Wordless Wednesday: Chicago Bears, Brenden, and Me

Today's Wordless Wednesday post is a digital scrapbook page I made for Brenden.....future memories for our future children ;)

Follow Friday: Great Resources from new blog, Family History Tips

Today's Follow Friday posting is dedicated to Jen's Family History Tips blog. Jen's blog provides tips for finding your family history. A lot of her postings have been focused on finding Chicago ancestors, which I find very helpful, as the majority of my ancestors are from Chicago. Even though I don't live far from Chicago (and even work in Chicago), I find there are many resources I still don't know about.

My favorite posting...which was hard to choose, there were many...is Women and the Naturalization Process.

This posting describes Jen's search for a female ancestor who was repatriated, even though she was born in Chicago. Jen highlights a wonderful article and resource from KindredConnections entitled “Where are they? Finding Your Ancestors’ US Naturalization Records.” I learned that due to an act passed in 1907, a women's nationality depended on her husband's nationality. So if the husband lost or gained citizenship, so did she.

I have a female ancestor in my line to which this applies to, but I could never figure out why. Thanks to Jen's posting, I now know why.

Keep up the great posts, I know I will continue reading.

Mystery Solved: Disappearance of Eugene Gardos (Part 3)

Continued from yesterday:

Eugene Gardos left his family in 1929 never to be heard from again………that was until Eugene’s great grandson, David, (from his first wife) and I (Eugene’s great granddaughter from his third “wife”) made an ancestry.com connection.

A few months ago I received a message on ancestry.com from David. He noticed that we had posted the same passenger list record to our family trees. He contacted me to determine if our two great grandpas, Eugene Gardos were the same person.

1922 Passenger List, Hungary to U.S.

At first our connection seemed unlikely. My Eugene Gardos had a birthdate of 1891 (which was estimated from a census record), and his Eugene Gardos had a birthdate of 1884. David’s Eugene Gardos showed up in the 1930 Federal Census in New York, while my Eugene Gardos showed up in the 1930 Federal Census in Chicago.

1930 Federal Census, New York, New York, Eugene Gardos and family

1920 Federal Census, Chicago, Illinois, Eugene Gardos and family

Despite these challenges, we kept digging. David shared a story with me his family story about how Eugene Gardos was in the movie business, and had helped Vilma Banky come to the U.S. to get a movie contract with Sam Goodwyn. Then, I told him my story about Vilma Banky…..now we were curious!! Could they really be the same guy, despite the differences in birthdates and census records?

Vilma Banky (1901-1991), Hungarian Actress

Our next step was to share pictures. David had a picture of Eugene Gardos and his family circa 1920 (posted in Part 1 of this blog). We also had the picture of Eugene in his U.S. passport photo (posted in Part 2 of this blog). My family supposedly has pictures of Eugene, but they have yet to be found.

While my grandma, Eugene’s daughter was deceased, her brother, Arthur is still alive. His wife, my aunt, and my cousins on Arthur’s side have seen the picture of Eugene. My family knew I was doing genealogy research on the family, so during my sister’s bridal shower I showed them a couple pictures of family members. Two of the pictures I showed were Eugene’s passport photo and the picture David had shared with me. I actually showed them a bunch of pictures, some related and some not related, and asked them if any seemed familiar....so they couldn't just think it looked like him.

Both Arthur’s wife, Ginny, her two daughters, and my uncle confirmed that the passport photo and the picture David sent, matched the pictures they've seen of Eugene Gardos. They said the only difference in the pictures was that he didn't have a mustache, as most of the pictures they saw of him, he had a mustache.

Talking about Eugene more stories about the family came out. Eugene was in the textile business….his passport application includes a letter from his textile company. Eugene’s third “wife” always told the family that their marriage record was lost or burnt, although my family was always suspicious. I have not found a marriage certificate. Ginny told me that Marie and Eugene were 18 years apart, and they probably lied about their ages in the 1930 Federal Census in Chicago. The 1930 Federal Census of Chicago also stated that my grandma, Mildred, was born in Illinois, when she was actually born in New York. I never knew she was born in New York.

The story began to piece together. Someday, somehow, and somewhere in New York Eugene and Marie were introduced to each other. They had an affair, Eugene was still married to his second wife. Marie got pregnant and had my grandma, Mildred in 1927. Eugene kept the affair and the birth a secret from his other family. During that time, Eugene and his wife Theresa had two kids, Elsa and Robert. The affair continued and Marie got pregnant again in 1929. Only this time, the stock market crashed, and proved to be a good time to run away from his marriage. Him and Marie ran away with their daughter, Mildred, and moved to Chicago where Arthur was born. They remained in Chicago, not able to get married, as Eugene was technically still married. Five years later, Eugene died from a heart attack…maybe all the stress from running away from his family or leading this double life? Meanwhile, in New York, Eugene’s wife didn’t know what happened to Eugene, and when it came time for the 1930 Census, a year after he disappeared, she included him as part of the family.

While the story is just a guess about what actually happened, it matches the family stories and historical records. While his wife, Theresa is deceased, Eugene’s daughter, Elsa, and my great uncle, Arthur are still living….discovering they have half siblings 81 years later. It seems like a movie…..

While I feel horrible for Eugene’s wife and family he left behind, if he had never had the affair with Marie and moved to Chicago, my grandma wouldn’t have been born, my grandma would never have met her husband, my mom would never have been born, and I wouldn’t be here today.

As Brad Paisley sings, “To me it’s all so clear, every one of us is here, all because two people fell in love…”

I thank David for reaching out to me and helping me discover the mystery of Eugene Gardos…I would never have known his birth name was Goldberger. I am so glad I was able to help David solve the mystery of the disappearance of his great grandfather, Eugene Gardos.

Mystery Solved? The Disappearance of Eugene Gardos (Part 2)

Continued from yesterday:

Here’s my story of Eugene Gardos:

Eugene Gardos and Marie Cicero were 18 years apart. They were never married, to anyone’s knowledge, and had two children. Their first child, Mildred Gardos (my grandmother) was born in New York in 1927. Marie was pregnant with their second child, Arthur, in 1929 when they moved from New York to Chicago where Arthur was born. Eugene died of a heart attack in 1935. He always said he had a bad heart from the war, but the family never had record or knowledge of him serving in a war. Eugene was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois. His death record was found under the name, Eugene Jacob Gardor.

How Eugene and Marie met, and Eugene's past were very secretive. The only story anyone knew about Eugene, was that he helped Hungarian actress, Vilma Banky, get a contract with Sam Goodwyn from MGM. Whenever the past was brought up with Marie, she would get extremely mad and defensive. She wouldn't talk about the past and in one incidence called her daughter, Mildred, crazy for wanting to find out about the past.

Marie Cicero Gardos remarried John Malouf a few years later. John Malouf adopted Marie and Eugene's two children, Mildred and Arthur, and the two kids took on the Malouf surname.

Marie died in 1979 before anyone ever found out the truth.

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Tomorrow, in the third and last part of the Eugene Gardos mystery, I’ll tell you how Eugene’s great grandson and I made our startling connection and pieced together the mystery of Eugene Gardos.

Madness Monday: Run-away father, Raymond Mason Peterson

A BIG thank you to Thomas MacEntee from GeneaBloggers who highlighted my blog in his Saturday blog post. Another BIG welcome and thank you to all of you who took the time to click the link and check out my blog. I welcome any comments and suggestions.

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My grandfather's father, Raymond Mason Peterson, left the family soon after my grandpa was born. His maternal grandparents, Clarence and Elizabeth Brown (nee Galligan) adopted him as his birth mother, Ruth Margaret Brown was having trouble raising him alone during the great depression. My grandpa was an only child. After he was adopted, my grandpa took on the Brown name (maiden name of his birthmom). Although my grandpa is still alive, bringing up the past is difficult for him, and getting family stories or history from him is worse than pulling teeth.

Raymond and Ruth, August 1925, Chicago, IL

I've been able to locate a lot of information on the Brown side of the family, as well as the Galligan family, but I have not been able to find Raymond Peterson or his family.

Raymond and Ruth, September 1925, Chicago, IL

Here's what I know:

• Raymond Mason Peterson was born around 1908
• Raymond's nickname was "Ray"
• Raymond and Ruth Margaret Brown were married in Chicago, IL, between 1924-1929
• In August and September 1925, Raymond and Ruth are together in a picture in front of a building, address: 2634 W 15th Place, Chicago, IL
• Raymond and Ruth's first and only child was born in 1930 (*details left off, as son is still living)
• Raymond and Ruth were divorced between 1930-1937
• Raymond's brother owned the Peterson Funeral Home in Chicago, IL
• Raymond owned a tent and awning shop in Chicago, IL
  
  

Raymond and Ruth, August 1925, Chicago, IL

I don't know when he died, if he moved, or if he remarried, or his exact date of birth

Here's where I've looked:

• Chicago City Directories. I've found many Raymond or Ray Peterson's but are they my Raymond?
• Obituaries from Chicago Tribune....found over 20 with the name Raymond or Ray Peterson. I've been able to narrow it down to a couple, due to ages
• I've contacted the Peterson Funeral Home in Chicago via email to request information---no return email.
• Social Security Death Index (SSDI)--found a couple, best match shows he died in Arizona.

My plans:

• Request a copy of Raymond and Ruth's marriage and divorce record
• Re-contact Peterson Funeral Home via phone

Any other suggestions? Please let me know.

Pictures courtesy of Ruth Margaret Brown's family photo album

Tombstone Tuesday: D'Orazio Family in Chicago, Illinois

I love tombstones with pictures! Above is a picture of the tombstone for my great great grandparents: Maria D'Orazio (nee Di Bartolomeo) and Nunziato (aka Annunziato) D'Orazio and three of their children. This is the only picture I have seen of either of them. Nunziato and Maria had three other children, Lucia "Lucy" Vitraelli (my great grandma), buried in another location of the cemetery, and Josephine "Jo" Ragagli and Vincenzo D'Orazio, both buried in an unknown location. The D'Orazio's were originally from Alfadena, Region: Abruzzo, Province: L'Aquila, Italy. Nunziato arrived at Ellis Island in New York in 1899. Maria and her children arrived later in 1905. I assume Nunziato travelled to Italy between 1900-1905, as one son was born in 1903, although I have not found records to prove that assumption. The family later moved to Chicago, Illinois.

Tombstone is located in Mout Carmel Cemetery, Hillside, Cook County, Illinois

(Picture taken by me in April 2010)

Tombstone reads:

Alfred [D'Orazio]

1906-1968

Michele [D'Orazio]

1909-1929

Nunziato [D'Orazio]

1872-1919

Maria [D'Orazio nee Di Bartolomeo]

1874-1947

James C [D'Orazio]

1903-1987

Margaret ["Marge" D'Orazio, nee Fuoco, wife of James]

1912-1989