52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2019 Week 13 Prompt - In The Paper

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
2019
Week 13 
Prompt - In The Paper

I haven't received a daily newspaper since we moved from a house to a downtown condo in Calgary. It was my choice to stop getting them because so many left the house the same way they came in. That is not read. Computers and TV newscasts seem to cover the highlights in the news world. I do not miss getting the paper.

However newspapers are a gold mine to genealogists. At one time you could find birth announcements, wedding announcements, local items of interest, and of course the obituaries. Today obituaries are predominantly the only announcements that one can find in a newspaper.  I find that obituaries provide a wide range of family information or even misinformation

Franz Peters Newspaper Obituary

 In my mother's scrapbook of mementos was the above obituary for my grandfather, Frank (Franz) Peters. He died April 16, 1952 in Saskatoon. I believe it was put in the Saskatoon newspaper but like so many saved paper obits, there is rarely the name of the paper or the date it was published.  I have a problem with the heading “Here since 1907...”  because in an 1901 Canada census Frank was 24 and living with his parents in Hague, NWT Aka; Saskatchewan. Despite the discrepancy the obituary helped me figure out when Frank and his family moved into Saskatoon. 1952 – 23 years in the city means he moved into Saskatoon in 1929 or so. However I have two Voters' Lists from 1935 and 1940 which list Frank as a Farmer in Hague. Again more questions than answers. Frank's obituary also list his last known address in Saskatoon which is more of an item of interest for me. Interestingly it tells me where my aunts and uncles (Frank's siblings) lived in 1952. From that I get an answer to a question from my Bachelor Blog. That was why I had Abe living in Clark's Crossing in 1952. It came from his father's obituary. The obituary also tells me where Frank Peters was buried - had I not known.

The Mennonite Rundschau Newspaper Obituary

Staying with my grandfather, Frank Peters their is another source for his baptism, marriage, death and burial. I found this source listed in GRANDMA ( Genealogical Registry and Database for Mennonite Ancestry) and that is The Mennonite Rundschau (MR) which was the longest running Mennonite German language paper in North America. From June 1880 to January 2007. It was made as a forum for Mennonites to share their life's events with other Mennonites across the provinces, States and indeed Russia and Germany. In GRANDMA it sources his death and burial in the following index stating that Franz Peters - 1876 - 1952 can be found in MR 1952 May 7 - page 11. On a trip to Saskatoon Mennonite Historical Society, I searched for it and found it quite easily and was able to photocopy it. Again it is too bad that I do not know German. One day I will have patience and google help me translate this page.

Newspaper Obituary for Jake Peters

My father, Jake Peters, died September 22, 1983. His obituary is full of information important to me as a genealogist. Firstly I now see where the idea of my bachelor Uncle Abe being listed as dying after 1983. He is listed in dad's obituary as surviving Jake's death. In Jake's obituary we find out where he died and when. The funeral date and place is listed giving the specific address of the church. A complete list of surviving children, spouses, and his siblings and their cities. The obituary lists his 4 1/2 years in service in WWII and his lifelong employment with Intercontinental Packing Ltd. It tells me a story of Jake Peters.

Newspaper Item for Tragic Death of Dennis Jahnke

Bill's little cousin, Dennis Arthur Jahnke died tragically July 7, 1952 at two years of age. Surprisingly in the Killaly newspaper, the above article lists the specific details of his death. I am not sure that this is an obituary as much as it is a news article.

Full Newspaper Page Where W.R.A. Jahnke Was Listed As a Casualty of War

The Enlarged Section of Newspaper Where Casualties Are Listed

Bill's first cousin once removed died in WWII. Walter Robert Albert Jahnke died in a plane accident. In the Lethbridge Herald on September 23, 1942 among many articles of the war, he is listed as dying while on active duty. The information listed is no more than his name, rank, his father and address of father. There is no more information. I can only guess that there is so many casualties daily in WWII that lists is the only way to put them out there. 

While digging a little deeper and just as a matter of closure,  I found the story of Mr. Jahnke's tragic death and the place he was buried in England from the website "Find a Grave".  I had always imagined that his plane was shot down by enemy fire.  But alas he and his crew were on a two hour oil consumption test when the plane went into a 45 degree dive and it crashed. All were killed. 

W.R.A. Jahnke Gravestone in St. Nikolas Churchyard in Rutland, England.

Obituaries are a good source of family information. However remember it is usually distressed family members who author the obituaries and some times it may be just a best guess.  Newspapers are slowly coming on line and for a cost you can access them.  While looking up obituaries in newspaper of years gone by, make sure to read the entire paper as a good fun read.

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 12 Prompt - 12

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
2019
Week 12
Prompt - 12

There are many records that I use in my genealogy. It amazes me what is available for public records on line. It also helps if you have someone in the family who might be a pack rat and keeps records and mementos. I know every family has at least one. Here is 12 different types of records that I have used in my genealogy.

1. Parochial Certificate
   My maternal grandmother, Maria McLaughlin, her siblings and parents immigrated to Canada from Warenburg, Privalnjoe, Samara, Russia. Prior to leaving Russia, their Lutheran church pastor gave my grandfather, Andreas Krikau a Parochial Certificate. This certificate is an introduction to their new pastor stating that The Krikaus are in good standing with the church. The family also used it as a birth certificate. It is written in old German Script.  I know you can't read this but if you wish me  to forward a copy that you can enlarge, please email me.

   

   Written August 16, 1911.

2. A Memento – Anniversary Napkin
   My husband's maternal grandparents are Arthur and Ida Jahnke. They married June 24, 1917 in Killaly, Saskatchewan. Their daughter, my mother in law, Clara Hoffart saves all things. This 50^th Anniversary napkin is a type of record that shows their wedding date.

   

   Arthur and Ida Jahnke 50th Anniversary Napkin

3. Attestation Form
   My father, Jacob Peters served in WWII. All volunteers in the CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) were required to fill out an attestation form . It is an information form which gives us a snapshot of our military men on the day that they enlisted.

4. Personal Notebooks
   Bill's grandparents - Arthur and Ida Jahnke kept little pocket type notebooks. In his youth Arthur Jahnke had taken a 3 month course in bookkeeping. These notebooks are logs of their trips across Canada to United States. The information included in these notebooks include day they left for the trip, gas mileage, cost of gas, accommodation (usually a cabin) and much more. It is a wonderful tool to add some flesh to their story. Ida Jahnke kept her own notebook and she recorded birthdays, anniversaries, and death dates of her family. Plus I have samples of my ancestor's handwriting.
   
   
   
   
   
   

5. Burial Report
   My grandmother, Mary McLaughlin had 3 children. The second child was named George Windsworth Sullivan. He died at 3 months of age on January 8, 1925 and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Saskatoon. On a visit to the cemetery, I stopped at the office and asked what I might find for this burial. They had two documents and photocopied them for me. It was a burial report from McKague's and Sons Funeral directories that gave me information on his cause of death among other information.

   

   George Windsworth Sullivan Burial Report

6. Personal Trip Diary
   My mother's trip diary to Hawaii in 1976 is full of interesting tidbits of inner thoughts. They went to Hawaii for their first time. She kept the diary recording every day from the time they left Saskatoon until their return. It is more than a daily account of what they did, but more importantly to me what they felt.
   
   
   
   
   

   

   January 27, 1976 - Vivian Peters Diary Entry
7. Family Interview
   Bill's younger sister, Elaine had a school project in grade 12 in 1976. Her term paper was taken from an interview of her mother's father, Arthur Jahnke. Arthur was widowed at this time and living with his daughter, Clara Hoffart and family. Elaine had an opportunity to interview him several times and Arthur recounted many stories that she recorded. Elaine's report extended from the immigration of Arthur's parents in 1891 to Winthrop, Minnesota to the end of the depression in Killaly, Saskatchewan. It is a fantastic paper with named photographs and details that could have been lost to all of us. Thank you Elaine.

   

   Elaine Hoffart 1st Page of Family History

   
   

7. Ship Manifests
   Vessels carrying immigrants to North American were required to keep lists of the passengers on their ship. This list was to be left at the port of departure. My paternal great grandparents, David and Catharina Peters along with their 7 children left Hamburg in July 1875 destined for Quebec City.
   

   

   David and Katharina and Children Listed in a Passenger List.

   
   
8. Newspaper Obituary
   My father, Jake Peters died September 22, 1983. His notice was placed in The Saskatoon newspaper just prior to his funeral. Obituaries often contain much information for genealogists

Obituary for Jake Peters

9. Wedding Booklet
   I don't know if it is only the Lutheran Church that had these type of booklets. They were made for baptisms, confirmation and wedding events. The booklets had one page usually filled out by the minister with all the pertinent details of the event. My sister, Betty married John Olajos in 1963. This is an example of the type of detail included in the booklet.

Wedding Booklet for Betty Peters and John Olajos; April 20, 1963.

11. Postcard
    I have scanned a well kept album of Bill's grandmother – Ida Jahnke nee Bachmann which contains postcards she received when she was away from the farm on a seamstress course. Besides being beautiful they have tidbits of information. This particular postcard from her sister tells her she has to come home and help out as her sister says; its too much for her alone.I love the one cent stamp. Small villages and towns did not need specific addresses.
    

    
    
    
    
12. Who Do You Think You Are?
    We have known that Bill is distantly related to Randy Bachmann of Bachmann Turner Overdrive; aka BTO. The episode of Randy Bachmann was aired in September, 2012. We watched it with Bill's mother who said that all the information was familiar to her and she  had heard about before. As it turns out Randy's great grandfather, Friedrich Wilhelm Emil Bachmann is the brother of Bill's great grandfather, Wilhelm August Bachmann. The episode gave me clues to more of the Bachmann family. If you google this you can watch the episode.

Partial Description of The Episode With Randy Bachmann

These are 12 different types of records that I have used in my research. Maybe you have more records than you thought you might have had. Don't throw out those mementos because as I see it; for every memento discarded a family genealogist cries a bucket of tears at their loss.

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2019 Week 11 Prompt - Large Family

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

2019

Week 11

Prompt – Large Family

Statistics tell us that families are getting smaller. In the Canadian prairie provinces that is on average 3 children per family. I don't need statistics to tell me this. I came from a family of 7 children (actually 9 – but 2 were stillborn).

1962 - May : Rob, Dennis, Don, Betty, Diane, Bonnie (to left of Betty) and Me - Wendy

Bill and I had 2 children. My generation was at the beginning of birth control availability and therefore the size of a family was definitely personal choice. Our ancestors did not have this choice.

I am going to follow my father's (Peters) ancestral line.

There is an error in this GRANDMA edition. My grandparents Franz and Elisabeth had 11 children. They have Katharina and Shirley as two separated women and therefor twins. There is only Shirley who was also known as Katie. My siblings that I have spoke to about this have concurred with me that there were no twins born to Franz and Elisabeth. David born in 1906 and Jacob born in September, 1911 both died at a young age. And as mentioned before it is truly a Mennonite convention to recycle the names until applied to one who lives on past viability. 

 My great grandparents David & Katherina Mueller (Miller) bore 15 children. The David born in 1860 died at 1. Susanna born in 1862 only lived a couple of weeks. Klaas born in 1863 only lived for a week. Maria born in 1866 only lived just under 5 months. Johann born in 1870 only lived two weeks. Isaak a twin of Maria and born in 1871 died the same day. How heartbreaking to lose 6 children. As I have noted in previous blogs children born before the twentieth century had a limited life span. 

My two times great grandparents; Nikolaus (Klaas) and Susana Klassen Peters had 16 children. 11 of their children died at birth or shortly thereafter. Oh my how cruel it must have been. They had two sets of twins where one of each set died at birth or the same day of birth. Each of the second twins died within a couple of months of birth. 

Aron and Helena Krahn Peters, my three times great grandparents had a relatively small family by comparison to previous generations. Is this because information is scant back around the 1780's to the early 1800's? I know about 1870's they along with many Mennonite families migrated from Prussia to South Russia. And if anything there records were better. Aron Peters was married 3 times. The first marriage was to an unknown women in Prussia and they had two children before she passed on. Aron's 3^rd wife, Kristina, was married to Aron just months (July 1) after Helena died. And Aron died 6 months later on January 1802. 

 Families depended on their offspring to help with the farm and land. Mothers needed help from their daughters for cooking and looking after siblings.   Large families were a necessity.  So few children lived beyond 5 years of age. 

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2019 Week 10 Prompt - Bachelor Uncle

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

2019

Week 10

Prompt – Bachelor Uncle

Abraham (aka: Abram or Abe) Peters was born to Franz and Elisabeth Peters on April 4, 1926. He was their youngest child. And he was born 7 to 8 years after their last child, Mary Peters. He was born 8 or 9 years after Jake Peters – my father.

As far as I know he never married. In fact I know very little about this uncle. The more I searched the less I seem to know. I would usually start by looking at the census to identify him. The 1931 Canadian Census has not been released and obviously he was born after the 1921 census. However I was able to find him in a newly released census. The 1926 Prairie Provinces Census was released at the end of February to the public. In brief he is listed as a son of Franz and Elisabeth Peters. This census was taken on June 1^st. It lists him as 2/12 or two months old. That aligns with his stated birth above of April 4, 1926. In the census his name is listed as Abram.

1926 Prairie Provinces Census for Peters

 I do not recall ever meeting this person. In my search on Ancestry and My Heritage family trees for Abe Peters their seems to be a consensus that he lived in Weyburn, Saskatchewan in 1952. There is a note on one tree that her mother spoke of an uncle who was admitted to a Mental facility in Weyburn and apparently he ran away from it several times. Again this is hearsay based on a recalled conversation and a name was never mentioned.

In 1989 for a university class project on families and with the help of my sister Bonnie we made what is called Family Group Records. It is in my handwriting even though I have little recollection of doing it. We have listed Abe Peters as being born April 4 with the notation that he “never married” , “jailed for petty crime” and also more baffling I have written in pencil beside his name - “We know he lived in Clark's Crossing in 1952”. Do we now? What a statement and no further information on where that came from. Sis - Bonnie do you remember why we wrote that? For that matter if anyone else remembers anything about Abe Peters, I would be happy to hear of it.

One Of Many Family Trees for Abe Peters

I guess we can say that in 1952 he was in Saskatchewan. Interestingly 1952 is the year that his father, Franz Peters died. Also this is the time that Abe's mother, Elisabeth and several family members moved away from Saskatoon to Vancouver. I believe then that he was part of that family that moved. I do not know this for a fact but once again, I'd appreciate any information to verify this.

I do not know why the online family trees I (as the one above) have stated his death is in Vancouver and sometime after 1983. I wish that people gave sources for this type of information. I looked at the British Columbia death registrations and burial index and received no return for his name (Abraham, Abram or Abe). Of course that doesn't mean he wasn't buried there. One reason that comes to mind is that maybe he was a welfare case like his mother and maybe no one afforded a proper burial.

It occurs to me that a bachelor's life is a lonely life. Who would he share his life story with? Who would record his events in life such as his death and burial place? How very sad that would be.

Last fall as I was going through Facebook, I noticed that my Cousin's wife (thanks Cheryl) had posted a picture of the three siblings - Shirley Noxel, Helen Heide and Abe Peters. It was the first photograph I had seen of Abe. It was a very exciting find. With her permission I copied it to my albums and now share with you. I know the picture cuts off some of Abe's head, but he looks like a Peters. I do not know when or where this was taken.  Everyone looks quite dressed up though. Was there a special occasion? 
Abe Peters is my Bachelor Uncle and unfortunately I know very little about him.  

Wendy

Shirley Noxel, Helen Heide, Abe Peters

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2019 Week 9 Prompt - At The Courthouse.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

2029

Week 9

Prompt – At The Courthouse

 Personally, the only time I was in a courthouse during an actual trial was during a class trip. I vaguely remember it as boring and wanting to be anywhere but there. I was subpoenaed to a trial in Regina which had to do with a bank fraud case.  However I was  9 plus months pregnant with Jill and when the police came by to discuss the case, they took one look at me and said that I would not likely be needed to testify because of my condition! I also have been summoned to jury duty but again was let off because the jury selection and trial date occurred during the middle of a month long vacation to London and Paris. 
 In past blogs I have spoken about my maternal grandfather who has a rather sordid past with the law. According to family lore Patrick or Robert Sullivan was a bigamist and sent to jail. In past my research has not been able to find the actual documents to verify this. In 2008 I ordered microfiche with the help of a clerk at Manitoba Archives in hopes of finding some records of his court trial or their divorce records. Since bigamy was a prosecutable offense, the clerk suggested I look through the index of Queen's Bench division – Eastern Judicial District. The indexes from 1921 to 1930 or so showed no cases under the name of Sullivan, O'Sullivan either Patrick, Pat or Robert; Krikau, Krikow, Mary or Maria. Another words I tried every combination of names and came up with nothing.

I assumed since my grandmother remarried 11 years later in 1932 she would have gotten a divorce. Divorce pre-1968 had to be a “Statue of Law” by the Federal Government and thus would be recorded. It also had to be publicized in their local newspaper for six months prior to the divorce and / or in The Canadian Gazette. The Library Archives of Canada listed every divorce pre-1968. There is 12,000 plus names listed. Once again I searched every combination of both of their names and did not find their names in the index. I even went to the McKimmie Law Library in Calgary and looked through the Statue books and The Canadian Gazettes from 1921 to 1940 or so. Again their name never came up.

I believe my assumption that they divorced was incorrect. Although on my grandmother's Naturalization Papers she lists herself as Divorced. 

Naturalization Papers For Mary Sollivan(sic).

Due to the fact that they do not show up on the statues, I truly believe they were not divorced. At that time this would have been an easy thing to do. The husband or wife (more likely the husband) could just take off and restart a life in a different location without regards to their past history. Again it seems that this is what Mr. Sullivan did. He was never heard of again. Today multi media and electronics makes it very difficult to get off the grid and disappear like this.

I wonder if my grandmother actually went to Mr. Sullivan's court proceedings. She would have been a very pregnant women. She was only 19 and her first language was German. It must have been very stressful for her. I also wonder if she had family with her for support. We are told that her parents had disowned her for marrying against their wishes. I would like to think that they would be there for her despite the circumstances.

To this end I have looked at several documents to find out where she was living during this time. She married Mr. Sullivan in a home of 609 Herbert Street Winnipeg which according to the Wedding Certificate was the home of her brother, Fred Krikau. 

1921 April 11 Marriage Certificate for Mary Krikau and Bob Sullivan.

The 1921 Canada Census stated that her parents lived at 659 Herbert Street, Winnipeg. After Mary was married she and Mr. Sullivan boarded in a home at 57 Francis Street, Winnipeg according to the 1921 Census. On my mother's (Vivian Sullivan) birth certificate we find out that Mr. Sullivan's is living in the Penitentiary and grandmother lists her abode 659 Herbert Street which his her mother and father's home. 

April 19, 1922 Birth Certificate for Lydia Sullivan.

I feel comforted that she did have her mother and father's support during this incredible stressful time and more than likely helped her at the courthouse.

Wendy