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"I am bound to them. Although I cannot look into their eyes or hear their voices, I honor their history. I cherish their lives. I will tell their stories and remember them." ~~Author Unknown
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I think most peoples' interests in family genealogy usually begins at family gatherings, like a funeral or reunion. I know that was the case for me while a teenager because in three consecutive years, I lost a beloved grandparent. Each time the trek to the graveyards during the funerals brought me to headstones surrounding the newly deceased grandparent and each time, most everyone did not know how they were related. I put the family jigsaw puzzle together by identifying everyone through the records office, church records and obituaries.
My genealogical forays were furthered when I studied under Dorothy Dehn, a DAR genealogist. Later, I was lucky to finish a certificate program at Brigham Young in the early 80's and began to help other people with their genealogical queries on the side.
My roots are not very "American"; my earliest immigrant settlers were from France and sailed down the Erie Canal to Buffalo from the port of New York in 1827. I spent years reading French microfilms for my own Alsatian ancestry. My mother is largely Eastern European so I branched out in microfilms from Hungary, Slovakia and Russia Poland. My children's roots have taken me through American records, specifically colonial New Jersey and old Philadelphia. Recently, I tackled my impossible Irish ancestors in county Kerry with slow but steady research in their government records.
I help run the Hungary Project and the Polish Roots Poland Project as well as the Slavic Roots project. I also the lead Slovak Roots project.
I feel privileged to help out with the The Holocaust Project with the lovely and brilliant Eowyn. It was created by the amazingly gifted project coordinator Gaile.
If you are looking for your ancestors in Galicia or the Ukraine, please visit these projects created by the incredible Syke Sonczalla. She leads the Galicia Project.
If you have folks from Donauschwaben, check out the Donauschwaben Project.
We have an Irish Roots sub-project for county Kerry where I break bricks walls on my impossible Irish roots. I have my own One Name Study for the Delahunty Name Study and the Trant Name Study. By the way, there is a great resource page about the Casey Collection which is imperative for county Kerry research.
My kids have Quaker ancestors. If you have Early Penn ancestors, check out the William Penn project which the phenomenal leader, SJ Baty, keeps it in motion for WikiTree.
Although I have no family connections, you will find me cleaning up certain colonial Virginia profiles for the U.S. History project as well as any Quaker settlers in colonial New Jersey for the New Jersey project. I am also Leader of the Ohio project.
My brickwalls are my Abrahams in Russia; my one "Italian" ancestor in 1800's Florsheim, Germany; one of my Irish Mahony ancestral lines; Plus, I have two great-great-grandmothers who were both named Ellen Sullivan, both born in Kerry, and both buried in the same cemetery! I did make great progress with my Palatinate Stumpfs recently as well as one of my other Mahony lines so I am thankful for little breakthroughs.
Answer? When they are genealogically defined!
See this great summary by Bob Genealogically Defined
I occasionally lend a hand in the Magyarország, Slovensko and other Slavic category projects at WikiTree. I can also help read Hungarian records or any records written in Latin if you need assistance. If you have a profile of a Hungarian ancestor here at WikiTree, let me know if you need sources. If you have found naturalization records or passenger records but can not understand/read the village for your immigrant Hungarian ancestor because of historical boundary changes, I will help pinpoint location.
I used to co-administer, with genealogist Nick Gombash, the Hungary Exchange genealogy group. I also have a rare Hungarian One Name Study registered with the One Name Guild. The Study is hosted by the Guild at their website Stermenszky One Name Study.
My back-up files (upload: 2016) are on RootsWeb. Stermenszky Files. I am still in process of moving them all to WikiTree.
My Hungary surnames are:
Nagy, Stermenszky, Sebő, Rakai, Lorintz, Adam, Simon, Rozgany, Zsebik/Sebik, Farkas, Petö, Danko, Gyerus, Haluska, Vladikovsky/Hladikovsky, Polgaŕ, Söss/Sass, Plachetka, Chudi/Chudy, Kovacs, Mész, Szabo, Soka/Zsoka, Fabriczky, Istvanek/Istvanyik/Stephanik, Gothard, Skolnik, Pal, Gaal, Gäll, Császár, Svab.
Locations in Hungary (and some now in Slovakia):
Abaúj-Torna: Vendégi, Bódva-Vendégi (Hostovice), Jablonca (Silická Jablonica), Szin, Bódvaszilas, Szögliget, Varbóc, Hidvégardó, Derenk (extinct), Zubogy, Szádalmás/Almás (Jablonov nad Turňou), Körtvélyes (Hrušov). Borsod: Szendrő. Gömör: Krasznahorkaváralja (Krásnohorské Podhradie), Borzova (Silická Brezová), Rozsnyó (Rožňava), Végtelke (Slavec). Pozsony: Szekula (Sekule), Malaczka (Malacky).
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Magda does Franche-Comté, France & Eastern European heritage research as well as some American research. Her Canadian roots are in Ontario. She is a historical records searcher interested in specific northeastern Hungarian villages, especially where she has a registered One Place study. [1]
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Genealogy is not a race; statistics in genealogy is not necessary but creating a chart of your progress does make one work harder. After 40 + years of research, I know what records I need to continue onward in this crazy journey back on ancestors. It ALL depends on records. For example, with my Irish line, they will never go back very far because the records for a few of them simply do not exist. For my one Polish ancestor Wawrzyniec Kosakowski, I know I will be able to confirm to his parents and grandparents once I get through reading the Russian language in those records.
BY GENERATION | |||||
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Generation Number | Direct Relation to Maggie | Total # of Possible Ancestors | Total # of Identified Ancestors | Total % of Identified Ancestors | |
1 | Parent | 2 | 2 | 100% | |
2 | Grandparent | 4 | 4 | 100% | |
3 | Great Grandparent | 8 | 8 | 100% | |
4 | 2nd Great Grandparent | 16 | 16 | 100% | |
5 | 3rd Great Grandparent | 32 | 26 | 81.25% | |
6 | 4th Great Grandparent | 64 | 48 | 75% | |
7 | 5th Great Grandparent | 126 | 59 | 46.09% | |
8 | 6th Great Grandparent | 252 | 53 | 20.70% | |
9 | 7th Great Grandparent | 504 | 42 | 8.203% | |
10 | 8th Great Grandparent | 1008 | 3 | .0029% |
Want to do this SURNAMES presentation on your profile page? Once again, Greg Clark did another cool app Surname App
So who are those DNA matches on my profile? Joe & Cynthia are two cousins from different lines on my Mother's side who convinced me to get tested. I was hesitant but what an adventure it has been.
Maternal relationship is confirmed by a DNA test match between Maggie N GEDmatch T322601 and Cynthia GEDmatch YT6343520 who are 3rd cousins. Their MRCAs are their great-great-grandparents Karol Stermenszky and Susanna Haluska.
Maternal relationship is confirmed by a DNA test match between Maggie N GEDmatch T322601and Joe Grusczynski GEDmatch A006381 who are 3rd cousins. Their MRCAs are their great-great-grandparents, August Zimmer and Cycelia (Putkowski) Zimmer.
On my Dad's side:
Paternal relationship is confirmed by a DNA test match between Maggie N and Kathleen Mahony who are 2nd cousins. Their MRCAs are their great-grandparents, Daniel Mahony and Anna Jones.
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Cousins DNA chart |
Cousins DNA Chart for reference
WikiTree Apps
Great new app from Topola Genealogy Viewer
This one is fun! How to find your Bricktree Ancestors.
An analysis of my Brick Wall Ancestors quoted "Out of 2046 possible ancestors in 10 generations, 318 (15.54%) have WikiTree profiles. 6/318 (1.89%) are duplicates due to pedigree collapse.
Updated 30 April 2021:
"Out of 2046 possible ancestors in 10 generations, 351 (17.16%) have WikiTree profiles. 6/351 (1.71%) are duplicates due to pedigree collapse. 165 ancestors are missing at least one parent"
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Tree of Life |
If you are lucky enough to be a genealogist, you are lucky enough. – Ruth Padilla ________________________________________________________________
"Genealogy is not about genes, it is about reconstructing family relationships, which are not necessarily genetic relationships. The 16th century heralds were doing genealogy long before Mendel discovered genetics." ~ A One-Name Researcher
"History remembers only the celebrated, genealogy remembers them all.” ~ Laurence Overmire
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Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Maggie is 19 degrees from June Cash, 18 degrees from Patsy Cline, 30 degrees from Mickey Guyton, 19 degrees from Naomi Judd, 18 degrees from Loretta Lynn, 36 degrees from Rita MacNeil, 23 degrees from Reba McEntire, 24 degrees from Joy Kirkpatrick, 22 degrees from Dolly Parton, 22 degrees from Minnie Pearl, 24 degrees from Kitty Wells and 33 degrees from Andrew Turvey on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Categories: WikiTree Leaders | County Kerry Project | Polish Roots | Slovak Roots Project Members | Hungary Research Assistance | McBeth-165 Chocolate Needed | Descendants of András Stermenszky | H11b1 FS mtDNA Haplogroup | Galicia Project | Hungary Project Members | Slavic Roots | Hungarian Roots | En | Hu-1 | La-1
We wrote to you about the check-in for Profile Improvement Project (PIP) a couple of weeks ago. Would you like to continue in Biography Team Level 1 where we have placed you? That's the Team that works on improving profiles from both your own watchlist and projects you are involved with to Level 1 of the PIP Profile Standards.
If you do not wish to participate in the Project, please let us know. If we don’t hear from you within 7 days we will remove you from the Project, but we will welcome you back at any time. We would like to hear from you with any ideas or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Debi Hoag and Robin Shaules Co-Leaders, Profile Improvement Project
My best, Maggie
You added Virginia Project as a manager for Bowling-1621, but not the project box. Looking at the profile, it seems it would be better if it were managed by a different project - Maryland project, or perhaps US Southern Colonies, Maryland Team? I think that Maryland does not have its own project box/project account, so pre-USA would be US Southern Colonies Project & post-colonial would be United States Project.
Please reply to the comment I posted on his profile: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bowling-1621#comment_6378915
Thanks!
P.S. I ran across the profile going through the https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:DBE_Project_Status for Virginia Project.
The Profile Improvement Project (PIP) is performing its first annual check-in with our project members. Please review the following and let us know if you are content where we have placed you or would like to be more involved.
We are in the process of transitioning to a team structure. There will be three participant PIP Teams to start -- The Maintenance Category Team, the Unknowns Team, and the Biography Team. There is also the Voyage Team which guides new Voyagers. See the Profile Improvement Project Teams for a brief outline of each team.
You're currently identified as a member of the Biography Team Level 1, working on profiles from your own watchlist and whatever else you find. Biography Teams Levels 2 and 3 will work on designated profiles for notables (Level 3) and everyday people (Level 2). Please let us know if you would like to help with a higher-level Bio Team or one of the other Teams.
You joined the Project before the Voyage started in late 2018. We would like to invite you to consider a "fast track" Voyage, especially if you would like to work at a higher level on the Biography Team. If you’re interested, choose a profile from your own watchlist that you have completed to the best of your ability and compare it to the Voyage Biography Standards. If your profile is at Level 2 or better, include a link to the profile in your response to this check-in for a “fast track” review.
We would also like to invite you to join the email GoogleGroup and text chat Discord channel for our project. (When you request to join our GoogleGroup, please be sure to include your Wiki ID). Neither is required; we also use the Profile_Improvement tag in G2G for Project announcements. You will find more information on the GoogleGroup.
We thank you for all you do to help the Profile Improvement Project and WikiTree. The Project’s mission is to:
We know you’re working on profiles *smile* We would like to hear about successes you’ve had toward the Project’s goals. We would also appreciate any feedback you might have to help us improve the Project. Please share your thoughts in a reply to this comment or privately via private message to either of us.
Sincerely,
Debi Hoag and Robin Shaules Co-Leaders, Profile Improvement Project
Greetings from South Baden, Germany Eva
It’s time for our annual Ireland Project check-in! Please respond within the next two weeks to let me know:
Please respond to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message on WikiTree. If we don’t hear from you within two weeks, we will assume you are no longer interested in participating in the Ireland Project, and your badge will be removed. If you wish to reapply for membership later, we will be happy to have you back. Many thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely, Jen Hutton, on behalf of the Ireland Project
Registration for the April Thon has started. It is going to be a connect-a-thon for the year of connections. The thon will start 22 Apr 2022 and, as always, run for 72 hours. I hope to have you with me for the Legacy Heirs team. I will understand though if it will not work out. Register so I can put you on the team roster. Here is the Registration Link: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1392037/have-you-registered-for-the-april-2022-connect-a-thon-yet?start=0#a_list_title
And here is our team Chat page: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1392211/legacy-heirs-april-connect-a-thon-g2g-chat
P Kreutzer, US Civil War Between the States Project Leader.
As we start this first Thon of 2022, I just want to say thank you for being a Legacy Heir!!! Have fun with this one and remember, We take it at our own individual pace. If you like to love one profile all weekend, so be it! Make that the most beautiful profile you can. If you choose to do many profiles!!! That is great too!! Just make sure you have at least one good source. Even one contribution makes this amazing tree more beautiful, healthy and strong that it was before that contribution!!
Family, obligations and most importantly, YOU are more important than the thon! We love having you here, but if something comes up, elsewhere, take care of that first. You Rock Legacy Heirs, lets have some fun and connect some profiles!!
On behalf of the G2G Integrators Project Leaders, we are doing a first of the year check-in with members. Please let us know if you are still active.
If you are active, please let us know in which ways you most enjoy contributing to the project. All of us would like to thank you for your contributions and hope that you are enjoying exploring your roots.
Please reply as we look forward to hearing from you soon.
David, Pip and Dorothy ~ G2G Integrators Project Leaders and PC
PS: You have a BEAUTIFUL profile!
Registration for the January Thon has started. It is going to be a connect-a-thon for the year of connections. The thon will start 14 Jan 2022 and, as always, run for 72 hours. I hope to have you with me for the Legacy Heirs team. I will understand though if it will not work out. Register so I can put you on the team roster. Here is the Registration Link: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1341478/have-you-registered-for-the-winter-2022-connect-a-thon-yet
And here is our team Chat page: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1341305/legacy-heirs-winter-2022-connect-a-thon-g2g-chat
My name is Becky Stein, I'm Alice (Fougeron) Stein's granddaughter.
I've tried sending both you & Cousin Myron messages on here, but haven't quite figured out if either of y'all ever got them.
Myron & I emailed each other a few times about the Fougeron/Riddle/Gardner etc. family tree back in the mid-1990's when public/college email was fairly new, but then I left college & didn't have regular internet access until quite a few years later (so I lost Myron's email).
I was wondering if we could get in touch, because I have info on Alice & Florence, that I'm not seeing here on Wikitree?
Thanks, and I hope you're well
You are an amazing part of WT and of Legacy Heirs. I am so thankful that you are a part of our team. Hope we see you on the team for the next thon.
Just a quick reminder that starting tomorrow morning at 8 am Eastern time in United States is the source a thon. I am going to be in at that time (5 am here) but please do not worry if you have to come in hours or days later. Remember we work around family, etc... and even if only one per teammate gets done, that is one more that was not done before the thon. It all makes our tree better and stronger.
edited by Margaret Ann Mc Nutt
Source a Thon starts on October 1 this year so registration started today. We would love to have you on the team again. If you will be, go to the link below and say you want to participate and you are a Legacy Heir. “See” you soon.
https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1291959/have-you-registered-for-the-2021-source-a-thon-yet
Connect-A-Thon is from July 23 through the 26th. Registration started today!!! Here is the link for registration https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1253349/have-you-registered-for-the-2021-connect-a-thon-yet
This is where our chat page is: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1254362/2021-legacy-heirs-connect-a-thon-chat
Also, I want to sponsor a person who has most of her tree on Ancestry.com, but which is quite small compared to mine. She is related to me through my paternal GG-grandfather, and so would only need to connect to him to get the Wikitree benefits. So how do I go about getting her established?
It is important for me to be an active manager on this profile, and not only on the trusted list.
Kind regards, Philip van der Walt
Audrey
Registration started today for the Spring Clean-A-Thon.The cleaning will start on Friday, April 23, at 8 AM (EDT) and run until Monday, April 26, at 8 AM (EDT). If you can and will be joining us, let us now. You must register first, If you have not please go here: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1199618/have-you-registered-for-the-2021-spring-clean-a-thon-yet?show=1199618#q1199618 and answer that you will be there and want to be on Legacy Heirs.
Our team Chat is here: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1200770/legacy-heirs-2021-spring-clean-a-thon-g2g-chat
Hope to see you!!
Richard Allen Colbert [email address removed]
edited by Richard Colbert
Thanks for alerting us!
Maggie N.
If I'm wrong, I take responsibility. I don't want Ellen to get in trouble if she didn't make the Leonard Calvert change.
Richard A. Colbert
My name is Sarah and I’m the new Project Leader for The Native Americans Project. This is your project check-in letter. I would love to hear back from you about your current Native American research interests and project related activity.
Thank you,
Sarah Mason, NA Project Leader
Thank you for your participation in October 2020’s Source-a-thon. Your contributions helped us to clear over 57,000 profiles that needed sourcing. This makes our Shared Tree all that much better.
Keep up the great work!
Pippin Sheppard WikiTree’s Appreciation Team
Thank you for being on Team Legacy Heirs for the source-a-thon. I hope we will have you join the team again for the next thon.
Just a quick reminder, this Friday starts the Source-A-Thon. Looking forward to seeing you there as much or as little as you can join us.
Thank you so much sweet Maggie for being so sweet to me.
Source-A-Thon is coming up from October 2 - 5th. Would love to have you on the team. Go here: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1097927/have-you-registered-for-the-2020-source-a-thon-yet?start=0#a_list_title
and register then the chat is at: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1095181/legacy-heirs-2020-source-a-thon-g2g-chat
This is to check in with you about the Ambassadors Project. There has been some revamping and reorganizing done. You have the badge, but I don’t show you as having access to the project google group.
Please send me a private message with what teams you would like to be on, as well as the email you want to use for the google group. If you use a different email address for trusted list access on WikiTree, please note that as well.
Please review the project page to learn more about the different teams: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Ambassadors
I look forward to hearing back from you!
Azure Rae
Awesome, I'll get you added to the google group and the team page for Social Media.
Azure Rae
edited by Maggie N.
Thanks for all the work you accomplished during our Connect-A-Thon 2020. It is amazing how many more profiles were created and added to our Shared Tree. You have every right to be pleased with your efforts!
Kind regards,
Pippin Sheppard ~ WikiTree’s Appreciation Team
edited by Lisa (Kelsey) Murphy