Another Trusinsky!

Here is Aleksander Mikko, our new son. He was born on September 13, 2010. I just thought I should add him here as he is certainly a very important addition to my family tree!

He isn't playing hockey... yet. :-)

CONFIRMED!

Great news! I have now confirmed that almost all the living Vigerts in Latvia are relatives of mine! I was lucky enough to find someone online, sent them a note about the information I had about my Vigerts and asked her to inquire with her older relatives to see if any of it sounds familiar. She did and we thought we may have shared a common ancestor, so she visited a grave of someone who was born in the 1880s to confirm the date of her relative with the date of my relative on the birth documents that I found. IT WAS A MATCH! She didn't know that this person had at least four other siblings -one of which was my great grandmother, Julia Vigerte.

I am super excited about this. She seems to share a strong interest in researching this stuff. She has sent a couple of pictures (I anxiously wait for more to be sent!) and has some interesting -though sad- stories about some of our shared ancestors.

It has made me wish that the TRUSINSKIS that I had emailed in Latvia were as interested as this person. I am even more sure that some of them are the descendants from a common ancestor. I believe that because every single TRUSINSKIS I have found in my research from the 1800s is related in some way to each other! I have never found a TRUSINSKIS in the records to whom I could NOT show a relation. Remember: the problem I have is that I cannot review almost any records from here in Minnesota, USA, that are from 1905 or later. **If any of you (KARLIS, ROBERTS, etc) or your relatives read this, send me a note!!! All specific information about living individuals will be private, so do not worry about that if that issue is a concern.

Message for M. V.

Here are two pictures.
Julia Vigerte (my great grandmother) in 1969 and of her grave.

For others besides M.V. who are reading this, I am posting this as it seems very possible I have made contact with a current, though distant, relative. I have had very little success in two regards with the Vigert family. First, I cannot find any records prior to 1880 for this family (thus far!). Second, I haven't been able to learn anything at all beyond what I have already learned from my grandmother in the mid-1980s. This information would qualify as the proverbial (in genealogy terms) breakthrough -though a breakthough to the present not into the past!

Vigerts/Vigerte aus Lettland?

Hello,

I am looking for the descendants of Andres or Mikel Vigerts, or Marri Vigerte. Julia Vigerte was my great-grandmother. She married August Trusinskis (who died in 1922). The “Vigerts” were all born in Ivandes in the 1880s, but I believe most moved to Riga in the early 1900s. I doubt you know any of these people, but maybe your older relatives (parents or grandparents) might remember one of these names. Please respond if you think you may be related to the people listed above. I can provide birth records to show how these people are connected. I do this only because I research my family history as a hobbie and frype is a tool for me to do that! Thanks!

Sveiki,
Es meklēju, lai Andres vai Mikel Vigerts vai MARRI Vigerte pēcnācējiem. Julia Vigerte bija mana vecvecmāmiņa. Viņa apprecējās augusts Trusinskis (kurš nomira 1922.) "Vigerts" visi, kas dzimuši ĪVANDES in 1880, bet es uzskatu, ka lielākā daļa pārcēlās uz Rīgu, kas ir agrīnā 1900. Es šaubos, jūs zināt, kādu no šiem cilvēkiem, bet varbūt jūsu vecāki radinieki (vecāki vai vecvecāki) varētu atcerēties vienu no šiem vārdiem. Lūdzu atbildēt, ja jūs domājat, ka Jums varētu būt saistīts ar cilvēkiem, kas uzskaitītas iepriekš. Es varu sniegt dzimšanas ieraksti parāda, kā šie cilvēki ir saistīti. Man tas tikai tāpēc, ka es pētniecības mana ģimene vēsturē kā hobbie un frype ir līdzeklis, lai man darīt! Paldies!

Brian

http://familytreebuilder.blogspot.com/

Refugee documents

have arrived from the International Tracing Service (explanation of organization here). One can make free requests for a document search on up to two names (at any one time -other people can be researched after the first two are complete). I received a letter plus 10 double-sided pages of documents related to two of my grandparents.

Truschinsky documents have arrived!

As mentioned in an earlier blog, there are documents in the Estonian archives related to my earliest confirmed ancestor. This guy is certainly the most interesting distant ancestor. He died of "St. Edward's Fire" and was sued for failing to fulfill a contract to use a mill, as he was a miller. All of these documents (about 60 pages) are related to that issue. The documents are primarily in German with the exception of two pages which are in Estonian. I expect to find some great information. I would be VERY pleased to see if they refer to him or his family at any point as Kurschinsky.It will be quite expensive to get all of the documents translated, but I expect it will be well worth it.

To the rights is the cover page to the series of documents. I have found other members of my family tree on the Estonian website noted above, but certainly nothing this juicy!

Labor Day

In response to the prompt from geneabloggers, I've decided to post a brief entry about the occupations of my distant ancestors.

I think that most people who research their family history would like to find something particularly stunning such as an ancestor being someone particularly famous (though not infamous...), royalty, rich, etc... My grandfather who passed away in the mid-1980s claimed we were related to a "baron". I think he may have even said it was a Polish baron, but that would be inconsistent with his view that his heritage was entirely "German".

I've never found anything (beyond a reasonable doubt) about anyone being particularly famous. I have, however, noticed that many of my ancestors (and all of the direct ancestors back to at least the 1830s) have been skilled and I have yet to find any that were listed as being farmers or peasants. I've had a couple of millers and smiths, one medical doctor and a few mechanics/machinists. Nothing particularly exciting from a 21st century perspective, but they were part of a relatively small portion of the population in Latvia at that time.

Stalin's housekeeper?

I came across a genealogy discussion forum which was focused on the name TILL. My post was the only one in TEN YEARS that inquired or even alluded to TILL in Latvia (except one other...) Pretty much all of the others involve the US, Germany or Great Britain.

The only other mention was the following quote:

"Name Carolina Till is mentioned in a book "Twenty letters to a friend" by Svetlana Allilueva. She says that their " apartment in the Kremlin was run by a housekeper, a German from Riga, Latvia, named Carolina Till..." " She was a charming old women, neat and immaculate and very kind..." The year was 1929-1933. G, Elrod

I have two TILL females with either a first or middle name of Caroline and they were born around 1860. That would make them about the right age to be described as a "charming old woman". So...I google this Svetlana person and I soon learn the it is the sole daughter of STALIN! She is still alive and lives in rural Wisconsin but is quite the recluse.

I would guess that since I have never come across another TILL in my research of documents focusing on Latvia that this person is one of "mine"!