So help me

[feuervogel]

Long Hidden is taking submissions. Various people on facebook have already refused to talk me out of writing a story about the Silesian Weavers' Revolt (1844). I'm already kind of busy, between this online course and writing a novel, and I really don't need to start another project that involves extensive research.

Though this line of thought has already inspired a derailment into genealogical research, because the place my great-grandfather was born, and probably his parents and grandparents, because 150 years ago people didn't move as much, was one of the towns involved in said weavers' revolt.

(And heavenscalyx has given me pointers and dug up some stuff for me because she's awesome like that. All I could find was the record of Bertha, & Max's emigration (via Bremen, point of entry Baltimore, ship's name Köln) in 1908. (I already knew 1908 and that they settled in Lock Haven, PA, since that's where Grandpa's from. And for some reason, I can't pull August's.)

Bertha's occupation was listed as Textilarbeiter. She was probably a weaver. Something heavenscalyx found was that August was a silk weaver.

There were also siblings listed: Herman (1877-1959), Paul O (1882-1939).

If I knew people's maiden names, this would help. (I think my uncle Kurt has the most information of anyone in the family, so I should bug him. But he never answers his email.) *flail*

This is what I do when I should be writing.

Comments

[groovesinorbit]

I'm going to be submitting there, too! It'll be fun!

(Yeah, I know. I'm no help.)

And cool that you found some stuff on your family.

[heavenscalyx]

August was on the same ship, but for some reason he's on p. 99 of the passenger manifest while Bertha and Max are on p. 103. Hermann and Maria (and their kids) and Paul all arrived May 1909 on the ship Main.

[feuervogel]

Interesting. Grandpa never mentioned having extended family in the States. I'll have to ask about that (sooner than later...he's about to turn 89.)

[heavenscalyx]

Hermann, Maria, Paul, and at least a couple of Hermann and Maria's kids look like they were all living in Jersey Shore, PA, which appears to be down the road a bit from Lock Haven.

Your grandfather's mother had family in the States too -- in and around Corning, NY, it looks like. I found some photos of her father and mother, posted by other folks. I can download and send if you're interested.

[feuervogel]

Oh hey, I'm a dumbass, and G&G put together a family history in 1999.

Bertha was Ruchhaber, they married in 1894. He mentions the brothers who lived in Jersey Shore. Paul had no children & died in a car accident; Herman had one child, Martha, who had a daughter, Lucille, who grandpa lost touch with after 1947 (they lived in Philly; he went to Phila College of Pharmacy). Apparently the passage was steerage. He hadn't been a weaver before; he learned that here. "Dad implied strongly that some relatives became active Nazis." (Unsurprising.) They ceased contact. Grandpa knew very little about Bertha's family; they probably all stayed there, and there was conflict over sending them money (to buy nice lace curtains).

Apparently Max Sr was fired from the mill and became a partner in a coal business.

Elin died of an ectopic pregnancy in 1937.

The Carlsens (Alben & Mathilda, Elin's parents) were born in Sweden.

Grandpa's brother Jack bore an uncanny resemblance to Jack Nicholson. He served in the navy during Korea, met his wife Amy in Japan, and died of sequelae of heavy drinking and smoking when I was in high school. (They had chihuahuas named Chibi. There's a picture of 2-year-old me sitting in Chibi's bed.)

[feuervogel]

Oh, and pictures would be lovely :D

[krait]

Wow, that is really neat! I know nothing about my antecedents, so I'm always amazed at what other people manage to find out!

Mum's family were farmers for at least a couple generations, I think (her father was, and I thiiiink her grandfather was as well), but that's really all I know; and I know even less about my Dad's side..

[feuervogel]

heavenscalyx has found some really cool stuff on ancestry.com like my 4x-great-grandmother on my dad's mom's dad's side http://www.hsd.org/Women_Suffragist_Stuart.htm and a governor of Delaware.

I'm mostly amused that one side of my family has roots to the 1600s while the other got here in the 1900s.