Sidney Seligson 1895 - 1976

Today is the start of the Family History Writing Challenge. I decided to write about my paternal grandfather, Sidney Seligson 24 June 1895 - 24 March 1976.

Sidney was born to Kalman and Sutcha Seligson in or near Montreal, Canada on 24 June 1895. He was their third child and the first son. His older sisters were named Hannah and Marion. His family had emigrated to Canada sometime after 1890, but they didn't stay there long. By 1900  the family had moved to New York City. A second son, Philip, was born in New York. The third son and last child, Harold, was born in 1901.

The 1900 US Census shows Sidney, age 4, living with his parents, sisters and brother at 1326 5th Avenue near W. 111th Street. Kalman's occupation is listed as foreman in a factory. The census indicates that Kalman and Sutcha had been married for ten years, which matches with other findings. Also noted on the census is that the family arrived in the United States in 1896. I don't have positive confirmation of that yet.

I know all of this is very dry; unfortunately I don't have a lot of details for this far back in time. I am hoping that this project will motivate me to learn more, dig deeper, and fill in these gaps. The thing about genealogy, for me anyway, has been that I tend to think, "Oh, yeah I knew my grandparents, let's see how much farther back in time I can go." Now I realize that I need to take the time and learn as much as I can about the people who lived closer in time to me, especially since I am lucky enough to still be able to ask my father, and his brother, questions.

Hello in There

Does anyone remember this old John Prine song? The lyrics always make me cry. Anyway, for the last year and several months, my father and I have been on a mission to try and discover the identities of a group people whose pictures we have. My dad found them years ago in his aunt's apartment, when he cleared it out after she died. He had no idea who the people were, and it has haunted both of us. Those eyes just seemed to plead: "Don't forget us. Don't let us be lost forever."


Today, thanks to Facebook and the marvels of the Internet, I have learned the identities of the two people shown here. They are my great great grandparents, Ida and Joseph Joseph. Learning that has been like a gift for me, and I am eagerly awaiting my father's response to the e-mail I sent telling him what I learned, and how I learned it.

I had always felt that the only way we would ever discover the identities of the people in the pictures was if someone had seen the pictures before. As it turns out, the woman who contacted me yesterday has paintings of these exact pictures (ours look like drawings to me), and she knew who they were! I am more grateful than I can say that she took the time to write to me after reading something I had posted on a Facebook group.

CHORUS:
Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day.
Old people, they just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello."

Is the year over yet?

It's been a crazy year, and I'm looking forward to seeing the last of this one and the first of the new year. Around here, that will happen on September 18, Rosh Hashanah. Although my bad year officially began on 31 December 2008, I am hoping the start of the Jewish new year will signal the start of a year of good health and happiness for all of us.

Of course, some good things happened this year, especially in July and August when we went to the States to see family. We had a fantastic time, seeing people and spending time together. Of course I tried to use the time to further my genealogy research, too. The photo above is one I had never seen before, that my father found in a photo album. Pictured are four siblings: Uncle Phil, Aunt Hannah, Uncle Hal and my grandfather (dad's father). This photo was taken in 1965. A year and a half ago I didn't even know my father had had an Aunt Hannah; this is the first photo of her I've ever seen.

So yes, lots of good stuff happened this year, too. It's good to remember that.

Endpaper Mitts?

Here is the start to my Endpaper Mitts. I love both of these yarns from the Periwinkle Sheep, but I have a feeling the variegated blue yarn isn't the right choice. Not enough contrast in some places. Sometimes when I look at it, it looks okay, but otherwise...meh.

I think their ought to be more contrast if I'm going to all the trouble of doing the colorwork. Do you agree?

By the way, are any other Blogger users having trouble positioning a second photo in their posts? I used to be able to upload more than one, then just click and "drag" it into position. Now when I try that, nothing happens.

Still, one picture is better than none. In fact, I've heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. Or is it ten thousand?

And speaking of words, I have joined the ranks of Those Who Tweet. You can find me here. I've even broken down and joined Ravelry, so if you're on there, you can find me there, too. No cute pseudonym, just my name.

If you'll excuse me, now I'm going to get back to banging my head against the genealogical brick wall that is my great great aunt Anna Blau of Paterson, New Jersey. She's hiding somewhere, and one of these days, I will find her!