Treasures from the Library - Interlibrary Loans

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 5 (At the Library)


After finding out that my grandfather was not Clyde Robertson as the family had believed I set out to figure out who he was. When I discovered he was Max Pellack born in Northern Saskatchewan I set out to find out what I could about the area my family came from. 

I was told that he was born on the homestead in Gronlid, Saskatchewan the year after his parents immigrated to Canada with their three older children. They arrived by ship from Skoryky (Скорики), Ternopil's'ka, Ukraine. Using Library & Archives Canada I was able to view a copy of the ship's manifest. Armed with a few spelling variation for the names and dates I began searching for more information about the Pellack family & the community of Gronlid.

I found that there was a history book that was written in 1991 titled OUR COURAGEOUS PIONEERS, History of Gronlid and Surrounding Districts of: Argus, Athol, Edenbridge, Freedom, Maryille, Murphy Creek, Sandhill Creek, Taelman, Teras, Teddington that was not available to purchase or borrow anywhere that I could find. I emailed the Gronlid library to ask if there was any way that I could borrow their copy of the book. I explained that I didn't know anything about my Gronlid family because my grandfather had changed his name and left them behind, but I understood there was some information about my great grandparents in the book. The librarian replied that there was no way for me to borrow the book, but she transcribed the page about my grandparents that included information about my grandfather and his siblings.

This little bit of info about my probable family left me hungry for more. I sent an email to the Interlibrary loan department of my library explaining that the book seemed to not be available via any source, but maybe she could work her magic for me. 

About a month later I was notified that she had managed to find a way to borrow it for me, but there might be a fee. I was willing to pay the fee so she went ahead with the order. When it arrived there was no charge. The book was leather bound, 11 inches by 9 inches, and 2.5 inches thick. It was full of detailed listings about families and their people.  I had never been so excited to take a book home from the library before. This was one beautiful book. I opened the book right there in the library to the page about my grandparents, and discovered the librarian had scribed word for word for me what was there. What she hadn't told me was there was a photo. This was the first time I had ever seen my great grandparents. 

Mary (nee Maximiw) and Alexander Pellack

As I looked at the photo of my great grandparents I realized that my dad sort of looked like his grandmother, and that I shared some features as well. My uncle looked so much like his grandfather. I was still uncertain that Clyde Robertson really was Max Pellack even with the similarities.

I only had the book for 2 weeks because it was a library book that had to go back to the Gronlid public library.  I pored over the details making copious notes. Still uncertain these were my relatives. How could I ever be sure? I scanned a few pages feeling uncertain that I wanted to store information about people that might not even be my relatives. 

On an interesting side note I found my husband's coworker and his family listed in the book. We were both surprised to discover our people had been neighbours. They may have even been connected socially. There is so much I will never know about my family of origin.

It was a couple of years later when my Ancestry DNA results confirmed that Clyde Robertson really was Max Pellack.  And a couple of years after that I received a copy of the book OUR COURAGEOUS PIONEERS, HISTORY OF GRONLID.... as a present from my new found cousins.  

I spend a lot of time going over the details in the book now that I know for certain these were my relatives. There was much I missed when I had it for that two week loan period. 

I will be eternally grateful to the Gronlid public library for loaning it to me through my local library's interlibrary loan department. The first glimpse of my great grandparents, great aunt, great uncle, and cousins was an amazing experience for me. 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of to the blog post***

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

This lady in waiting --- too late to meet my famous cousin

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 4 (I'd Like to Meet)

Growing up I had a very small family circle. I didn't have very many extended family members. Anytime I wondered why I was told that my ancestors didn't stay connected to their families or they came from a small family. It wasn't until I started searching that I realized the lack of family connections was because I descend from at least 3 black-sheep lines.

My grandmother was born Bayes. This family line is not a black-sheep line. As far back as I knew it was a proper English line. For this reason I didn't bother searching. I thought I already knew the line was boring. 

The only exciting part of that line that I knew was that I was related to the actress Nora Bayes. This famous relative was paraded out at all family gatherings. When I first started researching I discovered Nora Bayes' birth name was Rachel Eleanora Goldberg. My Bayes family line is not related to Nora Bayes. I have told my grandmother we aren't related to Nora Bayes many times. The last time she mentioned it again, I smiled & said how exciting that was. I realized that I wan't responsible for altering my senior grandmother's reality.
Family lore is interesting. 

What would have been way more exciting to parade out at all our family gatherings is that THIS particular Bayes line includes Princess Diana. Princess Diana is my 11th cousin.  Her 10th great grandparents are also my 10th great grandparents.
The grandparents we have in common are:

Thomas Ford

BIRTH 1587 • Bridport, Dorset, England

DEATH 9 NOV 1676 • Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America
and

Elizabeth Charde

BIRTH 1589 • Thorncombe, Bridgeport, Dorsetshire, England

DEATH 18 APR 1643 • Windsor, Hartford, Colony of Connecticut, British Colonial America

I am the 10th great granddaughter of Thomas & Elizabeth through their daugher Hepzibah, and Diana is their 10th great granddaughter through their daughter Abigail.  I was delighted when I opened the library book with Princess Diana's genealogy to find my ancestors. If I was being honest I would have to admit that I really was searching for famous folks in my family tree. Through this line I found the genealogy jackpot.

To find a royal relative was beyond anything I had imagined. Until I took a moment to realize I am related to Diana through HER black-sheep line (her mom's branch of the family tree). One more black-sheep line found.

I would love to have met Diana. Not only because she was a princess, but because she was an amazing person who accomplished amazing things.

My mother passed away about a year before I discovered the family connection to Diana. Mom would have loved knowing she was related to a princess.

Have to admit I was shocked when my invitation to Harry & Megan's wedding never arrived. I guess they didn't want to invite the Canadian cousins.

This lady in waiting is watching the mailbox for the invite to the baby shower!

Diana circa 1992

Can you see the family resemblance?

Me circa 1984

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of to the blog post***

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

Secrets Exposed - Still Working Out How the Deuchars & Lambs fit

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 3 (Unusual Name)

I opened my email box one morning, and SURPRISE a 'you know nothing Deb' email arrived. It was from a brother & sister research team who had found my Ancestry DNA results on GedMatch. They let me know that I was related to many of their relatives, and none of the folks in my tree were familiar to them. They also noted that I shared more DNA with many of their known relatives than they did, and yet it appeared I didn't know any of them.

I was brand new to DNA, and had no idea what they were saying or what exactly I could do with it. They offered to look at my tree, and see what they could figure out.

They offered me an unusual name .... Deuchar as my 4th great grandmother. Elizabeth Deuchar and her husband John Lamb appeared to be my X4 great grandparents via my mother's paternal line. Yet there were no Duechars or Lambs in my family tree no matter how long I searched.

They postulated that my grandmother Nellie May Cannon was not the daughter of Jack Cannon as had been expected. Their working assumption was that Nellie's mother Edith May Lake had Nellie with John Lamb (the grandson of Elizabeth Deuchar and John Lamb through their son Charles). John Lamb (the grandson) and Jack Cannon were both engineers for the railway, and census finds the two families living on the same street in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

My immediate thought was that now I understood why there was so little Irish in my DNA results. I had been confused how I could have almost no Irish when my great great grandfather had been born in Ireland. At the time I decided that it was because of the generation distance between us. I now suspected it was because my great great grandfather was Scottish instead of the expected Irish. This began my crash course in Genealogical DNA, but first I went back to good old fashioned research.



I began by looking again at all of Nellie's documents. I discovered that the registration did say her parents were married at the time of her birth, but her birth wasn't registered until Nellie was much older. There were census records showing that Nellie had been living with Jack Cannon's sister in the United States for parts of her childhood. Nanny had told me about those years. She had also shared that she wasn't her father's favourite, and it often was obvious. Maybe Jack Cannon knew or suspected that Nellie wasn't his biological child. Or maybe Nellie just remembered from her own perspective. It doesn't take blood to be a father. 

Still not wanting to embrace this scandal if it wasn't a real one I dug back through more records. I was looking to prove or disprove the working scenario. All the details provided by my new found cousins were exactly as they stated them.

I looked at the DNA I had in common with descendants of Nellie's two known sisters. Using the in common matches (on Ancestry) and centimorgans it became quite clear. Nellie and her two sisters were half siblings. Nellie's two younger sisters were full siblings. All three girls had the same mother. Since John Lamb and his wife adopted their children I was unable to confirm a sibling match for Nellie through the father of this assumed scenario. 

I created a new tree on Ancestry that I refer to as my guessing tree called DNA - Lake/Cannon/Lamb/Deuchar Minnesota Mystery. So far no one has taken me up on my request for more information if they know anything about this story.

Edith May Lake is a brick wall for me. I have been unable to prove who her parents were. She had 4 known husbands. Records said her father was John or Fred and her mother Della Wish or Zundal Jackson. Then again maybe the records aren't for the same person. Turns out Edith May Lake isn't an uncommon name. Still I search.



When this mystery first presented I was positive that I would never really understand how to go beyond guessing when trying to figure out NPEs (non-parental events). In the past two years my understanding of how to triangulate DNA matches allowed me to assist an Ancestry DNA match determine her likely father in my husband's tree. The more you learn the farther you go.

This week's challenge has sent me back to look again at the DNA matches for the Deuchar/Lamb connections, and tug a little more to see what I can find. This week I connected my DNA to my guessing tree on Ancestry for this purpose.

Maybe you can help me with this brick wall. Do you know anything about Edith May Lake?  Do you know anything about Nellie being the child of John Lamb or any other Deuchar/Lamb descendent?

This is why I search - 

Cause ...

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

**************************************************************
Below are my possible X4 great grandparents, X3 great grandfather, X2 great grandfather.

Elizabeth Deuchar
1818–1887
BIRTH 25 SEP 1818 • Pitteris, Parish Craig, Forfarshire, Scotland
DEATH 26 JAN 1887 (1889) • Baker, Clay, MN, USA
and John Lamb
1804–1860
BIRTH 10 JUL 1804 • Crudie Acres, Parish of Arbirlot, Forfarshire, Scotland
DEATH 05 JAN 1860 • Crudie Acres, Parish of Arbirlot, Forfarshire, Scotland

their son:
Charles Lamb SR
1844–1929
BIRTH 30 APR 1844 • Parish of Arbirlot, Forfarshire, Scotland

DEATH 29 APR 1929 • Clay, Minnesota

their grandson (Charle's son)
John Lamb
1869–1958
BIRTH 24 DEC 1869 • Parish of Aberlemno, Forfarshire, Scotland
DEATH 08 SEP 1958 • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada


***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of to the blog post***

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

Brick Wall - researching Grahams from Holytown, Scotland who immigrated to Canada

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 2 (Challenge)

This week I focus on the first brick wall I encountered in my attempt to collect broken branches in my fractured family tree which resembles a bramble bush more then a proper tree.

When I got my first ancestry account I sat down to enter what I knew, or at least what I thought I knew. We hear stories about our families from a very young age, and we believe what we hear. It's only when we start to enter the information we have been provided that we become unsure what is fact and what is family lore. 


I grew up not knowing my grandfather on my mother's side. He left the family before I was born. I did hear stories about him, and my grandmother knew a lot about the family.  His mother (my mom's grandmother) was very involved with the family until she died when I was a teenager. She also shared stories. I had kept notes over the years of the details she had given me. Having not actually known my grandfather I was very interested in hearing her stories, and thought I had a lot of details. 

My grandpa John Robert (Jack) and his dad Robert (Bob)


Back to my first entries on my brand new paid for Ancestry account.  I was super excited to enter the details about what I knew to see how far back I could get. When I entered the name Bob Graham born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1906 exactly as my grandmother told me his details were - nothing happened. No little green leaf hints. Nothing. I then clicked search, but still nothing happened. I was super disappointed.  I then entered my great grandmother's information noting them as divorced, but still no information about their marriage or anything. I was stumped, but not willing to give up.

I went to the Manitoba vital statistics page to see if they had a record of a marriage license for my great grandparents. They did so I sent away for it. Then I waited for what seemed a very long time, but was likely only a few weeks. When it arrived I was shocked to see my great grandfather was not born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and his full name was Robert Graham. He had been born in Holytown, Scotland, and came to Canada when he was 5 years old with his parents and two  sisters. I also noticed that one of the witnesses was Margaret Graham. Guessing this was Bob's sister I added her details along with the birthdate, location and parents names that were in the marriage license. When I clicked save I got my first green leaf hint for my mom's paternal grandfather. With the addition of parents, a sister, and his proper details the available documents provided 9 siblings for my great grandfather. This one document broke through my first brick wall.

Quite quickly I was able to go up two more generations in my family tree before I was stuck again. With how easy those next two generations had been to find I had envisioned being back to the Clan Graham's Marquis or Earl or someone equally as cool in just a few weeks. Alas this was not to be. I was stuck again. I posted in the discussion forum that I was stuck, and a gentleman shared birth records for 4 children (one appeared to be for my 4th great grandfather) where the parents were recorded as Peter Graham and Ann(e) Kirk. The records were from Scotland's People. I entered the information, and waited for the hints to arrive. They didn't. 2 years passed, and still I waited.

I took a free online course from the University of Strathclyde via FutureLearn. I realized some of my research techniques and source citations were lacking. I had been pondering whether the child of Peter Graham and Ann(e) Kirk was really my X4 great grandfather. The actual record only stated a birthdate and gender with no first name. Graham is a super common name is Scotland.  It could be any child really. I decided to start a brand new tree using my newly found understanding of reasonable exhaustive search.

I began all over with a brand new tree. And traveling up the Graham line ended up right back to where I had been before with Peter Graham & Ann(e) Kirk. Two more times I removed the parents and siblings from my X4 great grandfather Robert Graham to search all over again.  Both times I searched, and put Peter Graham & Ann(e) Kirk back in as parents.

Finally Ancestry DNA came to the rescue. A few months ago we had a match to descendants of Robert's (my X4 great grandfather) older brother James. Using the shared cm project (link at the end) the amount of shared DNA matches to the paper trees relationship. I added a note to both Peter Graham & Ann(e) Kirk entry in my tree reminding myself not to delete them from my tree again 'they really are your X5 great grandparents'.
On the one hand I am happy to have found my X5 great grandparents. On the other hand I have been trying to break through this brick wall for the past 5 years. I am no further ahead today then I was then.

Maybe you can help?

Looking for Grahams who immigrated to Canada from Holytown, Scotland in 1911.

My great great grandparents Robert Graham & Jessie Crawford Gray


Robert Graham

BIRTH 23 DEC 1883 • Carluke, Lanarkshire, Scotland
DEATH 13 JAN 1929 • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
and
Jessie Crawford Gray
BIRTH 23 JUNE 1884 • Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland
DEATH 17 JULY 1952 • Manitoba, Canada.

Parents for Robert (23 Dec 1883) above are: 

Robert Graham

BIRTH ABT 1851 • Carluke, Lanarkshire

DEATH BEFORE 1905 • Scotland, United Kingdom

and

Margaret (Maggie) Burt

BIRTH ABT 1854 • Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire

DEATH 14 JULY 1933 • 61 Church St, Newharthill, Scotland

parents for Robert (birth abt 1851) above are:

Robert Graham

BIRTH 16 JAN 1814 • Thornhill, Closeburn, Dumfries-shire, Scotland

DEATH 24 MAR 1892 • Forth, Lanarkshire, Scotland: Heathland

and

Susanah (Susan) Hamilton

BIRTH 1814 • Carnwath, Lanarkshire

DEATH Unknown

parents for Robert (16 Jan 1814) above are: 

Peter Graham

BIRTH ABT 1788 • Closeburn, Dumfriesshire

DEATH Unknown

and

Ann(e) Kirk

BIRTH ABT 1785

DEATH Unknown

Using Scottish naming patterns I am guessing that Peter's parents were James & Elizabeth, and Ann(e)'s parents were Robert & Mary. This family line does use Scottish naming patterns, but the flaw in my guessing is that I am unsure that I have a record of all their children. I only have records for 4 children of Peter & Ann(e). I can't be sure the names are relevant for Scottish naming patterns usage. 

My BRICK WALL Peter Graham and Ann(e) Kirk.

Any assistance you can offer is much appreciated

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Link to the shared cm project chart
https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_statistics?fbclid=IwAR0WKQcmklA6j84kOA_GGL5lMHKuuyQtGtvAsmjCsrCJqWKFXL1KhCz-fBE#/media/File:Shared_cM_version_3.jpg

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

First Things First - Going Back to the Beginning of My Genealogy Blog

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 1 (First)

I decided to join the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. The challenge presents a weekly prompt for each week to help focus research and blog posts. I have always done well in follow through when I sign up for a challenge, and look forward to posting at least one blog a week in 2019 focusing on different ancestors and research strategies I have been working on.

The prompt for week 1 is FIRST.

I looked back on my very first blog (Dec 26th 2014) where I explained why I FIRST began to search for my ancestors.

It wasn't until my ancestry DNA results arrived that I was able to confirm that Clyde Robertson really was Max Pellack. I also discovered that he was Ukrainian (as I had suspected) & European Jewish (which was a surprise).

Continuing to research I discovered one of his parents was Ukrainian & one of his parents was European Jewish. They were both practicing Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic.  
Connecting with cousins via Ancestry's DNA matching I was able to actually talk to two of my cousins. Both are the grandchildren of grandpa's two older sisters. Between these two cousins they had knowledge of old stories and photos. They also had documents with names, dates, and details. One of them knew about an uncle's visit to Ukraine where he visited the local government office, and was able to confirm my great grandparents residence at the time. Also confirmed was that they owned a flour mill before coming to Canada to be farmers in northern Saskatchewan. He was able to visit with family still living in the area. My great grandfather, his brother and his mother came to Canada. His father, 2 sisters and a brother stayed in Ukraine. One of my great grandmother's sister and her family arrived in northern Saskatchewan to live near her sister. The unknown DNA match mystery was cleared up with records from one of my new cousins. Pulling together all the details from many family members, and a picture begins to form.

I was also given a copy of the book Our Courageous Pioneers : History of Gronlid and Surrounding Districts of Argus, Athol, Edenbridge, Freedom, Maryville, Murphy Creek, Sandhill Creek, Taelman, Taras, Gronlid and District Historical Society, 1991.   This huge book has information (current to 1991) about all the families in the area. What a gift from a cousin I didn't know. If you are looking for details that might be in the book comment below, and I will check for you.

Still continuing to search for the family I never knew I had.
What I still don't know is where my grandfather was in the 10 years between leaving home with his birth name and meeting my grandma using his assumed name. Often I am asked if he just changed his name to make things easier in a world that was hard for folks of Ukrainian heritage. That might have been true if he didn't change his birth location too. Max Pellack was born in Gronlid, Saskatchewan, Canada. Clyde Robertson was born in San Francisco, California, United States. It appears as though his birth on the homestead in Saskatchewan was never registered. At a time when many births weren't registered it might have been easier to just become who you want to be. Still I search.

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of to the blog post***

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!