World War 2 Soldiers ~ Pellack Cousins

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2024: Week 17 (WAR)

The book Our Courageous Pioneers : History of Gronlid and Surrounding Districts of Argus, Athol, Edenbridge, Freedom, Maryville, Murphy Creek, Sandhill Creek, Taelman, Taras, Teddington, was published in 1991, and included the photo below of my grandfather in his uniform.. 

It's in the World War 2 section of the book.
It also includes his cousin Jack.

He is wearing the same uniform in the photo below (taken 1940) with my grandmother. 

If Grandma is to be believed - 

The man she met in about 1939 (in Calgary, Alberta, Canada)  was Clyde Robertson. It wasn't until the early 60s that she found out he was also Max Pellack. 

In 2002 I found the Pellack family via a random message on an Ancestry discussion thread. After I messaged them they were able to confirm that the Pellack family knew Max had been using the name Clyde Robertson at various times in his life. 

They also shared that they had lost contact with Max/Clyde so hadn't been aware of his family details. 

In collaboration we managed to add our line to their tree. I was finally able to add relatives on my paternal grandfather's side of this Bramble Bush. 

In looking at the timelines we had a missing 10 years between him leaving home as Max Pellack and meeting Grandma as Clyde Robertson. 

According to the family they lost touch with him after he left home in about 1930 until he returned in about 1961. 

You can read more about that time in an earlier blog 
Max Pellack ~ I'm Not a Diamond Heiress with a Tiny Flluuuffy Dog in a Sparkly Flllluuufffy Handbag!

I have narrowed the missing 10 years some, but there are still 8 years in question.

A BIGGER question is exactly how the family had this photo of Grandpa in his abt. 1940 military uniform when he was apparently not in communication with his family of origin.

When a photo leaves more questions that answers!!! 

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 this blog post***

Photos:

Clyde & Mary (nee Thomson) Robertson, Personal

Pellack, Max & Jack. Our Courageous Pioneers : History of Gronlid and Surrounding Districts of Argus, Athol, Edenbridge, Freedom, Maryville, Murphy Creek, Sandhill Creek, Taelman, Taras, Teddington,. (Melfort Saskatchewan: Phillips Publishers , 1991). Pg 945

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/

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!

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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!