SNGF: No Halloween Ancestors? I’ll Adopt Some!

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I’m having some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (#SNGF), with help from Randy Seaver and his prompts! Feel free to join in.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: October 31, 2026

Prompt: “Find an ancestor who has a life event (e.g., born, baptized, married, died or buried) on Hallowe’en (31 October). Tell us about him or her — who were his or her parents, spouses, children, occupation, residences, etc.”

SNGF: No Halloween Ancestors? I’ll Adopt Some!

I Struck Out

Sorry to say, I have no relatives, much less ancestors, with known vital dates falling on Halloween!

But Randy gave us an alternative: If we couldn’t find an ancestor, we could choose a famous person instead. That sounded like a good way to rescue this week’s challenge.

A Cool Club

With a little help from AI, I found an interesting collection of people whose births, baptisms, or deaths occurred on October 31. They come from very different times and walks of life, but they all share a connection to Halloween.

Interestingly, AI didn’t seem particularly interested in marriages. Perhaps that’s another search for another day!

Famous Births on October 31

Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) – Renowned Dutch Baroque period painter famous for works like Girl with a Pearl Earring. Note: He was baptized on October 31, 1632, in Delft, although his actual birth date is unknown. We all have ancestors whose baptisms are known but the births aren’t. Sometimes they were born days prior, and sometimes years earlier. My English ancestors were particularly susceptible to baptisms each five children or so. Many people do confuse those two dates in their records.

John Keats (1795–1821) – Celebrated English Romantic poet known for “Ode to a Nightingale”.

Juliette Gordon Low (1860–1927) – Founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA.

Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) – Chinese political and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China.

Michael Landon (1936–1991) – Beloved American actor and director famous for Little House on the Prairie and Bonanza.

Dan Rather (born 1931) – Veteran American broadcast journalist and former anchor of the CBS Evening News.

John Candy (1950–1994) – Iconic Canadian comedic actor and writer known for Uncle Buck and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Peter Jackson (born 1961) – Oscar-winning New Zealand filmmaker best known for directing The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Rob Schneider (born 1963) – American comedian and actor known for Saturday Night Live and Adam Sandler films.

Johnny Marr (born 1963) – Influential English guitarist and co-founder of the band The Smiths.

Vanilla Ice (born 1967) – American rapper and hip-hop artist famous for “Ice Ice Baby”.

Willow Smith (born 2000) – American singer, songwriter, and actress.

Famous Deaths on October 31

Harry Houdini (1874–1926) – The legendary master magician and escape artist died on Halloween in 1926 from peritonitis following a ruptured appendix.

George Halas (1895–1983) – Pro Football Hall of Fame player, coach, and founder of the Chicago Bears.

An Interesting Learning Experience

Well, I may have struck out with my own family tree, but I certainly found some interesting company!

One thing this exercise reminded me is that a date can be a starting point rather than the whole story. Births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths are all important genealogical milestones, but the people behind those dates are what make family history so interesting.

Perhaps I’ll discover a Halloween ancestor of my own someday. Until then, I’m happy to claim a few honorary ones!

Have you ever discovered an ancestor with a life event on a holiday?

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.

52 Ancestors: What Surprised Me Most

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I’ve adapted Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.
Each week I follow my children’s ahnentafel numbering to select the featured ancestor, ensuring no one through the mid–sixth generation is left behind.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2026 Week 44: What Surprised Me Most

Introduction

My Week 44 ancestor is Rubin Rabinovich. He’s a fairly recent addition to my tree, listed as the father of my husband’s great-grandfather.

According to my notes on Rubin, he was born circa 1804 in Suwałki Governorate, married by about 1822 (first known child), and died in 1877 in Suwałki. (I have his death record.)

My First Surprise

Initially, I was going to write this post about finding that Rubin seems to have had children by two or three wives. There is a gap between the second and third so it’s possible we are looking at a different generation.

Digging Deeper

But then I got a higher-level view. Mortkhel’s birth record has not been located. So, to write this post, I re-examined my information and I do not have GPS-level proof that the Rubin Rabinovich in my tree was Mortkhel’s father! I do have a Mortkhel Rabinowitz in Suwalki who was the son of Rubin – but that is all I know. Which Rubin Rabinowitz was he? Were there multiples in the same location? What location exactly am I looking for? I have neither Mortkhel’s birth, marriage, nor death records. I do have vitals on several of his children, which consistently name him as Mortkhel son of Rubin, and I have his wife’s death.

What a Surprise

I do believe that I “found” Mortkhel and family early in my Jewish seeking, and it seems that my confusion led me to accept conclusions that weren’t fully supported by the evidence. It seems that this 52 Ancestors post has shined a light on a portion of my tree which needs more looking at!

Sometimes the biggest surprise in genealogy isn’t what we discover about an ancestor, but what we discover about our own research.

Thank you, Amy!

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.

Next Week’s Topic: A Family Value

SNGF: A Lifetime of Change

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I’m having some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (#SNGF), with help from Randy Seaver and his prompts! Feel free to join in.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: October 24, 2026

Prompt: “An Ancestor Who Lived Through a Major Historical Event — Pick one ancestor who was alive during a war, pandemic, natural disaster, or economic upheaval. What do the records tell you about how it affected them?”

Introduction

My dad loved to talk about his grandfather – by the way, both of them were born on the date of this SNGF, October 24 – and all the changes he’d seen in his lifetime. It took me some time to really appreciate that, but now it awes me.

A Lifetime of Change

Francis William Carey (1881-1975) certainly saw a lot. Dad would talk about how he was born in an age where horses carried people around – in fact, an early job of Great-Grandpa’s was in a stable in Manhattan. He lived to see all six crewed Apollo moon landings. How does one person fathom such change? I wish he was around for me to ask that question and more.

Here is a fascinating written account my father left about his grandfather: “He said his first job in NY was as a busboy in a place called “The Millionaires’ Club”, and, in fact, that’s what it was. This was most likely in the mid 1890’s. He said it was located in a mansion on Park Avenue, somewhere in the 50’s; …He said though all members and most guests were rich, you could tell the really rich ones: they pulled up in carriages drawn by four horses, not just two. Only a few of the members’ kids, and some ‘new money’ upstarts drove those new horseless carriages.”

A Cool Timeline

I created a timeline for Great-Grandpa’s life. It’s fascinating, a school year of history to be sure! Here are some snippets:

1881President is Chester Arthur; 38 states in the union; Francis William Carey born.
1886Geronimo surrenders; Statue of Liberty is dedicated.
1888The Kodak camera was introduced.
1892Ellis Island opens.
Mid-1890sFrank has left his native New Jersey and is now living and working in Manhattan.
1903Wright brothers achieve the first successful powered, controlled flight.
1908Ford Model T automobile is introduced; Francis William Carey marries Mary Agnes Hart.
1911A fire kills 146 employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company.
1912British ocean liner Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic.
1914-1918World War I, called the Great War.
1918Francis William Carey marries Mary Agnes Hart again. (More about that here.)
1926“Frank” and “Aggie” have their last child, before the Great Depression.
1939-1945World War II.
1946The ENIAC computer is built.
1951President Truman speaks in first coast-to-coast live television broadcast.
1954The Supreme Court orders school desegregation.
1961The Berlin Wall is built.
About 1964Frank retires at 83 and moves out of New York City to a northern suburb.
1969Apollo 11 reaches the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin make the first moon landing.
1975Francis William Carey dies.

The Personal Effect

I can document the enormous changes that took place during Great-Grandpa’s lifetime, but I know far less about how he felt about them. My father’s recollections give me a glimpse of the young man who watched automobiles begin replacing horses. I wish I knew what he thought when men first walked on the moon.

How to Choose Just One? I Couldn’t

I know that the prompt said “a major historical event” but there was no way I could select just one. When you see all that Great-Grandpa experienced in his lifetime, I think you’ll agree! When I was younger, I don’t think I fully understood why Dad was so fascinated by everything his grandfather had witnessed. Now, looking at this timeline, I understand a little better. And I wish I could sit down with both of them and hear what they remembered.

The lovebirds at their 60th anniversary.

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.

52 Ancestors: Making a Home in Suwałki

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52 Ancestors: Making a Home in Suwałki

I’ve adapted Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.
Each week I follow my children’s ahnentafel numbering to select the featured ancestor, ensuring no one through the mid–sixth generation is left behind.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2026 Week 43: Homemade

Introduction

My Week 43 ancestor is Rochla. When I first saw that this week’s 52 Ancestors theme was “Homemade,” I wondered what I could possibly write about Rochla () Bachrach. She was born around 1800 and died in Suwałki in 1867. I have no recipe in her handwriting, no piece of needlework, no treasured household object passed down through generations. I don’t even know whether she enjoyed cooking or sewing.

But perhaps I’ve been thinking about “homemade” too narrowly.

Rochla helped create a home for her family. It was a home in which children were born, some grew to adulthood and married, and others died far too young. It was a home that faced the loss of her husband in 1846. And although I know remarkably little about the objects that filled that home, I can begin to reconstruct the family who lived within it.

A Home Filled With Family

At first, I really had no idea what I’d discuss here, as Rochla’s identity has been a hard-fought win for me (no one told me about her; I found her with the help of LitvakSIG and JewishGen), much less any artifacts from her or stories about her. But truly, the best way to honor the woman is to honor the home that she made.

Rochla was born in the late 1790s, based on surviving records, which differ a little in the year but not a significant amount. She probably married Mowsza Bachrach around 1816-1820 and went on to have several children in Suwałki: Jochwa about 1821, Izrael in 1824, Chonel (1829), Chaja (1832), and Cywa (1835). They saw Jochwa married in 1837, and Rochla continued to add to the family with Cywia (1839-1839) and Chana (1842), born when her eldest sister was 21.

There are likely more children – records are spotty and some of these did not have birth records, but I calculated their births from their marriages and deaths. The records we do have, though, help to show a vibrant, growing family.

A Home Through Joy and Loss

Daughter Cywia died as a baby, aged only “3/4” [of a year].

Mowsza, Rochla’s husband, acted as a witness to their daughter Jochwa’s death in 1845. Jochwa had been married just 8 years and had had son Berko the month before her death.

Sadly, Berko himself died at just seven years old.

Less than a year later, on 18 March 1846, Mowsza died in Suwałki at the age of 54.

Rochla was a widow for 21 years, and her family story continued long after Mowsza’s death. She saw additional children marry (Chaia in 1848, Cywa in 1855, and Chana Beyla in 1859), and their marriage records continued to identify her. She died in 1867.

What Remains of Rochla’s Home

No recipe, piece of needlework, or household possession has survived to tell me about Rochla’s everyday life. What has survived are the records of the family she helped create. They show children being born, growing up, marrying, and sometimes dying far too young. They show a family rooted in Suwałki for decades, even as individual lives came and went.

I may never know what Rochla made with her hands. But I do know something about the home she made with her family. And perhaps, for this week’s theme, that is enough.

Mk.muzeum.suwalki.pl – Suwałki na starej fotografii – MUZEUM IM. MARII KONOPNICKIEJ

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.

Next Week’s Topic: What Surprised Me Most

52 Ancestors: A Life Compared to Mine

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52 Ancestors: A Life Compared to Mine

I’ve adapted Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.
Each week I follow my children’s ahnentafel numbering to select the featured ancestor, ensuring no one through the mid–sixth generation is left behind.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2026 Week 42: A Life Compared to Mine

Introduction

My Week 42 ancestor is Mowsza Bachrach.

A Very Different Life

At first blush, Mowsza and I have absolutely nothing in common. He was recorded as a maltster (English translation; original term not yet verified), a peddler, and a hawker. Me, I have a desk job. Mowsza was a Jewish man in Poland, and I’m a Christian woman in America.

Below the Surface

But truly, are we that very different? He worked, married, and had four known children. I know those things because they were recorded, not because he left behind stories about his life.

I wonder what an ordinary day looked like for him. Did he enjoy his work? What made him laugh? What worried him? What did he hope for his children?

Those are the things I wish I knew, and probably never will.

All in the Family

Perhaps that’s where our lives intersect after all. Family matters to me, and I know that Mowsza had one, too. I can’t know what his family meant to him, but I can make sure that he isn’t forgotten by mine.

I feel that he’s reaching across centuries and thousands of miles to be rediscovered. He died at just 54, and I’d love to extend him a little longer, just by knowing him.

Imagined by ChatGPT and me

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.

Next Week’s Topic: Homemade

SNGF: A Parade, a Pearl, and a Puzzle

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I’m having some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (#SNGF), with help from Randy Seaver and his prompts! Feel free to join in.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: October 17, 2026

Prompt: “MyHeritage introduced the Scribe AI tool to analyze, transcribe, translate, and provide historical context to a record or photographic image in the past year.  Have you used it? Pick one record image or photograph image from your collection and ask Scribe AI to do its task list for you. How did it do?

“NOTE: If you cannot access Scribe AI, please access another AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Transkribus) that can transcribe, translate or analyze a record or photograph image.”

SNGF: A Parade, a Pearl, and a Puzzle

Introduction

My Grandma (Edith Makey West) left many unidentified photos. They offer glimpses of a happy, active family. If only I knew more about them!

The Parade

“The Parade” photo, likely Staten Island, NY, date and subjects unknown

I selected this photo because it makes me curious as to the event – and, for that matter, the car.

I suspect this involves Grandma’s stepmother, or Grandma’s aunts, or both. I would love to know more about the people or event.

What Did Scribe AI Find?

I uploaded the photo to Scribe AI, which happily told me:

Key findings: The image is a black and white photograph showing five people seated in a large, open-top touring car parked on a paved street. The car is heavily decorated with American flags, including one draped over the hood with a sign reading “OFFICERS CAR“…

Historical background: This photograph likely captures a moment during a patriotic parade or civic event in the United States during the World War I era (circa 1914-1918). The designation “OFFICERS CAR” and the heavy use of American flags suggest the occupants were dignitaries, local officials, or military officers participating in a public demonstration of support for the war effort, such as a Liberty Bond rally or a parade for departing or returning soldiers…

Estimated date: Date: Circa 1914 – 1918 Confidence: High …

Estimated location: Location: United States (Specific city/state unknown) …

Visual clues:

  • Text: A sign on the flag draped over the hood reads “OFFICERS CAR”. A license plate is visible on the front bumper, but the text is difficult to read clearly; it appears to have a dark background with light numbers/letters.
  • People: The driver (front left) wears a tweed-like suit and a flat cap…
  • Objects: The vehicle is a large, dark-colored touring car with wooden spoke wheels…
  • Environment: The car is parked on a paved road with a visible curb…

Technical details: The image is a black and white photograph, likely a gelatin silver print or a similar process common in the early 20th century…

Excerpts from Scribe AI’s analysis, shortened for readability.

What Did It Get Right?

I’m quite happy that it caught Officers Car, as I wasn’t quite able to make it out. I would have been a little more impressed if it had attempted to identify the vehicle.

Google Images suggested that the church in the background might be Christ Church in New Brighton, Staten Island. If that’s correct, it could help establish where the photograph was taken, although I’ll need to compare historical photographs before drawing any conclusions.

Scribe AI thought it recognized a 48-star flag, suggesting a date after 1912. I’m not certain the stars are clear enough to count, but the car and clothing do seem consistent with the early twentieth century.

And Then There’s Pearl…

But here’s where things get interesting. According to my notes, this same photograph was submitted to the Richmond County NYGenWeb website by the late Bill Staples, who identified the woman in the foreground with her hand on the car body as “Pearl.”

So who was Pearl? Did our families know one another? Or was this a photograph distributed to participants or sold as a postcard? I seem to have more questions than when I started!

Was It Worth Trying?

I’m glad Randy suggested this challenge. I hadn’t tried Scribe AI before, and I didn’t realize I could experiment with it for free.

It didn’t solve the mystery of Grandma’s photograph, but it did help me see a few details I had overlooked. And between the possible church identification and the mysterious Pearl, I now have some interesting leads to pursue.

Sometimes that’s enough to make an AI experiment worthwhile!

AI Disclosure

This post was written by me with assistance from AI tools. Scribe AI was used to analyze the historical photograph, and its findings are presented as suggestions rather than verified facts. The family history, observations, and conclusions are my own.

52 Ancestors: What the Timeline Shows

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52 Ancestors: What the Timeline Shows

I’ve adapted Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.
Each week I follow my children’s ahnentafel numbering to select the featured ancestor, ensuring no one through the mid–sixth generation is left behind.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2026 Week 41: What the Timeline Shows

Introduction

My Week 41 ancestor is Rejza Hirszowna Sejnenski. When I sat down to write this post, I realized something surprising: despite all the research I’ve done on my family, I’d never created a timeline for Rejza. What better opportunity than a week devoted to discovering what timelines can show us?

The Timeline

ChatGPT was very helpful with this:

Rejza Hirszowna Sejnenski — Working Timeline

Approximately 1807–1885 | Wierzbołów (Virbalis) and Suwałki

DateEventEvidence / Notes
c. 1807Birth of Rejza in Wierzbołów, now Virbalis, LithuaniaEstimated birth year. Daughter of Hirsz (or Girsz) and Bejla.
By 1828Marriage to Manel Nochim GudelskiMarriage occurred by this date; the precise date and location are not provided.
1828 onwardFamily life and childrenRejza had children recorded in both Suwałki and Wierzbołów. Individual dates and birth order still need to be added.
1837Birth of son Szmujlo Mortchaj GudelskiHis birth record identifies Manel as a hawker. This date comes from the earlier Week 40 material.
1863Death of daughter Liba, age 18, in SuwałkiLiba died approximately six months after her marriage. Her father Manel was recorded as a witness and identified as a children’s teacher.
1863–1885Death of husband ManelManel was alive in 1863, and Rejza was a widow when she died in 1885. His exact death date is uncertain.
1885Death of Rejza in SuwałkiShe was recorded as a widow. Your research also places her residence in Wierzbołów and identifies Mendel Codyk and Mowsza Punckowski as witnesses to her death.

The Analysis

Once we’d put the known events in chronological order, ChatGPT told me what the timeline might be telling us. It identified three possibilities worth exploring: Rejza’s connections to two towns, significant losses within her family, and a community network that may have endured across generations and locations.

I am particularly interested in the first item: Did Rejza and family move back and forth, did borders change, or what? One way to attack this might be to look for other records of her life. I feel strongly that she had children beyond Szmujlo (the ancestor in my line) and Liba (the young woman mentioned in last week’s post). It would be worth doing a little collateral research here to pinpoint locations by date.


Whoopsie!

Did I just give myself yet another research question? Yes, I believe I did. ChatGPT (which I’ve instructed to help me formulate solid genealogical research questions), give me a RQ for this.

Where did Rejza Hirszowna Sejnenski Gudelski and her family reside between approximately 1828 and her death in 1885, and what can the birth, marriage, and death records of her children and other relatives reveal about the family’s apparent connections to both Wierzbołów (Virbalis) and Suwałki?

In addition, it provided me with supporting questions, information about borders, and a suggested first research step.

What the Timeline Really Showed

So what did Rejza’s timeline actually show me? Not necessarily where she lived at every point in her life, but where I need to look next.

I still don’t know whether the family moved between Wierzbołów and Suwałki or whether something else explains the records appearing in both places. But I now have a focused research question and a plan to investigate it.

Sometimes the most useful thing a timeline shows us isn’t an answer. It’s the question we didn’t know we needed to ask.

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.

Next Week’s Topic: A Life Compared to Mine

SNGF: You Can Take the Girl Out of Staten Island…

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I’m having some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (#SNGF), with help from Randy Seaver and his prompts! Feel free to join in.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: October 10, 2026

Prompt: “What geographic and community places matter to you? Pick one place (building, village, town, city, county, state/province)  and describe your connection to it and why it matters.”

SNGF: You Can Take the Girl Out of Staten Island…

Introduction

I left Staten Island, New York, 25 years ago, but it will always have a place in my heart. After all, my family has roots there stretching back more than 350 years.

Welcome to Staten Island, Est. 1661 sign

Generations on the Island

I was born and raised there; I started raising my children there. Most of my first 35 years were spent on the Island. I left in 2001 to raise my children in the suburbs.

Staten Island is unique. It’s part of New York City, yet in many ways it feels like a world apart from the rest of the city. Of the five NYC boroughs, it has the fewest people, is the least densely populated, and has the most single-family homes in the city. Yet it’s just a ferry ride away from all the culture and events of Manhattan. It has much to commend it.

But my attachment to Staten Island goes far beyond its geography or its character. My family’s history there reaches back centuries. My BRITTON family was documented in Staten Island in 1664, the year the British first took NYC from the Dutch. Some ancestor of mine was on the Island continuously until 2009, when my dad passed away.

My ancestor Deborah Smith Van Buskirk’s tombstone in St. Andrew’s Cemetery. I chose this photo because I don’t believe I’ve ever talked about Deborah Smith in my blog.

Still Connected

I’m the website coordinator for the Richmond County component of NYGenWeb, part of USGenWeb. We strive to provide online free resources for those searching for Staten Island ancestors. In this way I manage to keep involved in my hometown.

Full Circle?

I don’t know where life will take me. I would once have said definitely NOT Staten Island! Lately, though, I find myself wishing I were back in Manhattan, where I spent my early adulthood. Unfortunately, Manhattan is well beyond my budget.

So perhaps Staten Island is where I’ll end up after all. Or maybe my children will someday bury me in Moravian Cemetery, near my dad and other ancestors.

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.

52 Ancestors: A Moment of Courage

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52 Ancestors: A Moment of Courage

I’ve adapted Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.
Each week I follow my children’s ahnentafel numbering to select the featured ancestor, ensuring no one through the mid–sixth generation is left behind.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2026 Week 40: A Moment of Courage

Introduction

My Week 40 ancestor is Manel Nochim Gudelski. My writeup about him is only two paragraphs long, and I know too little about his life to identify a particular moment when he displayed courage. But one event in his life stands out, and it made me think about the quieter forms of courage that our ancestors may have needed.

MANEL NOCHIM GUDELSKI was born ca. 1798-1807, son of Lejb. Manel is likely a Polish/Yiddish rendering of Mendel (a diminutive of Menachem), or occasionally Emmanuel. Nochim corresponds to Hebrew Nachum/Nochum (נחום), meaning “comfort.” Often paired with other names (e.g., Menachem Nochum). Gudelski is a Slavic surname, possibly toponymic (linked to a place such as Gudeliai/Gudeliai in present-day Lithuania).

He married by 1828 to Rejza Hirszowna Sejnenski. Manel worked as a hawker, as noted in his son Szmujlo Mortchaj’s 1837 birth record, and later as a children’s teacher, as recorded in his daughter Liba’s 1863 death record. Manel died between 1863 (when he witnessed his daughter Liba’s death in Suwalki) and 1885 (when his widow Rejza died in Suwalki). Find A Grave reports him as “likely” dying 1879-1880 in Suwalki and buried there. [1]

Life Requiring Courage

I have so few data points in Manel’s life, but one stands out. In 1863, his daughter Liba died at just 18 years old, only six months after her marriage. Manel, identified as her father and a children’s teacher, was recorded as a witness to her death.

I can only imagine what that year must have been like for him. He had watched his daughter begin her married life, only to lose her a few months later. In a way, Manel had said goodbye to Liba twice that year.

I don’t know how he coped with her death, or what gave him the strength to continue. But perhaps that’s where courage enters his story—not in a dramatic act, but in the ordinary necessity of carrying on after an extraordinary loss.

Relatable

We’ve all lost loved ones, and sometimes just getting through the day requires tremendous courage. I don’t know how Manel dealt with losing Liba, but I know he lived through that loss. Perhaps that’s something worth remembering as we research our ancestors: even when the records tell us very little, the lives behind those records included hardships that required strength we may never fully understand.

The cemetery where it’s thought Manel is buried: Cmentarz Żydowski w Suwałkach

Suwałki, Miasto Suwałki, Podlaskie, Poland, from http://cmentarze-zydowskie.pl/suwalki.htm

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.

Next Week’s Topic: What the Timeline Shows

[1] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/284928412/manel-nochim-gudelski

SNGF: Remembering 2001

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I’m having some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (#SNGF), with help from Randy Seaver and his prompts! Feel free to join in.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: October 3, 2026

Prompt: “Do you recall what you were doing in 2001?  Family, school, work, hobbies, technology, genealogy, vacations, etc.?”

Remembering 2001

Introduction

Goodness, 2001 was quite a while ago! Certainly, there is one big memory from that year… but many other precious ones as well.

Jogging the Memory

For a little help recalling the good parts of 2001, I pulled up my Pictures folder. I didn’t yet have a digital camera but have scanned photos as I have come across them, so I have several fun memories that I relived tonight.

My son’s kindergarten graduation. Precious family memories.

My older son graduated kindergarten and that photo is special to me. But on the off-chance that my younger son reads this blog (I wish!), let’s get one of him in as well.

My younger son’s second birthday

Background cleaned up with AI; child and cake untouched

Looking through these photos reminded me that 2001 was about much more than one terrible event. I had my hands full with a young family (and loving it!). We had plenty of family involvement, along with vacations, trips, and pets. There were so many ordinary, happy moments that I hadn’t thought about in years.

The Little things

Life truly is made up of the smaller moments. Now I’m inspired to go through the basement and find more photos to scan and enjoy. After all, these ordinary family moments are part of our family history, too.

AI Disclosure

This post was written by me with assistance from AI tools for editing and photograph cleanup. The memories, reflections, and storytelling are my own. The background of one photograph was cleaned up using AI, as noted in its caption.