Sunday, July 17, 2011

My "Heritage Pie" Chart - SNGF

I loved Randy's idea this week for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Below is a list of my 16 great-great-grandparents and where they were born.  Below that is the actual pie chart showing the birthplaces and how they are weighted.

One of my lines is a little iffy, so I just had to make an assumption of place of birth for this exercise.  Also,  2 of my lines had people born in places that have since changed around since WWI and WWII.  For instance, my DOMELLE line was born in Hungary, but exactly where is not Hungary now, it's now in modern Romania.

My 16 great-great-grandparents are:

1.  Adam Domelle, born Bet. 1850 - 1860 in Austria Hungary.  He died in Austria Hungary.  He married Christine Rizer.
2.  Christine Rizer, born Bet. 1850 - 1860 in Austria Hungary.  She died in Austria Hungary.

3.  Unknown Obendorfer, born in Austria.  He died in Austria.  He married Unknown.
4.  Unknown, born in Austria.  She died in Austria.

5.  John Mix, born 09 Mar 1830 in Tioga County, NY; died 1906 in New York.  He married Mary Ellen Weaver Aft. 1854.
6.  Mary Ellen Weaver, born 19 Feb 1839 in Cooperstown, Otsego, NY; died 13 Jan 1925 in Ithaca, Tompkins, NY.

7.  John Francis Akins, born 13 Mar 1841 in Tioga County, NY or PA; died 13 Feb 1890.  He married Hattie Elizabeth Kirby 17 Apr 1885.
8.  Hattie Elizabeth Kirby, born 19 Mar 1866 in Bennettsburg, Schuyler, NY; died 04 Jun 1963 in Schuyler Hospital, Montour Falls, Schuyler, NY.

9.  Johann Andreas Kleylein-Weltdicker, born 04 Oct 1829 in Unterrodach, Oberfranken, Bayern, Germany; died 26 Feb 1886 in Unterrodach, Oberfranken, Bayern, Germany.  He married Katharina Schaller 07 Mar 1858 in Unterrodach, Oberfranken, Bayern, Germany.
10.  Katharina Schaller, born 24 Aug 1833 in Unterrodach, Oberfranken, Bayern, Germany; died 15 May 1919 in Unterrodach, Oberfranken, Bayern, Germany.

11.  John Pawlak, born 24 Jun 1850 in Posen, Poland; died 20 Apr 1911 in Hale Township, McLeod Co., Minnesota.   He married Branislawa Lewandowski 30 Jan 1876 in St. Adalbert, Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois.
12.  Branislawa Lewandowski, born 30 Sep 1856 in Posen, Poland; died 13 Mar 1910 in Hale Township, McLeod Co., Minnesota.

13.  John Pokornowski, born 21 Dec 1856 in Starawies, Gniezno, Poland; died 21 Jan 1939 in Geneseo, Sargent Co., North Dakota.  He married Pelagia Kautz 25 May 1881 in St. Adalbert, Silver Lake, McLeod Co., Minnesota.
14.  Pelagia Kautz, born 11 Mar 1864 in Posen, Poland; died 15 Jan 1964 in Breckenridge, Wilkin Co., Minnesota.

15.  Nimrod Harrison, Jr., born 19 Apr 1839 in Mt. Airy, Carroll Co., MD; died 1919 in Taylorsville, Carroll Co., MD.  He married Sarah C. Watkins 28 Nov 1860 in Frederick Co., MD.
16.  Sarah C. Watkins, born 22 Aug 1845 in MD; died 1931 in Taylorsville, Carroll Co., MD. 


The birthplaces of my great-great-grandparents are:

Pre-WWII Hungary
Pre-WWII Austria
NY (4)
Germany (2)
Poland (4)
Maryland (2)

And finally, here is the actual Heritage Pie chart I came up with, thanks to the great NCES website:











Saturday, July 16, 2011

Bud, Lou, Bela and Ziggy Stardust

What do Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Bela Lugosi and David Bowie have in common? Well, I'll tell you.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Labyrinth. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's this wonderful mix of authentic Jim Henson-before-he-died muppets, David Bowie as a goblin king, plus an awesome Bowie soundtrack. My sister and I have probably watched this movie a hundred times if we've watched it once, it's just that SUPER AWESOME!

Of course that means we pretty much know most of the script, including an important speech from the young girl who is trying to get her baby brother back from the goblin king:

"Give me the child. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great. You have no power over me."

Now, keep that little speech in mind, especially the parts I've helpfully bolded. It was repeated a few times in the movie.

So anyway, there I was, minding my own business the other day. I was doing stuff on the computer, you know, that "stuff" that keeps us sitting in front of it for so long. Anyway, in the background on the TV, I had a movie playing that I had DVR'd for fun: The Return of the Vampire from 1944 with Bela Lugosi. It takes place during WWII in Britain believe it or not and there is a werewolf loping around serving Bela who of course, is Dracula.

Anyway, I only had it on as background, but suddenly a line that the werewolf said to Bela cuts through my important feeding of my cows in Frontierville:

"You have no power over me."

I thought, WOW, he said it just like Sarah from Labyrinth! That was pretty cool. Now certainly there are probably characters in movies that have said that line all over the place. But if you've watched Labyrinth as many times as I did, then that's what you would think of too.

So then, later in the same weekend, I have another movie on in the background.

This time it's Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Come on, you know it's a masterpiece. Just go watch it, you'll love it. On a side note, Abbott and Costello always make me think of those Dagwood and Blondie movies - haven't seen those on TV for decades. When I was little, on Sundays in the morning I'd watch Dagwood and Blondie, then at Noon an Abbott and Costello movie would come on. Good times. :-)

Anyway, and then this happened while the movie was on and I was busy harvesting corn or something on my homestead, it cut right through to me just like the other line...

There was this woman in the movie, playing a character named Dr. Morney. She said to Bela (yes, of course he was in the Abbott and Costello movie too!):

"You have no power over me."

!!!

So now I'm getting suspicious. What is the universe trying to tell me? To watch Labyrinth again? It has been several years. To buy a David Bowie song on Amazon? To maybe stop tending my stupid homestead and go outside into the sun once in a while before I get pale as a vampire? After all, the lines were both said to Bela...

Heck if I know though! I just chalked it up to maybe the writer who wrote the little speech for Labyrinth watched a lot of Dracula and Abbott and Costello movies in his youth. I know I did. :-)

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Second Hand Treasures

Yay for second-hand goods! You just never know what you'll come across that means nothing to someone else, but is wonderful to you!

I stumbled across a little gem in eBay - someone was selling their grandmother's scrapbook. It contains newspaper clippings from the Owego, Tioga County, NY area. It's pretty fragile since they are original newspaper clippings. They were cut out and pasted onto what seems to me to be the sacks that flour came in?

And now it's mine!!!

At first glance, it doesn't look like it contains any clippings that are for my direct ancestors, but I don't care, it's a treasure of information from the very early 1900s for the area. It's got a boatload of obituaries, marriage notices and biographies for the area. Since there are few newspapers from the Finger Lakes region that have been scanned and provided online, this is really important information to be able to share. I plan to post all of them.

Here's some pics (click for bigger):