Bat Levi - Claiming My Birthright

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025: Week 42 (FIRE)

January 2025 I decided to test my father's yDNA in the hopes of breaking down the brick wall that is the Pellack Family.

My great grandparents:

Alexander (Alex) Pellack 
B: 17 Apr 1873 Skoryky, Скорики, Ternopil's'ka Oblast, Ukraine
D: 22 Oct 1955 Gronlid, Saskatchewan, Canada
and
Marya (Maria) (Mary) (Marinka) Maximiw 
B: 24 Dec 1875 Ukraine/Galicia/Austria - Unknown
D: 12 Aug 1946 Gronlid, Saskatchewan, Canada

I had been unable to find any documented proof for the family before they sailed to Canada in 1909 leaving all they knew behind in Ukraine.

In the years since we received autosomal results, showing Ashkenazi Jewish, I had made a guess that Alexander was the Jewish grandparent who passed 26% to dad, and then 13% to me. 

With this in mind I went right to the BigY test, not bothering with the cheaper smaller versions at FamilyTreeDNA, hoping that would provide the clarity we were looking for.

When the initial results came in I received the message below from a researcher, Meir Halevi Gover, who I discovered is a professional with a strong research background. 

"I confirm that his paternal male line is both Jewish and Levite.

Reckon that you did know it. My assessment is that his Y line
resided in the 17th Cen. CE Jewish Prague Ghetto."

Knowing he was a professional I felt comfortable continuing the conversation outlining what we did and didn't know about dad's paternal line. 

We agreed to await the BigY results knowing they would be along shortly.

After 2 failures (May & August) Dad's BigY results finally arrived last week.

Y-DNA Haplogroup:     
Previous: R-M198      
Updated: R-BY24975

I received more information about my paternal line from Meir Halevi Gover.

"Welcome to the R1a-Levite Haplogroup. It is now confirmed at close to
100% certainty that your patronymic male line, genetic son after genetic son
 is both Jewish and Levite."

"At this stage I can tell you that plusebly at the 14th-15th Cen. CE., your
patronymic male ancestor Pellack-Pollak, resided in the
Prague, Czech, Jewish Ghetto. From there he immigrated eastwards to Poland where he picked up his surname and thereafter to Ukraine."

"From within the cadre of men who undertook the BigY test, Your father ... 
shares a circa 15th Cen. C.E. Common Ancestor with: .... 
I put the venue of this Forefather-Grand Zeide of all you above 6 (you included), 
in the Prague, Czech Jewish Ghetto, or vicinity. In the middle of the 18 Cen.,
this line was expelled eastwards due to the anti-Jewish Deportation Decree, 
of antisemitic Austrian Queen Maria Theresa."

I now have a place and time to research looking for more information on my father's paternal line. 

I haven't yet spent any real time looking at dad's yDNA results.

I have spent a lot of time looking at our autosomal results trying to place the close connections we have that are 100% Jewish. 

One of those matches (last name Render) Ancestry predicts as 1st cousin 1x removed, 2nd cousin, or half 1st cousin 1x removed. 

This person descends from Edenbridge - the Jewish community near the homestead of my great grandparents.

I had been wondering if the connection could be a female relative of Alexander's not yet identified, but noticed a Render match of mine on 23&Me had an ancestral yDNA in the correct ancestral family.

This leads me to look at the male to male family lines in that tree in relation to mine and not the maternal lines.

23&Me has placed 2 Render cousins in my family tree as the great grandchildren of Alexander's parents.

The Render family trees I have found do not place Mikihor or Mary anywhere in their trees

At this time I can not place the matches exactly, but have created a floatiing tree within my own tree on Ancestry awaiting the connection.

With all this new information I decided it was time I understood where my family originated from so began researching.

The Jewish Ghetto of Prague was not a part I had ever known as my family story.

"In 1096, the community was attacked by Crusaders, and hundreds of Jews were murdered. The community as a whole was again attacked during the siege of the Prague Castle in 1142 when the oldest synagogue in Prague and sections of the Jewish Quarter were burned down.
After the siege, Jews were required to live on the right bank of the Vltava in an area that eventually became Prague's Jewish ghetto, the Josefov. During this time, Jews were very limited in their movements. By day the doors to the ghetto were open, but in the evening and on festivals, the gates of the ghetto were locked.
The situation did not improve in the early 13th century. In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council mandated that Jews must wear distinctive clothes, were prohibited from holding public office, and were limited in the amount they could charge for interest on loans. Catholic antisemitism was the norm for the Jews of Prague.
Things began to change at the end of the 13th century under King Otakar II. He issued a Royal Charter in 1254, which stated that the Jews were protected as money lenders and servants of the king and were required to pay high taxes and occasional supply loans to the royal treasury. More importantly, regarding the prevalent Christian antisemitism, the Royal Charter protected the Jews from persecution. It refuted the blood libel myth, prohibited violence against Jews, their property, synagogues, and cemeteries, and outlawed all forced baptisms in the kingdom...........
As was so often the case for the Jews of Europe, there were times of stability and times of horrific antisemitism. Jews knew not to get too comfortable, for history had shown them that expulsion or attacks could be just around the corner.
Prague was devastated by a pogrom in 1389. On Easter that year, which coincided with Passover, Jews were accused of “vandalizing the eucharistic wafer” and, as a result, 3,000 Jewish men, women, and children were cruelly murdered in the streets, homes, and synagogues of the ghetto. One of the few survivors, the great Torah Scholar Rabbi Avigdor Kara (whose tomb is preserved in the Old Jewish Cemetery), saw his father murdered. He wrote a moving prayer, "Es kol ha-tela'ah" describing the attack, which is read yearly in Prague on Yom Kippur. In the aftermath of the pogrom, many Jews fled Prague for Poland and Hungary........
The devastation of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) brought mixed fortune for the Jews of Prague. On the one hand, Emperor Ferdinand II, desperate for economic support in the war, took great pains to ensure the safety of the Jews. Although his troops ransacked Prague after the Battle of White Mountain, the emperor prohibited them from harming the Jewish Quarter and even had guards posted outside their homes. To the Jews of Prague, this was nothing short of a miracle. To commemorate this momentous event, they established the 14th of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan - the day the invasion began - as a Purim of Prague....
After the Thirty Years' War, measures were taken by the state authorities to reduce the number of Jews and to segregate them more strictly in a ghetto. Implementation of these measures was prevented in 1680 by an outbreak of plague, which took the lives of more than 3,500 Jews."   1  

"In 1729 there was a census of the Jewish population and of the buildings of the ghetto. 333 dwelling houses inhabited by 2,335 families and 30 public buildings were registered. One of the unpleasant restrictive measures of the period prohibited anyone other than a first-born son to start a family, as the permitted number of Jewish families in the whole country was strictly limited and was not to be exceeded.
During the reign of Maria Theresa, in December 1744, there was a new attempt at dealing with the problem of the Jewish population in a radical way by means of their expulsion from Prague and the entire Kingdom of Bohemia. An alleged cooperation of the Jews with the enemy during the Prussian occupation of Prague in the autumn of that year was the pretext for the above plan. The exodus, however, did not prove to be easy due to various financial and business connections. Nevertheless, by mid 1745 all inhabitants of the Jewish ghetto had to leave Prague. Some of them settled in the nearby Libeň Quarter and other hamlets in the vicinity of Prague. There they lived until 1748, to witness the revocation of the expulsion order. They found their houses in the ghetto, which had been vacant for two years, looted. Soon after the renovation had been completed and life in the Jewish Town started to function normally again, a fire of 1754 destroyed 190 houses of the ghetto. The synagogues, the Town Hall and the hospital also burnt down."  2

It was the information quoted above that led to this week's blog with the prompt FIRE.

In addition to the actual fires impacting my family of origin, yDNA has lit a fire under my need to focus on this part of the Bramble Bush.

Receiving yDNA results was the first time I heard the term Levite Jewish.

"Levites are descendants of the tribe of Levi, one of the 12 tribes of ancient Israel. The Levites served as ritual caretakers of the Temple. ...

Levitical status is passed through the male line. A boy is a Levite if his father was, and a girl whose father was a Levite is called “bat levi.” In American Conservative Judaism, a bat levi performs the same roles a levite would in a synagogue service. Although the children of a bat levi are not considered levites, they are still exempt from pidyon haben."  3

Even though we would have been exempt - I present my firstborn 

The Jewish Levite descendency ends with me - I can't pass it to my children.

When you find a missing part of your family history that comes to a end just when you find it!!! 

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***

Footnotes:

1  The Jewish History of Prague. Aish Jerusalem. Leving, Rabbi Menachem. Retrieved October 15th from 
https://aish.com/the-jewish-history-of-prague/

2  The Jewish Town - Josefov.  Old postcards of Prague. PhDr. KATEŘINA BEČKOVÁ. Retrieved October 15th from
https://www.old-prague.com/history-prague-jewish-town-josefov.php

3 Levites Today. Even after the Temple's destruction, Levites enjoy some unique ritual privileges. My Jewish Learning. Retrieved October 15th from
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/levites/

Sources:

A Beginner’s Guide to Y-DNA testing. By Al McLeod and Mark MacLeod. Associated Clan MacLeod Societies.  Retrieved October 15th 2025 from
https://www.clanmacleod.org/genealogy/dna-project/a-beginners-guide-to-y-dna-testing/

The Jewish History of Prague. Aish Jerusalem. Leving, Rabbi Menachem. Retrieved October 15th from 
https://aish.com/the-jewish-history-of-prague/

The Jewish Town - Josefov.  Old postcards of Prague. PhDr. KATEŘINA BEČKOVÁ. Retrieved October 15th from
https://www.old-prague.com/history-prague-jewish-town-josefov.php

Levite. Ancient Israelite history. Encyclopedia Brittanica. Retrieved October 15th 2025 from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Levite

Levites Today. Even after the Temple's destruction, Levites enjoy some unique ritual privileges. My Jewish Learning. Retrieved October 15th from
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/levites/

MEIR Halevi GOVER, Genetic Genealogist. Retrieved October 15th 2025 from 
https://buffalo.academia.edu/MeirGGover

Y chromosome DNA tests. International Society of Genetic Genealogy Wiki. Retrived October 15th 2025 from
https://isogg.org/wiki/Y_chromosome_DNA_tests

Photos:

Personal

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!

______________________________________________________________

Pellack Family In Ukraine ~ My Brick Wall Still Stands

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025: Week 11 (BRICK WALL)

I first started researching to figure out where I fit into my own genealogical story when I discovered my Scottish grandfather didn't exist, and was instead Ukrainian. 

After almost 30 years of searching this mystery line remains a mystery.

DNA confirmed Clyde Robertson & Max Pellack were the same person, but this brick wall still stands firmly in place.

My father's paternal line is the one line I have made little progress on over the many years of searching.

Great Grandpa was born April 17th 1873 in Ukraine, but those facts are only found on Canadian documents created by the family. 

In the book, Our Courageous Pioneers, the journey was described by a family member when the book was published in 1991.

" ... The family departed by train from Skoroki to the port of Bremen, There, a wait of several days ensued while sufficient cargo of livestock and people were assembled to make the voyage profitable. Livestock were placed in the bottom and people were placed in the middle deck. Sometime in May, 1909, the leaky ship set out to sea With numerous stops for additional cargo and delays caused by traffic and icebergs, the voyage took some sixteen days.

Quebec felt cold. From the large gathering hall which was the dispersal point for all immigrants, the family was shuffled onto a train bound for Winnipeg and eventually to Star City.  Alexander's brother, Makita who immigrated to Canada two years earlier, met them at the train with a cart and oxen which he had hired from a neighbour. It was a long trip from Star City to the homestead east of Gronlid. Imagine bumping down cut lines, over stumps through sloughs. It was an unforgettable experience, a dark rainy night, with their first encounter with mosquitoes! ..." 1

I have been unable to find any documents from Ukraine.

I know they got on a ship in Bremen because I found the ship's manifest held by Library & Archives Canada.

My great grandparents
Alexander & Mary (nee Maximiw) Pellack 
and their 3 oldest children 2

According to the ship's manifest:
Ship: WILLEHAD 
Shipping Line: Canada Steamship Lines 
Port of Departure: Bremen, Germany Hamburg, Germany Bremerhaven, Germany Rotterdam, Netherlands 
Date of Departure: 1909-06-02
Date of Arrival: 1909-06-19

Alexander (Alex) Pellack
Birth 17 APR 1873 • Skoryky, Скорики, Ternopil's'ka Oblast, Ukraine
Death 22 OCT 1955 • Gronlid, Saskatchewan, Canada
traveled with wife (great grandma)
Marya (Maria) (Mary) (Marinka) Maximiw
Birth 24 DEC 1875 • Ukraine/Galicia/Austria - Unknown
Death 12 AUG 1946 • Gronlid, Saskatchewan, Canada
and their children
Eugenia (Johanna) Pellack
Birth 28 AUGUST 1898 • Skoriki, Ternopil, Ternopilska, Ukraine
Death 10 SEP 1990 • Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada
Hryc (Harry) Pellack
Birth 16 JUL 1903 • Skoryky, Скорики, Ternopil's'ka, oblast, Ukraine
Death 12 MAR 1980 • Warren, Macomb, Michigan, USA
Steneine (Stephania) (Stefania) (Stella) (Esther) Pellack
Birth 9 FEB 1906 • Skoryky, Скорики, Ternopil's'ka, oblast, Ukraine
Death 9 JAN 1972 • Gronlid, Saskatchewan, Canada
my grandpa was the first born in Canada on the homestead

Prior to getting on the ship in Bremen heading to Canada I have found no records.

My grandfather - 1st child born in Canada
Max Pellack aka Clyde Robertson (assumed no record of name change)
Birth 10 MAY 1910 • homestead, SW, Section: 1, Township: 48, Range: 17, Meridian: W2, (Gronlid, Saskatchewan, Canada)
Clyde claimed San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA (Vancouver on his WW2 attestation papers).
Death 11 JUL 1986 • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

We are awaiting my father's yDNA results with the hopes this brick wall will finally be broken down

Still searching!

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:

1 Pellack Family Origin Story. 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), 188

2 Ship's Manifest. 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

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!

______________________________________________________________

Journeyed To Canada ~ Grateful To Be Canadian

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2024: Week 7 (IMMIGRATION)

Still dealing with an elbow injury in recovery typing long posts must wait. 

Today I look back at the life my ancestors gave me. 

I am, by birth, Canadian because my great grandparents left everything they know behind in 1909 when they immigrated to Canada from Ukraine from the Port of Bremen on the ship Willehad to the barren lands of Northern Saskatchewan.

Alexander & Mary (nee Maximiw) Pellack

I hope I am all they dreamed their descendants would be!!! 

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:

Personal

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!

______________________________________________________________

Finding Those You Didn't Even Know You Were Looking For ~ Browsing the 1931 Census

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2023: Week 23 (SO MANY DESCENDENTS)

With this week's prompt I am going to take a bit of creative license.

On June 1st the 1931 Canadian Census Records were released. 

They are not yet indexed which means the images must be browsed for those of us too impatient to wait for the indexing to be completed.

For the first 2 days I struggled with the Library & Archives Canada website not opening images because of the extra traffic.

On the 3rd day I discovered Ancestry had the images available to browse, and the whole thing became easier.

Within the first 20 minutes I had decided which enumerators were my favourite because of their penmanship. I also discovered a preference for the ditto marks instead of each person having the repeated last name on their line. The extra space by using a ditto instead of the name made scanning for names easier for me. 

It is quite possible that I have said some bad words about some very nice people just because I don't like their penmanship and spelling skills. 

I began to search page by page through the Prince Albert Saskatchewan records. I was looking to see if my grandfather was at home with his family in 1931. In 1926 he had been in the Prince Albert jail, and also enumerated at home. I'm guessing his parents included him in response to the 'who usually resides here' question. 

I found my paternal X2 great grandparents on their homestead in Saskatchewan as expected. Their record crosses two images. Alexander and Mary on the bottom of the first with John, Ann, and Mike at the top of the second. 

With Max not included I have concluded he was no longer at home, and not viewed as residing there. 

I checked the Prince Albert Penitentiary & provincial jail - no Max.

I am now left waiting for the transcribing to see if grandpa was even in Canada.

Clyde Robertson claimed to be born in San Francisco. Maybe he chose it because he was residing there. I have looked, but not found him in any of the U.S. census records to date. 

The missing 10 years between leaving home and meeting grandma had already begun, and stand firmly as a brick wall. 

In the same census district - a page before great grandpa Alexander and family I found his brother Mikita and family.

My X2 great uncle's family was recorded incorrectly. 

By matching the homestead records we can confirm this is them. They are listed at the bottom of this record Mikita as McCurdy, Doria as Doris. Their sons Mike (Michael) & Jack (John) are correct. 

Having given up on my father's paternal Pellack line until the transcribed records are available I decided to look at my husband's side of the Bramble Bush. 

His family has long roots in the Tillsonburg, Ontario area so I started browsing image by image in that area.

My scanning came to a stop when I found Cora Boughner listed. Whenever I find related females listed in the top spot on census I take a second look. I think it's important to figure out how they fit, and ensure they are listed in our Bramble Bush with their maiden names. 

When I looked more carefully I realized that Thomas W Boughner was her husband, and the enumerator recorded them in reverse making note on the sheet. They were enumerated with 3 grandchildren whose last name was Casino. 

Now the search was on - why were their grandchildren living with them?

Already in our Bramble Bush I found my husband's 3rd cousin 4x removed:

Thomas Wilkinson Boughner
BIRTH 18 MAR 1866 • Windham, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 1 JAN 1933 • Tillsonburg Oxford, Ontario, Canada
married to
Coral Irene (Cora) Crabb
BIRTH 31 JAN 1879 • Ontario, Canada
DEATH AUG 1964 • Ontario, Canada

I didn't have their children in our Bramble Bush so went looking, and discovered they had 3 children: a son & 2 daughters.  

Their children:

Robert George Boughner
BIRTH 10 JAN 1901 • Windham, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 17 APR 1901 • Norfolk, Ontario, Canada

Gladys Irene Boughner
BIRTH 28 DEC 1901 • Essex, Essex County, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 12 OCT 1925 • Oxford, Ontario, Canada
who married
William Menotti Cassina
BIRTH 23 JUN 1900 • Niagara Falls, Welland, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 12 OCT 1925 • Tillsonburgh, Oxford County, Ontario, Canada

Edna Mae Boughner
BIRTH 15 SEP 1904 • Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 10 DEC 1983 • Tillsonburg, Oxford, Ontario, Canada
who married
William Roy Garrison
BIRTH 21 JULY 1893 • Thurlow Township, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 15 MAY 1936 • Cobourg Ontario, Canada

In the 1891 census we find Thomas enumerated as a Farmer. On his marriage registry in 1899, Thomas is also recorded as a farmer.  In the 1901 census Thomas is enumerated as a Barber. In the 1911 census he's enumerated as a self employed Book Keeper. I was not able to find either Thomas or Cora on the 1921 census. On Thomas' death registry his occupation is listed as Carpenter.  With the changing of employment it makes it challenging to ensure it's the same person. With the other facts matching there is no doubt it's the same Thomas throughout.

Thomas & Cora married in 1899.

Their first child,  Robert George (or George Robert),  was born January 1901, and died in April 1901. His death registry is transcribed with 'Inaerition & Heart Failure'. I am unable to find a medical diagnosis of inaerition. When I looked at the record I thought it looked more like iuavrition which was not found on a search for a medical term. His actual cause of death remains a mystery. 

Their second child, Edna, was born in December of 1901. She died at age 23, alongside her husband, of Scarlet fever. They left 3 children aged: 3 years, 2 years, and 9 days - to be raised by her parents. 
                                                **Death registry is further below**

Their third child, Edna, lived to age 79. Her husband, William Roy Garrison, was a steel Worker. He died May 15th 1936 after a fall from scaffolding fractured his skull. They were married January 11th 1930. Their first child was born 3 months after the death of his father on August 23rd 1936, and was named Stanley Roy Garrison. I found no further documents for Edna and child. 

The reason I decided to write about this family for this week's prompt was because I was struck with how few descendants 3rd cousin 4x removed, Thomas Wilkinson Boughner left behind and the tragedies this little family endured while I was looking at the document below. 

Side by side on the death registry for October 12th 1925. 

They both died of Scarlet Fever, her after 7 days, he after 3 days, but they died on the same day leaving their 3 children behind. 

They had a 9 day old infant & 2 toddlers who were left orphaned because penicillin would not be discovered for 3 more years & not come into regular usage for 20 or more years.

Modern medicine would have cured their Scarlet Fever. Likely this little family would have continued to grow leaving behind many descendants for Gladys & William.

Instead this little family was struck down right here. 

It appears as though Thomas & Cora raised their orphaned grandchildren until Thomas' death of a heart attack in 1933. It appears as though Cora didn't remarry after Thomas' death based on the shared marker on their grave marker at Find A Grave linked in sources below.

In 1936 son-in-law, William, died in a tragic accident leaving behind his son who would be born 3 months later.

So many losses for one small family, and many of them fully fixable by modern medicine. 

When you look at each image in the census records you find folks you didn't even realize you are looking for, and details that you never knew you were missing. 

I wonder what this family of origin will look like in the 1941 census records. 

Browsing census images rather than search indexes you find folks & details that you might never see!!! 

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:

HOW WAS PENICILLIN DEVELOPED? Science Museum. Originally published February 23rd 2021. Viewed June 5th 2023 from
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/how-was-penicillin-developed

Thomas & Cora (nee Crabb) Boughner Grave Marker. Viewed June 5th 2023 from
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30694982/coral-irene-boughner

Photos:

Census & death records retrieved from Ancestry June 5th 2023

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!

______________________________________________________________

Alexander & Mary (nee Maximiw) Pellack ~ The Brick Wall Still Stands

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2023: Week 21 (BRICK WALL)

In the many years I have been searching I have discovered all of my brick walls have stayed stubbornly erect. 

The majority of the lines I have managed to get back a bit further, but none have fully broken through.

This Bramble Bush's most stubborn is my father's paternal Pellack/Maximiw line.

I have managed to find the names of my X3 great grandparents on the Maximiw line, but no other details or documentations. Their names were on a marriage registry for my X2 great grandparents with minimal more found.

On the Pellack line I only have the names for my X2 great grandparents. The only evidence I have that Mary accompanied her 2 boys to Canada is this lonely grave marker in the Saint Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery, Maryville, Melfort Census Division, Saskatchewan, Canada. 

Headstone translation from a family friend:    Here rests Maria Peleh  Forever remembered ('And the ‘h’ in Peleh is deep, like the deep h in Chanukah')

Family lore says their father's name was Mikihor, but I have not found any sources indicating this is true.

My great grandparents came to Canada in 1909 with their 3 children.
My grandfather was the first Canadian born child - on the homestead in 1910.

He is found in the 1911 census as Nikolas, age 1, male.
How he became Max is another mystery.
His older sister Esther/Stella is listed as a son named Steve - in error.

In preparation to write this blog I used the search function on Ancestry to see if I could find any further information for the family before arriving in Canada without success. 

I have found no records prior to their 1909 arrival in Canada via the ship Willehad.

I then searched for more for my grandfather using both his birth name and assumed name, but was not able to find anything new. 

Having grown up knowing nothing of my Pellack heritage I love seeing photos of my great grandparents.

My great grandparents 
Alexander and Mary (nee Maximiw) Pellack

7 years ago I received my first genealogical DNA result. 

That first test was from Ancestry. 

Last year I did 23&Me. 

I have uploaded to GedMatch, MyHeritage, and FamilyTreeDNA.

I have found so many distant relatives, but none are close enough to help break down the brick wall.

Researching in Ukraine was hard before the Russian invasion, but now it feels impossible.

It seems the only test left, that might help, is YDNA. 

Since this is my father's paternal line we are stuck on YDNA is our last hope to break this brick wall down.

 

Hoping for a Father's Day special deal for YDNA!!! 

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:

Pellack Family. 1911 Census of Canada for Alexander Polick, Saskatchewan, Prince Albert, Sub-District 22. Retrieved March 6th 2020 from Ancestry.ca

Ship's Manifest. 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

Photos:

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), page 188

Personal

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

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My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

______________________________________________________________

I'd Like to Meet ~ Great Grandpa Alexander Pellack

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2023: Week 1 (I'D LIKE TO MEET)

I have always identified as Canadian when faced with choosing from the dropdown menus. I thought it was the best answer because I thought I was 'Heinz 57' like all the canine family members I have been lucky to have over the years. 

"Heinz 57 is a playful term kept to refer to mixed breed dogs. So basically Heinz 57 dogs are dogs from multiple ancestries. The naming secret as Heinz 57 lies in the slogan of the company HJ. Heinz “57 varieties”."  1

When we adopted Tori the paperwork said she was a TerrierX. We have since determined she is likely Irish Terrier crossed with some sort of Shepherd. She does not have 'clean' lineage. I'm all out of relatives for testing so I might do the dog's DNA next!

Snow Dog!!!

I thought my lineage was all over the place. I didn't think I could choose just one area my family was from. I thought my family was too mixed up therefor only 'Canadian' would adequately describe my heritage. 

I had always thought my family had roots to when Canada first began. 

It was only recently while talking about my family tree that I realized how recent my immigrant ancestors were. 

• My maternal grandmother is 2nd generation on her mother's side & 5th on her father's. 
• My maternal grandfather was 1st generation on his father's side & 2nd on his mother's side.
• My paternal grandmother was  born in Scotland (making my dad 1st generation on his maternal line).
• My paternal grandfather was 1st generation( the first born child of immigrant parents, his 3 older siblings were born in Ukraine, he was the first born in Canada) 

My roots in Canada are pretty shallow.
In looking at all my ancestral lines:  4th, 7th, 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd. 

When I looked at my husband's side of this bramble bush I discovered he is 5th & 6th generation on both sides of his family. It seems neither of our family lines are as deep rooted as I had thought. 

After doing Ancestry and 23&Me I discovered I am fully European. 

Ancestry - 100% European

23&Me - 100% European

When my DNA tests results arrived from Ancestry I discovered that one of my great grandparents was European Jewish or they were both half. 

It wasn't until recently that I learned about using the timeline tool at 23&Me.

When I looked at the most recent ancestor timeline for my Ashkenazi Jewish heritage I discovered my previous guess appears to be accurate. 

I had initially guessed one of my great grandparents was 100% Jewish or they were both 50%. 

23&Me's timeline suggests that either Alexander OR Mary (nee Maximiw) Pellack were 100% Ashkenazi Jewish. 

2 

I have decided it's likely the Pellack line where my Jewish Heritage comes from. In coming to this conclusion I used Ancestry's Ethnicity Inheritance tool for my father's DNA (still in Beta)

Ancestry's Inheritance Tool - my dad's paternal inheritance
I believe this is the Pellack heritage

Ancestry's Inheritance Tool - my dad's paternal inheritance
I believe this is the Maximiw heritage

Ancestry's Inheritance Tool - my dad's maternal inheritance
His parents were both born in Scotland
It seems maybe more research is needed to find these roots

Over 30 years ago I first heard that my Scottish grandfather, Clyde Robertson, might be a Ukrainian man named Max Pellack. 

It took me 20 years to confirm that using DNA matching. 

Over the years I have searched and searched for information about life in Ukraine before the family came to Canada in 1909. 

I have been unable to find any documentation from before they arrived on the ship, Willehad, bound for Canada. 

My grandfather was their first born on the homestead in Saskatchewan. 

In all the years I have been searching I have managed to add a few details, but only minimally. 

My Ancestor fan chart is full except that 1/4 of my father's paternal line. 

I have more questions than answers.

For this reason the person I would love to have a cup of tea with is my great grandfather, Alexander Pellack who I believe is my Jewish ancestor.

My great grandfather
Alexander Pellack

Alexander was born in 1873. His father, Mikihor, about 1850. His mother, Mary, unknown. All three are within the timeframe. 

I would love to hear more about his life, his family, and how he chose Canada for his family's new home. 

It would be an opportunity for me to thank him. 

I am Canadian because he chose to bring his family here. 

When I look at what is happening in Ukraine today I am grateful I live in Canada. 

When I look at what happened during World War II I am grateful my family was in Canada. 

I am Canadian because my great grandparents, Alexander & Mary, left behind everything they knew for what they believed was a better life.

I hope I am all they dreamed of providing their descendants!!! 

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***

Footnotes:

1  Heinz 57 Dog breed information. Originally published April 19th 2021. Retrieved January 2nd 2023 from 
https://www.petbutty.com/heinz-57-dog-breed-information/#:~:text=Heinz%2057%20is%20a%20playful,Heinz%20%E2%80%9C57%20varieties%E2%80%9D.

2  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), page 188

Sources:

Heinz 57 Dog breed information. Originally published April 19th 2021. Retrieved January 2nd 2023 from 
https://www.petbutty.com/heinz-57-dog-breed-information/#:~:text=Heinz%2057%20is%20a%20playful,Heinz%20%E2%80%9C57%20varieties%E2%80%9D.

Photos:

Ancestry Clip
23&Me clip
Personal

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!

______________________________________________________________