CELEBRATE YOUR NAME

After reading some of the other blogs I have decided that the Celebrating Your Name is a good idea, and a little fun.

My name is Claudia. In my research I think I am the only one, unless some German relative that I have not discovered yet has that name.

My mother was born in Germany and came to the USA in 1926. She had told me that she had always liked that name. And so it was to be…..

Claudia is a name that has been used for thousands of years. It is Roman and was used during the Roman Empire. It is quite popular is Austria, Germany and Italy, but not so popular in the USA. WHY, I do not know.

All I know is that when someone calls out Claudia, I can be sure 99.9% of the time they are calling me. I have know about two other Claudia’s in grade school.

My Grandmother, Gertrude O’Rourke was angry that my parents did not name me Gertrude or Anna. I am glad she stuck to her guns on that one.

My brothers names are Thomas, Richard and William. Thomas was named after his father, grandfather and great grandfather. Although I have not found the documentation I suspect that the great great grandfathers name will be Thomas too. Also I suspect that my great grandmother Bridget Naughton father was named Thomas Naughton. I need the documentation but I found a file on the LDS site that leads me to believe that.

Richard was named for my fathers brother, who had died when my brother was born. Also a great uncle was named Richard.

William was probably named for my mothers father, Willi Schridde, on his tombstone he is listed as William. There are also a few Wilhelms on the German side.

Kathleen, there are no Kathleen’s, but a few Catherines on the Dowd side. Shawnna, no Shawnna’s were found in the research yet either.

What names I have found are Catherine, Nora, Mary, Theresa, Agnes, Barbara, Elizabeth, Katharine, Anna, Johanna, Ellen, Gertrude and Maria. That is a nice selection.

THOMAS NAUGHTON

Yesterday I did some research of little Thomas Naughton. He was born in 1892 and died in 1893. I found the family still living in North Braddock PA. Although the mothers name listed on the death certificate entry was listed as Norah Thornton, on the 1900 census it was listed as Katie. At that time she had listed five children and one deceased. They were Maggie, Bartley, Matt, Marie and possible Eduora (?) The parents are 36 and 35 at that time.

In the 1910 mothers name is Katharine, then Margaret, Bartley, Matthew, Marie, Helen and John. John is the youngest and 9 years old. Appears that Eduora is Helen.

I have not found them in the 1920 census, as of this time. I did do a search in 1930 for Bartley, being an unusual name and found him married and living with his wife an children in Michigan. The parents and all children were born in PA. More research to be done. I have to get up my butt and send for the documents of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

I found them in the 1920 census. The girl name in that one is Helinora, I suspect it is Ellenora.....just a thought. Bartley is married with one child and living in Wilkinsburg PA, which is near North Braddock. In the 1930 census it appears that the father Patrick has died and Katie and a few of the adult children are living still in North Braddock.

North Braddock is a economically depressed town now, I have not found any Historical Society and the local library does not seem to have any information. They have old newspapers but their microfilm reader is broken and they do not have the money to repair it. That is really sad.

DEATH CERTIFICATES

Today my requested death certificates arrived. They were not certificates like we know today but, rather, information written in a ledger.

First interesting fact. The great grandfather Anton Sperl, whom I had suspected his death was unexpected, it was indeed. He died at the age of 38 from Typhoid Fever. The length of his illness was three weeks. Typhoid is a strain of Salmonella.

It is spread by ingesting food or water contaminated with the feces of another infected person. The treatment today is a course of antibiotics, especially Ampicillin. It is said that more people die from infection (pre antibiotics) than any other cause. This is especially true in the Civil War and the World War I and II. Antibiotics came into use at the end of World War II. With the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria we may be heading in that direction again.

Anton’s parents died with in a few years Christ, age 72 from asthma and Margaret, age 74, from pneumonia.

I found another for Thomas Naughton, 12 months, from fever. They lived in Dookers Hollow, in North Braddock PA. Could this be Bridget’s brother? The babies father is listed as Thomas Naughton and mother Nora Thornton, born in Ireland. Dookers Hollow was a small area and that is where Bridget Naughton Dowd lived. Thomas died in October 1893.

WOW

I haven't written for awhile because I have had some GI upset and looking at the computer was far from my mind. Well, I have had TWO Kreativ Blogger nominations and I can say I am quite honored but how can I nominate 14 people. I can't decided, any of the people two the right of this blog are deserving. I just can't make a choice. I would nominate all of you.

Nothing going on in my genealogical search. I have not received the death certificates that I have requested. I feel much better after reading your comments about people whose ancestors were recent arrivals were having the same problems as me......next to nothing in the records.....I will have to keep on searching.......Maybe I feel that things should come quickly, I have always been a person who likes and expects instant gratification.

I think there is a lot out there that we are missing. I have been searching for naturalization papers. I have THE ORIGINAL paper from my great grandfather Patrick O'Rourke, as well as his death certificate. But, when I was looking for the naturalization certificates of my great grandparents there was nothing in the records for them, as well as the State of PA telling my cousin that his death certificate did not exist.

We get answers telling us that what ever record does not exist. Why is that? I have the original copy, it must be recorded somewhere, so why is it not in the records? How many other records are we searching for and told there are no records. This just mystifies me. These things have to be somewhere...........Does anyone else have this problem?

DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE THIS TROUBLE?

I have often said, of myself, that a lot of my computer troubles are caused by operator error.

This has morphed into Genealogical Problems as well.   I belong to many Roots Web Groups  and have left many messages on their boards.   I am subscribed to Ancestry and posted queries on the boards at that location.   I search the information on the LDS Site, I find a little but not a lot.

I am jealous of people who can trace their ancestors back to 1500, or even Adam and Eve, when I can get back no further than my great grandparents.  

Is this Operator Error again?   What am I doing wrong, and how can I correct it?     I am finding information in the USA, but when it comes to tracing people in Europe I am finding NOTHING.    I can understand the problems with trying to understand German, but I can not even find information in English. 

I am pretty frustrated with myself, but I shall continue.  I keep hoping that some information will become known to me and I will be able to continue my research.  Maybe it is because the earliest of my ancestors who arrived came over in 1872 and the latest in 1926.  I haven’t found the mother lode yet, but I am trying. 

TODAYS INHERITANCE VALUE.

Thank you Marie...I did the calculation following the chart link you sent and the $5,000 in the 1920's that my great grandfather had left the children was equivalent to $115,000 in today's money. That was a lot of money in that era. Guess I got my frugal genes from my ancestors.

On a funny note my daughter tells me I am cheap. I think I am frugal, when your children are on their own they will realize that you can not have everything you want. Maybe the current economic situation will teach them that in this era.

BROTHERS AND SISTERS

 I am not quite sure what I need to do for Smile For The Camera??   But, anyway this is a picture  c.1915-1918.    This is a picture of my great grandparents.    Heinrich Theodor Fredrick Schridde and my great grandmother Anna Meta Margarethe Hackmann.   The man standing in the back, in his WWI uniform   Willi Schridde, my grandfather.   Willi had five sisters.    Johanna, Dina, Mina, Una (Oona?) and Lily.  They were all from the Hamburg area of Germany.   My grandfather was born in Quickborn, Germany on 14 February 1898.    That is not where the family lived.   I got a birth certificate from the town and it said that the couple stayed their a short time and left after his birth. It did not give the birth place of the parents.     I know Lily married a man named Clausen.      I would love to find out who is who in the sisters pictures.  

I am hoping some day that I will find some relative or they will find me.     The new picture is of me and my brothers and sisters.    Look at the sibs and you can defiantly see a resemblance to the German side of that family.

If the top picture does not have everyone in the picture, maximize it to see the entire family.