When the Records Are Hard To Find ~ Family Name Spelled So Many Ways

I was 29 years old, and pregnant with our 2nd child when I first heard the name Pellack. I was 49 before a DNA match confirmed my grandfather, known as Clyde Robertson, was Max Pellack.

In the years since I have been unable to trace the family back very far. They immigrated from Ukraine in 1909 to Saskatchewan, Canada. 

The name was spelled many different ways over the years making it hard to find all of the records that might be available.  Finding records in Ukraine was a difficult task before the Russian Invasion, and now it's next to impossible. 

I wonder how exactly the name was spelled in Ukraine, but in sounding out the various spellings the pronunciation can be heard. 

Alexander & Mary (nee Maximiw) Pellack - my Great Grandparents

The family name eventually was spelled PELLACK, but over the years it was spelled many different ways. 

On the ship's manifest from the trip to Canada in 1909 the name was spelled PELECH

In the 1911 (their first in Canada) &  the 1916 census the name is spelled PELICK

In the 1926 census the name was spelled PELYCK.

BUT I also found my grandfather enumerated separately (he was also at home with his parents), and the name was spelled PELLACH.

On the homestead records  the name was spelled PELYCK

On the Cummins map the name was spelled PALACK

Trying to find the records when the spelling of the family name keeps changing!!!

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***

Sources:

Library & Archives Canada, Immigration, Passenger Lists, Page 16, Retrieved March 6th 2020 from
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/passenger-lists-1865-1922/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=5121&fbclid=IwAR0bFKIO58BlaeooRHtWlgBb6yrB7Ii6RlXBMf3dzADF_YdBLfITZJzNJtw

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),

Pellack family, 1916, 1921, 1926 Census records, Library and Archives Canada. 

Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, Homestead Documents, received 2017

Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, Cummins Map

Links:

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

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!

______________________________________________________________

Twins ~ Clara & Lena Pellack

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2020 Week 28 (MULTIPLE)

I have always been fascinated by multiple births. When I was young I had friends who were mirror twins. One was left handed, and the other right handed. One had her hair parted on the right, and the other parted on the left. They had the cutest cheek dimples - one on the left and the other on the right. I don't know if they found it creepy that I was fascinated by their appearance &  how they moved that I stared intently at them while we played. On the playground watching them doubles skip perfectly synchronized I wished my future children would be twins or triplets or quadruplets of quintuplets....they would be so darn cute.


I was a smidge disappointed when our first child arrived as a single. My disappointment changed to gratitude when he developed colic. I have always been blessed to receive what I need - not necessarily what I want. I can't imagine looking after 2, 3 or more colicky babies at once. 


I found 6 sets of twins in our Bramble Bush. No triplets or quadruplets, or quintuplets..... 


I am pretty sure I have added more multiple births in my tree, but I just can't find them. It's only been recently that I have begun identifying multiples with a suffix (ie twin 1, twin 2) in family tree entries which allows for easy searching.


The twins I write about for this blog are my great aunts:
Clara and Lena Pellack.
They were born about 1914 as evidenced by this census record:

1916 Canadian Prairie Census, source: Library and Archives Canada
clickable link to the full document in sources below

Family members listed are Alexander, Marry, Harry, Stephania (Esther), Max (my grandfather), John, Annie, Lena, Clara.


 The twins were not in the 1921 census:

1921 Canadian Census, source: Library and Archives Canada
clickable link to the full document in sources below

Family members listed are Alex, Mary, Harry, Esther (Stephania), Max (my grandfather), John, Mike.


Something happened to the twins (Lena & Clara) between 1916 and 1921.


I wondered if they had died in the Spanish Influenza Epidemic 1918-1919. 

I wondered if they were buried on the homestead. 

I found no record of their birth, but none of the children born on the homestead had their births registered. Mike and John appear to have registered their own births as adults. 

The lack of birth registration made if fairly easy for my grandfather to recreate himself as an entirely different person. 

A cousin theorizes Clara and Lena were not the children of Alexander and Mary - that they may have been neighbour children who happened to be there on the day the census was taken. 

They are listed as daughters, but the census records have been known to be wrong. Take a closer look at Max in the 1921 record above - my grandfather is listed as female and a daughter.  

If I ever get a chance to walk the old homestead I would keep my eyes down searching for a spot where my two great aunts might be buried.


Remembering this set of multiples who I believe are my aunts.

Clara Pelleck
BIRTH ABT. 1914 • homestead, SW, Section: 1, Township: 48, Range: 17, Meridian: W2, Gronlid, Saskatchewan, Canada
DEATH BEF 1921 • Not in 1921 census with family, but there for the 1916 census

Lena Pellack
BIRTH ABT. 1914 • homestead, SW, Section: 1, Township: 48, Range: 17, Meridian: W2, Gronlid, Saskatchewan, Canada
DEATH BEF 1921 • Not in 1921 census with family, but there for the 1916 census.




Remembering those who left their mark on the generations to come even when passing too young to leave a mark on the world!







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***









Sources:

1916 Census records, Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July 10th 2020 from 
https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1916/Pages/1916.aspx

1921 Census records, Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July 10th 2020 from 
https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1921/Pages/search.aspx

Pellack family, 1916 Census records, Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July 10th 2020 from
https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1916&op=&img&id=31228_4363971-00315

Pellack family, 1921 Census records, Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July 10th 2020 from
https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1921&op=img&id=e003219191





Links:

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

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!

___________________________________________________________