The topic for Week 32 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is Free Space. I have a feeling the topic means a post of my choosing. Maybe that’s why it has taken me a couple of weeks to write a post!
This week will be for updates on new information, the family found, and a little “how I did it back then”.
There has been a big push to scan records for online searches. There are two sites – Geneteka and Skanoteka – and both take a little getting used to. Above is the record for my grandmother, Julianna Ingram. To find the record first I had to locate the Padew records, the years (some have large ranges), the record type (U-birth, M-marriage, Z-death), and then start browsing the records. Above the circle area, the section of the book is shadowed. If there’s nothing on the 2 pages I head to the next. This record raises questions about her date of birth. It was 1888, and I think it’s under March because she was baptized on the 4th. I can’t quite figure out the date but all my other records indicate the 19th of February. It confirms the names I already have of her parents and grandparents. His occupation is agriculture and I noticed today that it says “colonist” after his name. I will check the records I have for the Ingram family!
Another good find that solved a mystery was Charles Posluszny’s birth record. Why? I had his date of birth listed as November 1888, and his brother Frank’s was September 1889. Now, that’s not an impossibility, but after some searching, I found his record, and he was born September 18, 1884!
For both the Posluszny/Ingram Family and the Jakiela Family, I have had distant family contacts share their information which has been a great help, but sometimes creates more mystery! On my Posluszny side, Kerry, who lives in New Jersey. We are related through the Straub/Burghardt line, including my great-grandmother, Caroline Straub Posluszny Bonk. We know that Julianna Ingram and Konrad Posluszny were 2nd or 3rd cousins so even though my mother isn’t a Posluszny, she shares DNA with Caroline. Crazy right?
On my Jakiela side, in 2013 through an Ancestry message board, I was contacted by someone whose family spelled their name Yakiela. That was a first for me and I bet they just got tired of correcting people on how to pronounce their name. It was spelled Jakieła. The J was pronounced as a Y and the ł has a “waa” sound. We pronounce it with a Ja (like Jar), Key, La, but people look at it blankly until I tell them. Anyway! We are related! We have a DNA match but haven’t found the person who connects us. We have shared hints over the years and when he paid someone in Poland to research family records, they accidentally sent him the actual scanned records and he shared with me! They revealed that my grandfather, Charles, lost his mother when he was only four years old, and then lost his wife, Antonia, when his youngest (my dad) was turning 3. In addition, I found a marriage record for my great-grandfather, Ignacy, and his second wife nine months later.
When I started working on family ancestry in the early 2000s, there was internet access, but not the online records available today. Census records are made available 72 years after they are collected. 1930 records were made public in 2002, 1940 records in 2012, and 1950 records only two years ago. I remember how excited I was to see the 1940 records!
Before that, I would head to the library to check town directories, use the microfilm for newspapers when I had dates, or even just an idea of one, and visually scan all the local sections. If I found a record online that I thought was important, I would write a letter to the town clerk or library to see if they could provide information. There was a lot of waiting for word back!
Now, through Newspapers(dot)com, I have that at my fingertips and use all sorts of word combinations for information.
The hardest part of the research and information is “where did I put that!”, especially with records that have been downloaded. I’m beginning to keep a list.
You would think that at this stage, I’ve found everyone within the last generation or two there is to be found right? Well, just last month (September 2024), I received a message from someone whose husband, Ben, discovered my blog. HIS great-grandfather was Charles Jakiela, my grandfather. His father was Ed Jakiela and his grandfather, my Uncle Eddie! Ben’s wife, Noel, and I have spent some time sending information back and forth. His father Ed, was married and had a son, David. About 1988, Ed’s wife passed away. I remember my dad driving to North Carolina with Uncle Eddie for the funeral. Ed remarried someone much younger and they had Ben. Ben knew nothing about his Jakiela family or that Uncle Eddie had four siblings! Ben and Noel live in South Carolina with their three sons and one daughter and it’s nice to know there are more Jakielas out there!
I hope you enjoyed a look at my ancestry research. I look forward to sharing new discoveries and more stories in the future!
Up next week: Favorite Discovery
It's All About Family 