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October 20th

Our next Chapter Meeting will be held on October 20th at 12:00 noon. It will be at the home of Shawnette Malan and Carol Harless:
10001 Hook Drive
South Jordan, Utah 

Bring food to share. Mike Beier will talk about his trip to Russia. The meeting might be upstairs, and Shawnette needs to know who is coming so we will have enough chairs. Please R. S. V. P. to Shawnette: smalan@aol.com

We decided not to have the raffle baskets anymore to raise money for the chapter. We will pass an envelope instead for donations to the chapter.

 

We are also going to start collecting items for The Road Home Shelter or Food Bank at this meeting. The Road Home Shelter needs just about everything. You can go to their website at: theroadhome.org

Most needed items are: larger size diapers, baby wipes, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, disposable razors, deodorant, warm clothing, gloves, socks, hats. No food in glass for the Food Bank.

German Naming Practices

I recently had a huge breakthrough with my Kisner line from Pfeifer, Russia.  Part of my problem was just not being able to see the whole "picture".  One night I couldn't sleep; I had the nagging feeling that I was on the verge of putting the pieces together.  In a scene reminiscent of the show Numbers, I flipped over my giant National Geographic map and grabbed a Sharpie.  I began writing everything that I knew about my family names and started connecting the people with lines and relationships.  Then the  magic happened!  I was able to see which line was mine and make the needed connections.  Part of my problem was the names, so redundant... I have since found this article, thanks to the Edmonton Chapter.  Maybe it will help you in figuring it all out.

It was a common practice in some German families to name the
-1st son after the child's paternal grandfather
-2nd son after the maternal grandfather
-3rd son after the father
-4th son after the father's father's father
-5th son after the mother's father's father
-6th son after the father's mother's father
-7th son after the mother's mother's father

-1st daughter after the maternal grandmother
-2nd daughter after the paternal grandmother
-3rd daughter after the mother
-4th daughter after the father's father's mother
-5th daughter after the mother's father's mother
-6th daughter after the father's mother's mother
-7th daughter after the mother's mother's mother

And...
In the OLD GERMAN...

The first name of each daughter was usually the first name of the mother.  The first name of the son was usually the first name of the father.  Often the middle name of each child was the name of the baby's baptismal sponsor, and they were usually called by his/her middle name; or in some cases, a totally different nickname, because there were too many people with the same first and last name. (I've found evidence of this in even more recent generations of some of my lines.)

Hope this will help you!

Vernal Meeting of the Intermountain Chapter

On Saturday, Brett Reynolds hosted the Intermountain Chapter of AHSGR. Many traveled  from the Wasatch Front and Price areas.  He fed everyone well with his famous sausages, delicious french fries, and amazing mushrooms. Then he demonstrated how to cure meat, make sausages, and smoke them.  He's extremely talented, and we really appreciate him giving up his Saturday for us.  Thanks as well to those who traveled so this could be a success.

Don't Forget!

Don't forget that this coming weekend, Saturday, September 29th, is our big even at 1:00 P.M.  The work is in progress, and we're looking forward to hosting our Intermountain Chapter AHSGR meeting in Vernal.  We'll be having a sausage making demonstration, fabulous food, and excellent company.  All you need to bring is yourself and family, and maybe a jacket just in case.  The weather is suppose to be nice.  We're looking forward to seeing you! RSVP would be appreciated, but not mandatory.

Arthur E. and Cleora Flegal Living Legacy

You are invited to contribute to the Arthur E. and Cleora Flegal Living Legacy.  Arthur Flegal has selected and helped develop a Living Legacy that includes a matching grant. He has contributed $25,000 in unrestrictive funds to begin this Living Legacy.  We now have an opportunity to recognize Arthur and Cleora Flegal and preserve our German Russian heritage by contributing to the Living Legacy Fund.  Once $25,000 has been contributed, Art will add another $25,000 to be matched so that the Legacy Fund will have $1000,000 to continue the mission of AHSGR.

Maybe you are like me, and don't currently have the ability to make a large contribution, but please contribute what you can.  Even a small donation is doubled when it is given to the Arthur E. and Cleora Flegal Living Legacy.  It's exciting when $50 becomes $100, or $200 becomes $400! I definitely want to be part of this.

For more information on Arthur E. and Cleora Flegal and their contributions to AHSGR, read the article in the Summer 2012 AHSGR Newsletter by Don Soeken.  They are amazing people.

Take Note

In case you haven't noticed, this blog has a new feature.  I'm hoping that it will prove to be useful for those of you who use this site.  At the top of the posts is an area that says Home, then lists three village names.  If you click on those names, it will take you to a page that holds posts concerning that particular village.  Just continue to scroll down to read all of the posts on that village.  I noticed that we had quite a few posts on Warenburg and Pfeifer, probably because chapter members and myself have those ancestral villages.  Please feel free to send me info to add.  If you have material on other ancestral villages, I can also start a page for other villages.  Currently I'll keep these posts on the regular page as well, as I work out a few bugs concerning the new feature. I can open those pages using Explorer, but not other browsers. So I'll try and get that figured out.  I will be receiving new information on Dietel soon, so I set up a link for it in anticipation.  Currently it is empty. I am not the Village Coordinator for any villages, so they are still your best avenue for information, but I'm excited to have things organized in a fashion that will make things easier for those who visit this blog.  Let me know what you think!

Village of Dietel

I will be posting both old and new information about the village of Dietel on this blog, so if you are interested in that village let Annette know. 

Don Soeken, co-coordinator of Dietel village

FEEFHS Conference

I was able to attend the first day of the FEEFHS Conference in Salt Lake City, and it was well worth my time.  I went to two sessions.  The first was an overview of the New Family Search and how to best use it for our area of research; I received many helpful tips.  The second session was on Germans from Russia.  While  much of the information was familiar to me, I came away with a renewed energy to keep going.  The best part for me was the consult with Dave Obee on my personal research problems.  It was very encouraging, and I'm moving forward. I definitely recommend the consult for next year.

I was also fortunate to have about eight hours in the Family History Library to work on a current research project.  I am compiling EWZ records on all of the Burghardt names from Pfeifer, Russia. I still have more films to go through, but I'm delighted with the progress I made. I was surprised with the number of people I found. Of course it will take some time to translate and compile the information, but then I will have it available to share.

Mark These Dates on Your Calendar

July 12-14, 2012

Plaza Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah

The Eastern European Research Workshop will be presented by the Federation of East European Family History Societies.  There are classes on German and Russian Research and specialty classes on the Germans from Russia. Here is a link to the website that should tell you more on cost and give details about the classes.  www.feefhs.org/2012

 

Our next chapter meeting will be July 28, 2012, at the home of Shawnette Malan and Carol Harless, 10001 Hook Drive, South Jordan. We will meet at noon and eat during the meeting.  Everyone will bring food to share.  Six of our chapter members went to the Portland Convention and will tell about the convention.  Bill Dellos has the final report about our 2011 SLC convention.  If time permits, Sharon White will tell about finding more Laub ancestors, thanks to Konstantin Petrunin's research.  

Thanks For the Great Meals!

The local AHSGR chapter in Portland fed the convention attendees well.  Just so you can have an idea of how hard they worked, I've included a few pictures. The menu included such items as rolladen (beef rolls), spaetzle (Bavarian pasta), rotkohl (traditional red cabbage), salat (salad), schweinebraten (pork roast), sauerkraut, gulash, nudeln (pasta), gemuese (vegetables), bratwurst, kartoffelsalat (German-style potato salad), and karrotten (carrots).  Thanks!

Opening General Session of AHSGR Convention

 St. Michael's Sanctuary, Portland, Oregon

 This bowl came with Russian immigrants  to America, lovingly protected in a strong box for the trip.

The opening general session to the 2012 Convention was held at St. Michael's Sanctuary in Portland.  Dr. Richard Scheuerman was the keynote speaker. He spoke about the first Volga German immigrants to the Pacific Northwest who came from Kansas to Portland via steamship from San Francisco in 1881.  They were joined by another group that arrived via wagon train from Nebraska.

Catherine the Great

This year marks the 250th anniversary of Catherine the Great's invitation to the people of Central Europe to settle on the bleak Russian steppe. And, that's how our ancestors ended up in Russia. How nice of her to show up at this year's AHSGR Convention!

Cooking at the Portland AHSGR Convention

 I think I've found a new hobby.  I've taken three different classes on German cooking.  Take a look at the results of these ancestral dishes from our Germans from Russia roots- noodles, grebbel, and butterballs.  I've been totally impressed with all of the people teaching these classes.  What a treat!

May 2012 Meeting

Just a reminder to let you know that our next Intermountain Chapter meeting will be May 19th, at noon at the home of Shawnette Malan and Carol Harless, 10001 Hook Drive, South Jordan.  Everyone will bring food to share at the meeting.  Darrell Weber will give a presentation about Catherine the Great. Konstantin Petrunin will be at this meeting.  Konstantin and his father do research at the Engels and Saratov archives in Russia.  This will be a great chance to meet Konstantin.