Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - List Your Matrilineal Line(s)

Here are the rules, as posted on Randy Seaver's blog, for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!!:

1) List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!

2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.

3) Post your responses on your own blog post, in Comments to this blog post, or in a Status line on Facebook or in your Stream at Google Plus.

4)  If you have done this before, please do your father's matrilineal line, or your grandfather's matrilineal line, or your spouse's matriliuneal line.

5)  Does this list spur you to find distant cousins that might share one of your matrilineal lines?  

Here's mine:

My matrilineal line is:

a) Nick M. Gombash
b) Réne Rodgers
c) Elaine Florella Stuempges (1926, Polar, WI -1987, Chicago, IL) married Thomas Thurman Rodgers
d) Sylvia Maria Bertha Hedwig Martin (1909, Polar, WI - 2008, Antigo, WI) married Walter John Stuempges
e) Maria Summ (1883, Antigo, WI - 1972, Antigo, WI) married Herman Wilhelm Gustav "Gust" Martin
f) Maria Blum (1860, Gutach, Germany - 1951, Norwood, WI) married Johann Georg Summ
g) Barbara Schneider (1824, Gutach, Germany - 1864, Gutach, Germany) married Georg Blum
h) Barbara Brohammer (1788, Gutach, Germany - 1856, Gutach, Germany) married Jacob Friedrich Schneider
i) Catharina Beilharz (1761, Hohenweg, Germany - 1818, Gutach, Germany) married Christian Brohammer
j) Barbara Winkler (? - ?) married Johann Jacob Beilharz
Similar to Randy, I also had my DNA tested and I came up as mtDNA Haplogroup K. We're cousins, Randy! :)

On my Gombash side, the matrilineal line of my father is:

a) John E. Gombash, Jr.
b) Mary Louise Adas (1940, Chicago, IL - 1986, Chicago, IL) married John E. Gombash, Sr.
c) Martha Violet Czarny (1911, Chicago, IL - 1989, Chicago, IL) married Edward Robert Adas, Sr.
d) Rozalia Sophia Wozniak (1887, Osobnica, Poland - 1959, Chicago, IL) married Wojciech Czarny
e) Agatha Turek (? - ?) married Wawrzyniec Wozniak

My Rodgers grandfather's matrilineal line is:

a)  Thomas Thurman Rodgers (1928, Duck Hill, MS - 1983, Paducah, KY) married Elaine Florella Stuempges
b)  Ellen Inez Martin (1902, Carrollton, MS - 1991, Jackson, MS) married Fred Lamar Rodgers
c)  Samatha Aylene Costilow (1869, Holmes Co, MS - 1908, Carroll Co, MS) married Samuel Christopher Columbus Martin
d)  Martha A. Miller (1836, AL? - 1877, Holmes/Yazoo Co, MS) married James Andrew J. Costilow

My Gombash grandfather's matrilineal line is:

a)  John E. Gombash, Sr. (1935, Caretta, WV - 2005, Joliet, IL)
b)  Catherine Anna Grządziel (1906, Barycz, Poland - 1970, Chicago, IL) married Alex Gombash
c)  Amelia Stec (1887/1888, Barycz, Poland - 1968, Cleveland, OH) married Frank Grządziel
d)  Sophia Zwiszek/Swiszek (? - ?) married Jan Stec

The Family Tree of Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga, born as Stefani Germanotta, was born to parents who both shared Italian ancestry. Her direct paternal line and direct maternal line are both of Italian extraction. I started researching Lady Gaga's family tree about a year ago, and I had since forgotten about it. I remembered it today and I thought I would share with the world (and her fans!) the details of her ancestry. Below, I will briefly write about her family tree. What I don't talk about will be featured in the image of her family tree, so make sure to check that out for additional information.

Lady Gaga's paternal grandfather was Joseph Anthony Germanotta. He was born to Italian immigrants from Naso, Messina, Sicily. Joseph Anthony actually passed away a year ago, today.. 24 Sep 2010. RIP Mr. Germanotta.

Lady Gaga's mother is of Anglo-American and Italian heritage. Her mother is Veronica Rose Ferri and was born to Italian immigrants. At this point, I am unsure where in Italy Veronica's parents were from. Anyone know? :)

Veronica Ferri's husband was Paul Douglas Bissett. Paul's ancestry can be traced back to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia (where he was from). Paul's surname of Bissett could possibly be an English name of French origin, but his paternal grandmother's surname of Burghardt is definitely of Germanic origin. Paul's mother, Sally Ann Leech, appears to be of English origins. You can't get much more English than Bosley or Morningstar!

Any additional information anyone can provide me with would be much appreciated!

The Hungarian Ancestry of Queen Elizabeth II; Part 3

This entry is part three highlighting the Hungarian ancestors of Queen Elizabeth II. Part three is focused on Erzsébet Macskássy de Rápolt, a second great-grandmother of Countess Klaudina Rhédey de Rhéde. Her ahnentafel list is as follows:


First Generation
1. Erzsébet Macskássy de Rápolt

Second Generation
2. Mihály Macskássy de Rápolt
3. unknown

Third Generation
4. Mihály Macskássy de Rápolt
5. Judit Bethlen de Bethlen
6. unknown
7. unknown

Fourth Generation
8. Ferencz Macskássy de Rápolt
9. Margit Nyakazó
10. Mihály Bethlen de Bethlen
11. Katalin Bornemisza de Petrelin
12. unknown
13. unknown
14. unknown
15. unknown

Fifth Generation
16. Boldizsár Macskássy de Rápolt
17. Ilona Gávay de Noszoly
18. unknown
19. unknown
20. György Bethlen de Bethlen
21. Ilona Csejtey
22. unknown
23. unknown
24. unknown
25. unknown
26. unknown
27. unknown
28. unknown
29. unknown
30. unknown
31. unknown

FamilySearch Find Of The Day: Hiram Howell & His 1847 Taxes

I stumbled upon this 1847 taxation document from Tippah County, Mississippi the other day, and it shed a tiny bit more light (although not much) on the life of Hiram Howell. He is at the top of the document with two of his sons: Reece & David.

Hiram is listed as having 2 slaves, which matches what is listed in the 1850 Federal Census Slave Schedules. In 1850, it was a 21 year old female and a 4 year old male (probably her son?). I assume they are the same individuals listed in this 1847 taxation document. The woman would have been about 17 years old and the male child about 1 year old. This also makes me wonder how a girl of 15 or 16 became pregnant, as she is the only slave in the household. Was Hiram or one of his sons the father of the child? It could be another contributing factor that lead to Hiram's murder in 1853, but we may never know. Reece and David are listed as not owning any slaves.

Reece and David both paid the same amount for county ($.30) and state ($.50) taxes. Hiram on the other hand paid more in taxes (did he own more land than them?) Hiram paid $.72 for county taxes and $1.20 for state taxes.

I'm still looking for Hiram and any of his children in the previous taxation documents, but I don't believe any are listed. I do know, however, that Hiram appears in the 1845 state census in Tippah County. If he's in the 1845 state census living in Tippah County, how come he doesn't appear in the 1845 taxation records? Strange.

My 99 Genealogy Things

I found this list on the Bayside Blog via Tonia Kendrick’s blog, Tonia’s Roots. I thought it was fun, so I decided to share my experiences with everyone, too :)

Key:

Things you have already done or found – bold type

Things you would like to do or find – italics

Things you have not done or found /don’t care to.

99 Genealogy Things

1. Belong to a genealogical society.
2. Joined a group on Genealogy Wise. (I'm not familiar with this website?)
3. Transcribed records. (Almost every day! haha)
4. Uploaded headstone pictures to Find-A-Grave or a similar site
5. Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents)
6. Joined Facebook.
7. Cleaned up a run-down cemetery.
8. Joined the Genea-Bloggers Group.
9. Attended a genealogy conference. (I still have yet to attend a genealogy conference.)
10. Lectured at a genealogy conference. (I'd eventually like to overcome my fear of public speaking and talk about Hungarian genealogy.)
11. Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society/local library’s family history group. (Repeat of 10, no?)
12. Joined the National Genealogical Society.
13. Contributed to a genealogy society publication. (I do enough for Hungary Exchange to fill TONS of publications.)
14. Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society.
15. Got lost on the way to a cemetery.
16. Talked to dead ancestors.
17. Researched outside the state in which I live.
18. Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with the current occupants. 
19. Cold called a distant relative.
20. Posted messages on a surname message board.
21. Uploaded a gedcom file to the internet. (I've since deleted every trace of them that I possibly can! There are a lot of thieves out there!)
22. Googled my name.
23. Performed a random act of genealogical kindness.
24. Researched a non-related family, just for the fun of it. (Who hasn't? :)  )
25. Have been paid to do genealogical research. (It's how I make a living!)
26. Earn a living (majority of income) from genealogical research.
27. Wrote a letter (or email) to a previously unknown relative.
28. Contributed to one of the genealogy carnivals.
29. Responded to messages on a message board.
30. Was injured while on a genealogy excursion.
31. Participated in a genealogy meme.
32. Created family history gift items.
33. Performed a record lookup.
34. Took a genealogy seminar cruise.
35. Am convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outer space. Hiram Howell definitely was from outer space!
36. Found a disturbing family secret. (Several, in-fact.)
37. Told others about a disturbing family secret.
38. Combined genealogy with crafts (family picture quilt, scrapbooking).
39. Think genealogy is a passion and/or obsession not a hobby. (Oh, it's definitely an obsession.. and my occupation!)
40. Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person.
41. Taught someone else how to find their roots.
    
42. Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or hard drive failure. (Many many years ago when I first began, yes. But not since. Thankfully.)
43. Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology.
44. Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher.  (I've found TONS of cousins way more distant than 4th cousins, especially on my Hungarian side!)
45. Disproved a family myth through research. (Does proving it count? haha)
    
46. Got a family member to let you copy photos.
47. Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records.
    
48. Translated a record from a foreign language. (I translate records for clients and friends all the time.)
49. Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record. (I've been able to find every single passenger manifest for all my European lines, with the exception of Martin Domagalski.. stop hiding!)
50. Used microfiche. (You're not a true genealogist if you haven't.)
    
51. Have researched in church records.
52. Visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. (Hopefully someday..)
53. Used Google+ for genealogy. (Definitely. I found a cousin through G+.)
54. Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors.
55. Taught a class in genealogy. (I'd love to teach a class on Hungarian research.)
56. Traced ancestors back to the 18th Century. (Without others' previous research, yes.)
57. Traced ancestors back to the 17th Century. (Without others' previous research, yes.)
58. Traced ancestors back to the 16th Century. (Without others' previous research, yes.)
59. Can name all of your great-great-grandparents. (Most definitely!!)
60. Know how to determine a soundex code without the help of a computer.
61. Have found many relevant and unexpected articles on internet to “put flesh on the bones”. (I actually haven't found too many newspaper articles and such relating to my family.)
62. Own a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills. (I need to get a copy.)
63. Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never used for your own research.
64. Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC.
65. Have an ancestor who came to America as an indentured servant.
66. Have an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 or Civil War. (Many!)
67. Taken a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone.
68. Can “read” a church record in Latin. (I could do this in my sleep!)
69. Have an ancestor who changed his/her name, just enough to be confusing.
70. Joined a Rootsweb mailing list.
71. Created a family website.
72. Have a genealogy blog.
73. Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information received from someone.
74. Have broken through at least one brick wall. (I found you, Ellen Hovis!!)
75. Done genealogy research at a court house.
76. Borrowed microfilm from the Family History Library through a local Family History Center(s). (You can't call yourself a genealogist if you haven't.)
77. Found an ancestor in an online newspaper archive. (That's how I found out about my great-grandfather's previous marriage!)
78. Have visited a NARA branch. (I actually need to. There's one actually 20 minutes from me.)
79. Have an ancestor who served in WWI or WWII.
80. Use maps in my genealogy research.
81. Have a blacksheep ancestor.
82. Found a bigamist amongst my ancestors. (My great-grandfather was quite the bastard.)
83. Attended a genealogical institute.
84. Taken online genealogy (and local history) courses.
    
85. Consistently (document) and cite my sources. (This is something I really need to start doing, although.. 99% of the research I have been doing is in church records from Europe. So if you can't figure out where the information came from with the town name, religion and date.. then you shouldn't be doing genealogy.)
86. Visited a foreign country (i.e. one I don’t live in) in search of ancestors. (The only other country I've been to is The Bahamas.)
    
87. Can locate any document in my research files within a few minutes. (Seconds?)
88. Have an ancestor who was married four times. (I think the most was three.)
89. Made a rubbing of an ancestor’s gravestone.
90. Followed genealogists on Twitter. Follow me! @nickmgombash
91. Published a family history book.
92. Learned of a death of a fairly close family relative through research. (It's quite sad how you have to find out about your great-aunt's death from searching around the internet.)
93. Offended a family member with my research. (All the time. People really need to loosen up and realize it's the 21st century. If someone wants your information enough, they will find it. And no, I've never put their information online. Do you all know there's a database on Ancestry to find your address and birth-date? Yep. It's there. Go look.)
94. Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts.
95. Have a paid subscription to a genealogy database. (Been there, done that. The majority of my research is in European church records, which are not online. And if they are online, they're freely accessible.)
96. Submitted articles for FamilySearch Wiki.
97. Organized a family reunion.
98. Used Archives in countries where my ancestors originated. (Online archives count, right? I use the Hungarian archives' databases all the time!)
99. Converted someone new to the love of all things genealogy.

My Maternal Lineage: Update 1

Back in May of 2010, I made a post highlighting my maternal line from my family tree. You can find that here. Since then, I've been able to make a tiny bit of progress which I'll share with you all here.

As of May 2010 my ninth generation maternal ancestor was the following:

9) Catharina Beilharz

Born 16 Jan 1761, Hohenweg, Hornberg, Ortenau, Baden, Germany

Died unknown

Married Christian Brohammer, 26 Sep 1787, Gutach, Ortenau, Baden, Germany

Several months ago I was finally able to locate the death record for Catharina (pictured to the right). This death record states that she died on 30 Oct 1818 in Gutach. The death was recorded on 01 Nov 1818. She was born on 16 Jan 1761 to late Johann Jacob Beilharz, a day-laborer from Hohenweg (a community in Gutach previously belonging to Hornberg), and the late Barbara Winkler (Winklerin; a lot of German records add "-in" to the end of surnames for females, much like Poland using "-ska" for females instead of "-ski". She was married first to Christian Brohammer on 26 Sep 1787. She was married second to George Breithaupt, a day-laborer in Sulzbach (a community in Gutach), on 27 Sep 1807. She was 57 years, 9 months and 7 days old.

With this information, I'm able to add one more generation to my maternal lineage:

10) Barbara Winkler
Born unknown
Died before 30 Oct 1818, possibly Hohenweg, Hornberg, Ortenau, Baden, Germany
    (Catharina's death record states Barbara was deceased)
Married Johann Jacob Beilharz, before 16 Jan 1761

Now, I just need to order the microfilms for Hornberg... all 6 of them!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Ahnentafel Roulette!

Here are the rules for any who wish to join in, as well! You can find the original rules and post >>here<<. :)

1) How old is your great-grandfather now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ahnentafel (ancestor name list). Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person with the "roulette number."

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook or Google Plus note or comment, or as a comment on this blog post.

5) If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then spin the wheel again - pick a grandparent, a  parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!


Here's mine:

My great-grandfather, Alex Gombash, was born on 07 Nov 1896 in Tiszadob, Szabolcs county, Hungary. If he were to be alive today, he would be 114 years old. Divided by four is 28.5, so I'll round up to 29.

My number 29 ancestor is listed as Anna Weishaupt (1867-1951); here is her entry:

29. Anna Weishaupt was born on 06 May 1867 in Graber, Auscha District, Leitmeritz, Bohemia. She was the daughter of Joseph Weishaupt and Maria Anna Kasper. She was married to Johann Phillip Julius "John" Stuempges on 28 Sep 1887 at Newburgh's Corner, La Crosse County, Wisconsin. She died on 11 Jan 1951 at Antigo, Langlade County, Wisconsin. (Picture: Anna Weishaupt with husband John Stuempges and children, circa 1897.)

Three facts about Anna Weishaupt:

1) Anna was an ethnic German from Bohemia, immigrating as a two year old child on 10 Jun 1869 aboard the ship Helvetia.

2) Anna had a total of 11 children, 9 of them living to be adults and have children of their own. If she were to live to see all her grandchildren born, she would have had 28 grandchildren.

3) Anna had diabetes. I don't know which type and the severity of it, though. (I honestly don't know too much about diabetes to begin with). I was told by my great-aunt (sister to my grandmother..granddaughters of Anna), that my great-grandmother (Anna's daughter-in-law) was the family member to give Anna her insulin shots.