Jo's Personal Blog at Blogger.com: 10/01/2013

Thursday

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Halloween

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

The prompt for the week is:

Halloween

The Brief:

Have you ever participated in a Halloween event?

When was it?
Where was it?

What did you dress as?

Trick or treat?

The video at over at the YouTube Channel

2012 Halloween Costume

When I was growing up, I most years I would get dressed up and go trick or treating. Normally, my 3 nieces from my sister, Theresa, join me. We would all go as a group. As I got older, Theresa and I normally would take my nieces each year. Once they reached an age, then we wouldn't go any longer. Further, once my sister, Debbie, had my nephew, Eric, I would then join them in going. I would keep my sister company. After a few years, I stopped doing that and would then sit at home giving out candy. Sometimes I would dress up and other times I would just hand out candy - it just depended on what was happening.

Once I moved to Australia, the first few years we lived with my father in law and he never gave out candy. This was not a big deal as Australia is not big for celebrating it. However, in 2000, we moved into our own home and now I lightly decorate the house and give out candy. Since approximately 2009, Halloween has been more widely accepted as something to do on 31 October. Sometimes I do dress up a tiny bit, but other times I'm lucky just to remember to get candy for it.

2013 Our House Decorations

This year, 2013, is one of those years where I have been so busy, I basically threw decorations up and put together the candy bags very quickly. This is because my husband's family is visiting from Queensland and New South Wales. That being said, as tonight is Halloween. Tonight we had a slow start, but we have had about 24 kids through and its 6:45pm. Normally, we have kids show up until about 9pm.

Jo's 2013 Costume

The weirdest trick or treater we've had is someone on horseback show up dressed like they were going to compete in the Olympics. They actually rode the horse up onto our front yard - not a sight you see every day that's for sure!

On about 2009 upwards, we have even adults show up. However, unlike in the US, they come to the door wanting candy. I have started taking to saying no to them because its a children's holiday. The
kids get the candy and not the adults. I know my brother would take my nephew out and would dress up, but he would never approach the houses for candy. He did it for fun with the kids. I think adults who think its for them as well and expect candy is just plain wrong.

Bad Apples

Halloween is about having fun and dressing up. However, there are some kids, and adults, that take things too far and throw apples or frozen fruit at kids as they walk by. Further, I know in the US there was a time when people were putting pins in the candy as well. I have to ask - why do some people have to be idiots and ruin a fun time for kids? Kids have to grow up and deal with harshness of life, why not give them a few years of fun before that reality has to set in? Let kids be kids for goodness sake.

Check back next week for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.

Sunday

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Time Capsule

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

The prompt for the week is:

Time Capsule

The Brief:
1. You can choose who to create the time capsule for as that will influence what you put (or would put into your time capsule)

2. The creation of a time capsule

a. you can do this in the literal sense or

b. you can simply write what you would place into your time capsule and why. It is much more fun to create though!

You may choose to create a time capsule for your children, or a niece/nephew, for grandchildren – A physical item that you will give to a named person.
Why have you chosen that person and when do you intend for them to have it?
You may choose to create a time capsule of your home and leave it for someone in the future to find.
You may want to create a time capsule relating to an actual event or anniversary
If you create a physical time capsule, what did you choose to use as your capsule and why?

Time Capsule - Yes or No?

I have had the thought of a time capsule come up when I was in high school, when someone suggested it. However, no one, until now, brought it up for discussion and it was only through this group I'm in for doing the "The Book of Me, Written by You" topics.

In the sense of creating something for the future generations, I am putting the research I do for my

family, up on DropBox for anyone in the family who wants to look, add to and/or check information. I also have part of this done in ancestry.com, so I can keep track of information. Further, I do have a binder (that was once a group of pages) which has much of timelines and backed up information.

In the upcoming months, I plan to start recording verbally some memories. Further, all information and photos will be on either external hard drive and/or DropBox. I am taking to doing quite a bit of scanning due to the drastic conditions here in Australia. This way, I can have information in multiple locations and if a fire does come through (as it had a few years ago in the neighbourhood which we lost 10 houses nearby in the Black Saturday fires), the information and history won't be lost. I don't care about having the physical paperwork - only electronic and our lives are more important than anything.

My husband recorded the video on his way and during his breaks of fighting the fires

That being said, having the tiny objects which belonged to either myself, my grandmother and/or other memories will be sad, but we can live with the memories as long as they are recorded some place.


A small cup my grandmother gave me

The last Christmas card my grandmother gave me

The Future

As for when I'm gone, and hopefully this won't be for awhile yet, it will probably fall to my nieces as they have shown interest in the family history. I can hear people thinking "why not to
her children" and that is a simple one. My husband and I have been trying for over 14 years, at this point, to have children, and so far none have survived. As I only have a few reproductive years ahead of me, I have to face that we might never have children, so as my nieces have shown interest, the information will go to them, if they want it, so it will stay within the family. If they do not want it, then I guess it'll be lost, but I'm hopeful they will want to continue with the research I started.

I understand that some people will want to do time capsules, and I support them. However, over the years, I've moved enough to know what is buried today, will stay, but I probably won't be there in 10 years time due to moving.

Check back next week for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Grandparents

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

The prompt for the week is:

Grandparents

The Brief:

What were their names?

Where were they from?

Were they related? – Cousins perhaps

Where were they born, another Country or state/area

Photos

What did they do?

Did you know them?

What was your relationship with them?
If you didn't know them have you researched about them?

Growing up, I saw many of my friends visit and be visited by their grandparents. I never gave it any thought to where mine were at that point. Its interesting how much we remember.

Grandfathers

On My Mother's side

My grandfather on my mother's side was Louis P Gauquie. He was born in Salisbury Mills, NY in September 1909. He lived on a dairy farm that his father owned. A census shows in 1930 he was a Painter for the railroad in New York. By 1940, he moved to Pike, PA had was married to my grandmother Janet and had 2 children. One of those children being my mother. He was a riveter on the railroad. In 1946, his father, Jules or Juluis, died and according to the will, Louis received about 2/3 of his father's estate which was split among each of the 5 children. According to my mother, the family seen nothing of this inheritance - it was spent on drinking, gambling and prostitutes. He lived in Pike, PA until about 1950, when they moved to Newburgh, NY where he worked as a plumber. In January 1975, he died according to the Social Security Death Index. I have heard that he died from falling off of ladder when he was cleaning out the gutters and from the complications of that he passed away. I have not proved this fact - its still something to be investigated. I do know that he is buried at the Calvary Cemetery in New Windsor, NY with his sister Florence.

As you can see, from 1950 until 1975, its a pretty big blank space for this relative. This is because I never met him (despite being born in 1972). In fact, he was never a subject that was brought up anytime. My mother still does not talk about him other to say that he was a drunk, gambler and was a very nasty man and because of that he wasn't to be talked about.

On My Father's side

In 1956

My grandfather on my father's side was Matthew Schmitz. I was told that he was born in Germany. I Linden, NJ in 1935 and he was living with a wife and son at the age of about 29. He was a painter in a New York State Hospital. About 1945, he was in the Army do know that he had a residence in Medical Corps according to my father. I do know in 1946, according to the Price and Lee Co's City Directory, he was living at 46 South Water Street, Newburgh, NY. At this point they owned Riverview Bar and Grill, which they lived above. In 1949, he worked for C-PLMCo (which I haven't been able to find anything about) and he was still living at the same address with my grandmother. By 1954, he lived in Old Blooming Grove Turnpike in New York and was working as a painter. In 1956, he was working at Stewart Air Force Base as a painter, and still living at the same address. In 1958, he moved to Old South Plank Road and he was still at the base. In 1967, he died at Castle Point, New York which is a veteran's hospital. I was told he died of complications of diabetes.

Again, you can see by the gaps in years in the information above, is a blank space. Like my other grandfather, this was another subject that was really never talked about by my father. My grandmother did talk about how he used to drink. She would go around the apartment and pour the alcohol down the drain and he would run from the room and go into another room where he had more alcohol hidden and start to drink while giggling. When she told me this growing up, I thought it was cute. Now years later, I think how sad it is he thought that was a huge drinking game. My main question is was he always like this or was the military responsible for making him this way? I have many more questions to ask my father regarding this topic.

Grandmothers

On My Mother's side

Her sister, Genvieve, but Janet looked very similar to this

My grandmother on my mother's side was Janet Jagodzinski. She was born on 10 May 1911 in Pennsylvania. Most of her childhood I'm not certain about due to not being able to find much on her. I know in 1935, she was married and living in Salisbury Mills, NY on her father in law's dairy farm. In 1936, she had her first child. In 1951-1954, according to a Newburgh, NY business directory, they are listed as living there. I know shortly after this, she was committed to a mental hospital in by her husband. From what I've been lead to believe, this was due to going through the change (or menopause). Everyone in the family says that she has "emotional issues" and is known as such.
Newburgh, NY

I have met this grandmother, which is my middle name, 3 times in my life. The first was in the institution, which she just sat there dazed and my mother went to talk to the nurses. The second time was to pick her up to spend a Thanksgiving at our house when I was about 8 or 9 (I think). That time, I sat next to her and she didn't say or do much throughout the day. I know sometimes she got a spark in her eyes when she looked at the kids (the younger kids - and my nieces and nephews - that were there). The last time was like the first time I described. Although, I was told to sit in the corner. Upon sitting in the corner, I could hear the nurses talking about my grandmother - about how nasty she is and how she broke some nurse's collarbone and arm. They were also discussing why her family was there. This is an issue in the family - no matter how many times my mother would give the nurse's contact information, they never used it. The next time we went to visit my grandmother had disappeared - vanished. Every now and then my mother did go back but the nurse's would not release any information even though my mother was next of kin for my grandmother.

I when I started the family history research, one thing that I did find on my search was that my grandmother had died in Newburgh, NY in September 1999. The sad part was we, my mother and I (until I married in 1997), lived within a 30 minutes drive of her. Even more disturbing was no one ever contacted my mother, who was her next of kin. We have no idea where she is buried or what she died of. I cannot find out because my mother does NOT want to know because she believes she is finally "at rest". However, I plan on searching once my mother passes and I have access to the paperwork I need.

On My Father's side

in 1956

My grandmother on my father's side was Genowefa (Genevieve) Wojtkowska. She was born 10 August 1910 in Malkinia Gorna, Poland when she was 10 on a Ship Named New Rochelle from Danzig (German) or Gdańsk (in Polish), Poland on 5 August 1920. Keep in mind, there was fighting going all between the Polish, German and Russian armies her entire life. She was born when it was part of Russia. In 1912, her father left Poland (or Russia Poland as Poland did not exist at this point) for the United States.

During her years there she seen the Nazis walk through and take everything and anything they wanted. Then in 1915, the German's made many advances into the area she lived and as there was a main railway line, it was constantly being looked at as needed to control the train line even though the tracks were different to those used it the main part of Russia, the armies still wanted the line. This includes "Taube aeroplanes and Zappelins make daily visits to Malkin, a wailway town north-east of Warsaw, and many civilians have been killed." which comes from The Queenslander a Brisbane Australia newspaper on Saturday 21 August 1915. By the time 1919 comes and the Treaty of Versailles starts to take shape, Poland becomes independent for the first time in about 175 years. Meanwhile, the Bolshevik's are setting forward to get to and capture Warsaw, which isn't that far away. The Bolshevik War or The Great War has started. The 81 Regiment, made up of Polish on both

81 Infantry Regiment

the German and Russian armies, converged and were heading to her hometown at the same time. Meanwhile, my great grandmother and grandmother headed to Danzig (German) or Gdańsk (in Polish) to catch a vessel which her father, Adam, had paid their passage. I'm sure they either walked or caught the train in order to leave Poland. I do know, from talking to both my grandmother and father, they were the last people out before they closed the Polish boarders. They now traveled to the Port of New York which they arrived on 19 September 1920.

My grandmother was so malnourished from not getting enough of the right foods, she could barely walk. However, they were found fit and healthy according to her records of the US Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival paperwork. When her and her mother walked out of the processing area and into the United States, they both became United States citizens according to the immigration laws at the time. Under the law, my grandmother was under 16 years old, automatically became a US citizen because by this time her father was naturalized. Her father was there to pick them up and take them home to Linden, NJ. They had a small apartment which they had boarders and their family. It was very cramped but at least they had a roof over their head and food in their bellies.

A cigarette girl in a speakeasy

I do know she went to school, but only to grade 4. She tells me she was actually a cigarette girl when she was younger. The owners liked her because she was so tiny. When the raid's happened, she would hide in the bottom of the telephone booth and put her tray above her head and the cops would walk and run right by her. Then when they were done, she would get up from the booth and go back to work. I believe from some research, this was done about 1929-1933 in speakeasy's. By 1940, she was married and had a son - my father and was known by the name Jean now. In 1946, they had moved from Linden, NJ to Newburgh, NY and ran Riverview Bar and Grill located at 64 South Water Street. They had a small apartment above the bar and grill. In 1951 the business directory shows she was still living at the same address, but now she was by herself (and her sons)running furnished rooms or a boarding house.

Jean & Charlie in Florida visiting Matt & family

About 1961 or so, she lived with a gentleman we called Uncle Charlie, but his real name was Charles Gardner. I believe they sold the South Water Street business and moved to an address on Broadway in Newburgh, NY. My sister tells me, she would come in and run up and sit on Uncle Charlie's lap (she was young) and he would have her sit on his lap and watch the huge parades as they went up and down the street. There have been rumours which said grandma and Uncle Charlie had married whereas I've also heard they lived together. This I still have to do research on.

I know in the 1970's and 1980's she still lived on Broadway. I used to spend 2 weeks a year with her during school holidays in the summer. Sometimes I would spend the time at my Uncle's where she would be staying. Other times, it would be at her apartment. During those times she would try and feed me various melons and prunes for breakfast (it wouldn't work - I did try them and didn't like them, but she was insistent and I was just as insistent back!). We would watch countless episodes of

Me visiting with my grandmother in the summer

Days of Our Lives, she would tell me about my cousins. Sometimes she would ask me to check her back as she had an accident growing up and went through the windshield and always had glass tiny bits coming out of it. She was a spunky old lady. No one ever worried about her because the times people either broke into her apartment, she was standing there with the gun telling them to get back up through the skylight or, when at her Bar and Grill, people knew better than to start or try anything because she would take them out. My grandfather always got the brunt of it because she would get so upset she would throw pans and knives at him and she was a really good shot with those too.

That being said, she could take a joke - when Uncle Charlie threw a cherry bomb under her bed when she was sleeping and she jumped up when it woke up and she swore like a sailor at him and threatened him but never hurt him. I remember the tiny plastic girl she had. You moved the thumb and you could see all of the female bits. She kept it and kept telling me that it was dirty, but when she went out of the room, boy did I take a look!

Kruschiki cookies

She made clothes for me (usually dresses), and for herself. She could afford to do things, but she would be thrifty about it. Although she did have this obsession with me wearing white lacy socks with white Mary Jane shoes and needing for me to have flowers and barrette's in my hair. I could never understand why and it wasn't until I started researching Poland and I found it was common for girls to wear dresses with flowers in their hair.

She also made the best Polish cookies. We call them BowTies but in Polish they are called Kruschiki Or Chruschiki. She also made some other white dessert things that are Polish, but never passed along that recipe. You take the white batter and when a pot full of water comes to a boil, you drop the white batter into it. I did grow up with other Polish dishes as well. She loved her Jellied Pigs Feet and other types of dishes, but some I could not like.

She died on 6 July 1988 in St. Luke's Hospital in Newburgh, NY. She was later laid to rest in Cedar Hill Cemetery, next to her beloved Charles Gardner.

Check back next week for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.

Saturday

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - Journals & Diaries

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

The prompt for the week is:

Journals and Diaries

The Brief

The Brief:

Do you keep a journal or diary?
How far back do they go? What do you record?
Where do you keep them?
Do you always buy the same one or vary them?
Have you inherited any?
Do you intend to pass along your journals or destroy them?
Pictures
Do you have a favourite?
What do you use to write with – biro, pencil, ink or fountain pen?

Do I have one?

Over the years, it has been mentioned to me countless times about keeping a journal or diary. However, I have to admit, I have tried over the years, but I don't have one and never really kept one for any time except for school assignments which I don't even have.

When we did an IVF round, I did have an IVF Blog that I wrote in Microsoft Word. That's an interesting one and as we're getting ready to do our second IVF round in early 2014, its been interesting to go back and see some of the things that happened if we cannot remember. I'm going to try and do another blog for the second IVF round as well.

There has been some updating of apps, so I might see if I can find the time (which is part of my problem), to start a journal of daily life. It might be interesting for those future generations to look back and see what I do in a day, even if its not very interesting. As we don't have any children, the journal and blogs might just be wasted time. A fact is that I'm going to sit down and record my memories of people, places, events as soon as I can. At the moment, my life is pretty full with life events (going away, having in laws visiting, classes that I'm taking are pretty lengthy, and sporting events - Bathurst on but we're not camping there this year) and that's only in the next 3 weeks this is happening.

I know I'll have to find out who wants to be the keeper of the family history information before I pass away, this way everything I've spent the last 8 years doing won't be lost and future generations won't miss out on the past.

Online Blogs

I do have 2 online blogs. One is for IT content that I talk about using WordPress. The other is entitled "Jo's Personal Blog" and that one I've had for a few years using Blogger. However, it doesn't seem like that, because when I lost my job this past year, I figured to start that blog up again and as the term blog had changed (from basically what you are going to do during the day to your thoughts on overall topics), so I went through most of the posts and either deleted them or put them into draft form where others couldn't see them. The upon talking to one of my teachers, I decided to start up my Jo's IT Blog to talk everything IT related.

These I post in every week (Personal Blog over the weekend I publish, and IT Blog on Wednesdays I publish). On each I'm getting a pretty good handful of people - my personal blog has an average of about 30 views and my IT blog has about 200 people viewing and following. In the personal blog, the areas people access my blog from is unexpected - Australia, US and.... Europe! Yes, Europe and that I wasn't expecting. Hi to everyone that's in Europe!

Family Journals/Diaries

As far as I know, no one in my family has had either of these. I know when my grandmother was alive she would tell us about having the Nazis come through her childhood hometown and the


The Nazis at my Grandmother and Great Grandmother's hometown of Malkinia Gorna

fighting, but she never, to my knowledge, wrote any of it down. As I'm the family historian, or have been after asking questions for years and 8 years ago I started searching for some answers. As I've been looking for answers, I've been reading old newspaper clippings of the time right before or around the time my grandmother left Poland. I have to say, what she told me was one thing and reading newspapers back then give me the chills. Oh how I wish she was still here to ask even more questions! Thankfully, my father is still with us, and I'll ask him more questions, but I have to wait until we visit again; however, I fear, that he won't know as much as I'm hoping he does.

Warsaw Newspaper in 1920 a few days before my grandmother left Poland for the US.

I think the closest thing one side of the family ever got was a family bible. However, I was told, by my father Matthew, in August 2013, this bible was in shreds and couldn't really be read any longer, which broke my heart. This was a very old and pretty bible. It had gold leaf on the outside pages, very detailed pictures inside and there was a 2 page family history pages all filled out. To be told that all that information is gone is just heartbreaking.

Check back next week for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/#sthash.KPTGu0so.dpuf

Check back next week for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.