Posts Tagged ‘Kokoska’
Today I gave two short presentations for my son’s 5th grade teacher. He teaches two groups of sciences classes. Today I talked about starting genealogy research. Their teacher, Mr. Blair, was very excited after the first presentation and wants to start researching his family! I even caught him looking at Ancestry.com while I gave the 2nd (repeated) presentation to the other science class. That is very exciting for me that he is interested.
The kids in both classes had many great questions about filling out their pedigree chart and family group sheet. They talked about family records they had at home, like a family Bible which contained names of the family members with births and deaths going back to the 1830s! That is a treasure! And the best part…..they all seemed very excited about doing the work.
The kids are now supposed to go home and through Thanksgiving break next week talk to family members and write down the information. There will be an assignment given after the break. I was even asked if I would come back and hear the results of the kids’ research. Of course I said yes!
And if any of the kids from the class are reading this blog – make sure you look at the records on Familysearch.org because those are free records.
Thank you Mr. Blair for giving me the opportunity to come speak today! It is exciting to see young people taking an interest in their family histories.
Related articles
- Kids Genealogy: Where To Begin (examiner.com)
- 2012 Conference Tracking Your Ancestors’ Footsteps (dupagecountygenealogicalsociety.wordpress.com)
- Follow Friday – Genealogy Lists and Message Boards (chicagofamilyhistory.wordpress.com)
Yesterday I posted a set of questions I gave my son. Below are his answers and my responses.
Why is my family history important to me?
Son: So I can learn how far my family goes back in history.
One interesting thing I learned about my family history is:
Son: My cousin was a Flying Tiger.
If I were interviewing my parents, I would ask these five questions.
1. Did you get expelled? Mom: No. Your father and I were never expelled from school.
2. Favorite food Mom: Chocolate and Home Run Inn pizza.
3. Worst grade Mom: F. I’m fairly certain I flunked out of one college course early on.
4. Favorite teacher Mom: Mrs. Willis my first grade teacher. She was so nice.
5. Best subject Mom: Band and English/Literature. I loved playing my clarinet and I loved to read. I still love to read. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.
Other things I want to know about my family history:
1. How many family members served in a war? Mom: On my side, Michael Kokoska WWI, Frankie Winkler WWII, Robert Brouk WWII, your great uncle John Vietnam. Those are the ones I have confirmed. There were a few other Kokoska men who were stateside during WWI either training or working in the Army. On your father’s side I have not identified anyone who served yet.
2. How many cousins do I have? Mom: Too many to count.
3. What is my oldest living family member? Mom: Currently that would be your great aunt Bea I believe.
4. Was my family rich? Mom: Not that I am aware of.
5. Was my family ever famous? Mom: Robert Brouk could be considered famous as he was one of the Flying Tigers in China between 1941-1942.
Kids, what would your parents answers to these questions be? What other questions do you have? Write them down and start talking. You never know what interesting facts you will uncover.
Related articles
- May I Introduce You at Geneabloggers (chicagofamilyhistory.wordpress.com)
It’s Monday! Are you ready to add something new to your genealogy file? Let’s talk about the U.S. Federal Census.
What is the census? It is a count of all the people living in the United States, town by town. The government uses this information to decide where to build more schools, more roads and where to provide more money and resources.
Ok, you are probably saying to yourself, “I understand what the census is but what does the census have to do with Mappy Monday?” One of the great things about the census is it provides an address for your ancestors, depending on what year it was taken. How do you know if an address is provided? Let’s look at the information below to see.
The census was first taken in 1790. Until 1850, the census listed the head of the family and a count of others in the household. In 1850 and future censuses, the names of all individuals were added. By 1880, the street name was added with a house number. These addresses are important to keep track of in your notes. They can help you locate people in other records or help prove the person you found is the one you are looking for.
You can take these addresses for a family and put them on a map. You can see the migration, or movement, of a family from place to place, whether it is in a city or across the country.
Where can you find the census? Sites like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org have census records. Repositories like the National Archives and local research libraries also carry the census on microfilm. Sometimes local genealogy societies will transcribe the records and publish them in journals.
What else is on a census and what does it look like? After 1880, the census provides a lot of clues about a family. You will find things like the individual’s birth place (state or country), month and year of birth, year of immigration, naturalization status, occupation and whether or not they attended school if they were too young to work.
The census can provide a lot of information about your family so add it to your list of records to search. Take a look at the 1900 census for my great-great-grandfather, Joseph Kokoska, starting on line 60.
How was Valentine’s Day? Fun? Did you interview your parents? What did you learn?
Today we will start diving into record sources by starting with the birth certificate. Ask your parents to show you your birth certificate and theirs. How are they the same? How are they different? How do they compare to this one from 1882 and 1886?
One thing to remember when you look at records is what they say is not always the truth. Do not always believe what you read. The records provide clues that will help you prove an individual is or is not part of your family so it is important to note everything.
For example, the first certificate is for Frank Kokoska, my great-grand uncle, brother to my great grandfather, Joseph Kokoska. Looking this certificate over, knowing what I know about the family, the first thing that sticks out as incorrect is Majdalena’s maiden name. The certificate says Skryvan. In fact, her maiden name was Priban.
Look at the second certificate. It says it is also for Frank Kokoska, but the midwife, or whomever wrote the information down, wrote down the wrong name. The child is actually Charles. This is proven through additional records such as Census, Death Certificates, and World War I Draft Registration Cards.
The midwife is the same for both births, yet lists Majdalena’s maiden name differently for Charles’s birth, as Trivan.
This child is also listed as the 5th child born to this family. Based on all my research the children up to Charles were Joseph, Frank, Unknown, Charles. So he would have been the fourth child. I later discovered who child number three was. Her name was Emilie.
Explore these birth certificates in more detail. Do you notice anything else different about them? Did you compare them to yours and your parent’s certificates? If you learned new details from your parent’s birth certificates that was not already in your notes, be sure to add it and add the source. This means to write down what the record is, the number assigned to it, the date, who it is for, and where it is held.
