortune - 10 years of blogging

This week's blog prompt is Fortune.  Many of my ancestors had one fortune or another - a long and healthy life, a house full of children, a successful career, or a large bank account.  But today I want to concentrate on the Fortune I've had by starting this blog 10 years ago tomorrow.

Photo by Phae

You can read my first post HERE.  I remember writing that first post (thanks again for the push, Kerry!) and wondering if I'd have enough to say.  When I first started blogging I was so envious of the ephemera that other bloggers had and longed to find just a snippet of what they had. Be careful what you wish for!  

The first two years of blogging I was able to share what I'd learned with my mother and each year for Christmas I put together a book using Blurb to share with her since she didn't use a computer.  I remember sitting together and looking through the book and I could see a gleam in her eyes when she learned something new about her family.  Seeing the happiness it brought to her is what helped me to keep going and sometimes when I feel like I've had enough, I think that maybe, just maybe, someone will be glad that I did.

Over those 10 years, I've written 407 posts and had 1835 comments on the blog plus countless others on Facebook.  In looking back on the posts, the most read posts were:

Back in Time  The story of my grandfather asking my grandmother's parents if they could be married.  And the letter they wrote back to him giving their permission.  What a beautiful love story.

Wanted: Herman Levy Herman Levy was my great grandfather and has been a bit of a brick wall for me.  I posted this on the History of Fresno Facebook page and received a lot of views.  Over the course of the last 10 years I've connected with many grandchildren and great grandchildren of Herman - maybe one day we'll all be able to bust through this wall!

Best Wishes for a Long and Happy Life Together  The end of the books recording the wedding of my parents.  I have such wonderful memories of lying on the floor with my sister and pouring over these books.  

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Where Were They 100 Years Ago?  It's fun to look back at where our ancestors were living, especially when there's a picture of the house!

Grandma Was a Party Animal!  I loved going through my grandmother's scrapbook and learning about her as a young woman.  Not only am I happy that she had a scrapbook but that she saved it for me to find!

Not necessarily one of the most viewed posts (although it is much more recent so hasn't had the opportunity for people to "find" it) was one I struggled with for the blog prompt.

52 Ancestors: Multiple - Love Letters  My grandparents' thoughts during the Spanish Flu Pandemic in 1918. I have finished the transcription project and am now working through the letters my mother wrote to my father when he went away to college and then into the service.  Just proves that my dad had the packrat gene as he saved the letters.  Unfortunately, my mother must have missed the memo that she was supposed to save his letters as I haven't run across any yet.  

It's been an amazing 10 years and I've learned so much about my family.  I would like nothing more than to share this with my father, who used to give me tidbits of information, for I know the joy it would have brought him.  But he knows, he knows.

Thanks for sticking with me!

52 Ancestors: Resolution - Top 10 Genealogical Finds of 2020

2020 has been a very difficult year for so many.  I don't want to dwell on the pandemic and have tried to find the positive but it's been hard on so many levels.  But one thing I've tried to do - albeit not always so successfully - is to continue with my research and blogging.  I had some really good weeks and some "I don't want to do a thing" weeks but through it all, I kept the end in sight and resolved to work through it so that at the end of the year, I just might be able to come up with my annual top 10 genealogical finds of the year.  So with that, I'll step back and reflect on what I've learned over the past year. [cue the David Letterman music].

You can read my previous year's discoveries here.  2019  2018  2017  2016  2015  2014  2013  2012  2012.5 2011

Number 10:  I was not quite 14 when my paternal grandfather, Sig Levy, died.  Looking back, I don't know that I really "knew" him.  But that changed when I put together a post about him in costume.  Quite the Character - Sig in Costume

Number 9:  My great grandfather, Abe Gunzendorfer, was a photographer.  I have lots of his original photos in my collection which I wrote about here.  Labor - Abe's Photos.  What's been really fun is to have members of the "Monterey" Facebook group share other photos that Abe took.  It takes a village for sure.

Number 8:   Speaking of taking a village, I'm hoping that next year the mystery of Marks Schwartz will be solved.  Labor - Marks Schwartz.  Thanks to a suggestion from one of my most faithful readers, I am on the waiting list to have an expert help me determine if the mystery child is Marks.  

Number 7:  Seeing our ancestors in swim suits can be fun!  And boy was it when I put this post together!  Water - Swimsuits.  How many of us can say they've seen their grandparents in a swimsuit?

Number 6:  I think by now my readers know that my grandfather was small - so small, in fact, that he had to sit on a pillow when he flew a plane.  So this tuxedo must have belonged to him.  Small - Tuxedo

Number 5:  It breaks my heart when I hear of a young child passing, but especially so when it was my husband's older sister who lived to be just 54 minutes old.  Nearly Forgotten - Pamela Jean

Number 4:  I've had many favorites discoveries but the most recent is always my favorite.  This was no exception.  Favorite Discovery

Number 3:  Along with favorite discoveries comes favorite photos.  It was hard for me to pick a favorite - isn't that like picking a favorite child - but I finally came up with one.  Favorite Photo - Birdie Schwartz

Number 2:  While I love it when a photo or other tidbit drops into my lap, there is nothing more rewarding than making that happen for someone else.  It only took a moment of my time to find someone who was so filled with gratitude over a picture of his grandfather.  Gratitude

Number 1:  The post that generated the most activity this year actually surprised me - I was having a hard time coming up with something for the Blog Prompt Multiple and decided to just put to use the multiple letters I had between my grandparents as they were courting from 1916-1919.  Of course this was during the Spanish Flu and since I was in the process of transcribing the letters from late 1918, the similarities to what we have faced this year was astounding.  Multiple - Love Letters

It was slim pickings this year but I'm happy to say that I kept at it, although it was much slower than usual.  So I'll continue with the resolution to keep at it and, hopefully, have a much more robust Top 10 list in 2021!

52 Ancestors: Favorite Photo - Birdie Schwartz

I am fortunate to have so many photos of my family over the last 150 years (yikes, did I just type 150 years??).  When I thought about my favorite photo several immediately came to mind, many of which are photos from the late 1800's showing many generations of my family.  Those are definitely in my "top" favorite photos but when it came to choosing just one, this one came to the top of the list.

Bertha Schwartz

Bertha "Birdie" Schwartz was my great grandmother.  Her daughter and first child was Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer, my paternal grandmother.  For those who are regular readers, you know Loraine as the "Packrat".

While I love this photo of Birdie and will cherish it always, what I love most is the story that's been told about it for many, many years.  You see, this photo was always proudly displayed in my parents' living room - always in the same spot and I can't remember a time when it wasn't there.  You can see it in its place of honor below.

Growing up, I really don't remember "knowing" this person or how she was related to me.  Over the years I learned her name was Birdie but I really didn't connect the dots who she was.  Do children ever think about the fact that their grandmother wasn't always "old" or that she, in fact, was once a child and had a - gasp - mother?  But as the years went by I learned her name and who she was.  Did Loraine ever talk about her or even mention it was her mother as a young child?  I'm guessing she did but like most children, I didn't pay attention.

I don't know if it was just parental bias but over the years I heard on many occasions that I looked just like Loraine and her mother, Birdie.  And now that I've done research, learned about them, and have so many photos of them, I'm honored to think that someone saw a family resemblance.  Here's a photo of the two of them together, shortly after Loraine was born.

Loraine Gunzendorfer and Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer
c. 1896

So I pulled out some photos of me at about the same age to see if I could see the resemblance.  Sadly, I don't see it but it was fun taking a stroll down memory lane.

I don't see it when I compare Birdie's high school graduation day to that same day in my life.

Bertha Schwartz, Santa Cruz High School, 1890

Debi Levy, Pioneer High School,

Maybe I should look in the mirror and compare the current me to Birdie at about the same age :-)

Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer, 1944

From all the stories I've heard, Birdie was much loved by all.  How I wish I'd known her!

52 Ancestors: Sister

I'm just coming up for air after several weeks trying to sort out some computer issues - mainly, my laptop stopped working and I decided to take some time to decide what to do about it.  I've been thinking about a new computer and decided that this was the time to make it happen.  My old laptop was still running on Windows 7 - I'm still working out the kinks but I have now managed to get all of my documents and photos off of the old computer and on to the new one.  I still have some programs to move over but have to think through that before I move forward.

I last wrote about Brothers in my tree and I don't want to stop without acknowledging the sisters in my tree.

The oldest photo I have of a sister is my great grandmother, Bertha Schwartz, and her older brother, Joseph.  Two younger brothers, Milton and Colman, followed but for a time it was just Joseph and Bertha.

Rebecca (Steen), Joseph, Bertha, Louis Schwartz
c. 1876

Bertha's oldest child was my grandmother, Mildred Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy.  And then came younger brother, Wilton Gunzendorfer.  This is how I remember them and while Loraine always seemed stern to me, she also loved to smile!

Wilt and Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy
1980

Loraine's dad was one of four boys so no sisters and my grandfather was also one of four boys.  Of course, my dad wasn't a sister nor did he have a sister so that's all the sisters I can share from that side of the family.  

I remember my mom's grandmother so well.  She was so sweet and always seemed happy to see us.  However, I never, EVER thought about her being a sister and until I started this quest, I really knew nothing about her family.  But along the way I have learned quite a bit about her (her grandfather was one of my favorite ancestors, Emery Waller).  And through this journey I've also "met" some cousins who have been so kind as to share some photos with me.

Thank you, Kris, for this beautiful photo of our great grandmothers, Lilly (McAboy) Langworthy and Mabel (McAboy) Fitzgerald!

Lilly Gay (McAboy) Langworthy - 1867-1949
Mabel Viola (McAboy) Fitzgerald - 1883-1996

Mabel's daughter and my grandmother, Clara Maxine (Fitzgerald) Martin Hunter, was a sister but why didn't I know much about this?  I remember her brother, Stanley, and even met him a few times.  I might remember hearing about a sister but did I ever meet her?  Are there any pictures of them two of them together?  All I really know is her name, Viola Marie (Fitzgerald) Feuerstein Crawford.  I've connected with some of her descendants and would really like to learn more about her.  So for now, I'll just have to leave it to my imagination as to how the two sisters spent their free time.

Photo by simpleinsomnia

And then came my mom, sister to no one as she was the only child of Clara (Fitzgerald) and Earle Martin.  After their divorce, they both remarried and while Clara had no children, Earle did have some more children whom I never met.  In fact, my mother once told me that she remembers only meeting them once.  But if she HAD been a sister, I'm sure she would have been a great one.  Just look at her sitting there so angelic - I can just imagine her saying "if only I were a sister".

Geraldine Martin, 1930

And that leads me to my own sister.  For nearly 7 years we were the only children in the family so as you can imagine, there were quite a few photos of us together over the years.  Here's a few of my favorites.

Hope we didn't catch any flies in those open mouths!

Sisters, 1957

Dad captioned this "Greatest Photo Ever Taken".  I think he just might have been right.

How 'bout those bangs?

Out of all the slides my husband scanned for us after the death of my parents, this was the jewel!

Were we cute or WHAT?

As the years have gone by, we don't get to see each other too often but one of my favorite memories was the family trip to Kauai before Mom died.  What a gift to have spent an entire week with Mom, my siblings, and our spouses.  I can't believe we didn't capture more photos but this might have just been the last time we were all together with Mom.

With our Mama!

No matter the distance, there's always a special bond between sisters!