ANZAC Day 2020

ANZAC Day is an Australian holiday which looks back at the people who served in the military. It was originally held to remember the World War 1 soldiers but later was expanded upon for all military. This is held every April 25th and the ceremony starts at exactly 6am. To attend we would have to get up between 2-3am to get a parking spot and be in place by 6am.

Credit

Below are 2 different years we attended the Shrine in the city. You never know what the weather's going to be like as you can see.

Credit: J. Fitzgerald

Credit: J. Fitzgerald

We had been attending the Shrine of Remembrance in the city each year since 1997 with very few missed. The last two years, we felt the Melbourne ceremony, and access, was too difficult, so we've been attend our local council's ceremony at Bunjil Place. It allows us to sleep in a bit and leave our house about 5am.

This year, due to CoVid, is going to be very different for the start. There will be no public ceremony this year. There are different ideas people can do - hold a candle or light and stand in the front of your yard, backyard, or inside your house are some of the ideas. Another idea is turning on the outside light of your house. This is to be done at 6am. Then tune in via online, TV, or radio to listen to the smaller ceremonies which will be held and can be viewed online.

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My Reflections
This is the one day I look back on my family history as World War 1 and 2 are very meaningful in my family history. This is mainly due to where my family lived during these times. True, by World War 2, my family was already in the US, but those cousins and other relations who stayed were there during those times. It does mean something, because those branches, while not direct, still were affected by these events. A few of the pictures of those relations which served and/or were in Belgium are below. Also, I had relatives in Poland, Germany and France as well.

Due to the current pandemic called Coronavirus or COVID-19 (first reported by WHO on December 31. 2019), I can imagine what those ancestors must have felt. I'm in Australia and they are around the world each dealing with the virus the best they can depending upon their situations. We do have one benefit more than my ancestors ever had - I can talk or correspond more directly and quickly with my family than they ever could during those times. Sometimes the mail could get through, sometimes it couldn't and sometimes it never made for various reasons.

During my research when people ask, what else should I look for or think of when researching, I always tell them to look at what external things could have influenced them. Many people go for the wars which were going on at that point. How about diseases going around? Political forces which might have played a part in their decisions. Accidents? Other disasters? These all have to be looked at and explored.

I use a spreadsheet I made up and I put in these types of things into the spreadsheet as events. For instance, many people remember World War 1 ending, but many don't understand when it officially ended nor the circumstances around them. Then when you add the pandemic during this time to the mix sometimes things add up.

For instance, many of the troops returned from Europe in 1918 and 1919 keeping in mind the war officially ended in November 1918. It took a long time to get all the troops from Europe back to the US. Then add in the official start of the Spanish Flu started in January 1918 and it lasted until December 1920. That was a full 2 years.

Like today, 2020, governments and people are doing exactly what they did back in the Spanish Flu - social distance, social isolation, and masks. However, areas of the US lifted these requirements too early and they had a second wave of it, and it was much deadlier. The poor soldiers now had this to attend with after such a long battle of war.

A picture taken during the 2nd wave of the Spanish Flu. Credit

You need to understand what was going on in the world during the time of each of your ancestors because even though things were happening in other parts of it might have affected your ancestors.

I hope everyone is staying safe and has a happy ANZAC Day. Lest we forget...

Credit

The writing on the poster reads:
"Crew members of the RAN light cruiser HMAS Sydney (II) peer through a hole in the forward funnel. The damage was sustained in action against the Italian Cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni off Cape Spada, Crete. AWM 002435"

Stories of my ancestors

As a follow on to the alphabet challenge I was doing in 2018, I've decided to try and do the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge with Amy Johnson Crow. I'm supposed to use the tag #52ancestors in my posts.

I'm not sure on how I'll go, but at least it'll spur me on to keep on writing about my ancestors. I've been trying to write up my grandmother Jean Schmitz's life story, keep 3 Facebook genealogy groups with relatives going and writing this blog. Yep, it seems like a full time job sometimes.

However, I'm game to give this one a shot. You never know, I might just keep up with this one!

Credit

The Ancestral Places Geneameme challenge

Another Geneblogger called Lonetester HQ posted on this topic or challenge on their blog. And describes it as:

 I wanted to focus on the places. The countries, the states, the counties or provinces, as well as the parishes, the towns and villages. Our ancestors have a connection to these places.

What places do your ancestors come from?

Using the alphabet how many letters can you name ancestral places for? Some you will no doubt know well, some you may not … at least not yet (see my letter ‘I’ and ‘N’ examples below). I still have more research to do on those lines.

It doesn’t have to be where your ancestors were born, but it does have to be a place that they were associated with. For instance they lived or worked in that place.

Name the letter, followed by the place (town/parish/county/state/or country), and the surname/s associated with that place

EXAMPLE ENTRIES:
C – Cudlee Creek, South Australia, Australia (Kelly, Hannaford)
H – Helsingfors/Helsinki, Finland (Winter)

 So geneabloggers, the challenge has been set, who’s up for the Ancestral Places Geneameme.

This is going to be a major challenge for me. Why? Because my ancestors just didn't move around too much. Some people have gypsies in theirs - mine? Not so much. Yes, they left Europe to go to the US, but before this they basically were born, maybe moved to the next village when married, and then died there. Even now, my father's side was pretty stable. My mother's too, until you get to my mother who had the wanderlust with needing to move every 3-5 years since I was born. It really annoyed me and I had no idea why until I started researching of the family. Now I know. As my husband says, "Your lot were bloody stayers!" and now I laugh because indeed we were stayers. 

Getting back to this challenge...it really is going to be a challenge, but here we go...be aware, I'll keep adding to this post as I find out areas where they lived, worked, born, and died.

A- Alrup, Denmark (Larsen)
B - Belgium (Gauquie)
C - Charleroi, PA (Ostryscki)
D - Denmark (Alrup - Larsen)
E - East Dunkirk (Loones)
F - Forest Hill, NY (Gauquie/Nill)
G - Germany (Koblenz - Schmitz)
H - Hamilton, Ohio (Gauquie/Lehmkuhl)
I  - Iseghem, Belgium (Verhaeghe)
J  - Jefferson County, Kentucky (Ostrzycki/Wagner)
K - Koblenz, Germany (Schmitz)
L - Linden, NJ (Wojtkowski/a)
M - Malkinia Gora, Poland (Wojtkowski/a) & Minnesota (St Paul - Larsen, Gauquie)
N - New York/New Jersey - (Schmitz, Gauquie, Larsen, Jagodzinski) 
O - Orange County, NY (Schmitz, Gauquie, Larson, Jagodzinski)
P - Poland (Wojtkowski/a, Jagodzinski, Ostryski, Wyrzyskowski )
Q
R - Rahway, NJ (Wojtkowski/Holley)
S - South Carolina, USA (James, Wojtkowski)
T - Turza Wilcza, Uluchowo, Poland (Gauquie/Galloway)
U- USA (Wojtkowski/a, Jagodzinski, Ostryski,Schmitz, Gauquie, Larsen)
V
W - Warsaw, Poland (Wyrzyskowski) & Wojtkowice Dady (Wojtkowski/a)
X
Y
Z - Zaduszniki, Kujawsko-Pomorski, Poland (Rutkowski, Michaelski)

And here it is...I did this almost without looking up anything. It did shock me as I didn't think I'd get anywhere near this many entries. I will add more, which I probably have. I stopped doubling up on the letters as it was getting too confusing. 

Update - I looked through my tree and found more to fill in. However with 3 letters left, I can't find anymore. Still I'm shocked that I got this far. 

How many of the letters can you place? I dare you...

July 4th and what its meaning is to me - then and now

Growing up July 4th always meant the summer, fairs, swimming and fireworks. When I was a young adult, it just seemed like it was a holiday to be thrown in there. I couldn't (and still can't!) stand the crowds and all that goes along with it. It just seemed to be too much. Of course, when you don't have two pennies to rub together, that might play into things as well. 

Credit 

Anyhow, then I moved from the US to Australia and as its not a holiday here, it just slips by. We have gone over to visit the US during the July 4th time, but wouldn't you know? We could not find any fireworks and I even asked and one person said there might be some but it was a drive to get to. It was like everyone barred the things that year. 

However, this year? I'm thinking about it because of my genealogy work. My first ancestors to hit the US was in 1892 and was on my maternal side - Alois and Jules Gauquie. This was just a handful of years since The Statue of Liberty's dedication in 1886. I can only imagine what it was like for them. 

Then I think about my paternal side - Adam Wojtkowski. This was the first person on that side to arrive in the US in 1913. True, it was many years since the dedication but I think Adam would have found the statue's meaning and quote even more than the Gauquie's. This was due to the restrictions of rights that had been going on in Poland since before Adam was born and those restrictions were only getting worse. 

Adam's Manifest from Ellis Island's website. The other Wojtkowski (name spelled wrong but all other info correct) people were of same village - not relatives.

Can you imagine not being able to speak your own language in your own country? How about one day being able to go to school and the next being told you can't go to school anymore? Or even having the right to walk down the street and run into a soldier and then being told to go back home even though you were going to do some food shopping (and having very little food as it is) and the soldier not allowing you to keep going and forcing you to turn and go back home without any food? All this was what was going on in Poland. 

1905 May 19 from The Sun in NY NY taken from Chronicling American newspaper section

In each of these instances, although the Gauquie's knew family in the US whereas Adam didn't really  know anyone, you still bought and got onto the ship not knowing if you were going to make it to the US or die on the ship OR if once you got to the US you would be denied from entering the US for some reason and then get shipped back. This was the reality of people immigrating from Europe. One family came, I believe, because they didn't like how just a bit of their rights were being taken away (the Gauquie's from what research I have done). Whereas the other side, had every single thing you can think of taken away just about (the Wojtkowski's from what research I have done). The tale of 2 European groups coming to the US but under such different circumstances! 

My paternal grandmother told me many times growing up about how when they came into the NY Harbor (in September 1920) and saw the Statue of Liberty standing so tall and beautiful with the sun behind her and the water twinkling like jewels, she felt safe and happy for the first time in such a long time. She knew then and there that she had hope and freedom and that's what that lady in the harbor stood for. The whole and each time she told me about this, she had tears in her eyes. The only other time she was like that was talking about her parents. This is what the 4th of July means to me. 

Taken from the National Parks Service website

Taken from the Wiki site

You could feel the change before today, and some say it started after September 11th and how today's children would never know about feeling like how we did in our youth. Here's the story if you want to read it and I have to admit for most of it the author is correct. However, what makes me feel dirty is the current situation within the USA. 

People turning on others just to do it - over anything and everything. There are things going on in the last 6 months and I'm actually - for the first time EVER - ashamed to be an American. If this is making America great again then I'm stumped by how. People shooting others and killing just over 300 times since the start of the year, a president that insults

From Mass Shootings Tracker.org

others and reminds me of things I've seen in the playground by bullies, the government - who we pay for their public service - (which is supposed to make the US people feel reassured about their government) are blocking or delaying live feeds from the White House Press Secretary which is not reassuring anyone about their competencies but makes you wonder what they are hiding and the list goes on and on. 

You should hear about what the international press are even saying about Trump and even if I wanted to try and defend him, you can't. Why? Because he does stupid things like calling people names or re-releasing  a video from years ago and instead of a person's head he amends it to put a News

Taken from Twitter

company's name on it? Further to all of that, he's 'beating' (its a wresting thing but in the eyes of children - during when this clip has been getting paid they will see it - they will think this is alright especially if the President is doing it) up a person or something that has a common media logo on it. The whole thing is just screwy. 

I can just see the people who put so much into the Statue of Liberty which was a symbol OF liberty just shaking their heads and crying. Why? Because American used to be so much better than it is currently. 

Taken from Wikipedia 

I leave you with this part of the famous within The New Colossus:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"

This is what America is about - not what its become over the last 6 months. 

Mother's Day 2017

Yes, tomorrow is Mother's Day. A day we recognize as the one person who usually supports and loves us in our very beginning of life from the time of conception until you or your mother dies. I say usually as most of us have mother's who will give us what we need to thrive and survive which the base is usually love.

Here are the important mother's in my life (including me in this so hopefully people can see where these important people fall in my chromosomes) and this is due to their influences and other important deals which, when women raise children, are passed along to their children which in turn cascades down and into me. This makes me simply - me.

Copyright on images used J. Fitzgerald 2017

Myself

I haven't really let it be known in past posts, but I'm not a mother. I have had some pregnancies which have NOT resulted in a live birth. And after a surgery almost 18 months ago, I will never carry a child - ever. Is it difficult and hard? You bet your sweet behind it is. However, there is one avenue which we're currently researching to still become parents - which is surrogacy. If we ever get this lucky, we're hoping someone will be kind enough to do this for us. It would be the best present EVER.

Fostering/Adopting

Some people have asked us about fostering and adopting. We've talked about it,and due to some family things this past year, we'll never go down this road due to our experiences this past year unless something else happens. Do I know what that is? Nope, but its never good to close those options.

However, this year we've experienced a bit of parenting so in a way this year I WAS a mother (in a substitute type of way) - for a short while.

Myself and a child we were helping out in 2016/2017. Taken March 2017.
Copyright on image J. Fitzgerald 2017

As you can see, we were both very happy. Unfortunately, he's not with us full time any longer, but it was a special time.

Women Not Exactly Mother's

There are women out there, like myself, who would nothing better than to have a child. However, it seems like no matter what we do, we are not blessed in them. Do them a favor on day's like Mother's Day - be kind to them? The day is extremely hard for those of us who fall into this category. In fact, I usually hibernate and stay away from the most of the TV and social media because it seems like everywhere you turn its there in your face. After awhile you just want to go in the corner and curl up and cry the rest of the day. Again, please be kind and look after the childless women. We do have feelings too and we intend to get forgotten during these types like many of the other children/family holidays.

Image taken from here.

Reflect on your geneayear 2016

This year was a bit different as we've been 'helping' out my husband's family deal with some issues. This affected my genealogy research along with looking for employment. Anyhow, I was able to feed my genealogy bug over 3 1/2 days while we had a huge break. However, starting tomorrow, the bug has to be put back on its leash.

Anyhow, before that happens, I figure to look back at 2016 and to the research I've done and see how I've gone this year.

Remember to Accentuate the Positive - which is hard for me to do this year. Its been a hard year for me.

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was - the group of Gauquie's from Minnesota. I knew they were there a few years ago, but it wasn't until recently I could put them together with some meaning.

2.  A precious family photo I found was - A picture of my great grandparent's Annie and Jules Gauquie's wedding certificate. I've been looking for years for it.

3.  An ancestor's grave I found was... well this is a different way of 'finding' it. I've been looking for my grandmother's grave for YEARS. This past weekend I was told someone within the family had visited her grave in the past year or so. I was starting to doubt it existed, but now I know it does. *happy dance*

4.  An important vital record I found was again my great grandparent's Annie and Jules Gauquie's wedding certificate.

5.  A newly found family member shared there was a rift between the groups in Minnesota which I didn't know about at all.

6.  A geneasurprise I received was finding out one of the Gauquie relatives was actually reading my Facebook group posts and I could say hello. :)

7.   My 2016 blog post that I was particularly proud of was - not much as I haven't been writing as I have been due to the helping out of hubby's family.

8. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was probably Facebook. Its nice and easy for keeping in contact with those relatives. A few other relatives and I have tried to use Skype but didn't work so good.

9. I taught a friend what the WWII registration draft cards were for and why they were used.

10. A great repository/archive/library I visited was Victorian State Library for hubby's research on his family and Ned Kelly. I loved some of the things I saw in the huge display they had. Too bad our nephew was with us and started to have a meltdown in the middle of it. *fun*

11. It was exciting to finally "meet" a distant Gauquie relative named Paul. Also, my adopted grandfather Gardner (Grandpa Charlie) and finally met and friended his granddaughter.
 
12. Another positive I would like to share is ... to never give up, ask questions and share! Because of his my cousins and I are slowly putting what happened to my maternal grandparents, and in turn our own parents, life stories together.

Suggested topic for post by GeniAus blog http//geniaus.blogspot.com

Why Of My Flesh and Blood for my Genealogy Blog?

Johnny Cash's "Flesh and Blood" song from his album I Walk the Line was an influence of part of the title and the Of My is because this is MY family's history and  no one's else.

The words are: 

"Flesh And Blood"

Beside a Singin' Mountain Stream
Where the Willow grew

Where the Silver Leaf of Maple
Sparkled in the Mornin' Dew
I braided Twigs of Willows
Made a String of Buckeye Beads;
But Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.

I leaned against a Bark of Birch
And I breathed the Honey Dew
I saw a North-bound Flock of Geese
Against a Sky of Baby Blue
Beside the Lily Pads
I carved a Whistle from a Reed;
Mother Nature's quite a Lady
But you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.

A Cardinal sang just for me
And I thanked him for the Song
Then the Sun went slowly down the West
And I had to move along
These were some of the things

On which my Mind and Spirit feed;
But Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.

[SPOKEN]

So when this Day was ended
I was still not satisfied
For I knew ev'rything I touched
Would wither and would die
And Love is all that will remain
And grow from all these Seed;

[SUNG]

Mother Nature's quite a Lady
But you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need. 

From Azlyrics

Seriously, when I started writing so much about my family's genealogy, it was overwhelming on the one site blog I was using and that blog's purpose was not to only exist for that purpose, so I decided to start this blog and its only purpose was to discuss my family's genealogy and some interesting and yet frustrating subjects I have come or will come across and this gives me a place to vent. 

Besides, I'm still looking for ongoing family, so I figured if someone who is family stumbles across this blog, they have a way to contact me. Then later, as the term of no issue came up for myself and my husband, it was a way to have the information out there for the future generations even after myself and my husband are gone. Why? Because the way it stands now, we have a no issue or we cannot have children, so our genes and memories of us will be gone after we are. This way, the information I've found can live on and any future generations can find the information I've tried to so hard to find.  
 

A picture quilt is a great way to remember ancestors

Before the no issue issue, one of the groups I'm involved with dared us to share what we've uncovered about our families. I sat down and thought of ways I could share information and this was one way to share information of generations past. This dare also lead me to create a few groups on Facebook (Gauquie/ Larson, Wojtkowski/Slepowron/Gardner, Ostrzycki, just to name a few) so information can be shared this way as well. Besides, what's the use of doing all of this work when it just sits there and no one learns from it?

An online timeline of your ancestors

Finally, on top of the above reasons (as if it weren't enough), I have started to put together my grandmother's documents and images of her life along with other information which might have affected her and her family, but its very slow going. First, I'm not confident enough with my writing to attempt something to big and, as one of my past managers have told me over and over, I'm a perfectionist. To do something that is not perfect would annoy me and frustrate me. Guess what? I hate to admit this but she is and was right. I'm still struggling and will continue with it, but its taking me a really long time to do this. 

Overall, the reason why I have this blog - its because things that are written here are because these people are OF MY FLESH AND BLOOD. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't exist and I have to pay homage to this fact.

Centenary celebrations of WW1 in 2015 - What about Leper/Ypres?

To me, World War 1, was in 1914. However, Australia is celebrating the centenary in 2015 with the most known about part being the Gallipoli landing in Turkish Thrace, which was just a disaster for the Australians. 

Taken from australia.tourismster.com

Each year on April 25th, we go into Melbourne city to the Shrine of Remembrance. I remember the first few years we did this I didn't really understand as I was new to the whole thing. Then I became educated about it and about how everything happened. Then I would sit and think about what my mother's cousin, Jimmy, went through when he died in World War 2. 

Then in 2014, I started to learn more about my family through researching my family history. I found we just didn't have a few people - it was starting to become quite a list between current people that were serving, people who had retired, and then back to those who had fought for their countries independence and not survived. It had humbled me. 

My 2x great grandfather's National Military certificate which says he was the 8th person "drafted"

Then this year, I found my 2x great grandfather was actually drafted into the Belgium army. It was the first time it had actually been used (since it came into law in 1830) and this was back in 1865! Then I got to thinking...in World War 1 (1914-1918) what did my great grandfather's cousins, who were still in Belgium, and their families actually go through during that war? 

I then put on my detectives hat and went searching....

Taken from the website imgbuddy.com

The part of Belgium I'm talking about is in the region of Flanders. This area is actually quite known, especially in Australia, due to the poem of In Flanders Fields which has been brought up many times since I've been here. However, I didn't realize that the Flanders they were talking about is actually my ancestor's homeland. 

From kstevensblog.wordpress.com

Where my ancestor's came from was around the Leper (Ypres) area. I was shocked. I then asked myself those who stayed behind, what did they go through during World War 1? 

Apparently right where my ancestors came from was the Western Front and there were MANY battles over and over again in this area with artillery and infantry advances. I had heard of the Battle of Verdun from hubby's family history and Battle of the Somme from my father in-law talking about him wanting to go and see that area and not realizing that's where my family actually came from as far back as the early 1700's. 

The Front Line (red dashed line) stabilized east of Ypres, forming a salient in the Allied Armies' Front Line at the end of the 1st Battle of Ypres by 22^nd November 1914 taken from website http://www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-salient/index.htm

Again I ask myself - what did the people who lived there - like my ancestors cousins - go through during this time? 

Well first the Flanders area was taken over by the British Army which made it the home base for them. However, a small area around Ypres remained under Belgian control.
Wikipedia says:

Many civilians fled the war zones to safer parts of Belgium. Many refugees from all over the country went to the Netherlands (which was neutral) and about 300,000 to France. Over 200,000 went to Britain, where they resettled in London and found war jobs. The British and French governments set up the War Refugees Committee (WRC) and the Secours National, to provide relief and support; there were an additional 1,500 local WRC committees in Britain. The high visibility of the refugees underscored the role of Belgium in the minds of the French and British. ^[6][7] In the spring of 1915, German authorities started construction on the Wire of Death, a lethal electric fence along the Belgian-Dutch border which would claim the lives of between 2,000 to 3,000 Belgian refugees trying to escape the occupied country.^[8]

Ypres Ruins; Ypres 1915 take from www.toerisme-ieper.be

How would that have been? Conflict arriving on your doorstep and you have to take your family and just run where ever you could flee. There was no place to escape as you can see by the picture above. Wikipedia goes on to say

There was a firm belief that the Belgians had unleashed illegal saboteurs and that civilians had tortured and maltreated German soldiers. The response was a series of multiple large-scale attacks on civilians and the destruction of historic buildings and cultural centers. The German army executed between 5,500 and 6,500^[11] French and Belgian civilians between August and November 1914, usually in near-random large-scale shootings of civilians ordered by junior German officers. Individuals suspected of partisan activities were summarily shot. Historians researching German Army records have discovered 101 "major" incidents—where ten or more civilians were killed—with a total of 4,421 executed. Historians have also discovered 383 "minor" incidents that led to the deaths of another 1,100 Belgians.

This reminds me of the Polish people and how they had to keep fleeing in order not to be persecuted except instead of the Russians, it was by the Germans. Further, the Flanders region was the first region to actually have the poison gas used. I cannot imagine people dying because of a gas they didn't expect was used. That would have been horrible.

Gas Attack During the Second Battle of Ypres take from www.huffingtonpost.com

Now I know about what my family and cousins would have went through, I now have something else to think about this Anzac day when people talk about The Great War and when someone reads out "In Flanders Fields" because it was just something that happened to people - it happened to my family.

Now when plan to visit the battlefields, we'll actually be in the area of my ancestors.

In Flanders Fields (1921) title design.png from commons.wikimedia.org

There are many different websites out there for this area...
Belgium in World War 1
Western Front Association
Flanders Fields 

This Anzac day or when you think about World War 1, think about those families who lived and died on the land before the fighting broke out. Remember they were once someone's ancestors too.