Saturday Serendipity (November 21, 2020)

 

Below are a few suggested reads for your weekend.

1.   Today is the anniversary of the signing of the Mayflower Compact.  Under the Old Style calendar in effect at the time, the Compact was signed on November 21, 1620 as the Mayflower remained anchored in the harbor at is what now Provincetown, Massachusetts.  You can read more about the Pilgrims and the Compact here at the History.com.

2.   If you have ancestors or relatives that served in the U.S. Army, you should be aware of the opening of one of the nation's newest museums.  The National Museum of the U.S. Army opened this month in Fairfax County, Virginia just outside Fort Belvoir.  You can read more about the museum here.

3.   Jacqi Stevens, of A Family Tapestry blog, discusses genealogy volunteerism and has a suggestion for a needed project for anyone who might be looking, as Jacqi puts it, to "give back" in recognition of all the helpful genealogical resources other volunteers have made possible.  Read here Jacqi's post, "Instead of Indexing, Trying Something New." 

4.   Have you ever thought about donating an artifact, document, or other item to a respository?  If so, you should read a recent post, "How to Donate an Item to a Repository" by Marian B. Wood, of Climbing My Family Tree blog. 

5.   There are two items of interest posted this week by James Tanner, of Genealogy's Star blog.  The first is the 5th installment in his series on reading handwritten documents.  The second is a post listing a number of FREE virtual classes, webinars, and videos available from the BYU Family History Library.  You can read the list here.

6.   Have you ever received or inherited a box full of genealogy "stuff?"  Most of us have or will at some point.  So is there some advice–or even a practical process–for dealing with such usually unorganized treasures?  The answer is "yes" and Janine Adams, of Organize Your Family History blog, has written about the challenge and linked to the blog and presentation by Stacy Julian, who first caught Janine's attention on the subject.  You can read Janine's post and get a link to Stacy's presentation and .pdf handout here.  

7.   Finally, if you have been waiting for an opportune moment to obtain books on the Mayflower and the Great Migration, NEHGS/American Ancestor is having a 20% off sale on their Great Migration and Mayflower titles.  You can see the titles available here.  The sale ends November 25th. 

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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos-- A Thank You card from Nora (November 20, 2020)

 

The older of our two granddaughters, Nora, turned six earlier this month and started kindergarten this year due to her late birthday.  She has been reading for quite a while now and is proud to be using her developing writing skills.  Today we received a "Thank You" card from Nora completely in her own handwriting!  

It is interesting to see that she is already working on her own distinctive handwriting flourish by adding the curlicue to her lowercase "a."  It reminds me that when I was in 1st grade at Streiber Memorial School (now apparently known as Streiber Elementary School) in Chicopee, Massachusetts my teacher criticized my lowercase "i" because of the large dot I placed above, and too close to, the vertical line.  She said they looked like lollipops instead of a proper "i."  This undoubtedly contributed to my abandonment of the use of all cursive writing (except for my signature) and use of lowercase print letters as soon as I was able to get away with it in school.  To this day, I use only uppercase block lettering in everything I write and distinguish upper and lower case only by the size of the letters.

Love the curlicues.  You go Nora!  😍

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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (November 14, 2020)

 

Having just got off a Crowdcast virtual meeting of the Rhode Island Genealogical Society (RIGS) and needing to complete some projects before dark, here are a few suggested reads for this weekend.

1.     National Geographic published an article today by Bill Newcott titled, "400 years on, the Pilgrims get a reality check."  You can access the article here. 

2.     And speaking of the Pilgrims, this week (Wednesday, November 11–coinciding with Veterans Day) marked the 400th Anniversary of the signing of the Mayflower Compact.  Those with Mayflower ancestry might be interested in reading more about the Compact and can do so by going here, here and here.  

3.   Continuing the Mayflower theme, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower The Weekly Genealogist of American Ancestors/NEHGS announced this week the release of the world's largest Mayflower lineage database.  The database contains the authenticated lineages of all the Mayflower passengers.  You can read more and search the database by going here, but note that you must be a member to access images and transcripts.

4.   James Tanner, of Genealogy's Star blog, posted part 3 of his series on reading handwritten documents. You can read the post here.

5.  I am nowhere near ready to do any writing and publishing of a proof argument relying on DNA, but for those of you who are and are wondering what the process would involve, you can get some insight by going to this piece by Nicole Dyer at Family Locket –"How to Write and Publish a Proof Argument with DNA Evidence."

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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

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Heather's Honor Roll Project (Veterans Day 2020)---Wallingford, CT World War II Memorial Part 5---close up panel photos

Yesterday, November 9, 2020, I contributed to the 2020 call for additions to the Honor Roll project of Heather Rojo.  My contribution for Veterans Day 2020 continued the process of transcribing the hundreds of men and women from the Wallingford, Connecticut area who served their country during World War II (my father being among them).

As the above photograph of the WW II memorial on the grounds of the Wallingford Town Hall illustrates, there are seven panels each with triple columns of the names of those who served. Starting with my 2016 Veterans Day post, many, but nowhere near all of the names listed on the first panel, were transcribed. The surnames are in alphabetical order across the entire seven panels. 

My post of November 10th, 2016 transcribed and listed all the names on the first panel from George C. Abbott, Jr. to Joseph E. Buza -- 244 names altogether. My Memorial Day 2017 post listed all the surnames  that begin with C through E -- 298 names in all.   For Veterans Day November 8, 2017, I transcribed an additional 317 surnames covering those beginning with F through I and the Veterans Day 2019 post added 242 more names covering surnames beginning with J through L.  Yesterday 395 surnames covering all of those beginning with M through Q were transcribed and posted.  

In keeping with my intent to also post close-ups of the panels showing all the names I have transcribed and listed, this is the post of panel close-ups to provide photographs of all the surnames that begin with M through Q. This is the process that will be followed for the remaining panels over time in order to keep the transcription posts to a manageable size.  The transcribed names will be posted first and photographs of the panel close-ups covering the posted names will follow shortly thereafter so that those who want to have an actual image of the memorial and the name of ancestors or relatives can take them from these posted photographs.

In early posts of the panel close-ups I think I neglected to mention that some of the names have a star/asterisk preceding the inscribed name.  This means that the starred person gave the ultimate sacrifice and died in service during the war.

I am very indebted to my cousin, Bruce Marquardt of Wallingford, for so willingly photographing the panels in close-up for me after my efforts to do so failed.  Thank you Bruce!

The following six panel close-ups cover the M to Q surnames on the Wallingford WWII memorial from Allen A. Macfarlane through Carroll C. Quimby.  Please note that in order to be sure all names were photographed, the photos overlap and some names are therefore shown more than once.  The repeated names can thus be used to orient the precise order of the names from Macfarlane to Quimby.  The alphabetical order flows down the first column and then up to the top of the second column and finally up to the top of third column on each of the panels. 

The surnames starting with M begin with Allen A. Macfarlane in the third column of the first close-up Photo No. 1 below and continue down that third column through to Photo 4 and the name Marvic H. McCune.  The surnames starting with M then continue in the first column of Photo 5 with the name James J. McDonough and follow down that column to the name Ralph B. Munson on Photo 9.  The M surnames then move to column two on Photo 10 beginning with the name John J. Murphy until the M surnames are completed eight names down that column and end with Thaddeus J. Myers. 

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7

Photo 8

Photo 9

The N surnames begin in the second column of Photo No. 5 above with the name Frank P. Naczi and continue down the second column in Photos 5 - 8 before ending in the second column of Photo No. 8 with the name William Nyiri.  Surnames starting with O begin in the second column of Photo No. 8 with the name Edward J. O'Connell and continue down the second column in Photos 8 - 9 before ending in the second column of Photo No. 9 at the name Adrian Ouwerkerk.  The P surnames begin in that same column in Photo 9 with the name Pasquale J. Pacelli and then begin again in column three of Photo 5 with the name Albert F. Padley, Jr.  The P surnames continue in the third column of Photos 5 - 9 until they end in column three of Photo 9 with the name John Popovich before resuming in column one of Photo 10 immediately below. 

Photo 10

Photo 11

Finally, the surnames beginning with P and Q are completed in the first columns of Photos 10 and 11 above ending with the name Carroll C. Quimby in Photo 11.

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All close-up photographs of the panels of the WWII memorial are by Bruce Marquardt of Wallingford, Connecticut.

Photo of the entire memorial is by the author.

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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

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Heather's Honor Roll Project (Veterans Day 2020)–Wallingford, CT World War II Memorial Part 5–Surnames M through Q

 

Wallingford Town Hall

Two days from now -- Wednesday, November 11,  2020 -- is Veterans Day. 

Among the military Honor Roll memorials located in Wallingford, Connecticut on the grounds of the Town Hall is one for those who served (and in some cases died) in World War II. It is by far the most extensive memorial listing of veterans of war who lived in Wallingford.  The list contains hundreds of names -- in fact so many that it will take several posts to get them all transcribed and published. This is the fifth post of names from the Wallingford WWII Memorial and the first since 2019.  [A post was not done in 2018 due to our relocation to New Jersey from Virginia.]  This resumed listing will cover all the surnames in alphabetical order from M through Q, which comprises 395 names for this post.  With this post, a total of 1,496 names will have been transcribed from the Wallingford, CT World War Two memorial -- and we still have surnames from R through Z to complete! [For the first post listing the 244 surnames from this memorial that begin with A or B, please see the earliest post here.  The second post listing the 298 surnames that begin with C through E can be viewed here.  The third post listing 317 surnames that begin F through I can be viewed here.   And the fourth post listing the 242 surnames J through L can be viewed here. ]  

I know that finding a database of transcribed names is one thing for those who are searching for ancestors and relatives, but for those who cannot make a trip to see the actual memorial, a photograph of their family member's name would be a very useful gift for inclusion in a family genealogy; therefore, it is my intention to do a blog post shortly after posting each list of transcribed names to publish the photographs from which I worked to do the transcriptions. Please check back here periodically after you see a listed name of an ancestor or relative in a post and you will then be able to get a photograph of the name in a close-up of the memorial panel containing your family member's name. 

For readers who take the time to scan the names, you will notice that unlike memorials for earlier wars there are a significant number of women listed on this memorial. Also, apart from the sheer number of names on this World War II memorial, one will note the wonderful ethnic diversity of the surnames in the lists. And there are a number of obvious family members listed so that it appears several possible brother, father/son, husband/wife, and cousin combinations are listed.

My father is listed on the World War II memorial in Wallingford since he briefly attended a year of post-high school education at Lyman Hall in Wallingford before he entered Kings Point, the United States Merchant Marine Academy.  Prior to 1957 what is the present Town Hall was the Lyman Hall High School. [1]  I previously posted a close-up of a cropped section of names containing my father's listing here. This post continues the transcription of the hundreds of other names that are honored on the World War II memorial. The transcription posts will be submitted as part of Heather Rojo's wonderful Honor Roll project to create a searchable listing of all U.S. war veterans on memorials erected in this country.

One other point to make on this Veterans Day regarding memorials specific to World War Two veterans–   the names on this and other WW II memorials around the country list members of what has often been called "The Greatest Generation."  The names on these memorials recognize the hundreds of thousands of men and women who sacrificed years of their youth or middle age -- and in many cases their very lives -- to combat an undeniable evil.  As we pause again this year to commemorate those members of the greatest generation who served and died in WW II, it is important to realize -- with respect to this particular memorial and so many others like it -- that almost all of the men and women named on WWII memorials are no longer with us. If they survived the war, the great majority have lived their lives and passed on. Very, very few remain with us today. Lift a glass on Thursday to all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice and to those who served! 

Wallingford, Connecticut World War II Memorial

The names of the men and women honored on the Wallingford World War II memorial with surnames beginning with M through Q are as follows in alphabetical order within surname category and as read left to right across the columns .  .  .

Allen A. Macfarlane                    Ronald N. Macfarlane                    William N. Mackenzie

William P. Mackenzie, Jr.            Frank C. Madar                               George E. Maddocks

George R. Magee, Jr.                   Herbert N. Magee                            John R. Magliola

Walter J. Mahalik                        John J. Maher                                   Henry Majeski

Stanley F. Majeski                       Steven Majeski                                Eugene Malanchuk

Zanon Malanchuk                        James J. Malchiodi                          John L. Malchiodi

Louis P. Malchiodi                       William Malchiodi                          Douglas Maltby

Paul D. Manfredi                          Leonard P. Mangine                        Joseph R. Mangino

Joseph Mann                                George Marchand                            Burton Marczewski

Edward Markham                        Milton Markow                                Harry Markowitz

Herman Markowitz                      William Markowitz                          Lawrence Marotto  

Patrick Marotto                            Walter G. Marshall                           William J. Marshall

Paul M. Martha                            Charles W. Martin, Jr.                       Francis E. Martin

Joseph J. Martin, Jr.                     C. J. Martineck                                  Frank G. Martineck

John G. Martineck                       Joseph E. Martineck                          Paul R. Marunda

John R. Maslowski                      Domenico Massaro                            Frank W. Massaro

Peter J. Massaro                          Arthur E. Massey                               Alfred J. Massicotte

Charles J. Massores                     Joseph J. Massores                             William Massores

Wesley Maston                            Eugene F. Mataskiewicz                     George F. Matyas

John May, Jr.                                Henry J. Maziaz                                  Roy E. McCabe 

James H. McCall                         Edward J. McCarthy, Jr.                      Isadore E. McCarthy

Thomas McCormack                   Marvin H. McCune                             James J. McDonough

James D. McGaughey III             Edward B.  McGuire                           George F. McGuire

Thomas J. McKenna                    Charles McKeon                                 Robert G. McKeon

Thomas M. McKeon                    Elwyn R. McKinstry                           George W. McKinstry

Bernard G. McLaughlin               C. Miller McLaughlin                         Peter P. McLaughlin

Vincent McLaughlin                    Charles E. McLean                              Doris J. McLean

Frank R. McMahon                      Roger McMahon                                 John McMullen

Robert E. McNulty                       Charles H. Meisinger, Jr.                    Vernon Meisinger

John A. Melillo                            James A. Mellor                                   Jesse R. Mellor

Josephine E. Mellor                     Manuel Mendonca                                John J. Merlini

Edmund Merriam                         James B. Merrithew                              Stuart S. Merwin

John M. Messek                           John H. Meyer                                       Andrew J. Mezzi

Gerald Mezzi                                John J. Mezzi                                        Peter Mezzi

Leon J. Michon                            Theodore M. Michonski                        Walter Michonski

William J. Michonski                   Zymond S. Michonski                           Joseph Mickna

Steve J. Mickna                            Stanley F. Micoski                                 Glenn Middlesworth

Edward R. Mielke                        John G. Mihovetz                                   Aldolf V. Mikosz 

Joseph Mikosz                              Walter S. Mikosz                                    Frank J. Mikulski

Anthony Milewski                         Frank A. Milewski                                John A. Milewski

Anthony J. Milici                           E. Albert Miller                                    John Y. Miller

Marvin S. Miller                            Milton H. Miller                                    Roland J. Millville

Charles Misiaszek                          Earl Missell                                           Louis W. Mitchell

Irving F. Mitchell                           Stanley R. Mitchell                                Anthony Moleon

David J. Molinari                          Edward C. Molinari                                Joseph J. Molinari

Herman J. Molzahn                       William F. Molzahn                                Simon Monchick

Clarence E. Monnell                       Andrew Montana                                   George E. Montana

Michael Montana                            Joseph Montesi                                       Alfred W. Moore

David C. Moore                          Nicholas C. More (Silagye)                     Anthony H. Morettini 

Burt A. Morettini                            Vincent P. Morgan                                   Charles J. Morganti 

Rosario C. Morganti                        Salvatore R. Morganti                            Henry R. Morin 

Maurice Morin                                Wilbert R. Morin                                    William B. Morin

Andrew A. Morris                            Edward W. Morris                                 Howard L. Morton

James H. Mulvey                              Craig D. Munson, Jr.                             Ralph B. Munson

John J. Murphy                              Thomas B. Murphy                             Edward S. Mushinsky

Fred C. Musso                                Julius J. Musso                                    Henry R. Muszynski

Michael J. Muszynski                        Edward V. Myers                                  Thaddeus J. Myers

Frank P. Naczi                                    Harry G. Nadeau                                   John Nagy

Julius J. Nagy                                 Earl Naramore                                       Frank P. Nasczniec

John D. Nasczniec                          Stanley J. Nasczniec                             George C. Navitsky

John R. Nearing                            Dominick M. Negri                              Joseph A. Negrini, Jr.

James R. Nehez, Jr.                         Ernest J. Nemeth                                 Francis P. Nemeth

John Nemeth                                    John Nesci                                          Walter J. Neverovich

Eleuterio D. Neves                           Philip M. Nichols                                Elmer G. Nidermayer

John J. Nidermayer                          Victor A. Nidermayer, Jr.                     Edward Niedziela 

Stanley Niedziela                              Theodore F. Niedziela                            Antonio Nobrega

Charles J. Nolan                                Robert J. Nolan                                      Harry I. Nordgren

Safford M. North                               Austin Norton                                         Frank E. Norton

John Norton                                         Robert A. Norton                                  Robert F. Norton

Charles Novak                                     Henry L. Novak                                     Joseph F. Novak

Stanley C. Novak                                Walter E. Novak                                   Stanley J. Novak

Lucien G. Nowinski                             Paul Nowotenski                     Stanley R. Nowotenski

Frank Nyiri                                         George A. Nyiri                                   Julius J. Nyiri

William Nyiri                                      Edward J. O'Connell                            Ralph C. O'Connell 

Robert O'Connell                                 Edgar O'Dell                                       Robert C. O'Dell

George E. O'Donnell                           Robert J. O'Donnell                              Robert S. O'Neil

George T. O'Reilly                              Gerald J. O'Reilly                                 William J. O'Reilly

Andrew L. Ohr, Jr.                               Edward G. Ohr                                     Francis Ohr

William Ohr                                       Alex Okoltowicz                                  Joseph Okoltowicz

Stanley Okoltowicz                            John W. Olayos                                   William G. Olayos

Arnold L. Olson                                   Peter Orlando                                   Salvatore Orlando

Henry R. Orlowski                              Joseph W. Orlowski                            John J. Oros

Robert S. Oros                                  Bernard J. Orosz                                 Frank A. Orosz, Jr.

Milan P. Orosz                                     William Osborne                               Bernard Ostens

Joseph Ottaviano, Jr.                         Richard A. Otto                                  Adrian Ouwerkerk

Pasquale J. Pacelli                            Charles W. Paden                                 Mark T. Paden

Albert F. Padley, Jr.                          Gerald Pagano                                      Oliver C. Page

Raymond G. Pagni                           Peter Pajor                                             Louis F. Palmerini

John Palmero                                    Tony Palmero                                        Frank A. Palozie

Joseph S. Papallo                             Ralph Papallo                                     Vincent P. Papallo

Nicholas A. Papp                              Francis A. Pappas                             Raymond F. Paquette

Joseph Pare                                    Aldo J. Pareti                                     Donald E. Parker, Jr. 

William E. Parker                             Angelo A. Parla                                Donald Parlato

John J. Parylak                                  Stanley J. Parylak                            Frank L. Pascale

George R. Pascale                              Stanley J. Pascion                           Henry Paski

Raymond M. Passerino                      Henry Patskoski                               Chester J. Patzkoski

Stanley T. Patzkoski                          Balint W. Pazary                               John R. Pazary

Eric W. Pearson, Jr.                         Wilbur P. Pelatzky                             Joseph S. Pelizza, Jr.

George W. Pellerin                             George A. Pelles                              Anthony J. Pelloni, Jr.

Louis Pelloni                                       Thomas A. Pelloni                            Kurt S. Pelz

Albert A. Penci                                 Joseph S. Penci                                  Louis Penci, Jr.

Minnie F. Pendleton                             Irving Peretzman                               Darrel D. Perkins

Kendrick D. Perkins                             Arthur J. Perone                                 Frank A. Perone

Louis Perone                                        Ralph A. Perone                                 George I. Peterson

Warren H. Peterson                              Carl Petho                                           Kalman Petho

Fred L. Petrucelli                              Stanley Petrulewicz, Jr.                      Walter D. Petrulewicz

Joseph Pezik                                         Paul Pezik                                          Walter R. Pfeiffer

Edwin A. Philippi                                  Edward J. Phoenix                             Joseph A. Piazza

Rosario Piazza                                      Samuel D. Piazza                               Edwin N. Pierce

Montford T. Piercey                              Samuel D. Pierson                             Walter Pietras

Henry J. Pietruski                                  Edward G. Pikor                                 Frank J. Pikor

John J. Pikor                                          Benjamin L. Pilla                               Salvatore Pilla

Walter J. Pinkowski                              Clarence H. Piper                              Clifford W. Piper

Joseph J. Pire                                          Peter J. Pire                                        Walter P. Pire

Adam H. Plotkin, Jr.                               Walter A. Pluta                                   Aldo G. Poggio

Pasquale B. Poggio                                  Edward G. Polanski                           Henry Polanski

John Polansky                                      Michael Polansky                          John J. Pollack, Jr.

Joseph M. Polnar                                    Walter F. Polnar                               Henry Poposki

John Popovich                                       Stephen Popovich                             Charles E. Porter 

Elson J. Porter                                        William R. Porter                            Edward A. Porto

George John Porto                              Raymond L. Porto                       Conrad J. Posluszny, Jr.

Albert A. Post                                       Thomas L. Post                           William F. Post

William J. Post                                     Maurice W. Powers                     Louis J. Pranzetelli 

Michael J. Pranzetelli                            Dominic Preira                           William J. Preisner

Henry B. Prickitt                                   Arthur D. Prior                           John J. Prior

William W. Prior                                   Archibald S. Prisk                       Leslie A. Prowse

William A. Pudvah, Jr.                          Karol Pulner                               John C. Purcell

William A. Purcell                            Stephen E. Puskas                      Frank J. Puspok (Bishop)

Joseph J. Puzone                                 Peter G. Puzone, Jr.                     Vincent J. Pyskaty

Adolf S. Pzedpelski                             Henry E. Pzedpelski                     Isadore F. Quagliaroli

Joseph J. Quagliaroli                          Vernon J. Quarz                            Frank H. Quigley

Hugh F. Quigley                                   Carroll C. Quimby

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[1]  Lyman Hall (1724 - 1790) was born in Wallingford and served as a representative to the Continental Congress from Georgia.  He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later served as a Governor of Georgia.

Photographs of the extensive list of names on the World War II memorial in Wallingford, Connecticut were provided to me for transcription by my cousin, Bruce O. Marquardt, of Wallingford.  This transcription contribution would not have been possible without Bruce's very kind and willing efforts to make sure I had legible photos from which to do the transcriptions.  THANK YOU BRUCE!
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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew
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