52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 3 Prompt - Organization

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 3

Prompt - Organization

The past several months  I have done very little research for my genealogy.  I have information and I need to get it organized so that I have it together in one place. I have a software program called Legacy. This program has all the bells and whistles that most genealogists could want for their family trees.  The only problem it has, is that it does not input itself!

Late last fall I started with myself and worked down, sideways and up my family tree.  Does that make sense?  The facts such as birth, christening, marriage, death and burial are the easy part.  What has become a mammoth task, has been putting in events for each individual.  An event is that thing that can put a person in a time and place.   For example, lets take The Canada Census which is available on line up to 1930 and in the United States up to 1940.   The 1921 census for Bill's grandfather, Arthur Jahnke, was enumerated on 21 Jun 1921.  At that specific time I am able to say that Arthur is a 27 year old male who was born in the USA around 1894.  He is married to Ida.  Arthur's mother and father were both born in Germany.  He immigrated to Canada about 1904 (actually it was 1903).  He resides in The Saltcoats area of Saskatchewan and to be specific;

Section Number 10

Township Number 21

Range Number 7

Meridian Number 2W

His occupation is farmer.  He owns his own land.   His household members include himself, wife, Ida and two year old Elsie Jahnke.  They are Lutheran.  Arthur can speak English but not French.

Thus from that one census I have events to include such as residence, occupation, religion etc.  I also remember that the census could be very unreliable for its information.   The enumerator often just guessed at the name as he heard it through heavily accented voice.  The person who gives the information may not be a reliable informant.

I have 70 plus events entered for Arthur Jahnke.  They span his entire life time.  They include things like the censuses, voters lists, confirmation, baptismal certificates, border crossings, school entries, gun registration, WWII registration cards etc. 

 Above is a partial page that shows me the events that I have for him.  The next step is to click on the individual event.  It brings up the next screen where I add a short sentence about the event. The reason for this step is that when I make up the individual reports for him, the events are in bullet form and readable for the report. 

 

All events should show it's source.   In Legacy I am able to enter it by following its templates for different types of sources.  All events have been individually entered into the source writer as above. 

Further I try to include a scanned copy of that source. Things like the actual census page or a marriage certificate.

It is at this point that I share the events with his family.  The census above was shared with his wife and daughter, Elsie creating an event in each of their pages.  By sharing the event I do not have to rewrite the event, source and photograph on their page.

It is seemingly complicated.  I have spent many months figuring Legacy out.  Well actually I have had it for several years but it has just been the past several months that I have added my information into some kind of organized chaos.

I started inputting entries with myself, then my siblings and parents,then my husband, his mother and father and now his maternal grandparents.   With each addition of a person or an expansion of a generation, the events become more intricate and it gets very convoluted to start sharing the events down, up and across the tree.  Also along the way I have discovered better ways to write the sentences or I change my mind on how to write a source for the information causing me to go back and rework the individuals and those who have shared the event that I have already worked on.  Round and round I go trying to get the information together.

I spend 4 to 6 hours each day on my laptop working on this genealogy.  And most of the time I find it enjoyable and rewarding.

I do this because I eventually want it to be a readable piece of family history and information for everyone to have.  Legacy is making that possible.

Here are a few examples of the reports I have produced for Arthur Jahnke.

 Page 1 of a 7 page Chronology Report. 

 

This is page 5 of a 20 page Individual Report for Arthur Jahnke.

 

This is how I try to organize the information that I have.  Legacy does the cute reports once I input the information.

 

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 2 Prompt - Favourite Photo

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 2

Prompt – Favourite Photo

My father, Jacob (Jake) Peters died on September 22, 1983.  He was 66 years old.  He died in his home (as was his wish) of Pancreatic Cancer with Liver metastasis.

My mother and father went on a Hawaiian trip in February of that year.  If my memory serves me, I believe that they came home early because dad was unwell.  None the less he went to the doctor and by March 17^th had exploratory surgery.  The surgeons found cancer that had gone beyond the ability to treat it in any way surgically.  I remember that it was March 17^th because when my mom called to tell me about the outcome of dad's surgery, she said; “the luck of the Irish has run out because dad has inoperable cancer.”  He died 6 months later.

The family came together and we buried dad on Monday, September 26, 1983 in Woodlawn Cemetery in Saskatoon.  All my brothers and sister and their spouses were present.  Our children were present. However some did not attend grandpa's funeral because of their age.  After a very long and sad day we gathered that evening at my brother and sister in law's home.  Somehow we managed to gather up our rather rambunctious children in an attempt to photograph them.

The first attempt was less than successful.  Did I mention that they were full of energy?

       Grandpa Jake Peters' 13 Grandchildren.  September 26, 1983.

Back Row: Gregory Peters is sitting on Glenn Olajos lap.  Scott Lutz, Murray Cuthbertson, Joelle Peters

Front Row: Jill Hoffart, Sandy Lutz, Cathy Olajos is holding Matthew Cuthbertson, Sarah Lutz, Sue Lutz is holding Jackie Hoffart and Benjamin Peters.

Jake Peters' obituary stated he had 13 grandchildren. These are his grandchildren as photographed on the day of his funeral.  Their ages ranged from 4 months to 19 years old.

These children are his legacy.

JAKE PETERS - 1982

 

God Bless.

Wendy

P.S. There was 3 more grandchildren born after he died; Trent Peters and Lynn and Michael Cuthbertson.

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 1 Prompt - Beginnings

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

2021

Week 1

Prompt – Beginnings

There are those points in our lives where we can look back and say that is how it all began. In the case of my genealogy, I have to say that working on the family tree happened through a series of beginnings.

In my tween or teen years while visiting my grandmother McLaughlin, I admired the black and white photograph on her dresser. As it turns out it was her parents – Andreas and Maria Krikau. She told me they were born in Russia. And further she was also born in Russia. It amazed me.

The next incident happened when Bill and I were sitting in Pastor Guebert's office (a week before our wedding) filling out our marriage certificate. The pastor asked me what my mother's maiden name was. I was stumped by the question. The pastor was incredulous. Where was she born and at that time I wasn't sure. Hmm! This was a legal document and I wanted to get it right. I knew for sure she had not taken the name of her mother's second husband - McLaughlin despite everyone thinking that she was legally a McLaughlin. At that point I wasn't even sure whether her biological father was a Sullivan or O'Sullivan. It was complicated.

In January of 2006, I got together with some of my siblings and I started asking them pointed questions about our family. One weekend was hardly enough time but then I just needed to know what we all knew about some very easy facts.

It started with what was our mother's full name. I was recording their answers and no surprise we got Lydia Vivian (she went by her second name and we all knew that) and then stumbled on her last name. I was interested in her “legal” name. There was a consensus that she was not adopted by grandma's second husband, simply because my mother despised her step father. We decided it had to be Sullivan. But I wanted to set out and find out for sure. That was the hook.

From these seemingly little incidents, my passion and love of my family tree began.

Wendy