Logan, The Next Famous Hofheins Soccer Star!

Logan loves soccer. Tyson not so much. When Ty took soccer, he wasn't too hot on it, and wasn't aggresive and didn't really care if he went after the ball or not. But Logan, this is his place to shine. He goes for the ball and as a result had a few little ouchies along the way. But I guess that's Soccer or any sport for that matter. Soccer is the Hofheins family Sport.  They all did really well and so they are happy to have Logan follow in the family tradition.

A few ouchies need a little mother's love.

They didn't win but are good sports.

The Day Family

Well, today our neighbors, Dave and Jessica Day were both baptized.  Their daughter had been baptized recently and they have been taking the missionary discussions.  We went to the baptism and it was really a nice experience.  Dave's dad baptized him and he had to try it twice because the first time just ddn't work out quite the way it should.  Then Dave was confirmed and Spencer helped with that.  And then Dave was ordained a priest and then baptized Jessica.  It was cool.  His family was really excited about it.  It was a nice day.

Spence was excited because he and Dave have become good friends as well as next door neighbors.  Dave's dad said a lot of his conversion had to do with Spence and Steve.  So that was really nice.

More on Francisca Kalus

Well, 2 nights ago I tried to find the man who submitted the names to New.familysearch.  It wasn't available at the website, so I went online and tried to figure it out.  I did.  And the funniest part was, his son lives about 5 minutes drive from me in Alpine.  I called him and he said his father does a lot of genealogy and submitted all the names I found.  He immigrated about  1 year after my family and lives in Idaho.  Because he is older, the son suggested that rather than phone his dad, I write.  So yesterday I sent him a letter.  I am waiting to see how we are related.  It is interesting.

Today the weather was cooler and actually quite nice.  At work we had our yearly "Outback" picnic.  They started this about 5 years ago, having a picnic in the fall in the back area behind the library.  The first couple of years they grilled burgers and hotdogs, but then they switched to sub sandwiches.  And everyone was happy with those, and salads, ice cream and drinks.  Last year they had us come out by name in alphabet groups.  That put Sylvie and I in the last group to go out.  They had run out of everything.  So this year we went out early right after they started serving.  We made it in time and got some lunch.  Our manager, Ruth, was helping in the food serving and said that they started running out of food abt noon or so.  So we were happy!  Well, nothing else new or worth writing about, so this is all for the moment.

She has a NAME! FRANCISCA KALUS

Well, after 20 years of knowing she existed, I finally found her...unbelievable.  If you didn't read yesterday's entry, read that first, or this might not make sense...Anyway, today was my research day at the library. We get to dress down so that we can't be called out to help patrons.  Love this day.  This was a good research day, a REALLY good one.  So I got to work at about 7:40 am and before 8:00 I had found this:

OK, I know not everyone can read this cute little item.  So I will translate it for you here. The year is 1821 and the parish is Kotulin.  It says: 15 November in Balzarzowitz.  The inhabitant Bernard Palus from his wife Francisca nee KALUS about 10 in the evening on the 14 of the same month bore a daughter baptized and given the name of Leopoldine Elisabeth.  The Witnesses were Margaretha Misch, freefarmer of Balzarzowitz, Eva Czaplin Gardener in Sieronowitz and Thomas Krupa free gardener in Balzarzowitz.

I couldn't believe it.  They had a child in Balzazowitz.  This is in Kotulin parish.  I looked for others, it is the only child I found in Kotulin, although I find the parents continually coming here to be godparents for three couples.  I also knew the Gregor Palus, father of Bernard also was living in Sieronowitz, part of the Jaryszow parish, where I am recontructing the lost parish registers. 

So I kept looking for a while but found little else in Kotulin.  I thought about where I should look next, which parish were they or Francisca hiding in.  I kind of figured that this might have been their first child.  Bernhard was born in 1792 in Dziewkowitz and somehow I figured she was born abt 1805, but that would make her only 16, a little unlikely.  So I decided to take a quick look at New.familysearch.org.  I must admit there really aren't many people looking for any of my families, which are very Catholic, so the chances were not in my favor.  I typed in her name and birth of abt 1800.  Up pop up 2 with that name, both submitted by the same person.  One had an "about" date from Warmuntowitz, Silesia, the other an exact date in 1803 in Blottnitz, the same parish as for Warmuntowitz.  Taking a quick look at the map, I see Warmuntowitz is one town north of Balzarzowitz.  Could I really be this lucky, yes I was.  Someone had submitted her with her parents Valentin Kalus and Elisabeth Haiduk.  Just as a quick explanation, the name Kalus is also written as Kalis/Kalisch and Kaluza and Haiduk is Heidek/Haydug and other crazy spellings.  I am using the most commonly used spellings.  So now I know someone in Logan Ut. is working on the same line.  I couldn't believe it.  I went on to find the marriage of Valentin and Elisabeth in Centawa parish.  Centawa is the place the residents of Warmuntowitz and Blottnitz went to church.    There indeed was her birth, but still I couldn't find a marriage for her.  I looked and looked.  I can only assume then that they married in the infamous Jaryszow, the bookless parish...  But I found her and Valentin is the son of Matheus Kalus of Sieronowitz, definitely in Jaryszow parish and Elisabeth Haiduk is the daughter of Andreas of Blottnitz in Centawa.  This is only a tiny bit of what I found today.  I can hardly guess how many names I found in Centawa and Kottulin for my family and it will be hours before I type them all into my genealogy program and add them to the reconstruction listing as well as go back through the parishes and keep adding more reconstruction names. 

Dominica had told me in Poland that if you now live in Nogowczyce, you are certain to come from one or two families.  She said those 2 families were Palus and Haiduk, guess what, I come from both of them.  That is so funny. 

So this is what seems to have happened to the Palus family.  They start out in Dziewkowitz and there are many Palus there.  My line leaves somewhere between 1805-1820, I think.  I will know better after I start recording everything.  They first seem to go to Balzarowitz, then Sieronowitz and lastly to Nogowczyce.  The line of Francisca goes back to Kotulin, then Centawa and one side goes back to Nogowczyce and the other stays in Centawa.  For how long, I don't know, but there are so many of the family there, unbelievable...

I had already checked both Centawa and Kotulin parishes in my past research for the Gralla name.  And I found many in Kotulin and some in Centawa.  I never thought I would find my mystery woman there.  But such is life...never what is expected!

Yes, we went to Centawa!  Yeah, so glad we did!

Funeral in Centawa

Parish at Centawa  where many of my ancestors lived, who knew???

Looking back at the funeral procession from the front of the parish.  It was a cold and nasty day or else I would have gotten out and taken pics of the inside of the church.  But at that time I didn't realize how important this place was in my family history.  OK! Now I know that this was NOT my last trip to Poland. There will have to be another, during a dry spell, I hope.  Now I will be looking for Haiduk/Kalus relatives.  Dominica says: Yes they all still live in Nogowcycze!

Lunch Break Discoveries

For years now, I have been trying to find some evidence or clue about Francisca, my 3rd great-grandmother, Palus.  Well, my biggest problem is that I have no maiden name for her.  Just Francisca.  The parish she is from is the one I have been writing about and working on the reconstruction project. Well, in all this "reconstructing"  I have not found one entry for my people, Bernhard and Francisca Palus, parents of Eva, born abt 1833, in Nogawczyce, in Jarischau/Jaryszow parish.  But today at lunch I felt stongly to check a parish in Kotulin.  Don't ask me why...don't really know.  But the first page on the film had my Bernhard as a witness to a birth in 1826.  I quickly copied that page and kept going and aside from all the names I found to add to my project of people in "other places" which were from Jaryszow parish, I found Francisca Palus.  She and Bernhard kept witnessing for the same three couples and I followed them as they moved through three different towns.  Sieronowitz, Balzarowitz and finally the year 1833 to Nogowczyce.  I found his brother Jacob, the man through whom Dominika descends and all the Palus' I met while in Poland.  Then I found 2 of his sisters marrying in Kotulin and having kids and all kinds of stuff.  Of course, Bernhard and Francisca do not seem to marry here, but they sure spent some quality time going to mass here, it appears...So, I didn't have much time as it was only lunch but tomorrow is my personal research day.  Yeah, good timing.  I find Bernhard and Francisca, so far from 1823-1845 in this parish coming and going.  So usually in German records the woman is listed with her maiden name and married name.  Here each entry said Francisca "Palus".  So I wasn't sure, was that her maiden or married name??  Could be, don't know.  But the families they witness for, could surely be hers, but which one of the three?  And the husband or the wife?  Who is she related to?  I know Bernhard's relatives and these names weren't them, so I hope that I can figure something else out.    This is my family mystery.  It might be forever, but I haven't given up yet. 

As I looked at the map, All the towns are right next to one another and he must have moved as he found or needed new work.  Apparently Gregor, his father also lived in Sieronowitz during this time.  So they didn't move directly from Dziewkowitz to Nogowczyce, they made a few stops along the way.  So its kind of fun for me to find. Here is a link to a beautiful pic of the church:  http://fotopolska.eu/128941,foto.html I can't wait to see what is still to be found...

Reasons Why I went Private

THE UGLY OLD TROLLS ARE LURKING WAITING FOR THE UNSUSPECTING ONES.
I liked having a blog and seeing the localities where readers were coming from.  But then one day as I uploaded my pictures on my Picasa website.  I got a "WEIRD" follower who called himself DumDum..Dum and it sort of freaked me out.  So I hurried and locked up all my picture albums and then made my blog private.  It creeped me out all night, especially more when my mom, who was trying to log into my blog the next day did a "google search" for "Grandmasonjasstuff" and came up with all these freaky wierd URLS.  So everytime she clicked on one of them, something weird came up.  So, I don't know why that is, but one of the weird things said, by the Crazy Hacker.  So, OK, that was it for me.  I am going under-wraps so to speak.  Anyway, that was the reason.  I don't like what it implicated and so here I am and only those invited can follow my blog.  It isn't as much fun, but safer, I suppose.  Anyways, I hope I haven't failed to invite a friend...

Jaryszow Parish Surname Project (Kreis Gross Strehlitz ) Pt 2

Well, this week I have been working really hard to try to get all my new names into my Excel file.  I am almost done, just doing a little double checking.  I put a little blurb about my project into my Oberschlesien research group list-server.  It looks like others are doing similar reconstruction projects.  I think its great since no other records are available in the church itself.  I hope that others on the list will see my email and respond with data to add to the project.  I also have some addresses to write to in Nogawczyce of people who know more about the old times.  I think that would be wonderful.  Here is a pic of the church. 

While we were there the first time, we learned of the "Healing Lady" that lives by the church.  Each time we were here, there were cars lined up with people coming to her from all over to be healed of their infirmities.  I found that sort of interesting.  Maybe I should have made a visit to her!  Ha ha!