Interviewing Realatives

Getting people to share their stories isn't always easy. Follow these step-by-step ideas for a successful family history interview!

Interviews are best done in person but can be done on the phone or via Skype.

Here's How:

1. Schedule a time in advance. This gives everyone a chance to prepare.
2. Prepare a list of questions beforehand and either share them with your relative, or give them an idea of what you want to cover.
3. Bring several notepads and pens to the interview. If you plan to make a recording, be sure to have a tape player, microphone, extra tapes and batteries.  Be sure you get permission for any taping you do.
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5. Take good notes and make sure you record your name, the date, the place the interview is being conducted and the interviewee.
6. Start with a question or topic that you know will elicit a reply, such as a story you have heard her tell in the past.
7. Ask questions which encourage more than simple 'yes' or 'no' answers. Try to elicit facts, feelings, stories and descriptions.
8. Show interest. Take an active part in the dialogue without dominating it. Learn to be a creative listener.
9. Use props whenever possible. Old photographs, favorite old songs and treasured items may bring memories flooding back.
10. Don't push for answers. Your relative may not wish to speak ill of the dead or may have other reasons for not wanting to share. Move on to something else.
11. Use your prepared questions as a guideline, but don't be afraid to let your relative go off on a tangent. They may have many things to say that you never thought to ask!
12. Don't interrupt or attempt to correct your relative; this can end an interview in a hurry!
13. When you are done, be sure to thank your relative for her time.
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Tips:
1. Put your relative at ease by telling them that they will have a chance to see and approve of anything that you write before you share it with others.
2. Keep the interview length to no more than 1-2 hours at a stretch. It's tiring for you and for the person being interviewed. This is supposed to be fun!
3. Consider preparing a transcript or written report as a tangible thank you to your relative for her participation.

Adapted from:  http://genealogy.about.com/cs/oralhistory/ht/interview.htm

Love of History Makes Me Travel the Genealogical Path

I love history, maybe that's why I love Genealogy.  I especially love searching for ancestors then studying what was happening in history while they were alive and often guessing what role they played in that history.  It's said that we need to study history so we can learn to not repeat the mistakes of the past.  I don't know if we do that very well, being human and all.  Seems sometimes we need to be hit on the head with a brick before we get it.

I've been told that I 'live in the past'.  I've thought about that a lot.  Wondering............just what does that mean?  All I know is that when I work in genealogy I work in peace because the folks I'm getting to know are normally all gone and they never yell at me or give me grief.

The end of 2014 is nearly upon us, what have we accomplished in it?  Our footsteps have been set for someone in the future to ponder.  My life is nothing special, you say?  I say not so.  Let your footsteps offer encouragement to trudge on through adversity, enjoy the taste of victory or the peace found in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Your life will and does speak to someone.

In 2014 we've had the blessing of breaking down some brick walls:

Delmar Slocum 1857-1911
the son of Delivan the
 Brother of Ira Slocum 
father of Alonzo Slocum

Through the wonder of Genealogical DNA we have broken through what genealogists call "the brick wall', when the trail runs cold, and discovered more about IRA SLOCUM, Mike's 4th Great-Grandfather.  He does exhist! Thanks to DAVE BUMP for getting his DNA done so we could find the match to Mike SLOCUM.  Dave's father was adopted and Dave knew that his father was a SLOCUM and wanted to find out more.  We hope to get to Indiana this next summer to visit him!  This break-through was wonderful and opened more doors and will continue to do so. Delmar, pictured here is the 1st cousin of our Alonzo H. Slocum.  Check out that red hair, proving my husband is Scotch/Irish through and through.

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This picture is believed
to be August GESCH, Sr

This encouraged me to pound on the door of my GESCH family.  Whatever happened to August GESCH, Sr who arrived in the United States in 1893 and his wife Augusta?  Where are they buried?  Does anyone know anything about them?  Are there any pictures?  I'm still pounding on that wall but it's beginning to crack.  I ended up contacting the local Genealogical Society and hiring someone to do some searching for me since I have the toddler (we adopted a granddaughter in May 2014) and this lady has found some encouraging information and we hope to find burial locations and be able to pull death certificates that may name the parents of these folks and open even more doors.  The biggest information on the GESCH family was the Y DNA that showed them to have ASHKENAZI JEWISH (from the tribe of LEVI) background which explains GESCH on the holocaust lists.  From what I have found all of the five children who came with August and Augusta from Berlin, Germany practice the LUTHERAN faith.  We'll keep chiseling on this wall in the new year.

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Joining the  American Germans From Russia Society in 2015 is an expensive venture and will send me on a year long search for more information on my grandmother Mary Elizabeth (Marie) REBENSDORF and her ancestors.  My new year for Genealogy has been mapped out for me with this, working on my new filing system and the beginnings of writing the books on each family tree line.


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Forensic Genealogy Conference Reveals Jewish Ancestry

Friday and Saturday I went to the Fall Genealogy Conference (October 2014) given by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society. in Lincoln, Nebraska.  The topic was Forensic Genealogy with an emphasis on DNA as a Genealogy tool. The presenter was a funny little lady Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD, Forensic Genealogist, from California.  Definitely a very brilliant lady who has a nack for digging out the truth in ways you may have not considered in typical genealogical searches.  She's the author of three 'award winning' books, which I bought and have no idea when I'll have time to read.  Why I do that? I don't know, but maybe I need to make Gabby's nap time reading time.


I had two questions about my DNA results and discovered that one of the questions I already had figured out so, thus, confirmed by Ms Fitzpatrick. The reason my Native American Ancestry doesn't show up on my DNA results from Ancestry.com is simply because it wasn't in the slice of DNA tested.

A couple of years ago my half cousin in Washington (GESCH) did a Y Chromosomal DNA test that would show only the male line, thus catching the GESCH DNA. This test was done to see if there was a connection to the Ashkenazi Jewish lines in Germany. My Great-Grandfather brought his family from the Northern Berlin to America in 1857, meaning because of the geographical location, there was a possible Jewish connection.  My Cousins mother, of Jewish descent, had suspicions because she had found GESCH in the lists of Holocaust victims.  The results of that test was absolutely positive.  Not only were the GESCH family of Jewish descent but they seemed to be able to pinpoint of the Tribe of Levi.  I don't know how they do that but the presenter of the conference and a DNA expert indicated if the study was tight enough it was possible.  Further study of the Ashkenazi Jews revealed that it is generally true that this group are indeed Levites.

August Frederick GESCH

The second and newest question was interesting. Why am I showing a DNA match to someone who is one of the children of my Great-Aunts through marriage to my Grandmother, MARY (MARIE) ELIZABETH REBENSDORF DEBUS GESCH's brother GEORGE REBENSDORF? This amazingly strong and loving woman of German Descent,  AMELIA ROTH (VOLZ (FOLTZ)) REBENSDORF, came to America with several children in tow (one an infant) after her husband (Mr Volz (Foltz), also of German descent died in Russia.  Not long after arriving she married my grandmother's brother, GEORGE REBENSDORF.  They blended their two families and had several children together. Clearly, saving a non-parental event that is unlikely, I should not show a DNA match to this person named FOLTZ.

Mary (Marie) REBENSDORF (Debus) GESCH

I posed the question to the presenter and the first question she asked was, "is there Jewish Ancestry"? I said that I had recently found Jewish Ancestry in not only my Paternal Grandfather (as indicated above) BUT ALSO through Paternal Grandmother when it showed up in an actual REBENSDORF close DNA match. The Jewish Ancestry in my Paternal Grandfather is not new news, but finding out that my Paternal Grandmother also was of Jewish descent is new news.  

The Ashkenazi Jewish lines is where we get the Yiddish pronunciation of Hebrew.  This is a group of people who migrated to Eastern Europe (i.e. Germany and from there to Poland and the Ukraine). They are an interesting group that are often plagued with DNA health issues in children and are often known to be brilliant thinkers.  Albert Einstein was an Ashkenazi Jew.  Colleen Fitzpatrick, the Conference presenter,  indicated to me that this group of Jewish people tended to inter-marry, because of their faith, so that it is possible I would have distant matches to just about everyone from the area or this entire Ethnic Group.

 My next task is to get a Y DNA from my Uncle for the Shavlik line and see what happens. Since I already know that Shavlik is a Hebrew name I am anticipating the results will have European Jewish Ancestry in it. My Grandfather, STEPHEN SHAVLIK's father, was from Bohemia near the Turkish Border and his mother was from Moravia. If positive this brings me to three of my four major lines with European Jewish Ancestry. I am also going add my Ancestry.com DNA results to Family Tree DNA.


                          August GESCH
                Harvey GESCH
                          Marie REBENSDORF
Jean GESCH Slocum
                          Stephen SHAVLIK
                E'Lonna SHAVLIK
                          Jennie Phoebe GUNTER

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I AM THANKFUL that all my ancestors of Jewish Descent had, at one point in time, converted to Christianity, or in-other-words, accepted JESUS CHRIST as the SAVIOR they were looking for.