FamilySearch Find Of The Day: Death Certificate Of Eszter Tóth Gombash

Today I'm highlight the death certificate of my great-great-grandmother, Eszter Tóth Gombash. She was born in the village of Tiszadob, in Szabolcs county, Hungary. Her parents were Károly Tóth and Mária Tóth. Yes, that was also Mária's last name, they were actually 4th cousins. She was married to my 2nd-great-grandfather, Sándor Gombás, in both Tiszadob and Büdszentmihály (the village Sándor was from), in 1895. They had a few children in Hungary and eventually immigrated to America, settling in Butler County, Pennsylvania, until Sándor's death in 1931.

Here is an extract of the record:

Reg. Dist. No.: 475
Primary Reg. Dist. No.: 4719
State File No.: 23475
Registrar's No.: 3
1a. Place of Death, County: Guernsey
1b. Place of Death, City or Village: Richland Twp.
1c. Place of Death, Length of Stay: 2 yrs
2a. Usual Residence, State: Pa
2b. Usual Residence, County: Butler
2c. Usual Residence, City or Village: Emleton P.A.
3. Name of Deceased: Esther Gombash
4. Date of Death: 4-4-50 (04 Apr 1950)
5. Sex: Female
6. Color or Race: White
7. Married, Never Married, Widowed, Divorced: Widow
8. Date of Birth: Sept 22, 1874
9. Age: 76
10a. Usual Occupation: Housewife
10b. Kind of Business or Industry: Own Home
11. Birthplace: Austria Hungary
12. Citizen of What Country: USA
13. Father's Name: Charles Toth
14. Mother's Name: Mary Toth
17. Informant's Signature: Mrs. Michael Mayors (Julia Gombash)
18. Cause of Death, I. Disease or Condition Directly Leading to Death: (a) Aortic valvulitis, several years
18. Cause of Death, I. Disease or Condition Directly Leading to Death: Due To (b) Syphilis probably
20. Autopsy? No
22. I hereby certify that I attended the deceased from 3/7, 1950, to 4/2, 1950, and that death occured at 4:30pm, from the causes and on the date stated above.
23a. Signature: William W. Bryant MD
23b. Address: Senecaville, Ohio
23c. 4/14/50
24a. Burial, Cremation, Removal: Burial
24b. Date: April 7, 50
24c. Name of Cemetery or Crematory: Old Anadale
24d. Location: Anadale, PA
Name of Embalmer: Charles R. Corwin, (Lic. No.) 3164A
Date Rec'd By Local Reg.: Apr 19, 1950
Registrar's Signature: James Stevens
25. Funeral Director's Signature: Wayne D. Womer, Clintonville, PA, (Lic. No.) 3926

FamilySearch Find Of The Day

Today I'm focusing on the FamilySearch database "Czech Republic, Northern Bohemia, Litoměřice Archive Church Books, 1552-1905". My great-grandfather's mother, Anna (Weishaupt) Stuempges, came from this area of Bohemia. I was delighted a few years ago, when I saw that FamilySearch had added these digital records online, because these records weren't previously available on microfilm. You either had to hire a researcher, pay the archive for the records or actually go there yourself.. all very pricey!

Anna Weishaupt was born 06 May 1867 in Graber (also called Kraber, Kravare; today it's called Kravaře), as the daughter of Joseph Weishaupt and Maria Anna Kasper. To date, I've been able to trace back to Anna's 2nd-great-grandparents on her paternal Weishaupt line.

They were Anton Weishaupt and Anna Maria Sandrich. Here is an extract of the marriage record:

Date of marriage: 14 May 1753, Kraber
Groom: Anton, the son of Christoph Weishaupt, from Schönau
Bride: Anna Maria, the daughter of Wentzel Sandrich, from Kraber
Witnesses: Wentzel Kraus, the "bürgermeister" (mayor) and Joseph May, the "schulmeister" (schoolmaster); both of Kraber

FamilySearch Find Of The Day

I thought it might be a neat theme for any random day of the week, to post a miscellaneous record that I periodically find on FamilySearch. With all the new databases they've been adding, I'm bound to find lots of new information on my family.

This post highlights the updated database "United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942". They recently updated the database on Friday, so I thought I'd give it a try and see what I could find. Seeing that they had an index that covers West Virginia, I immediately thought of my great-grandfather, Alex Gombash. I entered his name and his record was the first result to appear. A bit too easy, considering Gombash is always spelled wrong and butchered by whomever is actually writing the records.

Extract:

Serial Number: 462

Name: Alex Gombash

Place of Residence: Caretta, McDowell, W.Va.

Mailing address: Same

Age in Years: 45

Date of Birth: 11 Nov 1896

Place of Birth: Deegan, Pa.

Name and Address of Person Who Will Always Know Your Address: Anna Gombash, Caretta, W.Va.

Employer's Name and Address: Carter Coal Co., Coalwood, W.Va.

Place of Employment or Business: Caretta, McDowell, W.Va.

Signature-Alex Gombash

Race: White

Height: 5'8"

Weight: 145lbs

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Gray

Complexion: Light

Signature of Registrar: Clyde Oney

Registrar for Local Board:  3, Beckley, W.Va.

Date of Registration: 27 of April 1942

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - You Might be a Genealogist if ...

This is a fun blog post this week! It is based on Katie O's post You Might Be a Genealogist If ... on the You Are Where You Came from blog.

Here are the directions:

1)  Make up your own "You Might be a Genealogist if..." sayings.  One or more.  Lots.  The more the merrier.  You can use Katie's tax theme, or any other theme - you're completely free to make up anything you want!
2)  Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a Twitter feed, or in a Facebook status line or comment.

Here are mine:

1) You might be a genealogist if... the majority of your friends (if not all of them) are also fellow genealogists.
2) You might be a genealogist if... you dreams consist of researching in microfilmed records.
3) You might be a genealogist if... you're at the grocery store and think how many microfilms you could be ordering instead.
4) You might be a genealogist if... you hear a familiar surname and instantly think of genealogy.
5) You might be a genealogist if... the first section you go to in a library, is the genealogy section.
6) You might be a genealogist if... you travel half-way across the country, just to stand on the land your ancestor once owned.
7) You might be a genealogist if... you find yourself at the courthouse while on a family vacation.
8) You might be a genealogist if... your family's eyes glaze over when you try talking to them about the family tree.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - the 1940 US Census

This is going to be a fun post. I saw on a website, that the 1940 census will be open to the public as of yesterday, one year from now. Immediately, I began thinking of who I should find first.

I've already been able to find my maternal grandparents. My grandfather, Thomas Thurman Rodgers, was born in Duck Hill, Montgomery County, Mississippi on 15 Jun 1928 to Fred Lamar Rodgers and Ellen Inez Martin. Here is an excerpt of him with his family in the 1930 census:

Rodgers, Fred L., Head, 30, Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi, Farmer
Rodgers, Ellen I., Wife, 27, Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi, Farm laborer
Rodgers, M. J., Son, 11, Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi
Rodgers, Virginia A., Daughter, 6, Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi
Rodgers, Wilburn H., Son, 4 8/12, Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi
Rodgers, Thomas T., Son, 16/12, Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi


My maternal grandmother was Elaine Florella Stuempges. She was born 31 Dec 1926 in Polar, Langlade County, Wisconsin, to Walter John Stuempges and Sylvia Maria Martin. Here is an excerpt of her with her family in the 1930 census:

Stuempges, Walter, Head, 30, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Bohemia, Mechanic in Garage
Stuempges, Sylvia, Wife, 20, Wisconsin, Germany, Wisconsin
Stuempges, Elaine, Daughter, 3, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin
Stuempges, Eunice, Daughter, 1, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin

As for my paternal grandparents, they were born after the 1930 census. My grandfather was John Edward Gombash. He was born 02 Oct 1935 in Caretta, McDowell County, West Virginia and was the son of Alex Gombash (previously Sándor Gombás) and Catherine Grządziel. Along with my great-grandparents and my grandfather, there will be 6 other children listed.. siblings to my grandfather. They're all living, so I won't state names and dates out of respect for their privacy.

My paternal grandmother was Mary Louise Adas. She was born 02 Mar 1940 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois to Edward Robert Adas, Sr. and his wife Martha Violet Czarny. Now knowing she was born in 1940, I'm REALLY hoping she's listed in the census. I'm not sure of the months of which the census was take that year, so I'll have to do some research on that topic. She had one younger brother who was born in 1941.

I'm going to be really curious about my paternal great-great-grandmother, as well. She was Eszter (Tóth) Gombás. Her husband, my great-great-grandfather, had died in May of 1931. She will have been a widow for 9 years now. I'm not sure of the exact location of where she will be, but I believe she may be in Lore City, Richland Township, Guernsey County, Ohio. That's where her daughter Julia (Gombash) Mayors was hopefully living at the time. I do know that Eszter died in April of 1950 in Lore City. Maybe she'll even appear in the 1950 census, too! Boy am I impatient! :)

Ancestor Approved Award

I received the Ancestor Approved Award from my friend Nuccia the other day. I've neglected to write about it until now. You can find her blog here. Thank you for the award, Nuccia!

As a recipient of this award, I am to list 10 things I have learned about my ancestors that have surprised, humbled or thrilled me and then pass the award on to 10 other genealogy bloggers I feel are doing their ancestors proud. So here goes...

Humbled
1. My 5th-great-grandfather, Hiram Howell, was murdered in 1853.
2. Agnes Gotowa, my 3rd-great-grandmother, jumped out of a third story window in Chicago in 1917, only 5 months after her husband passed away. She died two weeks later due to injuries from her fall. The secondary contributing cause of death on the certificate stated "temporarily insane".
3. My grandmother died at 45 years old from a heart attack. My life could be more than half over already.

Surprised
4. I was surprised to learn of my talent of Hungarian research. It came naturally to me.
5. I descend from the Swayze family, which makes me kin to Patrick Swayze!
6. In 1990, I learned I was going to have a little sister. I didn't know until years later when I was older, that my sister was actually a twin.. my mother had miscarried the other one. Looking into my family tree directly down my maternal line, my 4th great-grandmother was the daughter of a twin. Perhaps it was genetics?
7. I descend from two men who served during the Civil War. One of them was Johann Peter Stuempges, serving for the Union from Wisconsin. The other was James Andrew Costilow, serving for the Confederates from Mississippi.

Thrilled
8. How many cousins I have!
9. I'm a direct descendant of King Béla IV of Hungary. I descend through his daughter Szabina, who was the wife of Mózes, Palatine of Hungary.
10. My 3rd-great-grandfather, Johann Georg Summ, was born in the house that would later become the focus of the Schwarzwalder Freilichtmuseum ("Open Air Museum") in Gutach, Baden, Germany. The house is called Vogtsbauernhof and is the only house in the museum to be in it's original location. The other houses featured in the museum were brought in from various parts of Germany.

Now to pick 10 blogs I feel are worthy of this award - not an easy choice since I think they're all great but since I have to choose then these would be my choices.

1. ChicagoGenealogy
2. Nolichucky Roots
3. Old Stones Undeciphered
4. The Slovak Yankee
5. What's Past is Prologue
6. Royal Musings
7. The Ancestry Insider
8. Blood And Frogs: Jewish Genealogy and More
9. Bayside Blog
10. 100 Years in America

Have fun with your awards!

Why You Should Re-Examine Your Documents

There are times when we find documents and we seem to miss a few specific clues. We may be excited about our new find, or rushed for time and don't fully analyze all the wording. Whatever the case, it really does pay off to look over your documents and records every now and then. I do this every-so-often and find things I happen to have over-looked. I know I'm probably not the only one out there! Here is a great example that happened to me only a few days ago.

I was reviewing a few documents I received from a cousin around April 2010, that pertained to my noble Porkoláb family from Tiszadob, Hungary. The document is called "kihallgatás", which translates literally to mean "interrogation". The document is more of a testimony than it is an interrogation. On the second page, it explains in full detail the fourth testimony for the Porkoláb family by a Mihály Rácz. With-in this testimony, Mihály Rácz talks about an aged Márton Porkoláb with the nickname "szakálas" (bearded) and an István Zákány, from another known noble family living in Tiszadob. On the last few lines it states the following in Hungarian: "az öreg szakálas Porkoláb Mártonnak - kinek felesége Zákány leány vólt". This means "the aged 'bearded' Porkoláb Márton, whose wife was the daughter of Zákány".

"Szakálas" Porkoláb Márton lived before the time of recorded church records, in Tiszadob. So other than this document that list's his wife's (partial) name, she would've been lost to history forever. She has never been mentioned in any known document that I have for the Porkoláb family.

It really does pay to look over your previously found documents!