Happy DNA Day!

Happy DNA Day! Pictured here are the women who passed their mitochondrial DNA on to me. Seated on the left is my great-grandmother, Helen Kozlowski Kaminski. She is holding me (on the right) and my cousin Kathy on her lap. Seated to her right is her daughter, Helen Kaminski Horn, my maternal grandmother. Standing behind her is her two daughters, my mother is on the right, and my mother’s sister is on the left. Did you know that a mother passes her DNA on to all her children- male and female, but only females can pass it on to the next generation? A Mitochondrial DNA test can give you clues about where your matrilineal line was hundreds, and possibly thousands of years ago. 

Julia Kaminski my great-grandfather's sister

This is my great-grandfather’s sister, Julia Kaminski. Julia was born about 1896 in Jozefowa, Poland. Her parents were Jan (John) Kaminski and Eva Holzman. She immigrated to the USA in 1914 with her sister, Amelia's daughter Eva. 

Julia married Otto Engel in 1916 at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Scranton, Pennsylvania. 

Otto and Julia had at least 3 children together, guessing from the group photo that I have. At some point they made the decision to move their family to Argentina. They continued to communicate with my great-grandparents, and sending pictures of their home in Argentina. Family history says that there was an earthquake in Argentina, and they were never heard from again. From the research I have done, this must have been the San Juan earthquake in 1944, when 10,000 people died. The three pictures on the bottom of the group photo are of their home in Argentina. I am hoping beyond hope that someone from the family survived, and that maybe someday I will have a DNA match to this side of the family.

Mystery photo indentified as Hartman Reunion

I found this picture in my great-grandmother’s photo collection. It looked like a reunion picture to me, but I had no idea who anyone was except for my great-grandparents who were standing in the very back of the crowd. I put it aside, and recently decided to take another look. What I missed the first time was a date written on the back of the picture. August 25, 1917. I started researching newspapers from the area they lived, and discovered that this was indeed a reunion of the Hartman/Hortman family, and it wasn't the first one- it was the 7th annual. Enoch Hortman and Anna Ent were my 5th great-grandparents. They had at least 9 children, my 4th great-grandmother, Sarah Hartman who married Isaiah Mittan was one of them. By the time this reunion was held, Sarah and Isaiah were both deceased. The newspaper article named the attendees of the reunion, and I am slowly working my way through trying to identify all the people in the photo. 

Mary Ann Gilbert 1872-1964

My 2^nd great grandmother, Mary Ann Gilbert was born in 1872 in Tredegar, South Wales. She immigrated to Scranton, Pennsylvania around 1888, and married William Canterbury on January 3, 1890. He was a coal miner, and together they raised 11 children (the last 2 being twins) on a coal miner’s salary. She lived to be 92 years old, and during her long life belonged to many social organizations. She also loved to quilt and crochet. When I was 5, and she was 91, we had a 5 generation picture taken for the local newspaper. Although I don’t remember her, I feel incredibly lucky to have that photo, and to know so much about her life.

Ruth Kaminski 1922-2015

This is my grandmother’s sister, whom I got my love of family history from. Ruth Kaminski was born in 1922 in a farmhouse in a very small town in northeastern Pennsylvania. Her parents were immigrants, coming to Scranton, Pa. from the Suwalki area of Poland. Her father worked in the coal mines, then traded that life for the farm that Ruth was born on. She was one of eight children. She saw how hard the farming life was and dreamed of something different. After her high school graduation, she moved to NYC, where she worked as a dental hygienist. Ironically, she married a young man from her hometown, Franklin Resseguie. She did some modeling to put him through law school at Cornell University. They had 2 children, and life had it’s ups and downs. Ruth was known for being very stylish, and for her love of hats. She gave up eating red meat long before it was popular to do so. She had beautiful skin and always protected it from the sun. When DNA testing became popular she didn’t hesitate when I asked her to take a test. She lived to be 93, and was quite healthy almost till the end.  I miss our visits, and the talks we had about our family.

Ruby VanHousen- Victim of the Spanish Flu Pandemic

Ruby VanHousen and Frank Mead on their wedding day 1912

My Great-Grandparents were Ruby VanHousen and Frank Mead. Ruby was born Sept 29 1894 in Bridgewater Township, Susquehanna Co., Pa. Frank was born January 12 1892 in Brooklyn Township, Susquehanna Co., Pa. 

Frank and Ruby married on July 17, 1912, and had 3 children together, my grandfather, Leonard Melverne Mead being their oldest. Shortly after the birth of her third child in September of 1918, Ruby fell ill with the Spanish Flu. Tragically she did not survive, and their three children grew up without their mother. Ruby was only 24 years old.

Blogging about the Story in the Photos my Ancestors left behind

The purpose this blog is to tell stories from the photos that my ancestors left behind. Since I am hoping to use this blog as cousin bait, here are some of the surnames that appear in my tree: Mead, Horn, Barnes, Kaminski, VanHousen, Canterbury, Nichols, Kozlowski, Caswell, Lane, Gilbert, Barber, Brink, Holzman and Korban.