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52 Ancestors: An Unexpected Strength

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An Unexpected Strength

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 21: An Unexpected Strength

Introduction

My Week 21 ancestor is Cywa “Sylvia” Bachrach.

As with her husband, Mordecai Gudelski, I never knew anyone who knew Sylvia, my husband’s great grandmother. But it’s clear to this generation that she left a lasting impression on her descendants.

When I first thought about “unexpected strength,” I imagined something visible: a crisis faced, a hardship overcome, a bold decision preserved in the records. But Cywa’s strength seems to have been quieter than that. It appears in what her children carried with them — not just across the ocean, but into the names they gave their own daughters.

Discussion

The records are sparse when it comes to Cywa. Although I have located birth records for some of her siblings, I have not yet found hers. What I do know is that she married Mordecai Gudelski in 1855 in Suwałki, Congress Poland, when they were both 19 years old.

She died in Suwałki in 1900.

Sylvia had nine children that I know of, and I’ve tracked six of them emigrating, likely pushed by the pressures many Jewish families faced in the Russian Empire: violence, instability, military conscription, and limited opportunity. What stands out to me is that of the six children I’ve been able to track, five named daughters Sylvia. (Yes, we always have to clarify when talking about “Cousin Sylvia.”)

Cywa must have had a tremendous impact on her children for them to honor her so, especially since I have not seen the same naming pattern for their father. I keep coming back to those daughters named Sylvia. In a family scattered by emigration, distance, and uncertainty, her name became a kind of thread — carried across oceans and into the next generation.

How hard it must have been to bid goodbye to child after child as they left for another continent, knowing she would likely never see them again. Cywa’s strength may not appear in the records as a bold public act. It may have looked quieter than that: raising children, surviving uncertainty, and letting them go when leaving may have been their best chance.

I cannot prove that every daughter named Sylvia was named directly for her, but the pattern is hard to ignore. Her name kept reappearing. That feels like its own kind of testimony.

We may not know much about Cywa “Sylvia” Bachrach’s voice, personality, or daily life. But her children remembered her. They carried her name forward. And sometimes, in genealogy, that is where strength reveals itself — not in what was written down, but in what a family refused to forget.

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 Name With Meaning

SNGF: 10-4, Bumblebee

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10-4, Bumblebee

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: May 9, 2026

Prompt: “What automobile models did your ancestors have?  Pick an ancestor and share something about their cars.”

Introduction

My father Bob Anderson’s first car after the divorce needed to be a cheap workhorse, so he could travel hundreds of miles every other weekend for custodial time (then called visitation), and he had little cash to spare. He found a yellow/orange two-door Vega. It looked very much like this one except orange with a black horizontal stripe.

Figure 1 A Chevrolet Vega similar to Dad’s, though his was more orange and had a black horizontal stripe.

Discussion

There were three of us, ages 3-8, and we sat in the backseat (no child seat laws at that time) because the front seat had no seat belts, but the back seat did. Dad used a CB radio much like I use Waze now but for two-way communication. With Citizens Band, everyone chose a nickname or handle, and Dad was Bumblebee, because of the car. (Later he got a silver car and was happy to change his handle to Silver Shadow.)

Those car trips went on for a decade. I’m amazed Dad was able to do it. Later, Dad was so burned out from driving, and I generally handled the long-ish trips. But I have very fond memories in that car and the ones that followed (anybody remember the K-cars?) because they enabled family time.

A “Weekend Fathers” newspaper article featuring Dad and one of the cars that followed the Vega. Seeing Dad described that way in print still stops me, because those exhausting weekends were not abstract to us. They were how he stayed present.

Looking back, those cars were never just transportation. They were how Dad kept showing up, one long weekend drive at a time. 10-4, Bumblebee.

AI Disclosure

This post was written by me with the help of AI tools for organization and editing. The memories, family details, and reflections are my own.

52 Ancestors: A Question the Records Can’t Answer

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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 19: A Question the Records Can’t Answer

Introduction

My Week 19 ancestor is Jennie Felder Frank.

As far as I can ascertain, Jennie immigrated from Austria to New York in 1887, when she was probably in her late twenties. I have never located anyone from her natal family in the United States. That absence has become the question at the center of this week’s post:

What did Jennie leave behind when she emigrated?

Jennie married Joseph Frank in January 1888, only a year or so after her arrival. Her marriage record says her parents were Joseph and Rosie, that she was twenty-four, and that this was her first marriage. Later records suggest she may have been closer to twenty-nine. Whether the discrepancy was accidental, practical, or intentional, it reminds me how little the records can tell me about how Jennie understood herself at that moment.

Her brief time in New York as a single woman makes her harder to trace. I do not know where she lived before her marriage, who helped her settle, or whether she arrived with friends, relatives, neighbors, or no one at all. I have not found members of her Felder family nearby. That silence makes me wonder whether her immigration marked a true separation from the people who had known her first.

Even her father’s name shifts across the records. Her marriage record names him as Joseph. Her death certificate names him as James, and the informant did not know her mother’s name. Her tombstone, however, preserves her Hebrew identity: Sheindel, daughter of Avraham Yosef.

Those clues suggest a sharp break between the old country and the new. In America, she became Jennie Felder Frank: wife, mother, widow, and grandmother. But before that, she was Sheindel, daughter of Avraham Yosef, born into a family and a world I can only glimpse.

So my question for Jennie is not only what she brought with her, but what she had to leave behind: family, language, customs, memories, expectations, perhaps even a version of herself that never fully made it into American records.

Closing

The records can tell me that Jennie crossed an ocean, married Joseph Frank, raised three children, lived with her daughter Anna after Joseph’s death, and was buried in Washington Cemetery. They cannot tell me whether she missed the people she left behind, whether she expected to see them again, or whether she spoke of them to her children. That is the question I would ask her: when you began again in New York, what part of your old life stayed with you?

ChatGPT, 04May2026

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: At the Cemetery

52 Ancestors: Unexpected

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Unexpected

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 15: Unexpected

Introduction

My Week 15 ancestor is Edith Makey West. When I thought about the theme “Unexpected,” I realized that her life was shaped by unexpected mothering in many forms: first when her aunt stepped in after her mother’s death, then when a stepmother took on that role, and later when Grandma herself helped raise my generation.

Discussion

We say, “It takes a village to raise a child,” but it really did in many ways. Grandma’s mother died when she and her siblings were young children, and her mother’s married, childless sister, Aunt Edith, stepped in to help raise the three of them. Grandma remained very fond of Aunt Edith and Uncle Peter for the rest of her life. Aunt Edith died relatively young, but my uncle remembered Uncle Peter, so clearly the families remained close.

Once Grandma’s father remarried, he and his new wife brought the children back and informed them, “This is your mother now.” Grandma did, in fact, treat the woman as a mother, including caring for her after Grandma’s dad passed away. When Grandma told me family stories, she would mention, “My mother” and I would clarify that she meant her stepmother. (Not to be mean, of course, but I wanted to attribute the family stories to the right person.)

Finally, after my mother left my father and took us with her, she went home to her parents. Grandma helped raise us while my mother secured her footing, returned to the workforce, gained financial stability, and generally settled into single parenting. I never, ever heard Grandma issue the slightest complaint about all this new responsibility for a retired couple.

Summary

Grandma once told me, while recounting the family history, that the men in her family had it tough. I told her I thought the women did too; they were simply expected to endure, adapt, and keep going.

What feels most unexpected to me is not a hidden record or a family story proven true, but the way mothering kept taking new forms in Grandma’s life. After losing her own mother, she was cared for by Aunt Edith. Later, a stepmother took on that role in the household. And when her own daughter needed help, Grandma stepped in to help raise the next generation. In the end, the unexpected discovery is that in our family, mothering was not always about who had the title, but about who showed up.

Walter, Harry, and Edith Makey

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 Quiet Life

SNGF: From Ohio to New York: A Family Turning Point

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From Ohio to New York: A Family Turning Point

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: April 4, 2026

Prompt: “Family stories are often about “Turning Points” and “Major Decisions.” This week, please describe a “Turning Point” in the life of one of your parents (or for both of them, or for grandparents).  Describe the decision, and discuss the outcome of it.”

Introduction

My grandfather’s decision to move to New York City during the Great Depression is one of the most courageous choices I’ve seen in my family history. If he hadn’t made that leap, my grandparents might never have met.

Discussion

Gordon West was born and raised in Liberty Center, Henry County, Ohio, a very small town. He was a talented musician and played the organ in a movie theater until the arrival of “talkies” put him out of work.

During the Depression, Grandpa went to work for a friend who ran a printing press – he worked without pay to learn the trade. After trying unsuccessfully to find work in Detroit, about 100 miles away, he made an even bolder choice: he went to New York City. As far as I know, he had no friends or contacts there, yet he found work as a linotype operator at the Staten Island Advance. For housing, he rented a room at a woman’s boarding house, and she thought he might be a nice young man for her niece’s stepdaughter – my Grandma.

They married in 1935 and he worked for the Staten Island Advance until he retired in 1972 after 41 years’ service.

The Great Depression was a terrible thing, but it did bring my grandparents together.

Staten Island (N. Y.) Advance, August 23, 1972, page 25

Challenge

Small changes can make a big difference. What butterfly effect have you seen or experienced?

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.

SNGF: Not Every Memory Fits in a Shadowbox

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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: March 21, 2026

Prompt: “March 21 is National Memory Day.  How can we celebrate, and participate, in the day?  I asked AI tool ChatGPT how, and it suggested “Capture a Memory Before Its Gone;” “Rescue and Identify Old Photos;” “Record a Oral History;” “Organize One Small Thing;”  “Share a Story With Family;” “Visit or Virtually Honor Ancestors.””

Introduction

This week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge, from Randy Seaver, marks March 21 as National Memory Day and invites us to consider how we might celebrate and participate. The suggestion was to come up with our own ideas, and as I thought about it, I realized I’ve already been doing this in different ways, even if I didn’t call it that at the time. You probably have as well.

Discussion

One of the most tangible examples sits right in my home: a shadowbox holding my great-grandmother, Alice Britton Makey’s, initialed fork. (Blog about it here.) It’s a small, everyday object, but preserving it, and the story behind it, felt important. It gave her a physical presence, something I could see and point to. But as meaningful as it is, I also know I can’t fill my house with shadowboxes. Not every memory can live that way.

Some memories are better experienced than displayed.

I was reminded of that by a relative (Helen Denny Woodman, author of The Descendants of Henry Denny, 1758-1839, also my ancestor) who, while caring for her husband as his memory declined, would sit with him and go through old family photo albums. Those albums weren’t just records – they were invitations. They allowed him to reconnect, to recognize, to feel something familiar even as other memories slipped away. That idea has stayed with me, and it’s inspired me to create albums of our own family trips – not just to document where we’ve been, but to make it easier to revisit those moments together.

And then there are the memories you can hear.

When I had an old cassette converted (blog here), I discovered a recording of my father reading a poem he had written. Hearing his voice again was something no object could replicate. It wasn’t just preservation; it was presence. For a few minutes, he wasn’t just someone I remembered. He was there.

Thinking about National Memory Day in this way, I’m struck by how many forms memory can take. Some are physical, like a fork in a shadowbox. Others are shared, like turning the pages of an album. Still others are almost intangible, like a voice carried forward through time.

Not every memory fits in a shadowbox – but that may be the point. Memory isn’t meant to live in just one form. It lives in the ways we choose to hold on, to revisit, and to share.

A cassette tape hand-labeled "New poem readings"

AI Disclosure

This post was developed with the assistance of AI tools to help organize ideas and refine wording, while preserving my original reflections and voice.

SNGF: My Genealogy Day

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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: March 14, 2026

Prompt: “How was your genealogy day?  Tell us about it – what genealogy-related activities did you do today, yesterday, or another day this past week? Researching, summarizing, transcribing, analyzing, writing, etc.”

Introduction

I’m going to be selective in choosing my “day.” I choose Saturday, March 14, 2026, the day this prompt was posted.

Discussion

It turned out to be a particularly full (and satisfying) day.

I started an IGHR course: Genetics for Genealogists: Fundamentals of DNA. I consider myself a lifelong learner and tend to take courses for the joy of learning, not always with a specific end goal in mind. That said, I do try to pursue at least one genealogy-focused educational experience each year. In the past, that’s included GRIP, NGS courses, the Boston University certificate program, and various study groups.

This year, I somehow ended up with two IGHR courses on my radar; both virtual and spread over several weeks. (Not my first IGHR courses… just my first this year!) The DNA course is clearly going to be challenging, which makes it all the more exciting. I developed a solid foundation in genetics through BU, but I know I still have gaps, especially when it comes to chromosome browsers and related tools.

In addition to coursework, I also worked on a blog post: Favorite RootsTech Session, after finally completing my RootsTech 2026 playlist.

And finally, I spent time working on the ancestors book I’m creating for my children. Saturday’s focus was disambiguating Matthew Kearney – a task that required careful sorting and attention to detail.

Summary

All in all, it was a very productive genealogy day. And honestly, those are some of the most fun days of all.

Challenge

Take a moment to tally up the different genealogy tasks you’ve worked on recently. You might be surprised (and impressed) by how much you’ve accomplished.

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: An Address With a Story

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An Address With a Story

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 12: An Address With a Story

Introduction

My assigned Week 12 ancestor is my paternal grandfather, Edward Anderson (1912–1985).

I’ve only ever known Grandpa to live at 60 Hillview Street, in Naugatuck, Connecticut. Of course, that wasn’t always the case – and it wasn’t even the plan.

Discussion

Grandpa was orphaned just days before his twelfth birthday. He and his two sisters were separated, each sent to different places. Grandma told me he lived with Uncle Jim and Aunt Lena for a time, but he seemed to spend much of his youth in “a home” – likely an orphanage, possibly St. Michael’s Home in Staten Island, New York.

By 1930, I found him as a young man rooming with two other young men, perhaps also without family support. He was working for a “rubber house,” where I believe he remained for the rest of his career.

By the next federal census, he had married, and he and his bride were living in Manhattan. They were still there in 1950.

Not long after, they moved to Staten Island, where I believe they purchased their first home.

At some point, Grandpa’s employer wanted to relocate him, but they chose not to go. The next time the company asked, Grandma told me, they felt they couldn’t refuse – they would be risking the household’s only income.

That decision brought them to Naugatuck, Connecticut, home of the United States Rubber Company. They bought what they considered a starter home: two bedrooms, one bath, and no expectation that it would be permanent.

Yet something about the house suited them. They made it their own. Grandpa lived the remaining 20 years of his life there, and Grandma stayed another 24 after that.

What they thought would be temporary became their forever home.

When my younger cousin once asked me for memories of Grandpa (she had been only a preschooler when he died) I told her about the walks he would take me on through that neighborhood. They knew their neighbors. Family settled nearby. It felt like a place where they had finally found peace.

I believe they were happy in that home.

Figure 1 Image from realtor.com

Challenge

What address has a special connection for you?

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 Pattern

SNGF: Favorite RootsTech Session

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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.

Favorite RootsTech Session

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: March 7, 2026

Prompt: “RootsTech 2026 just finished today.  Did you watch any classes online?  Which online class was your favorite, perhaps the most informative, most helpful, or most entertaining, for you?”

Introduction

Have I watched any classes online? 18, so far.

Which was my favorite? Wow, that’s almost as bad as asking which child is my favorite.

Discussion

There are so many which I would heartily recommend!

  • I watched every Artificial Intelligence one which was put online (sadly, not all of them were). (These links are for your convenience, but please note that only one day comes up; you need to tab over to the other days of the conference.)
  • I leaned heavily on the Methodology sessions.
  • I was astounded, as always, by the Gardiner Brothers in the Day 3 Keynote.

But once I watch my entire list, the first one I plan to rewatch will be:

FamilySearch Full-Text Search – Your Golden Path to Ancestral Discovery with David Ouimette.

He’s an engaging, experienced speaker, and genuinely enthused about his subject.  He explains the advances FamilySearch has made to Full-Text Search, with real, relatable examples of how to use it. He explains navigation and when we would want to choose the different options. He gives search examples for different scenarios.

One of the most exciting parts of the session is learning that Full-Text Search doesn’t rely solely on traditional indexes. Instead, FamilySearch is using AI to read and transcribe historical handwriting, allowing us to search every word in millions of documents. That means names, places, and details that never made it into indexes can suddenly become discoverable.

This opens up records that were previously searchable only by browsing images—court records, land records, and other manuscript collections where names appear deep inside the text.

As the lead of FamilySearch Content Strategy for Asia-Pacific, he has unique insight into what’s coming.

Ouimette’s enthusiasm is truly contagious in this session – I highly recommend everyone drop this blog right now and go watch it!

Challenge

Go watch just one session* – navigate to https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/schedule?tab=full_schedule&day=2026-03-07 and filter by a topic or speaker you’re interested in!

* OK that was a trick. You can’t stop at just one.

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 Turning Point

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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 11: A Turning Point

Introduction

My assigned Week 11 ancestor is Ida Rabinowitz.

On July 31, 1912, Ida arrived at Ellis Island with her four daughters. They had crossed the Atlantic to reunite with her husband Sam, who had been living in New York for five years[1]. Based on the dates, it seems likely he had never even met their youngest child.

It should have been a joyful reunion.

Instead, everything fell apart.

Ida was deemed too ill to admit because of an eye infection. She would be deported.

The weather that day was beautiful — a low of 63°F and a high of 77°F.[2] But for Ida, it must have felt like the worst day of her life.

She now faced an impossible choice: Should she take her daughters back across the ocean with her… or leave them with a father they barely knew?

Discussion

You may recognize this story from last week’s post, which told it from Sam’s perspective. But how gut-wrenching it must have been for Ida!

If you remember his story from last week, you’ll know that Ida left the girls with their dad. With family assistance, he was able to care for them. Ida eventually “snuck back into” the United States.

She was traumatized enough that she never let Sam naturalize, out of fear that her undocumented status would be discovered.

That beautiful-turned-terrible July day was a turning point for that family, and its reverberations were felt for generations.

I like to think Ida held her head high, knowing she had made the sacrifice for her children.

Challenge

What turning points has your family experienced? Knowing what you know now, would you make the same choices?
Knowing what they knew then, would you?

Want to Learn More?

Ellis Island – Overview + History

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: An Address With a Story

[1] S.S. Vaderland, arr. Jul 31 1912 from Antwerp left Jul 20 1912 “Page 657”, stamped p. 153

[2] https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/new-york/year-1912#july