I was lucky enough to get one of my 5 brothers to do the Y DNA test with FamilyTree before the end of the year. We recently got the results back and even though I have very little knowledge on what any of it means I was able to determine that we had 2 possible hits. The one was a long way back and I have not yet contacted him. The other was between 4 & 8 generations. We have been in in touch but have not been able to find the common link for sure but it does involve his ancestor, the warrior COSSACK's and my KOSACK ancestors.
Now in getting my immigrant ancestors Military papers for his time in the Union Army during the War between the states I found many spellings of his last name and COSSACK was among them. My ancestors came from Prussia according to those same papers and from the Ship List where I found they came to the USA. According to the ship they sailed from Bremen and were passengers on the Johannes. They arrived in Baltimore in January 1859. One of them had previously arrived in the USA.
I told the contact that my ancestors were from Prussia and he responded his was from Kiev, Ukraine. Now I am almost certain there is a link somewhere. I have no idea where my ancestors were prior to Prussia and how long they were there. My contact then responded that he was able to determine that his ancestor was in Prussia for a short period. I don't know how long.
I had responded that 3 of the male Kosack's that came here to the USA had enlisted in the military and 2 of the three went in with higher ranks. My great grandfather was only 16 so I'm fairly sure he did not have much experience. He was a private. I never met my great grandfather and my grandfather was never talk about his father so I knew very little about them. I hope to some day find where they really came in Europe. That is my main goal in doing my genealogy.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
FAMILY LOSS
Our dear sister/sister-in-law is no longer in pain and suffering. She has left for her heavenly home. Rest peacefully now Wanda your journey on this earth is over but your heavenly father is awaiting you.
Friday, February 14, 2014
52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 7 Childhood Memories part 1
I have decided to add some of my childhood memories here.
My parents married in April 1945, I was born the following January. I am the eldest of the 7 children that they had. Mom and dad first lived at Hilltop Manor Apartments in Bladensburg, Maryland. As an aside Hilltop Manor would be the first apartment that hubby and I would live in after we married. Mom & Dad purchased their first home in College Park, Maryland in 1950. At that time there were 3 children and the house was a 4 bedroom 1 bath home in a great neighborhood. My youngest sibling is 11 years younger than me and my one and only sister is 10 years younger than me. Sharing bedrooms was something we all ended up doing. My sister and I had the front bedroom which was a very good sized room. That is one thing about that old house 2 of the bedrooms were very large. The back bedroom which was even larger than the one my sister and I had was the room 4 of the boys were in. I don't really remember who had the middle side bedroom, the folks had the other middle bedroom.
We had a very large yard and it was always filled with neighbor hood children. There were many "roads" and the boys always had a lot of traffic on their "roads". We had a apple tree and while the fruit was not good eating I remember mom making apple jelly that was great. During the years mom did a lot of canning and preserving to help feed this very large family. There were many times that the meals were "light". Dad was in construction work and seems come winter time there would be a layoff. Dad was also disabled and later in life he would no longer be able to work in his trade.
I remember that every weekend my father would stop and pick up his parents on his way home from work. My grandparents did not drive. They would spend the whole weekend with us before being taken home on Sunday afternoon after our fried chicken, mashed potatoes, creamed gravy dinner. Yummy, yummy, yummy! Wish I could still eat that food but age does things to us. I don't know exactly when that tradition started but know that it lasted until my grandmother went into the hospital in 1958 dying of cancer. Nana died in February 1959 and after that my grandfather moved into the house with us. Dad set up pops workshop in the basement and he worked for many years after her death. He was an upholsterer by trade and did wonderful work. Pop was lucky enough to have a smallish room downstairs right beside the bathroom. Remember, we had only one bathroom and now there were 10 people living in the house. I can remember learning to do some things for him and had a great time. I sure wish I had learned more in that trade. Christmas time at our house always had a big family gathering. Seems everyone lived close by and we all knew our cousins then. We had a very large front room and the live Christmas tree always stood in the same corner each year. We would go out into the woods and cut our tree. No matter how hard we tried to get the right size seems dad always had to cut it down in order to have it stand in the corner. The fragrance was wonderful. This photo shows my beloved grandfather "Pop Kosack" in the center, my mom, Patty and dad, Buck are on the right side and dads older brother "Uncle Herb" and "Aunt Betty" are on the left. This was Christmas in 1960. It would have been the first Christmas that Nana was missing.
This photo of Pop was taken in our yard in College Park in 1965. The house you can see was our neighbors but our house was as large if not larger than that one.
Pop stayed with us until one of my much younger brothers came down with Multiple Scleroses and needed a great deal of care. Pops health by then was very bad and he really couldn't take care of himself. We were all very sad that he had to go into a nursing home but we couldn't take care of him and our brother. I had already married and didn't live at home so I was not able to help out much either.
I think that is all for now. I hope to add to this soon
My parents married in April 1945, I was born the following January. I am the eldest of the 7 children that they had. Mom and dad first lived at Hilltop Manor Apartments in Bladensburg, Maryland. As an aside Hilltop Manor would be the first apartment that hubby and I would live in after we married. Mom & Dad purchased their first home in College Park, Maryland in 1950. At that time there were 3 children and the house was a 4 bedroom 1 bath home in a great neighborhood. My youngest sibling is 11 years younger than me and my one and only sister is 10 years younger than me. Sharing bedrooms was something we all ended up doing. My sister and I had the front bedroom which was a very good sized room. That is one thing about that old house 2 of the bedrooms were very large. The back bedroom which was even larger than the one my sister and I had was the room 4 of the boys were in. I don't really remember who had the middle side bedroom, the folks had the other middle bedroom.
We had a very large yard and it was always filled with neighbor hood children. There were many "roads" and the boys always had a lot of traffic on their "roads". We had a apple tree and while the fruit was not good eating I remember mom making apple jelly that was great. During the years mom did a lot of canning and preserving to help feed this very large family. There were many times that the meals were "light". Dad was in construction work and seems come winter time there would be a layoff. Dad was also disabled and later in life he would no longer be able to work in his trade.
I remember that every weekend my father would stop and pick up his parents on his way home from work. My grandparents did not drive. They would spend the whole weekend with us before being taken home on Sunday afternoon after our fried chicken, mashed potatoes, creamed gravy dinner. Yummy, yummy, yummy! Wish I could still eat that food but age does things to us. I don't know exactly when that tradition started but know that it lasted until my grandmother went into the hospital in 1958 dying of cancer. Nana died in February 1959 and after that my grandfather moved into the house with us. Dad set up pops workshop in the basement and he worked for many years after her death. He was an upholsterer by trade and did wonderful work. Pop was lucky enough to have a smallish room downstairs right beside the bathroom. Remember, we had only one bathroom and now there were 10 people living in the house. I can remember learning to do some things for him and had a great time. I sure wish I had learned more in that trade. Christmas time at our house always had a big family gathering. Seems everyone lived close by and we all knew our cousins then. We had a very large front room and the live Christmas tree always stood in the same corner each year. We would go out into the woods and cut our tree. No matter how hard we tried to get the right size seems dad always had to cut it down in order to have it stand in the corner. The fragrance was wonderful. This photo shows my beloved grandfather "Pop Kosack" in the center, my mom, Patty and dad, Buck are on the right side and dads older brother "Uncle Herb" and "Aunt Betty" are on the left. This was Christmas in 1960. It would have been the first Christmas that Nana was missing.
This photo of Pop was taken in our yard in College Park in 1965. The house you can see was our neighbors but our house was as large if not larger than that one.
Pop stayed with us until one of my much younger brothers came down with Multiple Scleroses and needed a great deal of care. Pops health by then was very bad and he really couldn't take care of himself. We were all very sad that he had to go into a nursing home but we couldn't take care of him and our brother. I had already married and didn't live at home so I was not able to help out much either.
I think that is all for now. I hope to add to this soon
Monday, February 10, 2014
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Challenge #6 How far??? CLAY Line
One thing I am trying to do with my genealogy is to limit how far I research a line that is not a direct connection. I have been having trouble doing this because it is good to find information and you never can tell when you may find something on a direct ancestor doing this. Lately I have been trying to find information on a CLAY ancestor that seemed to just disappear. Low and behold I found the reason no one could find him - he died in the service during the Civil War. I found this according to a pension application filed by his mother on 1891 April 23. It states he died June 9, 1863. It also gives information that he has at least one alias. All along we have been searching for Rolanders Clay born in Pennsylvania about 1841. The alias listed on the application also show he used William Miller, but the application listed his name as Rolandus Clay. I have also come across Orlandes Clay. I have not gotten the pension information at this time and I hope to find more out about him but I am more interested in his mother Margaret (Slonaker) Clay. She is my 3rd great grandmother and as being my direct ancestor I am still searching for much more information on her.
Rolanders was the eldest son of 8 children of James & Margaret (Slonaker) Clay. The eldest in the family was Lavinia born about 1837. No further information has been found on her. The other siblings in the family are Alban, Clementine, Elmira (my 2nd great grandmother), Elizabeth Annie, Ella, and Henry.
Rolanders was the eldest son of 8 children of James & Margaret (Slonaker) Clay. The eldest in the family was Lavinia born about 1837. No further information has been found on her. The other siblings in the family are Alban, Clementine, Elmira (my 2nd great grandmother), Elizabeth Annie, Ella, and Henry.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week #1 BERGER FROM GERMANY
The Berger family are ancestors on my paternal side. Marguerite Elizabeth Berger was born in Washington, DC but her father Charles Edward Berger was born in Germany. I have that he was born 24 February 1865 in Wurtenberg, Germany.
The only photo I have of Charles is one taken along with his brother Joseph & sister Elizabeth that was published in the newspaper in Washington, DC. They had not seen each other for 48 years. Elizabeth came back east to the DC/Baltimore area for a visit. This was in 1937.
Charles died in Washington, DC on 12 May 1944. Joseph, who lived in Baltimore, Maryland, died 24 March, 1949 in Baltimore, Maryland. Elizabeth, who had been married to Ignatz Weingaertner, died 2 August 1950. She had lived in St. Louis, Missouri since at least 1920.
Their father, Johann Berger was born 26 September 1832 in Germany and died 17 May 1888.
I was given this photo of Johann's tombstone and was able to find someone to translate the inscription for me.
The only photo I have of Charles is one taken along with his brother Joseph & sister Elizabeth that was published in the newspaper in Washington, DC. They had not seen each other for 48 years. Elizabeth came back east to the DC/Baltimore area for a visit. This was in 1937.
Charles died in Washington, DC on 12 May 1944. Joseph, who lived in Baltimore, Maryland, died 24 March, 1949 in Baltimore, Maryland. Elizabeth, who had been married to Ignatz Weingaertner, died 2 August 1950. She had lived in St. Louis, Missouri since at least 1920.
Their father, Johann Berger was born 26 September 1832 in Germany and died 17 May 1888.
I was given this photo of Johann's tombstone and was able to find someone to translate the inscription for me.
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