FamilySearch Find Of The Day: The Birth Record of Joseph Adas in 1882

Today I stumbled upon the database Michigan Births, 1867-1902. I knew that my 2nd-great-grandfather, Joseph Adas, was born in Detroit in 1882, so I gave it a search. His birth record popped right up, along with a few of his siblings! Woo hoo! Here is an extract of the record:


Record Number: 4033
Date of Birth: May 21, 1882
Name: Joseph Adas
Male/Female: Male
Race: White
Birthplace: Detroit
Parents: Joseph Adas & Maria Adas
Residence: Detroit, Detroit
Birthplace of Each: Germany, Germany
Occupation of Father: Carpenter
Date of Record: May 31, 1883

My Great-Grandma Sylvia

You've been gone three years now. If you were still here, you would be turning 102 tomorrow (May 28th). Although I didn't have the opportunity to get to know you as well as I would have liked, I always have and still do think about you often. I cherish the letters you had written to me and I always will; I will never ever throw them away.

What interests me the most about you, great-grandma, is all your names. To the family, they knew your name as Sylvia Marie. I on the other hand, know all six of your names! :D On your birth certificate it listed your name as Sylvia Laura Hattie. On your baptismal record, your name was Sylvia Maria Bertha Hedwig. Quite the mouthful, but I love it nonetheless.

I remember how mom would always tell me when I was younger, that I was due to be born on your birthday (I was born May 30th). She told me that you had promised her a pink Cadillac if I was born on your birthday! It would've been special to share a birthday with you.

I know you're keeping grandma company up there, please watch over all of us.

(Picture left to right: my grandmother Elaine, my great-grandmother Sylvia)

The Hungarian Ancestry of Queen Elizabeth II; Part 5

Following suit with the previous entries, I'm highlighting the Hungarian ancestors of Queen Elizabeth II, through her second-great-grandmother, Countess Klaudina Rhédey de Rhéde. This post is all about Countess Klaudina's second-great-grandmother, Borbála Kapy de Kapivár.

Borbála is actually my fourth cousin, ten times removed. I descend from the Kapy de Kapivár family and Borbála's third great-grandparents (György Kapy de Kapivár and Klára Bárczay de Bárcza) are my thirteenth great-grandparents. This makes the Queen and myself, twelth cousins, two times removed.

Note the two "Perényi de Perény" lines in the fifth generation. Borbála's ahnentafel list is as follows:

First Generation
1. Borbála Kapy de Kapivár

Second Generation
2. György Kapy de Kapivár
3. Ágnes Bánffy de Losoncz

Third Generation
4. András Kapy de Kapivár
5. Borbála Gyulaffy de Rátót
6. Zsigmond Bánffy de Losoncz
7. Baroness Erzsébet Perényi de Perény

Fourth Generation
8. András Kapy de Kapivár
9. Katalin Sulyok de Lekcse
10. László Gyulaffy de Rátót
11. Katalin Széchy de Rimaszécs
12. János Bánffy de Losoncz
13. Fruzsina Lónyay de Nagy-Lónya et Vásáros-Namény
14. Baron György Perényi de Perény
15. Zsuzsánna Melith de Bribér

Fifth Generation
16. György Kapy de Kapivár
17. unknown
18. Ferencz Sulyok de Lekcse
19. Anna Csáholyi de Csáholy-Monostor
20. László Gyulaffy de Rátót
21. Margit Forgách de Ghymes et Gács
22. Tamás Széchy de Rimaszécs
23. Borbála Perényi de Perény
24. György Bánffy de Losoncz
25. Zsófia de Csernavoda és Surány
26. Ferencz Lónyay de Nagy-Lónya et Vásáros-Namény
27. Margit Segnyey de Lapis-Patak
28. György Perényi de Perény
29. Anna Thurzó de Bethlenfalva
30. unknown
31. unknown

The Hungarian Ancestry of Queen Elizabeth II; Part 4

In this entry, which focuses on the Hungarian ancestors of Queen Elizabeth II, we're focusing on István Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György, the second great-grandfather of Countess Klaudina Rhédey de Rhéde. Note in the 5th generation, the "Szilvásy de Kecset-Szilvás és Cseszeliczk" name is entered twice! István's ahnentafel list is as follows:

First Generation
1. István Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György

Second Generation
2. János Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György
3. Borbála Torma de Csicsó-Keresztúr

Third Generation
4. Mihály Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György
5. Anna Szalánczy de Szent-Tamás
6. Kristóf Torma de Csicsó-Keresztúr
7. Klára or Krisztina Tholdalaghy de Nagy-Iklód

Fourth Generation
8. László Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György
9. Erzsébet Kamuthy de Szent-László
10. Anna Szalánczy de Szent-Tamás
11. Anna Baládfi
12. Kristóf Torma de Csicsó-Keresztúr
13. unknown
14. János Tholdalaghy de Nagy-Iklód
15. Borbála Gyerőffy de Gyerő-Vásárhely

Fifth Generation
16. János Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György
17. Erzsébet Szilvásy de Kecset-Szilvás és Cseszeliczk
18. Balázs Kamuthy de Szent-László
19. Erzsébet Szent-Györgyi de Szent-György
20. unknown
21. unknown
22. unknown
23. unknown
24. Dániel Torma de Csicsó-Keresztúr
25. Anna Glésán de Geges
26. unknown
27. unknown.
28. Ferencz Tholdalaghy de Nagy-Iklód
29. Klára Frátay de Magyar-Fráta
30. Ferencz Gyerőffy de Gyerő-Vásárhely
31. Borbála Szilvásy de Kecset-Szilvás és Cseszeliczk

The Hungarian Ancestry of Queen Elizabeth II; Part 2

Earlier today I posted an introduction to a series of posts I'll be writing, about the Hungarian ancestry of Queen Elizabeth II. Not many know she has a Hungarian Countess as a second great-grandmother, let alone much of her Hungarian ancestry at all. My goal is to document that.

In my first post I highlighted Countess Klaudina (various spellings of her first name) Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde and four generations of her ancestors. In this second post, I'll be highlighting Klaudina's paternal second great-grandfather, János Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde. His ahnentafel list is as follows:


First Generation
1. János Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde

Second Generation
2. János Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde
3. Margit Kornis de Homoród-Szent-Pál

Third Generation
4. Pál Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde
5. Anna Sutha de Ladmócz
6. Ferencz Kornis de Homoród-Szent-Pál
7. Judit Kornis de Homoród-Szent-Pál

Fourth Generation
8. Pál Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde
9. unknown
10. György Sutha de Ladmócz
11. unknown
12. Farkas Kornis de Homoród-Szent-Pál
13. Druzsiánna/Katalin Petky de Derzs és Királyhalma
14. Boldizsár Bornemisza de Kápolna
15. Anna Patócsy

Fifth Generation
16. László Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde
17. Erzsébet Recsky
18. unknown
19. unknown
20. unknown
21. unknown
22. unknown
23. unknown
24. Miklós Kornis de Homoród-Szent-Pál
25. Borbála Bikly de Bikal
26. János Petky de Derzs és Királyhalma
27. Katalin Kornis de Homoród-Szent-Pál
28. unknown
29. unknown
30. unknown
31. unknown

How To Locate Your Ancestor's Land

After researching my family tree for ten years, I've encountered my fair share of land deeds and records. One of my biggest problems was actually locating where that land lies on present-day maps. It can be quite challenging using old surveyor maps and even present day plat maps, and then matching them up to the maps of today.. like Google Maps. One reason I'm particularly interested in finding where their land actually was, is because this land most likely holds buried family members. Down in the southern states, many family members were buried in family cemeteries on the land the family owned before the time of modern public cemeteries. To even have a chance of finding them, if any markers of any kind still exist at all anymore, you'd need to figure out where the land was that they were living on.

In the past two weeks, I've been able to find some land deeds that pertain to my Howell family from Tippah County, Mississippi (thanks to the new database on FamilySearch!). The person I am most interested in, is Hiram Howell, my 5th-great-grandfather. He was known to have been murdered in 1853 by his son-in-law, Lindsey Slaughter.

Hiram Howell (mistakenly written as Wren Howell) had actually bought his land on 10 Oct 1846 (record on the left) from Lindsey Slaughter, who himself had received the land as part of the homesteading acts. The specific details of the land are the North-East quarter of Section 9, Township 5 South, Range 2 East (NE1/4 of S9 T5S R2E). Just the other day, I stumbled upon a website that would map the exact location of Section 9 for me, using Google Earth. Google Earth is a program that you install on your computer that is much similar to Google Maps, but with much more features and way more powerful. The website is called Earth Point, and it's specifically used as a tool for Google Earth.

Once you get to the page, navigate to the section called "Convert Township, Range, and Section to Latitude and Longitude", as seen on the right. Enter your your data into the drop-down boxes and then click on "Fly To On Google Earth". Open the file once it's finished downloading.

After opening the file, Google Earth will automatically open and bring you to the exact location of Section 9, Township 5 South, Range 2 East, in Tippah County, Mississippi. From there, I can easily find the North-East quarter of Section 9. Pretty cool, huh? To the left is a snapshot of what you'll see. What kind of tools do you use to locate the land of your ancestors?

The Hungarian Ancestry of Queen Elizabeth II; Part 1

With much fanfare going on about the royal wedding, I thought it'd be fun to analyze the Hungarian ancestors of Queen Elizabeth II. Not many people know, but the Queen's second great-grandmother was the Hungarian Countess Klaudina (various spellings out there) Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde.

Countess Klaudina died at the young age of 29 years old. While in Austria at a military event with her husband, Alexander Duke of Württemberg, Klaudina was trampled and killed by horses. Duke Alexander subsequently became mentally unstable afterwards, for the rest of his life. It sounds like it could've been true love, to me!

In the fifth generation of the Ahnentafel chart below, you will find links to information on that individual's ancestors.

Here is an Ahnentafel list for five generations, beginning with Countess Klaudina:


First Generation
1. Countess Klaudina Zsuzsánna Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde

Second Generation
2. Count László Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde
3. Baroness Ágnes Inczédy de Nagy-Várad

Third Generation
4. Count Mihály Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde
5. Baroness Terézia Bánffy de Losoncz
6. Baron Gergely Inczédy de Nagy-Várad
7. Karoline Barcsay de Nagy-Barcsa

Fourth Generation
8. László Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde
9. Mária Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György
10. Baron Boldizsár Bánffy de Losoncz
11. Krisztina Kemény de Magyar-Gyerő-Monostor
12. Baron Gergely Inczédy de Nagy-Várad
13. Ágnes Kendeffy de Malomviz
14. Péter Barcsay de Nagy-Barcsa
15. Baroness Terézia Inczédy de Nagy-Várad

Fifth Generation
16. János Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde
17. Erzsébet Macskássy de Rápolt
18. István Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György
19. Borbála Kapy de Kapivár
20. Baron László Bánffy de Losoncz
21. Judit Dániel de Vargyas
22. Simon Kemény de Magyar-Gyerő-Monostor
23. Anna Vay de Vaja
24. Pál Inczédy de Nagy-Várad
25. Klára Lipcsey de Bilke
26. Gáspár Kendeffy de Malomviz
27. Katalin Kún
28. Mihály Barcsay de Nagy-Barcsa
29. Ágnes Wass de Diód-Váralja
30. Baron Sámuel Inczédy de Nagy-Várad
31. Anna Lészay de Szent-Márton