Naming Traditions

Tonight is a special post with an even more personal twist. In five days we'll know whether we're naming a little girl or little boy! The Husband and I are expecting our first baby. He/she is at 19 weeks now and by Monday we should know which gender to research in our name search.

We already have quite a list in mind, the common denominator is they are mostly family names. I don't believe a genealogist can much help it. As a result most of the names we're considering have a, well, vintage sound.

One of the important considerations in naming our child is honoring my family name, Hande, not just my husband's, Featherstone. In researching my father's paternal genealogy I've found an inspirational naming pattern.

A great many of the Hand/Handes followed this naming pattern for their first born son:

• First name = Father's first name
• Middle name = Mother's maiden name

Typically they named their first born daughter in the same way after their mother's also. The Hand/Hande clan wasn't strict with this formula, but it is a noticeable enough pattern. The beauty of it is that not only does it honor the mother's often unacknowledged heritage, but it makes research a little easier for future generations of genealogists! 

A good example of this naming convention is found with my g-g-g-grandfather, Thomas Holmes Hand (25 Sept 1833 -1830). His parents Elijah Hand and Isabella did not follow this convention strictly, but his middle name gave me the vital clue to uncover his mother's maiden name, Holmes. My g-g-g-grandmother's family would have been lost to history were it not for her maiden name passed onto her son. She would have been another brick wall, or dead end, on my tree. Now I know she was Isabella Holmes. It is almost like putting a face to a name!

Here is this family in the 1870 U.S. Census in the Lower Township of New Jersey. You can also see Orlando Hand's (3 Jun 1861-before 1916) entry as a child. He was my g-g-grandfather.

Some genealogists researching Irish lines will likely be familiar with a similar Irish naming tradition. I found a good summary at this site:

• The 1st son was usually named after the father's father

• The 2nd son was usually named after the mother's father 

• The 3rd son was usually named after the father

• The 4th son was usually named after the father's eldest brother

• The 5th son was usually named after the mother's eldest brother 

• The 1st daughter was usually named after the mother's mother

• The 2nd daughter was usually named after the father's mother

• The 3rd daughter was usually named after the mother

• The 4th daughter was usually named after the mother's eldest sister

• The 5th daughter was usually named after the father's eldest sister 

This explains why there are so many James and Kathryn's in the Farrell line on my paternal side.


So given some of the things The Husband and I value most are family and roots we've discussed using my maiden name, despite the room for childhood jokes as the child's middle name.

If you want to read more about my life and the baby, check out the posts on my personal blog, Fine How About You?

Aká matka, taká Katka - Like mother, like daughter

I'm going to jump over to another branch now, away from the waspy side to the Slovak side. My maternal grandmother was 100% Slovak and the first generation of her family to be born an American. Her parents were founders of a small Slovak settlement in northern Wisconsin called Moquah. Her stories about life on a farm sound more like 19th century stories than 20th. I've talked more about my Grandma Helen in my personal blog if you'd like to know more about her. Click here to see a video of her picking out a polka on the organ and here to read about the day I lost her. That's Grandma Helen with Grandpa Andy on their honeymoon in 1956.

The hard thing about tracing the genealogy of the immigrants in our family is that it is so easy for the trail to go cold quickly. Add a language change and it gets even more complicated. With Slovak families you also have to take into account the inevitable Ellis Island name change.

Stefan become Steven.

Kateřina becomes Kate.

Mrovscak becomes Mrofchak or worse yet Mrofchalk.

Mária becomes Mary.

You have to have quite a bit of contextual data such as religion, geography, family member names, etc. in order to work your way through these immigrants. A little luck helps, too.

The hunt for my Slovak ancestors hasn't been as fruitful as some of the others, but it has been rewarding. Only three generations ago my great-grandma and grandpa made the trip over to the U.S. I never thought I'd find anything beyond them.

Well, here's the story on how we found more.

I of course started with everything my Grandmother knew about her parents, Stefan (Steve) Kacvinsky and Mária (Mary) Mrofchak. I also had a 1960s publication on the history of their town, Moquah, Wisconsin. Most settlers were from Plzn in what is now the Czech Republich. In fact that area was once known as Pilsen. I knew their ethnicity was Slovak and that they had not immigrated together, but met in the U.S. Other than the names of their children and general birth dates I didn't know much more.

Finding the census records was easy since it was such a small town. I started with the 1930 census, the most recent one that is public record. There's Helen, my Grandma! This picture is of this family six years later in the fall of 1936:


From 1930 I scooted back to 1920, two years before my Grandmother was born. You'll notice Moquah is called Pilsen here. Here it is, see anything special?

Look closely. There are three Marys. The wife, age 33 is my grandmother. Their eldest girl, my great-aunt, is the one that is age 6. Now, look at the bottom, see the third Mary? Look at the age. Yep, it is my great grandmother!

Now, I never thought I would find her, let alone in a U.S. Census. She did not immigrate, but I found her. She just happened to be visiting the year the census was taken! She actually came in 1909. I'm not sure what year she returned.

At this point in your census search take a step back and look at the big picture. If I hadn't I would have missed even more. Scrolling through their neighborhood I recognized families from the stories my grandmother would tell.

I found at this time she was widowed. The relationship very clearly states her name is Mrofchak, so now I have pretty great proof of my great grandmother's maiden name. I also find her approximate birth year and confirm her parents were both born in Slovakia. If you scroll down on the page you'll see more Mrofchak's too!

Given the date of entry I then searched Hungarian passenger lists into the U.S. and found her! She came over on The Deutschland in the second class. She is the seventh listing from the bottom. It lists her residence as Harsalva, but as I looked closer I realized the database had recorded it incorrectly.


When my mother was able to search the LDS archives in Salt Lake City she found records in Csepanfalva. Here is where another important aspect of genealogy comes into play -

Location, Location, Location!

Okay, well it is a little more than geography. In this instance the geography of what is the Czech Republic and Slovakia now very complicated by its history. In my hunt I've learned more about the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Western Civilization than I ever thought I wanted to know.

It turns out Csepanfalva is also Csepanfalu and Markusovce. Under the tyrannical rule of the the Magyars and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire the Slovak culture was greatly repressed.
Here is the complicated name history of just one small town:
1773 Markusfalva, Marcksdorf, Markussowcze, 1786 Markuschfalwa, Markussowce, Marksdorf, 1808 Markusfalva, Marksdorf, Markussowce, 1863–1877 Markusfalu, 1882–1888 Markusfalu és Csepánfalu, 1892–1902 Márkuscsepánfalu, 1907–1913 Márkusfalva, 1920– Markušovce
Štefanovce: 1773 Csepanfalva, Stefensdorff, Stefanowcze, 1786 Cschepanfalwa, Stephansdorf, Sstepanowce, 1808 Csepánfalva, Tschepansdorf, Cžepánowce, 1863 Csepánfalu, 1873–1877 Csépánfalu.

It is a small village in the count of Spišská Nová Ves or Spis, or Szepes megye. Here it is on a modern map in Google maps.

So now that we found the town we found what we believe is her family. My mother found their parish records in the LDS archives on microfilms 1739642 through 1739645. The Parish records go back to the 1600s so I'm still on the hunt.

All those names for their village tell a story. Markus-Csepanfalu was the Hungarian name of the village. The Slovaks were the lowest of the low for many generations and lived barely as serfs. A great many Slovaks of Spis immigrated the the U.S. because of the hard economic conditions. In fact after the fall of the Empire referring to a town by the old Hungarian suffix -falu was offensive to the Slovaks. Below is the Markusovce castle:

Researching my Slovak family has been the most challenging, full of foreign languages and dead ends. But, I never give up hope or give up trying.

As a side note, here are some great resources for researching Slovak history and genealogy:

A great site for Slovak research is here. When I get stuck or can't find an answer to a historical question in the library or with Google I go here!

I didn't have a true understanding about the struggles of my Slovak ancestors until I read more about life in the Old Country and about the tribulations of immigration.

I'm fortunate to live in the Cleveland area now because there are so many Slovaks. Therefore there are decent resources including the local libraries and the Bohemian National Hall. Even the libraries have more Slovak-oriented materials than I ever found before growing up in the South in Nashville.

A good start to understanding Slovak history is this very informative book, The Slovak Americans by Mark M. Stolarik, even if it written at middle-school level. It has a very comprehensive European history of the Slovaks and details the immigrant experience. One of the most interesting things I read was that researches believe the Slovaks are actually descended from a tribe of early Celtic settlers. This theory is based on both archeological finds and genetic research. Scientists have discovered the Y-chromosomes of populations of the Atlantic Celtic countries have been found in several studies to belong primarily to haplogroup R1b, which implies that they are descendants of the first people to migrate into north-western Europe after the last major ice age. This data can be found in The Blood of the Isles by Bryan Sykes and The Origins of the British: a Genetic Detective Story by Stephen Oppenheimer. In fact etymology of Bohemia is right from the Boii Celtic tribe.

More in-depth early history of the Slovak culture online can be found here.

One of my favorite reads is the story of the immigrants, Notes of a Teacher On Emigration Circa 1905.

The lasting impression my Slovak research leaves is that in only three generations so much of that rich culture has been assimilated. My grandmother could speak and somewhat read Slovak. I couldn't begin to do so. The last festival I went to was in the 1980s. But, certain things remain such as traditional koláče, a holiday family tradition. Sometimes I wish assimilation wasn't the cost of immigration. I'm proud to be an American, mutt that I am, but sometimes wish I knew more about my culture. I fear most of it has been lost.

Here is my generation on our 2007 visit to Moquah to scatter my Grandma's ashes:

Bringing a Family Story to Life

My grandfather Harry was known for his tall tales. In fact he used to say all the Hands were all over the Cape May Courthouse and we didn't believe him. My parents visited Cape May in the 1980's and couldn't find any Hands on the walls of the courthouse, but then discovered that there were indeed Hands all over Cape May County, New Jersey. Then they discovered Cape May Courthouse is a town, not a literal courthouse. (Though there are of course courthouses, and one in particular is important to the Hand family history, but that's a story for another time). It turns out some of Grandpa's tall tales were true.

Family lore he told also held a story that my great-great-grandmother Harriet (Johnson) Hand died when hit by a train while reading a letter from her son on their property in Rio Grande, Cape May County, New Jersey. It almost sounds fantastical, but it was too macabre of a story to not hold a grain of truth. So off I went on the genealogical hunt. I didn't find much, until one day I was piddling in a newspaper archive searching for another mysterious family member, Harriet's husband, Orlando Hand. Yes, I have a waspy gentleman in my history with the name Orlando, but more on that later.

I found a snippet view of an article published in 1916 that seemed to fit. The headline and date was about all I could see. So then I tried to find the newspaper. It turns out the Philadelphia Inquirer is now defunct. So, the next question was where to find the archive?

Well, what next but a case of serendipity. My mother discovered the Newspaper Department at the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania and the Free Library of Pennsylvania. We sent off a request and soon had a PDF file of the full article.

Here is an article about the tragic death of Harriet Johnson Hand of Rio Grande, NJ published 20 July 1916 in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sure enough the story was true.

I've never met Harriet, but somehow in her death, on those pages printed in black in white in 1916 she's come to life. As I substantiate more of my Grandpa's tall tales I realize that I've lost a valuable resource. So, pester your older relatives for all their stories, no matter how tall the tale while you can!

(Harriet née Johnson Hand was married to Orlando Hand, son of Thomas Holmes Hand, a descendent of John Hand "The Immigrant." Their son was Harry Johnson Hand who moved to attend Rutgers then settled in Philadelphia. Harriet's father was John Wesley Johnson).

Social Networking

Okay, so I wasn't going to post again tonight and I'll get to a more useful one tomorrow. I had to tell a funny story. As I was writing my last post on this newly formed blog a school friend Facebooked me replying to my comments that I'm addicted to genealogy. David related that he discovered his 22nd g-grandfather was Chaucer.

Well, guess who my husband's 21st g-grandfather is? Yep, Chaucer.

Anyhow, I guess my point is connections can be found in all sorts of places. Resources are everywhere. Social networking can even be a resource now.

So, how do you get started researching your genealogy?

Well, first step is talking with one of your most valuable resources - your family.

Genealogy started for me at about the age of 4 at a family reunion in Hartford, Connecticut. My mother's 7th great-grandfather was George Stocking, one of the founders of Hartford. The Stocking family is large and we had a massive family reunion there in 1986. I remember the exact moment I became enthralled with genealogy:

My family went to the Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford to visit the graves of our ancestors dating back to the 1640s. Not only did we find their beautiful old graves nestled in between the modern buildings of a bustling city, we also found the Founders Monument.

If you are a Stocking descendant or want more information about the founders of Hartford, Connecticut here are some good links:

http://www.foundersofhartford.org/sites/

http://www.cslib.org/foundhtfd.htm

I may have been only four but a learned some valuable lessons.

1. Start with your family. You'll be surprised with what you find. In my case there was an entire database. My uncle was instrumental in the computer programming to put together the book.

2. Nothing beats actually being at the physical location.

Next post I'll expand more on using family members as primary sources.

The photograph to the right is a picture of my maternal grandparents, Helen (Kacvinsky)Stocking and Andrew Stocking at the Stocking reunion in Hartford in 1986.

What's a Chronic Genealogist you say?

Me, for starters. Genealogy is one of those things that once you start you can't stop. As soon as you experience the first moment that your family history comes alive or an ancestor's life stories reveal bits of who you are to you, or you have the opportunity to stand at your ancestor's graves and honor them then you are hooked.

For me genealogy is like a chronic disease. As a child I was exposed to the bug and it slowly captured my attention. Now it is all-consuming. I typically work about 50-60 hours a work at my "day job," i.e. the one that pays me. I also put in about 20-30 hours per week on my personal genealogical pursuits.

The truth is I'm still an amateur. There are people that have spent lifetimes and families that have spent generations together on research. I can't quite say why it consumes me other than the drive to know who I am on a deeper level. It is almost instinctual.

At any rate, I don't want to get hung up on me in this blog. The other blog does that just fine all on its own.

Here I want to help the newbies. I want to examine research methods, resources, tricks of the trade, that sort of thing. Of course I'll use my family histories as examples, but not for self-involved reasons. (If you do want to know more about me, as boring as I am, just hop on over to my other, heavily ego-centric blog finewhoaboutyou?

Well that is enough of an introduction. Let's get started...