As promised in my last post – I wrote to the bricklayers. Surprisingly, they responded within two days of my letter being mailed! Unfortunately, their records only go back to 1990, but John Phillips, president of Local 1 in Philadelphia personally called to give me the news AND is forwarding my letter to their international office.

Lewis Hirsch, great-grandfather paternal, and George Tomlin, great-grandfather maternal, were both bricklayers, so shout out to Local 1! Philadelphia Freedom!

Proves that sometimes all you really have to do is ask.

I wonder what the mailman thought, seeing my letter in the slot yesterday morning? Addressed to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the line “Attn: Death Unit” must have caught his attention. I myself never imagined that I would write the words “Attn: Death Unit” ever in my life.

But those are the instructions and if you want the death certificate of your great-great-grandfather, and harbor some hope that his parent’s names will be listed…you write the words Attn: Death Unit.

I do realize that this entire undertaking is only providing me with a very outside chance of finding my great-great-great-grandparents. Last week I received word back from the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society (NCHGS) that the search for Lewis Hirsch only turned up the 1896 newspaper wedding announcement. While we already know most of this information, the announcement did say that Lewis was born in South Easton, March 3, 1871 and that he was currently residing in Philadelphia. This in turn verifies that the Lewis Hirsch I found boarding at the Drove Yard Hotel and listed as a “bricklayer” in 1888-89 is probably my Lewis. I already know he followed the work – the 1900 Census lists the young family in Hartford, Conn. – so it makes sense. [A thank you to the NCHGS for getting back to me so quickly!]

NCHGS also suggested that Lewis was probably of the Homestead Hirschs (story coming soon!), but I still doubt that lineage since it places Lewis in San Francisco in the early 1900’s.

Organized in 1865, the bricklayers union of Philadelphia, Local1 PA/DE was the first of its kind and I’m hopeful they have old records of members. I don’t know how finding this out will help me, but at this point I think every little connection counts. The next letter is to the Local1 PA/DE…and I wonder what the mailman will think of that!?

While looking for old photos recently, I can across a school project I had done in the fourth grade. Having just moved from Philadelphia to Michigan, we spent a lot of time on the phone with my grandmothers regarding the family tree assignment  – it was my first step into genealogy and I was fascinated.

What is surprising about my construction paper tree are the little clues I had forgotten over the past 30 years. On the tree, the Tomlin side of the family has a reference to the “Lightcap Family.” It is family lore that Clara Tomlin was an orphan child of an Indian woman and it is possible that the Lightcaps were her caretakers? This tiny, little clue sent me on a search and while I didn’t turn up any probable Lightcaps, I did find a Clara Stewart in the 1880 Census, enrolled at the Mercer Soldier’s Orphan School in western Pennsylvania.

There are additional notes on the back and more to look into – good job, little Kirsten from 1980!

St. Bernard’s is no longer allowing the general public to access their documents, due to age. While they’ve been polite, they cashed my check over a year ago and I have yet to receive any documentation, even though I did receive a phone call that said they found information.

So, we do not retreat – but advance in another direction (Gen.McArthur).  Still planning the trip, scenerio changing.

Meanwhile, About.com has good information for planning a genealogy vacation and on-site research.

St. Joseph's German Catholic Church

After several frustrating months of trying to find the family and parents of Lewis Hirsch online and via mailed requests, I have decided to plan a trip north to Easton, PA.  My Dad has offered to come along and assist, and I’m looking forward as much to the planning as the sleuthing!

We’ll start at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church, the oldest German Catholic Church in the Lehigh Valley. My great-grandparents were married at St. Joseph’ German Catholic Church in 1896, which was formed in south Easton in the 1850’s, after the congregation at St. Bernard’s became too large. St. Joseph’s burned down but St. Bernard’s has many of their records – mostly all in German. It is the only link I have and probably the best place to start. There was a cemetary at the site of St. Joseph’s and I”m also curious to know is that is still in tact.

Next, we’ll try City Hall and land records, tax records – anything! There is a family living in Williams, PA, which is just south of Easton. Listed as a farmer, the patriarch Joseph Hersch (sic) appears to be widowed with many children, one of them Lewis. Could this family be the one?

The US Census Bureau released the Census Atlas as a PDF (book will cost you $165). It’s a fascinating look at all Census data from the past century. Of particular interest is the Ancestry chapter, showing the changes in ancestry percentages (and possibly perceptions?) from the 1800’s to 2000. The map of Philadelphia ancestry is interesting, as the Pennsylvania map shows up as a solid orange block (mostly German ancestry) but when you zoom in to Philadelphia proper, the mix becomes more Irish/Italian/German and African American.

What I’m interested in doing now is comparing the addresses in my Google Residence Map to the maps in this study. I’m guessing I’ll find that my family members lived where most of the other Germans in the city were residing and where now mostly African American families are living.

This past weekend we travelled back to the Philadephia area for my cousins wedding – and then back in time. Before jumping back on I-95 to head south and home on Sunday, we wanted to vist the old neighborhood. I know the streets by sight within about a 10 block radius of our old house, but getting there required a map. My father pulled this one out of his glove compartment. It was the map he used when working a side job as an exterminator in the mid-70’s. (I remember him having this job – he had t-shirts that said BUG OUT! on the front). Anyway, the map still has his marks on it for the location of his customers. What I love most about it though, is that it is from 1976.

Being the bicentennial, 1976 was a BIG year in Philadelphia. I remember drawing a picture of Ben Franklin eating Frosted Flakes for a contest sponsored by Kellogs. I remember going downtown for the Bicentennial Celebration and the throngs of people everywhere. The illustrations on the map clearly depict images that I saw as iconic that year.

On our trip this weekend, we went by the old house and oddly enough, it is for sale. Wouldn’t that be nice to have a place to stay while in Philly doing genealogical research?

I was having lunch with my friend Craig  last week and he asked what I had been up too. When I told him that I was back into genealogy (mostly because the brick walls I had hit seemed to disappear with ancestry.com) he said, “Yeah – that’s really in right now.”

Huh? In? Apparently, Craig (who I have always felt is more in-the-know than myself as most of my friends are) had heard that a lot of people were logging on and getting in touch with their roots.

This week, I saw an Ancesty.com commercial  (this one too) and they’re great – and popular (there are more on You Tube). Then there are the plethora of websites, the onslaught of blogs (guilty!) and the avalanche of useless things you may or may not need to do your genealogical work. Mark Howells wrote an article about buying genealogy stuff that offers some good advice in the portion of the article subtitled “Limiting the Damage”:

If anything, the Internet makes it TOO easy to spend money on genealogy. The speed and ease of buying online can make us lazy in our research. Before you make an online purchase, take the time to think through your purchase. Is the information or product available via some other method? Have you shopped around and compared prices? Is there a less expensive alternative for getting the same research result?

When you find a genealogical product or service online which you wish to purchase, make a note of where you saw it and sleep on your decision to buy. A brief waiting period may cool your family history fever enough to let you re-evaluate your need for the item in question. Online shopping facilities often have shopping carts or baskets where you can store your as-yet-unsent order for later. This is a convenient way to allow oneself to rethink the purchase. If there is not a shopping cart facility, copy the web address and the name of the product into an electronic or paper note to yourself so that you can go back later and ponder your purchase decision. The obsession of genealogy needn’t disrupt financial tranquillity so long as care is taken while shopping online.

Maybe Craig is right – maybe this is the new in thing – and the online marketers know it!

I have long been proud of my German ancestry so much so that I used to tell people that I was almost completely German (with a name like Kirsten Hirsch…it was very believable).  I have found recently that this fact is not entirely accurate. While we do have Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, and straight-off-the-boat Germans in our line, we also have Swiss (great great grandparents Sutter who spoke German in their home), Knoell (which is listed as a name of “Germans from Russia” ancestry).

I had requested information from St. Bernard’s Church in Easton, PA – since Aunt Elsie had listed this as the place of Clara Stacer and Lewis Hirschs marriage. Easton, PA is also where Clara and Lewis’s first two sons were born.

Linda and Nancy at St. Bernard’s have been fantastic in helping me. Linda called last night to tell me that Lewis and Clara were actually married at St. Joseph’s, another Roman Catholic church that merged with St. Bernards in the late 1880s.

Linda has been searching the old, big, dusty books from St. Joseph’s and tells me there are many, many more “upstairs.”

The gist is – they’re all in German and Linda doesn’t speak a word of it.

What Linda noted is the names are spelled very differently. Clara Stacer is actually Clara STASSER, and Lewis Hirsch was Lewovicus Hirsch. Their sons, Henricus and Johanicus later became Henry and John.

I’m looking forward to hearing more from Linda. While I”m waiting, I think I’ll take my “Learn German DEUTCH The Fast and Fun Way” CDs down off the shelf and load them in to my iPod. I”m going to need it!

I’m an eBay fan and sometimes eBay junkie. So it was not surprising when I got the idea to turn to eBay for clues in my genealogical research. Maybe, they had old Philadelphia directories? Something that may reveal the name of my great grandfather Knoell’s ice and coal delivery business?

I found a high school yearbook which included aerial shots of our old neighborhood, but no relatives. I bid up on that until the cost hit $45. Then I made an offer an a “guide to Philadelphia” which cost me $23 total, with shipping. I wasn’t expecting much…but the listing did say that there were businesses and streets listed. I was excited. This could be it!

When it arrived, I knew almost instantly that this was a cool thing to have, cool – but pretty useless. The 1922 Red Book Guide to Philadelphia – was a transportation guide – specifically a trolley guide. Neat, huh? Yes…if the map wasn’t missing from inside the back cover. Without the map, all I have it a cute little red book that lists all of the streets in Philadelphia, and their addresses. There is a list of churches, synagogues, theaters and some businesses. But it is not extensive.

What may end up being useful is the very short list of high schools. People did not go to high school in 1922 – if any of my relatives DID, there are very few to choose from, which narrows the search significantly.

If anyone can think of a proper genealogical use for this little book, let me know. I’ll keep it regardless, but would like to share the info in it somehow, if it could be of use to anyone.