My First Find on the 1940 Census

See what happens when you can't sleep at night!

On Lines 18 is my Grandfather George Joseph Hartmann, line 19 is my Grandmother Mary Jirak Hartmann, who gave the information for the enumerator.
Line 20 is my Dad and he was working as a Fireman.  21 is my Aunt Em and 22 is my Uncle Richard.

I was a little surprised to see my Dad living at home at age 27.

This is the link I used to help find them.  It was really easy.  Direct Me NYC.  You look your family up in the New York City directory of 1940, I went to Ancestry and typed in the cross streets and after scanning a few pages to get to the right street I found them.  How easy is that!!! If you have New York ancestors go try it you will like it!

One small step for me and my ancestors!

New Document and a New Spelling

Last night just before going to bed I found a 1910 Census with my Grandmother listed as a daughter with her 3 siblings and her mother as head of the house. 

You will notice that the last name is spelled Jirek. I have always seen the spelling as Jirak. Her Mom's name is correct her, sibling names are correct. Her age and her borthers' ages are correct. I have a different age for the sister but my original source might not be reliable on that.

The other interesting facts are Mary's brother Joseph is married but no wife is listed for him and there is a boarder an infant a William Doherty age 1 & 2/12. Where is his mother?


My great grandmother has been a widow since 1902, so for 8 years. According to this census she spoke Bohemian.

My Grandmother worked in a Cigarette factory and her brothers were painters. 

Well I have learned more and need to find out more. 

One small step for me and my ancestors.

Home: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History

Week 4: Home. Describe the house in which you grew up. Was it big or small? What made it unique? Is it still there today?

Hosted by Geneabloggers and developed by Amy at We Tree.

My first one was 15-19 Parsons Blvd, Whitestone, Queens, New York.  My grandfather George Joseph Hartmann and my Dad also George Joseph Hartmann built the house.  I am not sure if that means they had sweat equity in the house or if they had it built. 

This the only picture I have that shows the most of the front of the house.  It had three bed rooms, one and a half baths, a finished basement, and an attic.  I learned how to roller skate in that basement, with key skates.



Check out those dirty knees!

In this picture you can see the side of the house and our mud room and the path to the back yard is this way.  We had a split level front yard and back yard.  How I wish I had more pictures of this house.  I always thought it was a large house but when I went back and saw the outside of it when I was 21 or so, I thought it looked very small. 


My Dad & Me

This picture shows the maple tree we had in front of the house and the view down the street.  I have no idea why my parents didn't take front on pictures of the house.  I know that I do.  We moved out of this house in June of 1959.  I have no idea how much my parents sold it for. 

This is the picture I found of my first house on Google Earth.

Mary, George & Donald 1959






Here we are the summer of 1959 in front of our new home in Fort Lauderdale Florida, guess what we are facing the house, so you can't see it. Now we have a palm tree instead of a maple.

 

 



September 1964


This picture shows more of the front of the house. This is when I was a Senior in High School. This house has three bedrooms and two baths. While I was in high school my Dad had the swapped the location of the kitchen and the dinning room and added on a Florida room.







 
 
 
 

In May of 2009 my hubby and I went back to Florida for a vacation.  We drove by the old Florida house.  So it is still there also.  This address is
5148 NE 4 Ave
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today would be my Dad's 98th Birthday if he was still with us.  He is on his wedding day to my Mom, Annette Corkish.  He was 36 in this picture on June 25th 1949, just a couple of weeks until his birthday.

Some of his favorite sayings are:
        There is no such thing as a free lunch.
        If it is worth doing, it is worth doing well.
        If you want something you have to work for it.
        If you can read you can do anything you want in this life.

I'm sure there were more but I can not think of them at this time. 

One of my memories I have of him is he had a money jar in the kitchen cabinet and he knew every penny that was in it and I mean every cent.  It was very difficult to take any money from the jar because he would miss the money and he would point out to you exactly how much was missing.  I only tried once.  He had a thin stack of half sheets of paper and he would divide the paper into eight equal parts.  One square for each day of the week and a total square.  He used both sides of that paper.  That is how he accounted for all his money.  Everyday he would write down what he spent and totaled it on the end of the week.  He had no credit cards until later in life.  He was practical with money.   He believed in work and working hard. 

Well Dad, I hope you are having a good day!
Love me,