Important New URL Announcement

Hi everyone,
I know I have been rather quiet on the blog recently and I wanted to let you know I haven't disappeared!  I have been thinking a lot about my blogs, my future, my interests, etc. and have figured out where I really want to take this blog.  I am going to merge this with my library blog.  I am keeping the library blog name Amanda's Athenæum so that I can expand my focus beyond just genealogy to my other interests of cultural heritage, libraries, historical societies, museums, travel (particularly in relation to history and culture) and reading (again mostly in relation to history and culture), among other things.

I am very excited about this change and to really expand what I can post on and the amount of posts I do.  I hope you will continue to follow me, but understand if you decide not to do to the expanded nature of the blog.  I also am changing my host to WordPress, as they offer some features I am very excited for.  My blog will now be at: http://amandasathenaeum.wordpress.com  All of my old posts from this blog will be accessible there.

I will begin updating it there tomorrow.  Thank you and I am sorry for the inconvenience of updating your blog reader.
Amanda

1847 - 1849 New York State Vital Records

Fellow New York State researchers, this was posted yesterday on the New Horizons Genealogy Blog:
"New York State enacted a law in 1847 to require school districts to record Vital Records including birth, marriage and death records within their districts. However, some areas completely ignored the law and others adhered to it, but generally did not keep complete records, even for the years that were recorded. Unfortinately this law was terminated in 1849. 

New Horizons Genealogy is working on locating and transcribing these records and posting them to our website. We have also linked to most of these vital records found on other websites in an attempt to make this the most complete of a collection as possible.

These 1847 - 1849 New York State Vital Records may be found here: 1847 - 1849 New York State Vital Records

This is an on going project and we are adding new records every week, so if you don't find what you are looking for, keep checking back."

SNGF: Matrilineal Line

This weeks Saturday Night Genealogy Fun for Mother's Day from Randy at Genea-Musings.


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 Note or status line on Facebook.


1. Mine is:

1. Me, Amanda
2. My Mom
3. My Grandma
4. Vera Julia Gress (1900 - 1976)
5. Elizabeth Fink (1867 - 1957)
6. Barbara Fleeman (1846 - 1929)
7. Barbara Griss (1824 - 1870)

2. I have not done this, but am looking into it.

Happy Mother's Day

My baptism with my mom and both grandma's (and my dad and both grandpa's)

Happy Mother's Day!  Particularly to my mom, grandma's, almost-mother-in-law, Godmother's and stepmother.  I am blessed with a lot of moms:-)

ProGen - Month 3 Complete

It is hard to believe I have finished 3 months of ProGen.  Month 3 was pretty awesome -  we cataloged our genealogy books and made a plan to purchase the ones we want but do not yet own.  I used goodreads, as I have been adding my books to this since I used the site for a project last semester.  My books are located here under genealogy.  The ones marked wishlist I do not yet own.

My favorite part this month was our online discussion on copyright.  This is something very big in my MSLIS program, for obvious reasons.  I have at least one lecture on it a semester and the professors are very big on correct source citation.

Month 4 starts to get us into much more difficult projects, beginning with report writing.  This is one of my the items I wish to improve on, so I am looking forward to the work and the comments I receive.  Update in June:-)

Fantastic Find Friday - Marcantonio Casillo Birth Record

Not only is this a Fantastic Find Friday, it is also my 200th post:-)  My first foray into foreign language records was to try and find my gg grandfathers Italian birth record.  In addition to getting incredibly lucky that the woman volunteering at the FHC was an expert in Italian records, the record was also exactly where it should be!  That doesn't happen too often, especially when dealing with birth records.  I was also excited when, written in the margins, was a note telling his marriage date and the town it occurred in.  I am told this happens rather often in Italian records, but I had never heard of it before.  I wish other cultures did that as well;-)

(Sorry for the blurry photos)

Roccaromana, Caserta, Italy, "Anno 1868 Comune di Roccaromana Provincia di Terra di Larone Registro dell e Nascita Ufficio," (Archivio di Stato, Caserta, e nel Tribunale di Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Caserta), 1868 Nascita, Marcantonio Maria Casillo; FHL microfilm 1,801,953, item 2.

Wordless Wednesday: Summer is Coming!

A view of the North Sea (the dark blue in the middle of the picture) at the beach in St. Peter-Ording, Germany.  It was a beautiful day at the beach, it is finally getting in the 60's here - hopefully summer will come soon! For an even better view, check out their live webcam:-)

Tombstone(less) Tuesday - Adam Fleeman

Adam Fleeman, Abt. 1820 - 25 Nov 1889

He is to the left of the tombstones in the foreground, as he has no tombstone.

Fantastic Find Friday - Casillo Passenger List

My great-great aunt Lu wrote to my Grandpa Casell back when he started doing genealogy research and included that when she got her passport, the passport office found the passenger list of her father's (Marcantonio Casillo) first trip to the US with his father Pietro when Marcantonio was 17.  Over the years I have tried to find this passenger list and never managed to, wondering if it was an incorrect family legend.  Then I searched for Pietro on Ancestry.com and there it was!  It was so exciting to prove this piece of family history.

"New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," online images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 Apr 2010), manifest, Elysia, 11 May 1887, M. Casillo, Year: 1887; Arrival: New York, United States; Microfilm serial: M237; Microfilm roll: M237_506; Line: 16; List number: 540.

Buffalo Library Local History Subject Guide

The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library Database News Blog announced today the newest subject guide, that of Local History.  It offers databases, community and local links, and library materials.  They also have a genealogy guide that can be used in conjunction with this.

Wordless Wednesday: Amsterdam

Surname Saturday: Passel/Possehl/Persales

Each Saturday this year I am posting one of my surnames, going in alphabetical order.  This weeks surname is Passel, which I have also seen as Possehl and Persales.  The names in red are my direct line ancestors.



1-John Passel b. Abt 1803, , , , Germany
 +Dorothea b. Abt 1813, , , , Germany
|--2-Friedricke Passel b. Abt 1840, , , , Germany
|--2-John Passel b. Abt 1843, , , , Germany
|--2-Sophia Passel b. Jan 1846, , , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, d. 27 May
|    1928, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
|   +Joseph Gress b. Cal 9 Aug 1841, , , , Germany, d. 18 Feb 1899, Buffalo,
|    Erie, New York, USA
|  |--3-Louisa Gress b. Feb 1867, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
|  |--3-Jacob J. Gress b. 26 Jan 1869, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA, d. 11 Aug
|  |    1932, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
|  |--3-Carolyn M. Gress b. Abt 1871
|  |--3-John Gress b. Abt 1873
|  |--3-Eli Gress b. Abt 1875
|--2-Carl Passel b. Abt 1852, , , , Germany
|--2-Line Passel b. Abt 1856, , , , Germany

BallinStadt - Port of Dreams - Part 3

See Part 1 & 2 for the introduction and tour of building 2.

Building 3 offers a reconstruction of a sleeping hall from 1910.  Once the emigrants arrived in Hamburg, this was where they waited for their ship to arrive.  According to the museum, after the long trip the beds here were rather luxurious.

After walking through this room, you arrive in the gift shop.  For 6 Euro I bought a guide to the museum (they are available in German or English), which has a lot of information and many of the fantastic photographs you see at the museum.  I look forward to adding it to my collection of genealogy books when I get home.  There is also a cafe if the tour has made you hungry or thirsty.  I left the last building and walked over to the Elbe, trying to picture the giant steamships that once passed by.

I want to finish this blog series by giving my sincere thanks to Joan at Roots'n'Leaves.  She has been one of my air chair traveler readers and was the person who told me about this museum.  I am so glad, as the idea that they would have an emigration museum here never crossed my mind.  Thank you Joan, this was the most interesting place I have gone to on my trip this far!  Please check out her fantastic blog!

BallinStadt - Port of Dreams - Part 2

For the the introduction to BallinStadt, please look here.

Upon leaving building 1 with ticket in hand I headed to the main exhibition, located in building 2.  The photographs and documents to look at were numerous.  Many items had English explanations, which was very helpful, and there were "telephones" you listened into to hear an "emigrant" tell their story.

I was most interested in those that were near the years my ancestors left Germany.  Hearing of the trials and tribulations faced and the courage shown was amazing

There were a bunch of advertisements from the eighteen and nineteen hundreds on going to America and New York.  I bought a couple postcards featuring these and there are also posters available in the gift shop.

The "ship of dreams" is the next portion of the building.  Questions are on poles on either side of the ship, with answers written on the ship.  My favorite answer to "What are you taking with you?" is hope.  People left their homelands, family, friends, all they had ever known with the hope of a better life in America.  It was not easy.  Even getting to Hamburg from where ever they were from was an adventure.  They then had to wait in the emigration halls until their ship arrived, take a multiple week boat ride across the Atlantic, pass the examinations in New York City and, possibly, take a train to their final destination further inland in America.  We complained over the 7.5 hour flight with 2 layovers.  I cannot even imagine the fortitude and determination these people had.  Hope would be the only way you could survive.  After walking around the boat you enter building 3, which I will talk about in my next post.

BallinStadt - Port of Dreams

As I walked the two blocks from the Veddel S-Bahn stop to the BallinStadt Emigrant Museum in Hamburg, I stopped in from of the first sign and felt tears welling up in my eyes.  As I stared at the boats and other signs along the past to the entrance of emigrant families, it hit me: this is where, in 1859, John and Dorothea Passel and their 5 children, ages 3 - 19 left for a new life in America and where, in 1884, Maria Strassheim Tross took her 6 children, ages 11 months - 9 years, and 3 pieces of baggage and set off to meet relatives in Buffalo, New York.  I was standing in the place where they last saw their homeland of Germany, filled with hope, but nervous about the strange new land they would soon embark upon.

BallinStadt is a set of three reconstructed buildings, located on the Elbe River's Veddel Island, where the Emigrants Halls once sat.  Although what my ancestors would have seen would have been much different, since these buildings were not build until 1896 - 1907, the exhibit has information from 1850 until the present day.  Building number 1, actually the last building you come upon, is the entrance and also holds a multitude of computers with free access to Ancestry.de.  This allow patrons to search for their ancestors in records which include the Hamburg passenger lists.  Being in German, I could not do any research, but I did get a shot of the passenger list with the John Passel family.

I will post part 2 of this, on the main exhibit building, shortly.

Fantastic Find Friday - Peter Berni Passport Application

Fabulous Find Friday is a new meme I am going to do to post some of the records I have found that were either important, helped break down a brick wall or interesting to me. This may also include stories from relatives, items from books I have read or useful websites. If you are interested in joining in on the fantastic-ness, please do and post a comment so I can come look at your find:-)

Peter Berni married my great-aunt, Amelia Casillo. I keep in contact with their granddaughter, my second cousin once removed, who has some amazing photographs she has shared with me. While filling in some gaps in census records on Ancestry over the weekend, I came across his passport application from 1924. I have never before found a passport application for a relative and after I saw what was included on the record, I wish some of my ancestors had traveled.  I particularly love the photograph, the fact that it lists the town he was from in Italy, which had been previously unknown and the affidavit from my g-g grandfather Marco A. Casillo about Amelia's birth certificate.  This is another reason I love cluster genealogy, I would have never found this had I just looked for my direct-line ancestors.

"U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database and images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 Apr 2010); Pietro Barne [Peter Berni], no. 452037, issued 30 June 1924; citing Passport Applications, January 2, 1906-March 31, 1925; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1490, 2740 rolls); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Wordless Wednesday - Oude Kerk, Amsterdam

I posted pictures of some tombstones yesterday from the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam.  Here are some photos of the rest of the church.  For more information on the church, visit their website.

ProGen - Month 2 Complete

I loved month two of my ProGen training! We were instructed to think about our educational preparedness and then write up an education plan. I think I knew where I was regarding my professional preparedness. Having never formalized an educational plan though would have kept me relatively stagnant in my skills, as I would not have thought about what I needed or wanted to learn until it something came up that forced me to learn about it. The overall theme of my plan seemed to focus on report writing and learning about records I am not proficient on, such as deeds, German and Italian records. and tax records. I also want to work on the Genealogical Proof Standard more and look into Historiography, which has been discussed recently on the APG list.

My online chats are held at 10pm EST on Mondays, which equates to 4am here in the western part of Europe. I was traveling for Easter that day and planned to attend from the computer at my hostel in The Hague. Unfortunately, this hostel locked their computers up between 9pm-midnight (depending on their mood) and 10am the next day. Even after begging, they were not going to allow me to use them at 4am ("I'll be sleeping, I can't unlock the door..."). I hadn't brought my laptop and my iPod touch was dead, so I sent a frantic and apologetic message to my group. Luckily, the Sunday night group allowed me to join their chat, so I did not miss out on this month. Thank you again to the Sunday night group, you were all so nice and I had a great time at your chat!!!

I am currently working on month 3, which involves the chapter on "The Essential Library." Any month that says I "have" to buy more genealogy books is definitely going to be a good one. I'll give you an update in May!

Tombstone Tuesday - Oude Kerk, Amsterdam

The Oude Kerk (Old Church) is located in Amsterdam's red light district.  The entire floor is made up of gravestones, most containing only a carving of a religious symbol, no name.  The most famous tombstone belongs to Saskia van Uylenburgh, the wife of Rembrandt.  As you can see from the above sign, I was unable to see this due to the renovation work currently being done.  Their website has a fantastic page of the graves in flash, with pictures, inscriptions and who is buried there.  It is available in English.

Surname Saturday: Izzo

Each Saturday this year I am posting one of my surnames, going in alphabetical order.  This weeks surname is Izzo.  The names in red are my direct line ancestors.




Descendants of Peter Izzo
-------------------------
1-Peter Izzo b. , , , , Italy
 +Catherine Donufrio b. , , , , Italy
|--2-Caroline Izzo b. 3 May 1876, Calvi Risorta, Caserta, Campagna, Italy, d. 2
|    Oct 1934, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
    +Marcantonio Maria Casillo b. 11 Jan 1868, Roccaromana, Caserta, Campania,
     Italy, d. 26 Nov 1937, Colden, Erie, New York, USA
   |--3-Amelia Angela Maria Casillo b. 14 Jun 1903, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
   |  
   |--3-Alfredo Marco Casillo b. 28 Jun 1906, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA, d.
   |    25 Jan 1981, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
   |--3-Angela Casillo b. 28 Jun 1906, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
   |--3-Lucia Marian Casillo b. Dec 1910, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA, d.
   |    1993, , , California, USA
   |--3-Clara Casillo b. Abt 1914, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
-------------------------