Last Sunday was quite momentous.  I actually went to the movie theater.  This was only the third time in the last eight years I was willing to give up 3 hours of my time and fork over $15 to see a film, but Lincoln was sooooo worth it!  The civil war era is absolutely my favorite period in history, so that was an added bonus.

Leaving the theater, instead of thinking about the war as a historical event, I began to ponder how it affected my ancestors, their towns and communities, and their daily lives.  Mostly, how did it affect their families?

At the start of the Civil War in 1861, both the Union and Confederate sides began mobilizing troops.  Congress authorized recruitment of 500,000 men to form the Union’s volunteer army.  Initially patriotic Northerners and Abolitionists filled this need.   Later, though, bounties and forced conscription were implemented to bolster the troops.  Of the 2.5 million men who served in the Union army, approximately 2% were draftees and another 6% were substitutes paid by the draftees.  However, the overwhelming majority of men serving the Union’s efforts voluntarily enlisted.

The war was never expected to be long, drawn-out affair.  Thus it was not until the Union had been fighting nearly a year that the young men in my Stanwood and Wasgatt families joined in the war’s efforts.

Benjamin and Betsey (Wasgatt) Stanwood moved to what is now known as Woodville, Maine about 1840, where they lived at the time of the civil war.  Several of their adult children also left Eden (now known as Bar Harbor), Maine to join them in Penobscot county, including sons Calvin, David and their families.

Thomas H. Stanwood and his brother George F. Stanwood, sons of Calvin and Betsey (McDermott) Stanwood, both enlisted as volunteer soldiers in the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery unit in July 1862.  Amid reports of the war’s casualties, one can only imagine how agonizing it must have been for Calvin and Betsey to have both sons join the army.

The next month, Benjamin Stanwood Campbell, the son of John Campbell and Calvin’s sister Margaret Stanwood (who was still residing in Eden), enlisted in Maine’s 18th Infantry, a unit which four months later was transfered to the ill-fated 1st Maine Heavy Artillery.  Twenty-three year old Ben was thus serving side-by-side with his cousins, Thomas and George Stanwood.

The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery unit suffered more fatalities than any others during the entire course of the war!  How their families must have worried!  How devastated they must have been when they received the news that George was not coming home; he was wounded by gunfire on May 19, 1864, and died on June 25, 1864, having served nearly two years towards the Union’s efforts.  We learn a bit of George’s life through the pension claims of his parents, images of which may be viewed here.  George was obviously a kind and caring young man who had supported his parents financially before his enlistment.

Despite his cousin’s death, my great-great grandfather, Albert J. Stanwood, enlisted in the 20th Maine Regiment, Company D, just three weeks after his 16th birthday.   How did his grandmother, Betsey (Wasgatt) Stanwood, feel about yet another grandson on the battlefield?  What type of news reports did they receive from the papers?  How did this affect their life on the farm, with the most able-bodied men away at war, leaving farm chores to their elder family members?  One has to wonder if the results of the war didn’t somehow influence their decision to make a major move – in 1870 Betsey Stanwood, matriarch of the family, traveled with several of her adult children to Monticello, Wright county, Minnesota.

While we will never have answers to these questions, there is certainly no doubt that the civil war had a major impact on those living in the mid-19th century.

I was recently asked to research the parentage of Jacob Meiselman, and have summarized the steps in this research below.  If you have additional information on the Meiselman family, or are also researching these lines, I hope to hear from you!

In order to identify our subject’s parents, we first start with known facts, working from the most present information to the past.  Family sources stated Jacob (also known as “John” or “Jack”) Meiselman had the following siblings:

• Izzie of Boston, Massachusetts
• Ben, who resided in North Carolina, and who had a son named Michael, who also resided in North Carolina.  Ben owned movie theaters.
• Herman  (research showed that Herman Benjamin [who sometimes used the middle name Bernard] is the same person as Ben above)
• Lottie

On July 1, 1913, we find Bernard, Lottie and another brother Leon (who also went by Louis) arrived at Ellis Island, having sailed from Antwerp to the U.S. aboard the SS Kroonland.  Listed as parent was “Mechel Meiselman” of Zalischyky, Austria.

Page two of the passenger list states the siblings will be going to live with brother I. Meiselman, likely Izzy.  Confirmation that this is the correct family was made by a review of Herman’s naturalization documents dated 26 Oct 1927 which were witnessed by Jacob Meiselman, and included an address of 2113 71^st St, Brooklyn, NY.

Herman was still at this address in 1930, where he is listed with his sister, Lottie (who was then married to Sol Augenlicht) and mother, “Ida.”

Further confirmation was obtained through published public records that state that H.B. Meiselman “… immigrated to the United States from Austria in 1913. Over the years, Mr. Meiselman accumulated substantial wealth through his development of several family business enterprises. Specifically, Mr. Meiselman invested in and developed movie theaters and real estate. Several of the enterprises were merged into Eastern Federal Corporation [hereinafter referred to as Eastern Federal], a close corporation…”

Herman also listed his mother Ida, and sister Lottie, on his World War I Draft Registration.  He was residing at 190 S. 8^th Street:

The family was still residing there on 19 Jan 1920 when enumerated on the 1920 census:

Jacob (age 29) is listed as head of family with his siblings Louis (age 27), Herman B. (age 25) and Lottie (age 2_), and a 92-year-old woman Lottie.  The latter was enumerated as mother, but this has been determined to be incorrect.  At age 92, she may have been grandmother or great-grandmother of Jacob and his brothers and sister.

On 26 June, 1920, arriving at Ellis Island aboard the SS Vauban which sailed from Liverpool were Michael and Chajcie Meiselman, who were “going to Son.”  Page one of the ship’s manifest is shown below.

Page two of the manifest provides the name and address of the couple’s son, Jacob, who resided at 190 So. 8^th St, Brooklyn, NY:

Michael/Max Meiselman, and Chajcie/ Ida /Clara Hackmeyer, parents of Jacob P. Meiselman

To complete an exhaustive search of available records,  the death certificates for Jacob and his siblings were requested as detailed below.

The following documents demonstrate that Michael and Chajcie also had aliases.  Chajcie was sometimes called Clara and other times went by Ida.

Isador “Izzy” AKA Isaac Miselman:  parents Michael Meizelman and Ida Hackmeyer

Ida Meiselman arrived in the U.S. on the SS Possdam on 9 Sept, 1911 stating she was going to join her son “Issy Meiselman”:

“Isaac” Meizelman and Rosa Brown were married on 3 May 1909 in Boston, Suffolk Co, Massachusetts.  Isaac (also known as Isador) had a marriage registration which listed his parents as Michael Meizelman and Ida Hackmeyer.

Isaac’s relationship to his siblings is confirmed by his obituary:

Jacob P. “Jack”  Meiselman

Florida’s division of Vital Records was unsuccessful in producing a death certificate for Jacob, whose last address according to the Social Security department was in Dade County, Florida when he died in August 1971.  After further discussions with family members, it was revealed that Jacob died in Rhode Island.

Lottie (Meiselman) Augenlicht

Flooding in New York due to Hurricane Sandy eliminated the possibility of ordering the death certificate for sister Lottie at the time of this project.

Louis Meiselman:  parents Max Meiselman and Clara (maiden name unknown )

The  death certificate for Louis Meiselman who died 23 April, 1982 listed parents Max Meiselman and Clara (maiden name unknown).

According to the death certificate, Louis Meiselman was born 23 April 1897 in Austria, which correlates within two years of the birth date Louis provided when registering for the WWI Draft:

As shown above, Louis’ address when registering for the draft was 190 So. 8^th Street, Brooklyn, NY, and he provided a birth date of 23 April 1895 – substantiating that while the year of birth is off by two years (not uncommon when the bereaved are providing information for death certificates) we are tracking the correct Louis.

Herman Benjamin Meiselman:  parents Michael Meiselman and Clara Hadkmayer. 

Unfortunately, the state of North Carolina was unable to locate a certificate for Herman, who is listed as Herman Benjamin Meiselman in the North Carolina Death Index, having been deceased 28 April, 1978 with last known address in  Mecklenburg, NC.   However, later research on FamilySearch.org revealed that Herman Benjamin Meiselman died in Clemmons, Forsyth, North Carolina and the informant stated his parents names were Michael Meiselman and Clara Hadkmayer. 

 Summary

The parentage of Jacob Meiselman is based on the combined documentation of his siblings’ death certificates as well as the passenger list indicating he is the son of Michael and Chajcie Meiselman.  Additional evidence includes:

• Strong links between the Meiselman siblings in documents, often using the address 190 So 8^th St

• Isador M. Miselman (also known as Isaac) marriage record to Rosa Brown, listing parents as Michael Miselman and Ida Hackmayer in 1909.
• Ida Meiselman arrival in 1911, going to join her son “Issy Meiselman”
• Mechal Meiselman listed as father of Leon, Bernard and Lottie on the passenger list in 1913
• The reference to mother “Ida” on Herman’s World War I Draft Registration with Herman’s address of 190 So 8^th St in 1917
• Michael and Chajcie listed on passenger list stating they were going to stay with their son Jacob at 190 So 8^th St in 1920
• Ida’s enumeration on the 1930 census with an immigration date of 1921 near the time that Michael and Chajcie arrived

I’m home.  I’m finally home.  Not just home in a house, but home on the East Coast.  I’m finally where I belong, in the midst of my ancestors, many of whom died centuries ago.

At the end of March, my husband announced he’d applied for a job in Maryland.  By May he’d moved into an apartment, and I was furiously house-hunting for our new, permanent residence online.  By July I’d finished preparing our five-acre ranch home in California for market, and on August 13th the day it closed escrow, my son and I loaded up all of my family heirlooms and my genealogical records into a uHaul (would never consider sending such items with the moving company who took the rest of our household belongings!), buckled up the menagerie of dogs, and began our 2,800 mile trip to the Mid-Atlantic!  I’m not looking back!

Our California friends think we’ve gone crazy, but we are both thrilled to be here.  Now that we’re settled in our new house and I’ve also found a new job, I’m just about ready to start venturing on some genealogical field trips.  First on the agenda – the National Archives in D.C.!  Next, a trip to Ellsworth and Bar Harbor, Maine to see if I can flush out any other records on my Stanwoods and Wasgatts.

In the meantime, I’ve been using my genealogical investigative skills to assist a friend with her own family history.  While my own family research has given me that sense of belonging, that need to “come home” to the East Coast, it is thrilling to be able to help someone else find their own sense of roots.  (And I’ve learned it’s almost just as emotional to find someone else’s missing link as it is to find your own!)  Genealogy – so much more than a hobby.  It’s finding the who, what, where and how of our lives, our parent’s lives, our grandparents lives, and so on.   When our ancestor’s PAST is intertwined with our TODAY, there is indescribable joy in finding how it all relates.  And sometimes that past may influence how we choose to live today…or in my case, where!

A few months ago I purchased “Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women on the Frontier,” a wonderful book by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith.  It described the tremendous hardships 19th century women encountered when relocating to the American West.

Of particular note was Pamelia Fergus of Little Falls, Minnesota, who “had been on her own for nearly four years by the time her husband finally sent word that he was ready for the family to join him in the West.  Faced with the task of readying herself and her four children for the trip to the Montana territory, Pamelia followed a three-page memorandum from James in gathering the items she was to take on her journey…”

I cannot even begin to fathom traveling alone in 1864 via covered wagon to an unknown territory with four young children in my care.   To think Pamelia did so gives me courage in my own journey.

My husband and I are relocating to the Mid-Atlantic region.  (Hence the scarce blog posts the last couple months!)  Actually, Ed is already there, having started a new job.  My son and I are still at home in California, having prepared our home for sale and are now about ready to load up the dogs into the SUV and make the 2600 mile drive east.

Some days are quite overwhelming, thinking of all that is involved in such a transition.  It is on those days I remind myself how “easy” I have it in comparison to Pamelia Fergus, or my own 4th great grandmother, Betsy Wasgatt Stanwood, who traveled from Maine to Minnesota between 1865 to 1870, and then back to Maine where she died in 1874.

How did Pamelia manage four years without James?  How did she make it all those miles to Montana with kids in tow?  These are questions I asked myself as I struggled with some of the day-to-day responsibilities my husband would usually handle.  (Emptying heavy trash cans into the trash dumpster, maintaining the chemical balance of our swimming pool, finding time in my schedule to take my car to the mechanic for an oil change, and finding reputable home repairmen were some of my challenges!)

Yes, there is a lot modern women take for granted.  However, when I’m lamenting life without my husband nearby, I have determined to think of Pamelia and Betsy and how “easy” I have it in comparison to their trials as 19th century pioneer women!

Genetic memory is explained as follows in Wikipedia:

In psychology, genetic memory is a memory present at birth that exists in the absence of sensory experience, and is incorporated into the genome over long spans of time. It is based on the idea that common experiences of a species become incorporated into its genetic code, not by a Lamarckian process that encodes specific memories but by a much vaguer tendency to encode a readiness to respond in certain ways to certain stimuli.

As a child, I longed for New England.  Not that I had any logical reason to be drawn to the area.  A native Southern Californian, I’d never experienced the east coast until my mother and I visited Maine in 2004.   When we arrived in Bar Harbor, Mom and I looked at each other and simultaneously and exclaimed, “We’re HOME!”

Eight years later, there’s nary a day that I don’t think about Bar Harbor.  The Bar Harbor weather forecast is saved on my iGoogle home page.  Geddy’s web cam, overlooking the Town Pier, is bookmarked on my desktop for daily viewing. Unfortunately, I’ve only managed to visit Bar Harbor in person twice since that initial trip, but it’s never far from my thoughts.  It even dictates my genealogical endeavors – most of my research has centered on ancestors with roots in Bar Harbor, to the exclusion of others.

So the question remains – why this fixation on a town I’ve only visited three times?  Why did my Mom and I both have the same reaction when we arrived?

My theory:  a preference for places can be hardwired into our genetic makeup.  Just as Golden Retrievers have an affinity for water and retrieving, and a Border Collie is drawn to herding sheep and other moving objects, the same types of preferences is hardwired into our own beings and passed on through our ancestors before us.  My own forebears were colonial New Englanders, residing in Gloucester, Massachusetts since the mid-17th century.  About 1760, my sixth great grandfather, Job Stanwood and his wife, Martha Bradstreet, removed to Mount Desert Island with Job’s cousin, Abraham Somes.  They were among the very first families on the Island, and descendants of Job and Martha still reside on beautiful MDI.  Someday, I hope to as well.

In the meantime, I surround myself with historical and antique books covering the history of Bar Harbor, wear Maine t-shirts, and drink my tea from mugs adorned with pictures of New England scenery.  I might just be a bit obsessed, but I prefer to think the DNA Job and Martha passed down to me has provided me with a love an Island that they called home.

I received my copy of the fifth edition of the Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research  today, and have to say I’m impressed!  When I originally ordered the book last Fall, I wondered if this would mirror the Handybook for Genealogists (a wonderful resource), or would it offer new content.  (Surprisingly, I’ve not ever seen the previous four editions.  How have I missed it all these years?)  It certainly didn’t disappoint.

For each state, the book provides a summary of the state’s history, and then has a section discussing each of the following:

• Vital Records
• Church Records
• Probate Records
• Land Records
• Court Records
• Military Records
• Other Records

State repositories are listed with contact information, hours of operation, and types of records found within each.  Next is a list of counties, followed by a helpful list of extinct counties.  (From this I learned of Maine’s extinct county, “Old Lincoln”, which was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1652-83.  I would have otherwise incorrectly assumed Old Lincoln referenced the present-day county of Lincoln.)

What I like best about this new NEHGS publication is the many county maps that include details of the towns therein.  This book will definitely be sitting on my desk for regular reference, as most of my research is centered in New England towns.   Thanks, NEHGS, for a wonderful book.  It was well worth the wait!

 

The Maine Public Broadcasting Network has produced a wonderful series entitled, “The Story of Maine.”  The YouTube video above shows Part I of Program 3 in the series, “They Came  By Sea.”  (You can download the entire broadcast here.)

This was particularly interesting to me with deep roots in Mount Desert Island, Maine, where my 5th Great Grandfather, Capt. Benjamin B. Stanwood, was born.  The sea was a way of life for many in that region, whether supporting their families by fishing, boat building, sailing, or as in the case of Benjamin, as ship’s captain.  The video showed how many wives would take their children and join their husbands on board.  I wonder if Benjamin’s wife, Margaret (Wasgatt) Stanwood, was one of those adventuresome types, sailing abroad, or did she stay home with their children?   Another question to ponder in my ancestral search!

 

There is a story behind each name we discover, each date we enter into our genealogy databases.  As new genealogists, most of us began simply seeking those names and dates; however, as we grow in our research and learn the value of reverse genealogy (working forward to assist in find out more about the past), many of us find ourselves seeking our living relatives.  When we are able to connect with cousins or others who may be researching our same family lines, our research can expand exponentially, and most importantly, we can begin to learn the stories of those who lived before us.

Earlier this week I received a large envelope full of photographs sent by my grandmother’s fifth cousin, Madge Pedersen.  I “met” Madge online after doing a Google search for others descended from Thomas and Margaret (Davis) Wasgatt, and we’ve been corresponding for several weeks now.  I was touched that she would entrust me with such old photographs, which I scanned and cataloged yesterday.  Included in the envelope were obituaries, including one for Frank G. Wasgatt, shown in the photo above.

Having followed the trail of documents left by this branch of the Wasgatt family who migrated west from Maine to Minnesota, it was wonderful to see photographs of the Wasgatt boys, and of Frank, their father.  There was much more to his life than simply dates of birth, marriage and death.   He was a husband, a father.  A coach.  A star athlete.  A lawyer.  He was a living, breathing, vibrant person.

Yes, genealogy is about solving the puzzles of relationships, of findings names and dates, beginnings and endings.  But it’s also about history, about people, and the lives they lead…and the lives they touched.