Category: Fearless Females

Fearless Females: Honoring a Female Ancestor

On 29 March 2016

The Fearless Female prompts were created and posted at The Accidental Genealogist – this prompt is: March 29 — Create a free Fold3 Memorial Page or a Genealogy Trading Card at Big Huge Labs for a female ancestor… Tell us about who you’ve selected and why and then post a link to what you’ve created.

I created a fold3 memorial page for my 2nd great-grandmother, Theresa (Kiebel) Langeneck Schmidt.

fold3 memorial

Theresa is the one of the first immigrants I ran into on my family line. There are only four of my 2x great-grandparents who were born in another country, including her. Because of that, I tend to treasure them as they are rather mysterious to me and tend to be more fun (and frustrating) to research.

Theresa first came over to Pennsylvania with her parents sometime between 1907-1910 (when her youngest sister was born and when she married in PA in 1910). Shortly after she married Frederick Langeneck, my great-grandfather was born (7 months after the marriage – makes me wonder if it was a forced marriage because she was pregnant). They moved back to Austria-Hungary after that. The family story is that Frederick had to go back to fight in World War I on the Austria-Hungary side. We believe he died over there in 1916 and I have found documents stating that a Frederick Langeneck did die there, but it turns out there are several Langenecks there and Frederick is a common name, so I need to confirm that. Either way, Theresa returned in 1920 with her ten-year old son, my great-grandfather, and went to Michigan where her parents and siblings lived.

When Theresa and her son returned to the United States, she came with $16 dollars and had to wait until a relative came and received her at Ellis Island. She was held as an LPC , a likely public charge. Because she was a widow with a child, she was likely considered to be a possible burden on society. It was likely a male relative who had to come and claim her and show she wouldn’t be a burden, that she had family to help her. The two stayed at Ellis Island for at least 9 dinners, so a bit over a week while waiting for someone to come and get them.

In 1921, she married Michael Schmidt and had two more children. She died young, in 1934, of heart disease.

Theresa, as it turns out, is a family name. Her mother’s name was also Teresa and she named her first daughter Theresa. My great-grandfather then named his first born daughter Theresa (although we called her Betty). I can’t get further back on her mother’s line to see if it continues because the German documents are difficult for me to read. I hope to be able to get further on that line someday soon though!

Fearless Females: Family Heirlooms

By Nichelle Barra

On 16 March 2016

In Fearless Females, Personal

The Fearless Female prompts were created and posted at The Accidental Genealogist

I’m trying to catch up and I know not all prompts will apply! So I’m on the 6 March prompt: Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor (wedding ring or other jewelry, china, clothing, etc.) If you don’t have any, then write about a specific object you remember from your mother or grandmother, or aunt (a scarf, a hat, cooking utensil, furniture, etc.)

My great-grandmother, Erma (Almy) Witherell died when I was 14. As per usual when someone passes, there was a great many things to go through, especially since my great-grandfather had died 2 years before her (we often say she died of a broken heart). I have vague memories of being at my grandparents home (they had a duplex which they shared with my great-grandparents) and there being a lot of items. Many items were saved, I believe, as some were passed on to me as the family historian.

My sister and I were allowed to choose one piece of jewelry from my great-grandmother’s collection at one point as well. I don’t remember what my sister chose, but I still have mine:

Great grandma's necklace

I have no idea when my great-grandmother bought it, if it’s old, or even if it’s valuable. I am not much of a jewelry person in that regard. Nonetheless, I do love this necklace and still wear it to this day. It’s valuable to me because of who owned it before me and the memories I have of her.

Funny enough, when my grandmother died, I was also allowed something of hers so I choose her hope chest (which is FILLED with all the family photos from her side and my grandpa’s) and a small jewelry armoire. My grandpa chuckled at that, mentioning he remembered buying that for her one Christmas. Again, nothing special as he probably purchased it at some random store (like Target or something), but to me it’s special because of who had it before me. Grandma did have a lot of jewelry (both women were quite stylish) so it reminds me of her every time I see it, even though I do not own a lot of jewelry. What I do own is in there but it’s mostly full of old paraphernalia of mine – photos, old driver’s licenses, old university IDs, journals, etc. etc.

The value in these items is purely sentimental but that is what an heirloom is about! Do you have any heirlooms that have been passed down in your family?

Fearless Female: Marriage

By Nichelle Barra

On 15 March 2016

In Fearless Females, Personal, Pictures

The Fearless Female prompts were created and posted at The Accidental Genealogist

The 4th and 5th prompts are on marriage with grandparents/great-grandparents, etc., and how they met. I do have records and some pictures of my grandparents marriage, but I really want to share my favorite story of how my paternal grandparents met, as told to me by my grandfather’s sister.

011 grandma and grandpa wedding

Before my grandfather’s funeral, the officiate did a unique thing (to me anyway) where the close family all came and sat in a circle and shared stories about my grandfather. It was an awesome way to remember him and I really think he would have loved that.

My aunt, his sister, told the story of how they met. I felt it was so completely my grandfather and I loved it! This is from memory so I’m not positive I’m going to get all the details correct, but the essential parts are there.

My grandmother worked at a store and my grandfather had to stop by for a delivery. The manager (owner?) asked my grandfather if he’d help him out with a problem he had. Apparently there was a leak in the basement that caused quite a mess so he asked if my grandfather could help clean it up. He said yes of course and went downstairs to start cleaning up the mess. A little while later, my grandmother came down to see if she could help – and found my grandfather cleaning up the mess with what was available around him – disposable pads.

I can picture my grandmother nearly falling over with laughter but not wanting to embarrass my grandfather who really meant well! Everything turned out wonderfully, (obviously, since I exist) as this picture – one of my favorites of the two of them – shows:

127 G-Pa and G-Ma

Do any of you have good stories about how a couple in your family met?

Fearless Females: Prompt 3

By Nichelle Barra

On 10 March 2016

In Fearless Females, Personal

The Fearless Female prompts were created and posted at The Accidental Genealogist

I’m a bit late to the game for this but figured I’d post a few this month anyway!

The first two prompts ask about a favorite female ancestor and for a picture of a female ancestor. I’ve discussed my favorite female ancestor, Lillie McLeod a bit before, and shared a possible picture of her so I figured I’d skip those two.

The third prompt asks: Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree.

My first name, Nichelle, is a bit unique but doesn’t come from any ancestors in my tree. Although I love to say it came from my mom’s love of Star Trek, that’s not true. She just had a friend who had a daughter with it as a middle name and loved it. I didn’t actually like having a unique name growing up (no personalized key chains/mugs/pencils/etc. for me) but now I love it, even though my name always requires a bit of an explanation.

It’s Nichelle, just like Michelle, but with an N like Nicole

Interestingly, with my unique first name, my middle name is NOT unique. I would bet many women have it – Marie. So where did it come from?

Erma Marie Almy’s graduation picture

My beautiful great-grandmother! Erma Marie (Almy) Witherell.

Before getting married, I had debated a few things with my name:

Doing the traditional thing and taking my husband’s name
Keeping my maiden name
Putting my maiden name as my middle name, dropping Marie

As a genealogist, my maiden name means quite a bit to me. I have a history with that name after all, so losing it to have my husband’s name was something I had to think about. I had considered keeping it as my middle name but that meant losing Marie unless I wanted an incredibly long name (I didn’t). Again, as a genealogist, I also knew where that name came from.

Considering all I knew about my great-grandmother, I decided to go the traditional route and simply take my husband’s name. My great-grandmother was quite a woman and I wanted to keep my middle-name in memory of some of the fascinating things I knew about her: her love of motorcycles, her love of travel, her incredible fashion sense, and her love of her family.

I don’t regret doing that in the least 🙂