I am grateful for the Ancestors that Immigrated to America

This week's prompt for the weekly themes to write up something about was Immigration. This is my post about Immigration and my ancestors.

This is a Scrapbooking page I made for my Ancestors book. It lists the years they arrived here in America. I made this about 10 years ago. Now when I looked at it I think I should add the countries 

they came from. So let me list that now. 

Joseph Hartmann is from Germany, 1868.

Susanne Naef is from Germany, unknown.

Joseph Jirak is from Bohemia before 1884.

Katerina Holounova is from Chrtníč, 3 Havlička Brod, Vzsočna Kraj, Czechia. I just found her hometown 

last summer in July of 2023.

Fredrick and Anna Spahn  came as a couple with several children from Germany, before 1885. 

My grandmother was the only child born in America.

William Chaplin came from England and is the only Ancestor that came in through Ellis Island. 

Below their names are the many question I would like to ask them about their experience of coming to America.

Family Lore

One of the prompts for #52 Ancestors for 2024 is Family Lore. 

What is  family lore?

I guess the simplest explanation of family lore are the stories told in the home about the family. Usually from the parents 

or older generations to the younger generation. 

 My Dad was quite the story teller. Some of his stories were hard to believe and some you know, are just not impossible. 

This story I was able to disprove and verify. That might sound strange to you but wait, you will see what I mean.

Dad always told us we were as American 

as those who came over on the Mayflower. 

As a kid I didn't think much about it, I knew I was American and that was all that was important to me. 

When I started doing Family History at 30, 

I realized he was not correct. 

His grandfather came from Germany in 1868 and my grandfather on my mother's side came from England in 1906. So, I am still American but not a decedent of the Mayflower. 

I though he told this story because he was of German decent and had lived through both World Wars and had maybe faced some discriminations. He lived in a German area and went to a school for the German community and had a German last name of Hartmann.

Later in my life and after doing more family research on Annette Corkish, who is my Bonus Mother and my dad's second wife and the mother of my three brothers. And after meeting cousins on Social Media and Ancestry.

One of those cousins showed me how her line goes 

back to Henry Samson from the Mayflower. 

Henry Samson, was a 16 year old on the Mayflower.

Annette my Bonus Mom

Thus, the story is disproved and verify at the same time. 

Right for my three brothers but not me. I think my dad just included me in the group as a decedent because he wanted us four kids to feel like one family and not draw attention to my mother who had died when I was an infant. 

So, sorry Dad that I didn't believe you. 

All I can claim is that I was raised by a descendent of the Mayflower. Annette was a good Mom so that is all that really matters.

Standing Dad George, Mary, brother George, sitting Annette and brother Don.

This picture was taken in Whitestone, NY, before we moved to Florida and my youngest brother was born.

For clarification my mother Edith died a week before my first birthday and Annette my bonus mom died a week before my 17th birthday. Annette was the only mom I knew. 

The Obstacles I Over Came to Become a Nurse

The prompt for Week 4 of #52 Weeks, #52 Ancestors is on Education.

     I have always wanted to be a nurse from a very young age. My Mom (Annette) was a nurse and that might have influenced my decision. I also knew I didn’t want to be a teacher, secretary, or telephone operator. Those were the only jobs available with good earning potential for women when I was graduating from high school in 1965. I was looking forward to living in a nursing dormitory and training in a hospital. My path to becoming a nurse wasn’t as easy as I dreamed.

    Mom never wanted me to be a nurse because nursing was hard work and she knew I don’t really like hard work unless it is something I enjoy. She wanted me to be a dental hygienist another field I didn’t want to work in. I knew nursing was hard work because I can remember how tired she was when she came home from work. She would take her uniform off and sitting in the chair in her full-length slip with her white nylon stocking rolled down to her ankles. This is the pre-panty hose era, so two separate stockings held up with either a girdle or gather belt. She would elevate her feet and be so grateful to be able to relax.

Mary at High School

    The next hurdle was my Catholic High School principal, Sister Carradine, who had the nerve to tell my parents I won’t graduate from high school when I was a freshman. But I persisted and made it to be a Senior. When I was a Senior and taking the entrance exam for two different Diploma Schools of Nursing, Sister Carradine had the audacity to tell me, “You are too stupid to be a nurse, compassionate enough to be a good one but not smart enough.” I was not accepted by the two Diploma schools of nursing I tested for; I was a C student and just missed the top half of my class by two people.

Mary LPN Graduation

    Now for the next challenge, I enrolled in the Broward Vocation School in the LPN program in September of 1965 at the age of 17. The nursing instructors made it very clear to me that I was the youngest student they had ever accepted, and they were not sure it was the right to accept me into the program. I think they pushed me harder than some of the other students.

    On October 13th I had an emergency appendectomy, it was a Wednesday night. I missed school on Thursday, Friday & Monday, which was a half day of testing for a scholarship. I walked into school on Tuesday, and I was asked what I was doing there; they had dropped me from the program. I told them they could not drop from the program because I had not missed 5 days of school; I had missed 3 days of school. They also questioned if I could physically do the work. My doctor had cleared me to do all activities. We weren’t doing patient care yet in the hospital. I do not remember thinking that was gutsy back then but in retrospect, it sure did take some guts to stand up to what I knew was right. I was able to finish the year-long program, but they made me make up two days of school at the end of the year. I spent my make time cleaning the classroom for the incoming class. My grades were straight A average and I was also nominated by my classmates as Student of the Year and was able to go to an LPN Nursing Convention and represent my school and class.

Mary RN Student

    Oh, I am not done, one more to go. In 1970 I enrolled in Broward Junior College back then, now a Community College for their nursing program to obtain high education to become an RN. During my first semester, I had an interview with the Dean of the School of Nursing. She reviewed my high school grades, and she didn’t think I would be accepted for those grades. I mentioned I was an A student and student of the year in my LPN program. Her comment was, “The LPN program is only equivalent to a 10th-grade education.” I am sitting there thinking it was a lot harder than high school, I am sure my jaw dropped at her comment. She would review my grades after I had completed a semester and if I had Cs in all my classes I would be accepted into the nursing program. In 1972 I graduated from BCC with a straight A average, was on the President's list, and was a member of the Honor Society.

    

    

RN Graduation

    After graduating from BCC and passing my Florida State Board of Nursing I enrolled in Florida International University in 1973. They accepted all my community college credits and I enrolled as a junior. In 1976 I graduated with my BSN and was on the Dean’s List. During my nursing education, I worked as a nurse. I felt like I was eating, drinking, and sleeping nursing for the five years it took me to earn my ASN and then a BSN, but it was worth it.

     In 1975 I attended my 10-year high school Reunion and was able to speak with Sister Carradine, I mentioned I had worked as an LPN for many years before getting my RN from a junior college and that I was one semester away from earning my BSN. Her comment to me was, “I knew you could do it, you just had to do it your way.” I never want to punch someone until that night, but I wanted to punch her! I pull my arm back and made a fist, I wanted to swing up and punch her right on her chin. But I didn’t.

    I guess the moral of the story is if you want it bad enough you will get it. The path that opened to me wasn’t the path I dreamed of as a kid. But it got me where I wanted to be. Many of my friends who went to diploma school had to repeat nursing 101 over again at a university level. I did have to start over in junior college, but it was more informative than what I had in the LPN program. I didn’t have to repeat any classes at the university level. Having my BSN opened many career doors for me, especially for jobs that required a BSN.

Retirement Dinner after a 47-year career as a nurse

.

LPN = Licensed Practical Nurse. Jokingly referred to as Low Paid Nurse RN = Registered Nurse, not a Real Nurse ASN = Associate Degree in Nursing BSN = Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing

Favorite Photo

This week's prompt for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, 

is a favorite photo. Of course, there are many and I probably have one for each ancestor. But when I read the prompt this is the photo that comes to mind.

These are my maternal grandparents, William Thomas Chaplin and Minnie Elizabeth Spahn. It was taken on the roof of the apartment building they lived in, Brooklyn, Kings, New York.  

It is a very relaxed and intimate pose. The fingers intertwined. His hand was on her waist. The leaning. 

The dark mark by his mouth is from a pen. 

I asked my Aunt Bea, my mother's sister about this picture, and below is the information she shared with me. 

Click on the image to enlarge

Here is the same picture colorized by My Heritage. 

I'd Like to Meet...

I am looking forward to meeting my mother Edith Inez Chaplin. 

Yes, you read that right. My mother died a week before my first birthday from Breast Cancer. 

She was 32 years old. 

Feb 5, 1949, my mother Edith died from the complications of Breast Cancer. It was one week before my first birthday. 

I have wondered what she was like and what she saw in my father. Remember all kids have a funny view of their parents. What things did she enjoy, her favorite color you know those normal kinds of things. Dad didn't tell me much about her maybe because he had a new wife and maybe because it was too painful for him to remember.

I can remember when they told me I had a different mother than my brothers. I think I was six. It was the second time, they told me about my mother. They had told me the year before but I didn't remember that. They gave me a compact with an "E" engraved on it and her picture. I, unfortunately, lost the compact.

I also wonder what she worried about as she lost her battle with cancer and what things she would have liked to tell me if she could. She was diagnosed in August and was gone by February, after spending 25 years of my life as an Oncology nurse, I know she had a very aggressive kind of cancer.

What I do know about her I know from my Aunt Bea & Uncle Bill her siblings. Her nickname was "The Swede" because she was so blond when she was little, as her picture above shows. As a little kid, she had an active imagination and was frequently caught talking to her boys, her imaginary friends. As a young girl of 9, her Dad passed away and she had to fend for herself after school as everyone else in the household had to go to work.

When I went to New York that summer I was 15, and the first I did when I walked into Aunt Bea's house was kick my shoes off. My Aunt tells me, "That is exactly what your mother always did as soon as she walked in the house the shoes came off." It made me feel very good to know I had a habit of my mother's even without knowing it. She liked to sing and would sing harmony with Uncle Bob, Aunt Bea's husband.

As a teenager, if she didn't want to go out with a guy again, or didn't want to give a guy her phone number she would give them the phone number to the police station. Now that sounds like something I would do. Come to think of it I have. 

I used to think I got all my sass from my Dad maybe not.

She worked as a waitress and had office jobs. She eloped at 18 to a guy about 10 years older but that ended in divorce. I was told my Dad's parents didn't like this fact and they waited until his parents died to marry.  But they died in 1943, I think the delay also had something to do with WWII, as the war ended in September of 1945 and they married in October of 1945.

My Aunt Em, my Dad's sister liked both of my mothers and enjoyed them both as much as if they had been sisters. I don't know when or how she & my dad meet. She became a Catholic to marry him. And that is about all I know. I like this last picture of my mother, she looks like a really classy gal. I also think some of the fashions from the forty's had a really classic style and made women look great.

I just remembered one more story. My Mom use to tell me that my Mother and Dad wanted to have children really bad, and they had been married for 3 years before I came along. The story goes that once the doctor told Edith she couldn't have any children she got pregnant. That was really cool of my second mom to share such a story with me.

As I re-read the letter from my uncle and aunts everyone expressed a lot of love for both of my mothers and that I was always to respect and honor both of them. I think I have.

What a Shock!

I am in the process of obtaining a passport to go to England next year with my cousin. We are going to meet our second cousins on our grandfather's side. 

All Blog Post Need a Picture.

To get a passport you need to have a birth certificate with your parents names on it. My certificate just has my name, date and place of birth. I guess it called a short form. My Dad requested this in the 1961. 

I requested a copy of my birth certificate from New York City by using the third party service that is available and it is fast. 

Last night I received and email with the following information.

evitalsystem@health.nyc.gov	5:19 PM (16 hours ago)
to me

Your order has been voided due to the following reasons: The mother's first and last name you provided is incorrect. Any payments will be refunded. Please do not reply to this email. This email is sent from the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene.

I was shocked! What? Why? I know who my mother is, I am even DNA matches to second cousins from the same line. Stung and not thinking clearly and wondering what they are talking about and it being 11 PM; I posted on New York City Genealogy group on Facebook. The next best place to go to get ideas.

I received some very helpful suggestions. 

One gal suggested I send a copy of my parent's marriage certificate and my short form birth certificate. To show that Edith was my mother.

Or Two

One person asked if my step mother adopted me. Yes, she did when I was 10 or 11. I remember going to a lawyers office and signing the papers with my parents. The lawyer thought I was very clever, because of how I signed my name. It didn't fit on the line provide, I had to use my full name, Mary Elizabeth and Surname and I made it fit by continuing under the printed text next to the line. My Dad and Mom wanted me to be adopted as we were moving to Florida from New York City and he didn't want any one to question my step mom's rights. Plus she loved me and this made me her daughter. 

Because I was adopted a new certificate was issued with Annette being my mother. I have two adopted daughters I know this happens. I did not apply this knowledge to myself. I think of Edith as my mother and Annette as my second Mom who raised me. So my birth certificate should have Edith on it. 

As you can see many heads do help us solve a problem. And even though we know all the facts, some times getting the documentation to prove the facts hit a road block. Plus we forget some important details along the way.

Luckily, the state of New York passed a bill that adoptees can get their birth records. The bill is on the governor's desk waiting for his signature. 

I might see if I can get a copy of both birth certificates at the same time. If I can't I am going to order a birth certificate with my step mom's name and when the bill is signed I will get one with my birth mother's name on it.  

The good thing is I didn't have to show my birth certificate to get my passport because I already had one, that proved who I was. It is just 40 years old. I still want a copy of my full birth certificate for genealogical purposes. 

31 Days to Better Genealogy Day 4

I really have been busy working on my special project mentioned in Day 1. So this my Day 4 is way out of sequence from the hints I am following by Amy Johnson Crow but it is the hint that I have been working on. In her book 31 Days to Better Genealogy this is Day 31. So I jumped to the end. Right, it is my project, I can do it anyway I want. This hint is to write something, any thing, even just a page on an ancestor. 

I watched a webinar about using Scivener to help organize your writing. It sounded like a good tool to use to help me with my project of writing about each one of my ancestors for the Chaplin line. I found some more videos on how to use the program and downloaded the free trial. 

What I like about it, I can make sections, or pages and have one main idea on each page. I can move them around to rearrange the order. It lays it out in a way that makes it easier to write than to put it in one long word document. I can add pictures and make side notes, like check for this. I even copied my timeline for Edith from excel and pasted it onto a page. I also can add footnotes.  The program also has the ability to change fonts.

I am writing this more in a story form instead of an official case report. I haven't figured out how to do an official case report. I have some ideas but I will save that for a later day. 

Cork Board

On the cork board it a place to hold your index cards for your project.

Top of First Page

This is the top of the first page that is just the beginning of Edith's life. With an image of her Birth Certificate. 

Bottom of Page 1 with Footnote

This is the bottom of the first page that shows the footnote I added.  Oh my gosh my memory is gone. I forgot how I add this. I am thinking I took it from my genealogy software. 

This is the page where I inserted my timeline from excel. I just copied and pasted. 

I did just print page one to see how it looks and it looks very nice and the foot note is at the bottom. Much easier to add than I think it would be in a word document. 

So I am learning lots and feeling like I have a good start to my project. Once I finish with my first draft of each page, I will have someone else proof it for me. Once I make those corrections it will be on the her father. 

31 Days to Better Genealogy Day 3 or a Rabbit Hole

Well Monday, yesterday, September 9th, I was going to work on Day 3 and do that activity.  Which was to look closer at Census reports. But I had done that on 6th for my person of interest, Edith, my mother. So I began thinking that I really am working on this Big Project for a family reunion, so maybe I should start a new Genealogy file and make sure all my sources are correctly entered. I know they aren't correctly entered in my current file. So I started a new file and. I was adding pictures, since that is easy to complete and I couldn't find my mother's pictures. Not on my computer my hard drive or my cloud backup. I have no idea what cyber hole they fell into, but they are in it. Since I don't have that many pictures of Edith, I decided to scan them again, as TIFs which is another thing I had on my to do list. 

Now do all these steps correctly are important to do so others can follow what work you completed and how to find where you left off, but I still kind of feel like I went down a rabbit hole. 

I did think of two facts I can look for, her Christening as an infant and her Baptism as an adult. To marry my Dad she became Catholic. So now I have add those items to my to do list. So it wasn't wasted time, I learned some things, which is always good. I am also not as well organized as I think I am. 

Here is my favorite picture of Edith.