26 May 2008

Outgoing communcation

Nothing much new since I've established contact with my relatives in Australia. I sent a document that shows everything I have entered into my software from my earliest Truschinsky. While I haven't heard back, I suspect they are waiting for some sort of a series of questions from me. So, I have to get around to making a questionnaire to send and that Michael can use. I will solicit some pictures, as well.

I haven't heard anything from Karina in Latvia yet, but it has only been about two weeks via snail mail.

I still haven't heard anything from the German Baltic genealogy society so a few days ago I sent two letters out via post. I'm hoping I get a response, even if it is that they can't help me with the information that I've provided. Ideally, they have a person or people working on examining their records for my relatives! That, however, is quite the long shot!

I also got a comment on my inquiry that I posted on a genealogy web site regarding my Deifel heritage. So, after two weeks, I have now responded to her. I think a relationship will be established (there are too many similarities) -it is just a matter of where the connection is made. That will please my mother to a great degree and maybe, just maybe, she will start practicing her German as much as I am! In fact, I just ordered a German newspaper to be delivered twice a week. It should be a nice learning tool.

I expect to receive some Truschinsky records from the LDS in the next week or two. I think I will find something there of note.

15 May 2008

SUCCESS!

Because of my wonderful 2nd cousin Karina, in Latvia, my father managed to contact via phone his cousin, Helmut Gangnuss, in Australia! Apparently he did give my father his email address. I have written him and exchanged a few emails with his son. He told me a bit about his family, including the fact that S. Gangnuss is his wife. I KNEW there had to be a connection! I have sent the contact information for my Gangnuss contact in Germany to him, so if you are reading this Gustav, you will probably be getting an email soon!

Also, regarding Karina, I did just send her a letter via snail mail (no email usage at her end). In it I suggest an ongoing correspondence by letter and in them we can learn more about one another and our families and, in time, hopefully meet. As some who read this know, while I am traveling to Iceland, Sweden and Finland this summer, Latvia is not on the itinerary. I hope to visit in 2009 with my father. Maybe by that time I will have established a contact with the Tills, though that is a more distant relation. I suppose that with greater biological distance, the interest level on their behalf is more likely to be small. Bummer.

12 May 2008

Map of Lativan communities in which I have found ancestors


View Larger Map

You can interact with the map by using the arrows on the left side of the map. In doing so, you can zoom in to see what specific communities are marked in blue and, in some instances, what family line was there. I will at some point post a map of communities in the world in which I currently have relatives.

09 May 2008

Ho-hum update

I went to the LDS on Wednesday and took a lot of photos of birth, death and marriage records from Limbazi. Nothing particularly interesting except that I noticed the name "Kerstein" is spelled a few different names in the records (Kirstein, Kerstens). I find it a bit interesting because it isn't a particularly difficult name. The Kersteins are related by the first marriage to August Till, but, as I mentioned in a posting months ago, I am not related to Emma Kerstein through their four children -I am related to August Till by his second marriage and that was to someone with the last name of Puls. I probably won't follow the Kerstein record much more because of that fact. My Rogenhagen contact might be a bit more interested in it, so when you read this contact me if you are interested in finding out more. Anyway, I will have to order a couple of records from Limbazi that range from around 1800 to 1836. Of particular interest would be if I found a more detailed death record for August Till's father, Samuel. All I have is the date of his death, not the place of birth, which would be far more meaningful to further my research chronologically.

I did order four more records on Wednesday. They are all for St. Jakobs Church in Riga. Three of them are wedding records and one of them is a death record for 1918-1920. I hope to find a death record for another Truschinsky of whom it has been suggested died in that range. If I recall correctly, I don't have a birth record for that person. I don't know if his birth will be revealed to be in Kurland or Livland. The marriage records probably will get a Till and/or Truschinsky. I know Johann Till get married at Jakobs, but the date may be just prior to the date for the records I had ordered. I will eventually order those records. It will be a busy summer in that regard.

I have been a bit more, well, "concerned" isn't the correct term, but "focused" might be more appropriate on getting records for deaths in Latvia post WWII. The Latvian embassy in Washington provides a service for $10 in which it sends a form to the Latvian archives to do a search on said individual. I will look more closely at this this weekend. It is through these records that I might be able to establish a contact in Latvia or Germany.

Finally, I sent an email to the DBGG in late April and haven't received a response of any sort. It was recommended by Dr. Hermann Rogenhagen and I felt a bit optimistic that I would get some sort of response, but I have not, as of yet. I am going to wait until around May 20 and then send a snail mail letter to Germany.

05 May 2008

Truschinsky frustration

I totally understand that one will inevitably hit roadblocks in genealogy research, but this is a bit crazy. I waited three months to get the information on my great grandfather, August Truschinsky, and after I finally get it, I run into a new roadblock in less than one day! UGH!!! August was born, according to his death record, in Salisburg. This town is now called Mazsalaca. There is no record of his birth in that location. So, I look in surrounding locations and then I do find his birth record. The birth record gives the names of his parents and they are the same as another I found in Truschinsky birth record for a town called at that time Alt Salis (but is now called Salacgriva). I had found the father's death record in Alt Salis a few days earlier and it indicated a birth location in Kurland -Aswiken. This community is now called Aizviki. I searched in the records in nearby, slightly larger towns and, thus far, there are no records. Another person who either died or got married listed their birth location as Diensdorf in Kurland. That community is now called Dinsdurbe. No such luck in my search there, either. What is interesting is that this family has four different communities in which they lived or were born. I still haven't found two supposed brothers in this family, but I did find an unknown female named Olga -though I have not confirmed a relationship.

*sigh* the search goes on...

04 May 2008

Truschinsky update

I had some success yesterday at the LDS in Oakdale. I am doing follow up research today at home on the internet. I found the death record for my great grandfather, August Julius Theodor Truschinsky (born in Alojas, Latvia), as well as confirmed the identity and death record of his father (my great-great grandfather) Eduard Truschinsky. The record of my great, great grandfather indicates the cause of death as "erysypelas" and includes a few other words I can't seem to make out. If you google erysypelas, you get, among other things, this link which seems to explain it. Erysypelas seems to also go by the name St. Anthony's fire. It sounds terrible, but also seems to create a quite vivid image in my mind.




I still have another Truschinky, Olga, that I have to tie into the tree. She was married Salacas -the locale where the other records were found.