The People in My Family

Digging up all this genealogical goodness over the past week has been a lot of fun. For now, however, I seem to have hit several brickwalls. Overcoming them means (a) requesting documents (none of which are free!) from various counties in several states and/or federal agencies; or (b) traveling to various counties in several states visiting libraries and cemeteries. There is a third option, but it involves learning several languages (none of which are French) and traveling to several central and eastern European countries, which would be WAY fun, but is at this juncture at least a little impractical. So, in no particular order, the things that I have learned:

1. Before settling in New York, my great-grandfather first tested the waters in Rio de Janiero. After deciding that wasn't for him, he went back to Italy, picked up my great-grandmother, and the two of them made their way over here.
2. My great-great-grandfather was from Poland or Germany or Russia or... somewhere. Ok, this is one of the brickwalls I've hit. We don't know exactly where he was from or what his name was. The theory is that he left the country and changed his name to avoid conscription. As for what country he was from, well, Poland moved around a lot during the 19th and 20th centuries, and it all depends on what town he lived in, and oh forget it.
3. That same great-great-grandfather couldn't read or write. According to my grandma: on their wedding day, my great-great-grandmother gave him a prayer book as a wedding gift. She realized then he was pretending to read from it when she saw the book was upside down.
4. The 1930 census taker was a lazy jerk who didn't bother writing down that my grandma and her parents were living in the same house as my great-great-grandparents. Jerk.

And other assorted fun items. For now I'm trying to get a copy of one great-grandmother's birth certificate in an attempt to find out at least who were mother was, maybe her father as well. Trouble is, the register of deeds downtown takes cashier's checks and money orders - no personal checks. They do take credit cards, but they charge a - get this - $32.50 fee in addition to the charge for the document(s) you want. I hope they take cash because I am far too lazy to go get a money order or cashier's check.

On the bright (and totally free) side of things, the federal government doesn't charge veterans or their next of kin for their military records. However, since I'm not technically my grandpa's next of kin, I have to run over to my grandma's house to have her sign this form before I can get the papers. I much prefer instant online gratification to mailing and waiting and driving places and communicating with people. Pfft.