So very many Americans have GERMAN ancestry! In fact not long after the United States became a country, there was a vote between ENGLISH and GERMAN as the official language and English won out!
Using Ellis Island database we can find many ancestors who came in STEERAGE but in fact many ancestors had better tickets and don't appear on that database. Sometimes the handwriting is really bad and you must find the people who came in when they left the port instead !
So what I do is check Ellis Island database FIRST but I go further. I use Ancestry or another genealogy database to check not only who was coming in on First and Second Class tickets from German ports to New York Harbor, I ALSO CHECK the records that ORIGINATE in GERMANY! Breman - Hamburg these were DEEP WATER PORTS great for DOCKING A STEAM SHIP!
The Germans have long been excellent at keeping records. YOU MAY BE A LITTLE CHALLENGED to read the German but you may also find yourself reading early American records in GERMAN TOO!
24 January 2011
20 January 2011
OLD MC CALLS MAGAZINE FROM 1976 A HISTORY LESSON AT THE AMERICAN BICENTENNIAL
1976: It was the bicentennial of the United States of America...
Recently someone gave me a McCalls Magazine from that year and it was quite the history lesson.
One of the things I noticed was the advertising. Most of the name brands that were being sold then are still being sold NOW...
The issue had a lot of focus on the changing role of women in society, on expectations about sex and marriage through American history. The article in my opinion tried to cover too much territory and the language felt stilted.
But old magazines and catalogues are useful when you attempt to situate a character in your family within their times. We are reminded that women who came of age in the 1970's were highly effected by the controversy of the woman's liberation movement, and the hopeful passage (which did not succeed) of the Equal Rights Amendment!
Recently someone gave me a McCalls Magazine from that year and it was quite the history lesson.
One of the things I noticed was the advertising. Most of the name brands that were being sold then are still being sold NOW...
The issue had a lot of focus on the changing role of women in society, on expectations about sex and marriage through American history. The article in my opinion tried to cover too much territory and the language felt stilted.
But old magazines and catalogues are useful when you attempt to situate a character in your family within their times. We are reminded that women who came of age in the 1970's were highly effected by the controversy of the woman's liberation movement, and the hopeful passage (which did not succeed) of the Equal Rights Amendment!
16 January 2011
GENEALOGY IS A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE FOR DIFFERENT PEOPLE
Genealogy is a different experience for different people:
A journey of discovery of family and self in contex, a detective hunt, a way to link to the past and learn history in a personal way that isn't what's taught in classrooms.
I feel as I find the evidence of a life in documents that I'm giving people who have passed into the next life (or maybe even reincarnated) a chance to be raised up fromn the grave to say "I Was Here, This Was My Life."
A journey of discovery of family and self in contex, a detective hunt, a way to link to the past and learn history in a personal way that isn't what's taught in classrooms.
I feel as I find the evidence of a life in documents that I'm giving people who have passed into the next life (or maybe even reincarnated) a chance to be raised up fromn the grave to say "I Was Here, This Was My Life."
11 January 2011
HISTORICAL FICTION BY LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON is a GREAT WAY TO LEARN AMERICAN HISTORY
One of the great ways to learn American (or other) history is to read FICTION that is well researched and inspired. I've been hearing great things about LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON and so I've just got two of her books "Chains" and "Forge" to read. These are part of her SEEDS OF AMERICA series which is aimed at Young Adult Readers... You don't have to be a Young Adult to enjoy these!
Angela Johnson, who is herself a three time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award says that Chains "is searing and has so many brilliant sparks I became lost in it. Isabel's harrowing journey into a nightmare realm of slavery, betrayal;, loss, and ULTIMATELY Hope quite literally had me sobbing."
Why not use these books for HOME SCHOOLING or as part of your classroom projects?
Angela Johnson, who is herself a three time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award says that Chains "is searing and has so many brilliant sparks I became lost in it. Isabel's harrowing journey into a nightmare realm of slavery, betrayal;, loss, and ULTIMATELY Hope quite literally had me sobbing."
Why not use these books for HOME SCHOOLING or as part of your classroom projects?
10 January 2011
05 January 2011
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