Auschwitz Survivor Searching for Long Lost Twin Brother

Eli as a child

Eli Gottesman and his twin brother Jeno (Jolli) were incarcerated in Auschwitz. When the camp was liberated, Eli was 4 years old and he did not know if his family was alive. He was given the name Menachem Bodner and taken to Israel by a man who became his adopted father.

All Menachem remembers is that he had a brother and a mother, and in his pocket was a worn family photo. Over the years he tried searching for his family and his twin but to no avail. Then Genealogist Ayana KimRon found his internet postings and contacted him. She began searching and it was Ayana who found Menachem's real name, and that of his brother.

Menachem has the Auschwitz ID number that will never be erased: A 7733. His twin Jeno's number was A 7734. The last record of Jeno is February 9, 1945.

Anaya turned to social media for help, setting up a Facebook page, A 7734, which has been viewed more than a million times.

Eli as he looks today

Anaya has found out more details of Eli's birth family including the fact that he had a baby brother, Josef, who died in Auschwitz. Bodner's birth father also died there but his mother, Roza Gottesman-Berger, not only survived several Nazi concentration camps, but returned to her home village of Stroino on the Ukraine-Hungary border, hoping to find her children.

It is not known what happened to Roza but extended family members and villagers say that shortly after her return, she was rounded up with other returning Jewish refugees and shot dead by Nazi-sympathizers.

Eli is 73 years old now and his consuming wish is to find out what happened to his twin brother Jeno. Anyone who has any knowledge or details should contact Anaya by visiting the Facebook page, A 7734 or contact Anaya at FamilyRoots2000@gmail.com

You can also read more at Auschwitz survivor's social media search for long-lost twin on CNN

The Digital Public Library of America to Launch April 18, 2013

The Digital Public Library of America  takes the physical-to-digital ambition of Google Books and wed it to the civic spirit of the US public library system, providing a centralized portal to a decentralized network of digital media from libraries, museums, universities, archives, and other local, regional, and national collections.

The DPLA  will hold a launch event on April 18 at the Boston Public Library.

Unlike Google Books, the DPLA doesn’t hoover up institutions’ documents to be stored on its own servers. Its primary goal is to support coordinate scanning efforts by each of its partner institutions, and to act as a central search engine and metadata repository. Most of these libraries and museums have been slowly scanning and cataloguing their collections for years; the DPLA helps make those materials aggregatable and interoperable. At least initially, it’s not nearly as focused on printed books as Google has been, but rather gathers an eclectic mix of texts, photos, data, and art, especially rare documents. It also provides a sophisticated frontend portal for discovery and research.

Continue reading about this exciting project at the DPLA website

From Conquest to Identity: New Jersey and the Middle Colonies in the Seventeenth Century

Call for Papers

From Conquest to Identity: New Jersey and the Middle Colonies in the
Seventeenth Century
Trenton, New Jersey, March 27–29, 2014

Paper and panel proposals are invited for a conference on “From Conquest
to Identity: New Jersey and the Middle Colonies in the Seventeenth
Century,” to be co-sponsored by the McNeil Center for Early American
Studies, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the New Jersey
Historical Commission, and Kean University and to be held in Trenton,
New Jersey, March 27–29, 2014. Confirmed participants include Charles
Gehring, Evan Haefeli, Ned C. Landsman, Robert C. Ritchie, and the
members of the program committee: Wayne Bodle, Stanley N. Katz,
Christian Koot, Maxine N. Lurie, Jonathan Mercantini, Daniel K. Richter,
and Cynthia Van Zandt.

The 350th anniversary of the conquest of New Netherland and the founding
of English New Jersey provides an occasion to examine a number of topics
connected to the origin and evolution of the Middle Colonies. The
organizers are especially interested in the theme of innovation and
experimentation—both as these words were understood in the seventeenth
century and as an interpretive device for understanding the period—and
in interdisciplinary approaches, particularly but not exclusively those
drawing on archaeological research.

Among specific topics that might be explored are conquest, reconquest
and the reality of empire; geography and mapping; land use, property
holding, and European-Native interaction in the Hudson and Delaware
watersheds; and contrasting views of various issues from the imperial
metropole and the mid-Atlantic periphery. While the organizers are open
to a wide range of proposals relating the conference themes to broader
trends in seventeenth-century North American history, they particularly
hope this conference will provide a venue for discussion of new ways of
thinking about New Jersey and the Middle Colonies in the period from
1664 to 1689.

Proposals are welcome for papers of approximately thirty pages in
length, which will be pre-circulated to all conference participants.
Suggestions for complete panels will also be considered, but the
organizers reserve the right to accept, reject, or reassign individual
papers.

Please submit proposals of approximately 500 words, along with
curriculum vitae, to mceas@ccat.sas.upenn.edu no later than Tuesday,
April 30, 2013. Accepted panelists will be notified by mid-June 2013.
Papers will be due for pre-circulation no later than January 15, 2014.
Some support for participants' travel and lodging will be available.

Serendipity Strikes and a Tombstone is Found

Photo I took in 2009 of Elizabeth Bell's Tombstone

My brother's DNA results on 23andMe.com had many suggested "cousins" but after writing to two of them, one came up a winner! It turns out we share a 3rd great-grandfather, Peter Bell, who came from Cheshire England to Arkell Ontario Canada around 1831.

We have been happily sharing information and pictures for the last few days. Chris, the wife of Gerald who shares Peter Bell with my brother and I, has an amazing story which I want to share. In 2007 Chris and Gerald took a trip from the USA to Ontario, specifically to Arkell to look for the graves of Peter Bell and his wife Elizabeth.

Peter's tombstone is near the front entrance of Farnham Cemetery and was easy to spot. But there was no sign of a grave marker for Elizabeth Higginson Bell. As Gerald walked across the lawns, he stumbled on a rock buried in the ground. He was struck by the shape of this rock so bent down to have a good look.

You know what's coming - it was one corner of a tombstone that lay buried. So Gerald got out his pocket knife and began digging. Lo and behold it was the tombstone for Elizabeth, wife of Peter Bell.

She obviously wanted to be found. And because Gerald dug around that tombstone and uncovered it, it was there for me to see when I went to Farnham Cemetery for the first time in 2009. I had no idea that I had Gerald to thank for being able to view my 3rd great grandmother's headstone from 1855.

Free Confederate Civil War Records on Fold3

Fold3 is offering free access to its rich collection of Confederate Civil War records for the entire month of April. This contains 32 collection comprising of more than 19 million records, with the majority of the records created during the time of the Civil War.

These include Confederate Compiled Service Records, both the Union and Confederate citizens files, and Confederate Casualty Reports. 

Additionally, Confederate Amnesty Papers, the Confederate Navy Subject File, the Turner-Baker Papers relating to Civil War Subversion Investigations, and files of the Southern Claims Commission are included as part of the free Confederate content for the month of April.

Why is AncestryDNA only available to those living in USA?

Many of my readers have asked me why Ancestry DNA tests are only available to those living in USA. So I reached out to my contacts at Ancestry.com to ask the question. Here is their (brief) answer:

There are many factors when offering a DNA test at large scale internationally. These include issues relating to international logistics and regulations, which we are reviewing. It is our hope to offer AncestryDNA internationally and we will let our members know as soon as an AncestryDNA test is available in their market.

 So those of you, like me, who live in Canada or England or Australia or any other country other than the United States will just have to be patient awhile longer! Here's hoping we don't have to wait long.  Especially since all the other big DNA companies are offering international, and have for several years.

DNA Results Showing Native American and East Asian Heritage

My  23andMe.com Ancestry results came in last week. I was fascinated by the sub-regional breakdown of my lineage. The chart above shows that I have 18% British and Irish, 1.4% French and German, 71.7% non-specific Northern European, 8.7% non-specific European, .1% East Asian and the rest unspecified.

What surprised me was no Native American showing for me (it is confirmed that I have Native American heritage through a Mohawk ancestor, Ots-Toch born ca 1622 in what is now New York state), and that I have a small bit of East Asian.  However it's important to note that one test isn't the final answer, especially when searching for confirmation of heritage from several generations back.

So it doesn't concern me at all that my Native American heritage doesn't show in the  23andMe.com results. The raw data from my brother's DNA test on Family Tree DNA also did not show our Native American heritage until I had it analyzed by Professor MacDonald, who is conducting his own study on DNA and has a different set of algorithms for providing results.  Then it showed my brother as having .7% Native American heritage.

And the icing on the cake is that my brother's DNA test from  23andMe.com also showed our Native American heritage at .7% (with East Asian at .1% just as mine is)

 

My brother's test from 23andMe also showed .7% Iberian which is the region of Spain and surrounding areas. We know from his raw data that he has a rare mutation which is known to have occurred when a group of Basque men went up to help build Hadrian's Wall between Scotland and England.  So that fits with the finding of Iberian heritage.

I still have a lot of reading to do to fully understand my DNA results (and my brother's) but it is an exciting and interesting adventure!

U.S.S. Monitor (Sank in 1862) Sailors’ Remains to Be Buried With Honors

Civil War sailors perished in an 1862 storm after making military history.

A funeral service for two unknown sailors who died when the Monitor went down off the coast of North Carolina was held in Arlington Virginia. The Monitor's 63-member crew included sailors born in Wales and Scotland, as well as African-Americans who were former slaves.

 The remains of two sailors, recovered when part of the iconic warship was raised in 2002, were buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. The faces of the two unknown U.S.S. Monitor sailors were re-created by forensic anthropologists.

 Continue reading and view the forensic reconstruction

Soldier's Case #5: 3 years later we have a happy ending!

STULL.

T. H.
340585
TYPE -B-
T. 12/44
USMC

Another happy ending thanks to the hard work of my readers! Two years ago we made contact with Thomas H. Stull's nephew but sometimes events move slowly. Contact was lost, then regained, and so on. But last week Craig was finally able to return the dog tags to the family.

Case #5. T. H. Stull  Marine Corps WW2 CASE SOLVED Dec. 2012 It took 2 years but we did it! Contact has been made with Thomas Stull's nephew James. See Another Happy Ending!

I think this very kind note received a few days ago says it all.

Lorine - just a short follow-up note to tell you that the dog-tags for Tom Stull were delivered successfully.   This has been a long and interesting 3 year effort leading to numerous dead-ends.  We'd all but given up but, thankfully, discovered your web site and you were able to track down family members who are thrilled to have the memento.  Thank you for all you do.  It is often the "little things that count."  Fond regards - Craig

Easter Bunny's Family Tree Found!

This was announced previously on Olive Tree Genealogy blog but I felt it was worth repeating!

Easter Bunny's Family Tree Found!

Breaking news - yesterday a little girl named Alice was playing in the garden of an old house in England when she fell down a large rabbit hole. Before climbing out she made a unique discovery. In a small wooden box under a pile of rabbit fur hats Alice spotted a yellowed letter. The letter was addressed to "Dear Easter" and signed "Uncle Wiggily", and it provided details of an interesting family tree!

The complete letter has been transcribed below:

Dear Easter,
I'm glad you asked about your family. Time is getting short for me and I think I'm the only one left who knows the stories of our family.

Your great-grandfather, Bugs, was one of three brothers (Bugs, Peter and Brer). The brothers left their home and sailed for America in the late 1800s. The ship they were on was caught up in a terrible storm and the brothers had to tie themselves to the mast. The ship sank but Bugs, Peter and Brer were lucky enough to find a plank and they climbed up on it and drifted for several days until they were rescued by the SS Lollipop.

When they got to Ellis Island, the customs officials changed the brothers' last names before allowing them to leave the ship, and so the three branches of our family began.

Bugs, Your great-grandpa, kept his Bunny name. Peter's was changed to Cottontail and all his descendants have kept that name. Brer's name was changed to Rabbit and it is from his line that our famous cousins White and Velveteen descend.

Great grandpa Bugs later met and married your great-grandmother Bunny Fufu. I don't know anything about her parents. My cousin Willy Bunny has photos and her family bible but he is stingy with the family information and refuses to share. Apparently Bunny Fufu's family bible was tossed into a fire by Indians when they attacked the settlement where she and her parents lived, but Bunny's father leapt into the flames and saved the bible. I wish Willy would not be so secretive with the information!

It gets a bit confusing, but Velveteen Rabbit, your mother, was your father Energizer's second wife and his third cousin once removed. It wasn't unusual for cousins to marry each other, but it does get confusing as we all seem to have large families.

Velveteen's father (your maternal grandfather) was Peter but I don't know too much about your mom's side of the family. I did hear there was an Angora in there somewhere way back. Some say she was a Princess and Peter rescued her from pirates!

Of course you know your grandparents - Buster and Trix. One day you should ask your grandma Trix why she calls your grandpa Buster by his nickname "Hassenfeffer" whenever she is mad at him, it's a cute story.

I've done some research on our family but am stuck on your great-great-grandmother. That would be your Great-Grandpa Bugs' mother. Great-Grandpa Bugs' father (your great-great-grandpa) was named Cadbury but I think your great-great-grandma was left by aliens. She is my brick wall. I know Cadbury called her Flopsy and they had 54 children but even though I've searched everywhere, I can't find what her SIRname was.

I guess I should tell you about the family scandal involving your Great great grandpa Cadbury Bunny. My Aunt Babbity told me she heard the grownups whispering about this when she was little. It seems that Cadbury's father fell in love with a chicken and Cadbury was the result of that love match! This might explain Cadbury's strange behaviour....

Well Easter, I think I've given you enough details to confuse you, but I hope I've gotten you interested in learning more! I know where some of the graves are of your ancestors and will take you there one day if you want to go. It's just a hop, skip and jump away.

Give my best to all the little children when you make your rounds this year,

As ever,
Uncle Wiggily

Since that exciting discovery in 2009, Easter Bunny has found more genealogy goodies!  In 2010 Easter found a family tree chart! You can see it here

In 2011 Easter was delighted to discover a Family Bible that once belonged to his great-grandmother Bunny Fufu! He's been hunting ever since, tracking down leads on the Bunny Trail and exploring every nook and cranny he can find.

So stay tuned for more news as Easter texts us to let us know of his new and exciting genealogy adventures.

23andMe DNA Results In!

It was an exciting day last Thursday. My  23andMe DNA results were in. I had previously sent for 3 DNA kits - one of each for hubs, my brother and me. So when the email arrived from 23andMe I had the fun of going through all 3 sets of results. Phew! I won't pretend I understood it all but it is fascinating.

We are all going to have to do some more reading on DNA to understand it all, so I concentrated instead on the health results. It's pretty impressive. 23andMe DNA shows if you have any at-risk or higher than average risk factors, which of course does not mean you are going to get that specific disorder but might just make you more aware of watching for symptoms.

Our reports showed if we were carriers of certain disorders and if we might have sensitivities to certain drugs or treatments. I learned that both my brother and I have bitter taste receptors that hubs does not have.  All in all the health and medical reports were quite detailed and provided our individual risk % compared to the average. I'm still going over them!

One item I noticed this morning is a printable genetic health summary report which 23andMe suggests might be shared with a health-care provider. Great idea! The site explains it as

This overview includes brief summaries of your 23andMe DNA results for:

• diseases for which you are at greater than average genetic risk,
• heritable diseases for which you carry one or more genetic variants (carrier status),
• and drugs to which you are likely to have an atypical response based on genetics.

There is also detailed information on each disease that is labelled as greater than average genetic risk and suggestions of life-style changes that might reduce the risk.

Of course there were the standard paternal and maternal Haplogroup determinations and so on but I'll talk about those in a future blog post. Not all of our details are in for this part of the testing. Let me end with the amusing finding that my brother's has 2.6% Neanderthal DNA, hubs has 2.8% and I have 3% which puts me in the 86th percentile! Wow I can't believe I'm more Neanderthal than my brother but genetics doesn't lie.

And now I'm off to do more reading on DNA

Women's History Month: Set a Female Ancestor in History

Affidavit re Anna Maria Vollick

My friend and fellow Blogger Lisa Alzo has a Meme for March - Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women's History Month

I encourage readers to join in. Lisa has some terrific blogging prompts for each day of Women's History Month.  


I will write my own stories each Friday from the 5 prompts I came up with at Celebrate Women's History Month! Time for Stories I hope you'll join in with your own:

Here is my last entry for

 Choose one female ancestor and the historical context during her life. Pick one historical event that would have impacted on her life. Perhaps she lived through the Spanish influenza in the early 1900s or she was widowed during the Civil War, or lived through the Depression? Every ancestor has a story to tell and this is a great opportunity to tell about one of your fearless female ancestors! 

This was an easy choice for me. I often think about my 5th great-grandmother Anna Maria Warner. Anna Maria was born to a Palatine family in Schoharie New York in 1735. At the age of 22 she married Isaac Van Valkenburg who later took the surname Vollick.

Shortly after the American Revolution broke out, Maria's husband Isaac took the side of those loyal to the King and joined Butler's Rangers. He was arrested on three separate occasions and sent to prison in Albany. The family was living near North River in northern New York, and when Isaac was released from prison he left with the Rangers and Maria was left alone with ten children.

Maria continued to aid the British, and in 1779 she and her  children (the youngest only four years old) were taken from their home in North River and made prisoners by American patriots. Their home was burned and Mary and the children were marched 80 miles north through the forest and left in destitute circumstances. With the help of Indians from Canada, Mary and family made their way to Canada and reached Montreal Quebec by July of 1779.

How she managed to keep going with seven young children is a testimony to her strength and courage. Her oldest child was her 19 year old daughter, her youngest only 4. She had no way of knowing where her husband and older sons were, nor even if they were alive or dead. And she had no family support except her children.

Once in Quebec Mary and her children received minimal food rations,  and were provided with lodging and blankets from the British Government. They had nowhere to go and with other refugees lived under these crowded conditions for three years. Finally in 1782 Maria reunited with Isaac and they settled in the Niagara area as impoverished Loyalists.

Ontario was a wilderness at that time and the Niagara area had no settlements until the disbanded Rangers were sent there.  They arrived with nothing, all their lands in New York having been confiscated. Can you imagine living and working the land for over 20 years and suddenly you are tossed out, your home burned in front of you and with only a few blankets you are marched into the woods and left to either die or make your way to a land you have never seen?

Then you live for  3 years in hardship and finally reunite with your husband, only to be sent out to the wilderness with only a few Government promises, most of which were never kept.

The following submission to the House of Commons in 1786 describes the grave situation in which Loyalists found themselves.

"It is impossible to describe the poignant distress under which many of these persons now labour and which must daily increase should the justice of Parliament be delayed until all claims are liquidated and reported. Ten years have elapsed since many of them have been deprived of their fortunes, their helpless families reduced from independent affluence to poverty and want."

To top it off, five years after arriving in the Niagara area, the disbanded Loyalists faced starvation in what became known as "The Hungry Year" , the winter of 1787/1788.  Settlers faced  crop failures, shortage of food and a severe winter.  Game was scarce and many people died. With the coming of  spring new leaves on trees were gathered and eaten. Roots were dug out of the ground and eaten. Bark of certain trees was stripped off and consumed as food. Those were the conditions Maria and her family faced some 12 years after being forced out of their home in New York. Did her suffering never end? What a strong brave woman she must have been. And I am so proud to call her one of my Fearless Female Ancestors.

Creating a Memory Book in Shutterfly: Tutorial 3

Video 3 of Creating a Memory Photo Book on Shutterfly is now online on Olive Tree Genealogy YouTube Channel

In this video I show you how to work with text boxes and embellishments, and how to rearrange book pages. 

National Genealogical Society Presents Research in Washington, DC 3–9 November 2013

National Genealogical Society Presents Research in Washington, DC 3–9 November 2013

ARLINGTON, VA, 27 March 2013: The National Genealogical Society will be presenting a hands-on research trip to Washington, DC, from 3–9 November 2013. Under the guidance of Craig Roberts Scott, cgSM, and Patricia Walls Stamm, cgSM, cglSM, twenty-six researchers will use the genealogical resources at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library, and the Library of Congress (LOC).

The Research Package includes:
    •    Six days of research at three noteworthy Washington, DC, facilities (the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the Daughters of the American Revolution Library)
    •    Online Training and Preparation Assistance for the 2013 Washington, DC, Research Trip
    •    Orientation and dessert get-together on Sunday at the hotel
    •    Research consultations with leaders throughout the trip
    •    Friday evening group meal
    •    Six nights at the Holiday Inn Rosslyn, which includes daily continental breakfast, free Internet in rooms, and parking.
    •    Fees and taxes included

Costs do not include either the transportation to Washington, DC, or within the city, or any other meals other than those shown above. The package price varies depending upon room occupancy and National Genealogical Society membership status. Payment is required in full at the time of registration.

Please see costs of trip

*non-researching spouse receives the benefits of the orientation, daily continental breakfast, and Friday evening group meal.

The trip hosts, Craig Roberts Scott, cgSM, and Patricia Walls Stamm, cgSM, cglSM, will be joined by Shirley Langdon Wilcox, cgSM, fngs, and Patricia O’Brien Shawker, cgSM. All are seasoned experts in conducting research in Washington, DC, facilities.

Craig Roberts Scott, cgSM, is a professional genealogist specializing in records in the National Archives, Washington, DC, since 1985. He has written several books and articles that relate to research in the National Archives. He has lectured at National Genealogical Society and the Federation of Genealogical Societies national conferences since 1990. Craig has coordinated and lectured in the military records tracks at Samford University’s Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG). He continues to lecture around the country on military records and problem solving. He has served on the Board of the Association of Professional Genealogists for several terms. Craig is also the president and CEO of Heritage Books, Inc.

Patricia Walls Stamm, cgSM, cglSM, serves as the Education Manager of the National Genealogical Society. Pat lectures on a wide variety of topics at many of the National Genealogical Society and the Federation of Genealogical Societies national conferences. She is a graduate of the National Institute on Genealogical Research (NIGR) and the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR). Pat is an instructor at Samford University’s Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), St. Louis Community College, and the St. Louis Genealogical Society.

Creating an Ancestor Memory Book on Shutterfly - Video 2

Don't miss my second video tutorial on using Shutterfly to create a Memory Book of your ancestors. This is a fun easy project to create. Be sure to visit the Olive Tree Genealogy YouTube Channel for more video tutorials

New Features on AncestryDNA

Great news - there are several new features for AncestryDNA. And there's a nice price of $99.00 now for a DNA kit. Here's what's new:

1. Communicating with matches is even easier. Now when you correspond with a DNA match, there’s a direct link in the email message that lets you quickly locate that match in the future. No more paging through your match list. Just click the link, and it will take you directly to the details for that match.

2. DNA results on-the-go.
Ancestry DNA web pages now work seamlessly on your smart phone and tablet.  No app download required; just access your DNA results through your web browser on your smart phone or tablet as usual.

3. Raw DNA data download.
Some genetic genealogists have requested the ability to download their raw DNA data. And now you have the option to download your raw data by logging into your account, going to your DNA results page and clicking the “manage test settings” link.

Creating a Memory Book - Video Tutorials

Yesterday I uploaded two video tutorials to Olive Tree Genealogy Channel on YouTube. The tutorials walk you step by step through creating a beautiful Photo Memory Book for your family tree.

There are more video tutorials to come in this series so be sure to keep an eye on the YouTube Channel and on this blog for announcements.

Here are the first two in the series. I hope they are helpful!

Creating a Memory Book in Shutterfly (Tutorial 1)

Creating a Memory Book in Shutterfly (Tutorial 2)

Last Day For Live Streaming Sessions from RootsTech 2013

It's the last day for RootsTech.  Which  Sessions are you going to watch today on their live stream? 

Remember, if you miss the Live Stream you can catch the sessions later at http://rootstech.org

 Here are today's sessions for Live Streaming. I am determined to catch Denise Olsen's Digital Storytelling and hope to watch the others live too.

Saturday, March 23

 8:30 a.m.

Keynote speakers: David Pogue, Personal Technology Columnist, The New York Times, and Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO, MyHeritage

9:45 a.m.

Using Technology to Solve Research Problems-Karen Clifford

11:00 a.m.

Digital Storytelling: More Than Bullet Points-Denise Olson

Today's Live Stream Sessions on Rootstech

Which RootsTech Sessions are you going to watch today on their live stream? Yesterday I saw part of the Keynote speakers - excellent! And I managed to watch Jill Ball's panel on Genealogy Gadget Bags. The panelists did an excellent job, as did the panelists on Thomas MacEntee's Panel on the Future of Genealogy.

Here's the list of what's coming today!  I hope I can manage to watch Valerie Elkins session at the very least. Of course I'm going to try to watch as many as possible. If you can't watch them live, they are being archived so you can catch the sessions later. Just go to Rootstech.org and enjoy!

Friday, March 22

 8:30 a.m.

Keynote speakers: Jyl Pattee, Founder, Mom It Forward Media, and Tim Sullivan, President and CEO, Ancestry.com

9:45 a.m.

Researching Ancestors Online-Laura Prescott

11:00 a.m.

FamilySearch Family Tree-Ron Tanner

1:45 p.m.

Google Search... and Beyond-Dave Barney

3:00 p.m.

From Paper Piles to Digital Files-Valerie Elkins

Women's History Month: A Pioneer Female Pilot

My friend and fellow Blogger Lisa Alzo has a Meme for March - Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women's History Month

I encourage readers to join in. Lisa has some terrific blogging prompts for each day of Women's History Month.  

I will write my own stories each Friday from the 5 prompts I came up with at Celebrate Women's History Month! Time for Stories I hope you'll join in with your own:

This is my entry for my 4th prompt

4.  Do you have a  female relative (direct ancestor or collateral lineage) who played an active role in women's issues? Perhaps one who was a Suffragette or was a pioneer in a male-dominated role or occupation?  Perhaps she sailed to the New World to start a new life in the 1600s or was a refugee from a war-torn or religious-intolerant location. Tell her story in a blog post or comment here on this blog.

So many to choose from! There are my Palatine female ancestors who fled the Palatinate area of Germany over religious differences and sailed to New York in 1710.  Out of approximately 3,000 who fled to a new land, almost 500 died on the way. Once in New York their mistreatment continued, this time at the hands of the British who forced their husbands and sons to work on British Tar Ships in situations not unlike slave labour. Their children were taken from them and given into indentured servitude to wealthier families. 

Or my Irish female ancestors who left Ireland during the Potato Famine in the 1840s? My 2nd great grandmother Fanny McGinnis (nee Downey) was one of those women. The hardships many of my female ancestors endured is beyond imagination and I admire their courage and resilience.

But I'm going to talk about my cousin Eileen Vollick (1908-1968) who became the first Canadian woman to obtain a pilot's licence in March 1928. Yes she was just 20 years old. Eileen was related to me in two ways, and was also my 7th cousin twice removed.





Eileen received numerous honours over the years, including the Amelia Earhart medallion in 1975. In August 2008 over 250 people gathered to mark her contribution to aviation on the 100th anniversary of her birth in Wiarton. 

She also was honoured with a Canada Post stamp and the naming of an airport terminal after her. 

You can read more about Eileen and her historical contribution as a pioneer in a male-dominated world at Carnival of Genealogy: Famous Canadian Ancestor Eileen Vollick, first licenced female pilot in Canada