Tag Archives: Ancestry

Searching for relatives, ancestry, heritage and family tree fun.

Harrison Genealogy

Having traced our Scandinavian roots we shift to a tougher one to crack; The Harrison side of the family– born into the Russian Empire what is currently Lithuania. Difficult because there was little to go on. We had first hand knowledge of those who were born in the USA of course but their parents that immigrated and who had enjoyed good lives here were loath to talk about their past. In other words any hard facts were not forthcoming. We did not have places of birth, dates, or even their former names and spellings.

Nanny Fan dismissed most inquiries, saying that her last memories of the old country were too distressing to re-live. We believe she probably witnessed religious prejudice, cruelty and even bloodshed. There were hints that some emigrated with just the clothes on their backs and valuables hand stitched into coat linings.

We think our relatives from the old world would have wanted to assimilate as citizens into the USA not only to avoid scorn or ridicule but to gain a normalcy that would not sabotage their sense of community or livelihood. First order of self help: losing a foreign sounding name and learning English. So, none of us twice removed had good intel.

We had but one strong hint: the original family surname sounded like “Kurgon”. So where to begin…

Working backward with the closest relative, father or mother, we find out who their parents were and in this case learn that Zadie’s father, Max Boris Harrison had immigrated. Starting with a 1910 United States Census we scrape the year of immigration (1908) and discover that he, with parents and siblings, were under the same roof in the USA by 1910. It was likely that they immigrated together as well; but what surname? Harrison was the naturalized but how to search for this family in archival ship passenger listings?

A challenge is that invariably each tracking document has the names malformed in some way. Not only were names changed but then altered or misspelled through clerical error along the way. The Census poll has the name as Herrison. Sifting through passenger lists would have been and impossible task before searchable computer databases. Realize that a data set was once transcribed by human hand from records hand written and with hopeful accuracy. In our case Harrison turns up zilch. Luckily a search engine allows for fuzzy or broad pattern name spellings. Browsing dozens of returns we capture a hit with a Max Herison. And with a departure port of Hamburg, Germany it makes sense. A bit of sleuthing reveals that this was close proximity and the natural point for anyone emigrating from the area now known as Lithuania. A German document processor upon hearing Harrison phonetically would have written down Herison. The German word Herr (a conventional title showing respect when addressing a German gentleman translated as Sir or Mr. and sounds like “hair”) so naturally a local clerk might trade the letter e for the a. His counterpart in New York would switch it back from e to a!

SS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria – Passenger List

Observe Max B, his mother Rose, and younger sisters Dora, Lena, and Hannah all together. (Father: Morris immigrated in 1904) Their ship makes interesting historical reading. It was operated by the Hamburg-Amerika Line and they traveled Steerage Class on the 9 day voyage to New York.

So we now know Hamburg. Our family boarded with their new surname Herison but the trail goes cold again. Searching the old name Kurgon reveals little except that an alternate spelling, Kurgan, offers many hits but with another obstacle. The first/middle name Max Borris would need to be translated along with everyone else’s given names. Mother, Rose was Rasha or Rasya in the old world. Dora Sarah was Sore Dvora. Morris Harrison was Movsha and had many name variations but ultimately was to become Morris. Max Boris birth name was Berel Mordekhay. That one was never going to turn up even with the broadest of search variations. There was better luck with his father’s name which helped to pinpoint him with the other family members.

Finally, having the names we could find places and dates. Browsing the LitvakSIG online data source for taxation, conscription, and family list ledgers was fruitful.

The central government did in fact run a comprehensive Census back in the day, which would have been most excellent for our purposes except that they only retained population counts and counts by ethnic percentage — discarding all the other details. Shoot.

Armed with a a place, also with spelling variations depending on nationality, required some geo-political learning. In the USA we have town|county|state with maybe a rural township to complicate the effort. The Russian Empire used province|district|town as we drill down. One aspect is that modern political borders and alignments are significantly less helpful. Lithuania for example wasn’t a thing before WW I but listing a country location as Russia does not work either. One must find and utilize period correct maps.

Russian Empire Provinces of Kovno, Vilna, Suwalki until 1918

These old time provinces today would encompass Lithuania and spill into current day Belarus and Poland. Our Kurgan (Harrison) group lived in Vilkija which is on the Nemunas River in the province of Kovno district of Kovno. An alternate spelling, Kaunas, is synonymous. The former is Russian and Lithuanian is the latter. Here we find our relatives and discover some who didn’t make it to America.

By the time we, as descendent children, take interest and get around to inquiring about family background history — direct informational account is no longer possible and by now second/third hand news. Logistically, one’s closest living relative was probably a youngster themselves (Nanny Fan was age 5) when she and her family emigrated and she would have had scant primary recall. She would have instead relied upon stories or tales after the fact and that these recollections may have been influenced by blur, bias, or emotion.

So the old family backstories were easily contorted or even lost all together. It’s interesting to uncover them in the perspective of historical times past and with a perceived glimpse into what once was.

How do you pronounce that

This Strombotne family surname has always been a twister. Some get it right first try but others, be they strangers or acquaintances could attempt — make a hash of it and give up or not even try for fear of mangling and risking insult injury. The first syllable was generally easy for them but the rest of it, usually a big fail. Frequently the “t” gets ignored for some reason and it’s uttered phonetically : strom·bone·eeee . Cringe. I had a Junior High PE Coach that would say it Strum·bot·knee with the emphasis on the second syllable. He had the last 2/3rds correct but the first syllable came out like strum (as in strum guitar).

Here’s how: Strom begins with an ST blend phonic same as do words straight or strong and these two consonants precede rom which sounds like ROM (computer read only memory) or rom as in Trombone (the instrument(s) from The Music Man) then bot like in robot and finally “ne” — say knee (the knee bone connected to the…) Strom·bot·ne

Then we have spelling tangles. After they’ve heard the name spoken there is the issue of the last letter. Was that an “i” followed by conversation: “Oh! is that Italian?” No it’s a letter “e”.

Strombotne is an anglicized family name tracing its origin to a farm in Norway — Straumbotn.

Ancestors that lived at Straumbotn and elsewhere had been using a patronymic naming system. The use of a fixed family name was made compulsory by law in Norway in 1923. As a result of this change, many chose and began using their patronymic name as their fixed family name; others (as in our case) chose their farm’s name as their permanent family name and thus the surname name — Strømbotne.

Patronymic Simplified: A child’s last name was derived from the father’s first name. If you had a daughter you would add – datter to the end of the father’s first name, if you had a son you would append  – sen or –son to the father’s first name and this new name compounded would become the Childs surname. Sometimes the name of the farm was used as a 3rd name; not so much as a surname but as an address identifier. The reason being is that after several centuries many now had the same first and last names. A formal change to a fixed family surname  began in the early 1800’s and was widespread by about 1900.

Spelling differed but the sound was always the same. Straum was the (Nordland local) Nynorsk standard and Strøm was the Bokmål way (Danish was the written language of Norway until 1814).

Considering authenticity, I doubted that my ancestors pronounced words anything like we do here in the USA. Then I told a Norwegian friend, last name Tvedt 🙂 of my state of perplexity and asked him to read it into a recorder.

Strømbotn 

We think that other peoples in broader Scandinavia had been adding a soft “neh” sound to botn, so Strømbotn gained an “e” in its spelling to align with this pronunciation. A second theory is that since there are no English words that end in “tn” consonants that this vowel was added to the spelling. Somewhere along the line the soft “e” (neh sound) became a hard “E” (sounding like knee) the spelling Rule #3: the silent “e” ignored evidently.

After an ah hah! moment of imagining a lifetime spent methodically (incorrectly) correcting people it became clear to me that my instilled conception of pronunciation wasn’t necessarily THE way .

In the case of brief person to person interaction it’s unlikely to matter too much how you pronounce it. No longer do I impose (unless badly adulterated) and even then at times let them know “close” or “good effort” as it gives them satisfaction and allows them to smile. But, for standardization (and extra points) say Strombotne – – – strom·bot·ne, straum·botn, or possibly straum·boat·neh.

Hemnes Prestegjeld

The church registers from this old parish, and others like it, documented life events for many that came before us. Over recent years these church books have been carefully digitized and archived. They make for interesting sleuthing when seeking out generational family relatives.

The Hemnes Church (photo circa 1890-1900) stands today. Its church grounds contain the original cemetery that was last used in 1886. I have kinfolk buried there.

To this particular church, Great-Great Grandfather Christopher Olai would row his open fishing boat in order to attend the Sunday service.

Looking at that…

period correct fishing craft

No, not the parish parking lot but the very active fishing village of Lofoten. Grandfather’s traditional style boat probably resembled one of these centuries old Nordland craft. It has a high prow and stern similar related to he old Viking longships.

Seksringsbåt med seil og dregg, Lofotbruk

Translation: six-ring boat with sail and dredge, Lofoten use. A craft like this was census listed as owned by Great-Great-Great Grandfather Johannes. This boat was all serious and no play, a bit heavy to row single-hand. Likely, son Chistopher Olai had something svelte (a two-ring) if he went by himself.

Norwegian Fjord

His 8 1/2 mile (bi-directional) endurance route through Norwegian fjords would have been quite the scenic (spiritual?) journey. Øverstraumen is a fjord arm of the Ranfjorden, Commencing at the Northern bottom of this fjord arm at Straumbotn and after a narrow bit (Nordgården) there is an exit outlet at Straumkjeften strait in the South. The Ranfjorden opens to the sea eventually but Christopher Olai’s trek would terminate at the narrow strait at the Hemnesberget village.

Impressive! — bragging rights among the parish group. For one of Us, this would be a major feat but for Olai it was Sunday’s health exercise ritual. He was a fit fisherman so he might just parlay wind and water currents to advantage. That, and perhaps a greater power watching over.

WWII logs

[two brothers as young men]

Dusty old records survive! This archive having been revisited after 3/4 century, can be digitized and is to be preserved. The pages include Naval deployment orders, training records, and memory scraps.

Aviator’s Flight
Log Book

Logged is a (non-military) November 4th joy flight with Esther L. (Mom) as passenger — type NE 1 number 49340 1.0 duration Burbank California 1945.

ace -photo detective

From our dusty family archive comes this forgotten 1910 photograph of a first car in Iowa…

somewhere in Iowa…

What car is it? A major clue is the marque logo on the facade. Star Cars. The emblem, while somewhat faded, is a match from the Durant Motors Company.

Model C Runabout

A 1923 Star Runabout roadster is an obvious preliminary guess but this automobile using a catalog picture above is not a match for Pop and Mom’s car. Here is a better one:

The trunk bustle has a reverse sweeping curve up to the convertible top whereas the Star (above) maintains a constant arc to a level body top edge line. The side by side cars are much sportier looking especially with the rakish mountable spare tire. The visual comparison on the right is a [1918-] 1923 Dodge Standard A Roadster. Tell me if you think it a ringer for our original car on the left…

As usual more questions than answers. Grandpa’s first car is showing some age so perhaps the photo was snapped sometime after the mid ’20s. There isn’t a numbered registration plate on the bumper. The place looks closed; out on a Sunday drive? They could have acquired their car from the Star Cars Auto Repairing or had it serviced there however It seems an unlikely photo venue.

We are on the wrong track. The object of the photo is obviously the building or property itself which just happens to include a random car in the foreground. The original photoshoot could not happen before 1922 because this was the inception of the Durant Company’s Star Car. Based on the weathered appearance of the paint logo on the building face, I’d have to say that it was a least a few years further along.

This car pictured, having no backseat, would have been suitable for 2 or 3 but hardly large enough to be used as a family car. I count Grandpa, Grandma plus 4 children by that time. A roadster would have been impractical and the folks in Iowa were a sensible and pragmatic sort.

Here’s what we know: The caption date of 1910 is bogus and we are pretty certain that the car is not a Star; furthermore we are not swayed by claims of the featured car’s provenance. The significance of the building we have yet to learn. Otherwise, the photo caption is accurate 😉

What to do you see here

This photograph is hand dated 1910. The Randrup family lived in Copenhagen (København) Denmark The letter K on the registration plate so designates. The owners hand draped over the front seat armrest and his shoe on the running board seem to be rather crudely inked out. (early days for photoshop)

The carbide headlamps used acetylene gas but the side marker lamps were oil burning and that may explain why the lense on the passenger side is blackened. It would have been used, as required, for street side parking during the night.

There’s a folding top but it’s a fair weather open car without windshield or side windows. I would say very low mileage based upon the state of clean and shine. See the messy bits on the pristine roadway substrate inside of the front year tire. I hope that this automobile wasn’t blamed. Good reason to check your shoes before coming indoors!

The 1910 Randrup family photo op featuring the  brass era touring car above has been identified. It was a difficult task because I only had the first 3 design letters visible on the radiator: “Ber” and come to think of it; that longhand script style was pixelated and no doubt in a foreign language to boot.

Typing just three letters into a Google Search did not result in a handy autofill suggestion! I did however manage to find a comprehensive list of makes whose name began with the letter B. Matching up the next two letters narrowed that list considerably and voila. After selecting a few of these near matches, comparing images of early cars, fender and radiator shapes I found a match. The dead ringer confirmation is the unique “B” signature script of the name on the radiator which was clear in other comparison photo records.

It’s a French made Berliet motorcar and as a company went on to a long history but one not well known in the USA — except for one obscurity. The Berliet design and manufacturing rights were licensed to the American Locomotive Company of New York. They attempted to capitalize on an American perceived exotic european excellence theme but note that the eye catching brass Berliet logotype on the radiator was struck.

1907 American Berliet

office chair historian

It is a personal mission to discover and understand, validate and maintain family heritage.  A family tree is an obvious means and method. Civic ledger books and Church records are commonly used to validate the verbal recall of relatives during generational passdown. This printed historical documentation has been digitized and access enabled through personal computing.

An example is the military experience of family members who were engaged by World War. There are those who kept memories alive and told all; going so far as to write memoirs,  books, and reminisce at social reunion with others who also shared in the experience. They re-live those years which they consider to be an important part  (if not the highlight) of their lifetime.

Those family members that I knew who served, had vivid memories as well but there was a difference. They didn’t wish their lives to be defined by this particular event and in an effort to move on, their war stories were seldom a topic of casual conversation. Those of us eager to know “what it was like” gathered the anecdotal tidbits over time.

With the internet and the availability of declassified military reports it is now possible to the retrace events as a virtual itinerary.  This timeline validates the first person recount and adds clarification to bigger picture understanding.

yorktown war diary

Browsable portals such as the WWII Archives Foundation and this enthusiast collection contain reams of raw data.  The above view is a snapshot sample of a war diary of a naval warship observing the hour to hour defensive or offensive exploits in the Pacific Theatre.  Another example illustrates an Army Air Force sortie in Europe. This becomes especially interesting knowing that family relatives were involved during these recordings. Putting it altogether as a retelling the memory can be preserved.

Elegy

An oldtime 78 rpm record was recently uncovered and saved to digital format (Thanks MLS). It is an heirloom preserved. The voice in the recording belongs to Grandmother Strombotne as she sings — Elegy. It was produced in 1948. The vocals are in French so if one wishes to follow along; there is an English translation.

The Elegy by Jules Massenet was a popular melodie in Europe in the last decade of the nineteenth century. At some point it was adapted to lyrics by Louis Gallet

Ô, doux printemps d’autre fois, vertes saisons,
Vous avez fui pour toujours!
Je ne vois plus le ciel bleu;
Je n’entends plus les chants joyeux des oiseaux!
En emportant mon bonheur, mon bonheur…
Ô bien-amé, tu t’en es allé!
Et c’est en vain que [le printemps revient!]1
Oui, sans retour,
avec toi, le gai soleil,
Les jours riants sont partis!
Comme en mon coeur tout est sombre et glacé!
Tout est flétri
pour toujours!

 Elegy by Elsa Strombotne

0:01:46 MP3 128kbps 1.62MB

Such a beautiful voice.  Grandmother Strom was active in her community and taught voice to her music pupils.

Grandmother Strom – Opera Singer

Artists Review

Mme. Strombotne, who received her early training in Denmark, has one of those round-toned, bell-like voices that seem to be the prerogative of Scandinavian sopranos. It is the kind of voice Wagner wrote for, and her ‘Elsa’s Dream’ from ‘Lohengrin’ had the right quality. Her low range is unusually strong. No voice can retain its full glow, especially in high notes and pianissimos, but there was a warmth of mature interpretation to make up. A greater drawback was deviation in pitch in the more brilliant numbers. The simple and direct songs came over best, lovely songs that everybody used to sing and that have been neglected lately: Schumann’s ‘Du Bist Wie Eine Blume’, Grieg’s ‘En Svane’, Quilter’s ‘Go Lovely Rose’. It is not often that a singer’s strongest impression is made in the opening selection, but Handel’s ‘O Mio Cor’ had a rich vocal line…

pianissimos : a passage played, sung, or spoken very softly

Music of the West Magazine

Harold Kay (left) president of the Peninsula Artists and Opera Association,
congratulates pianist Mortimer Markoff and soprano Elsa Strombotne and
her accompanist, LeRoy Miller following their concert
in Palo Alto in March which was sponsored by the Association.

May 1959 Issue

“The final concert in the Peninsula Artists series on March 20 introduced to local audiences mezzo-soprano Elsa Strombotne in a joint program with Mortimer Markoff, well-known Palo Alto pianist. The policy of presenting new artists with those already established is beneficial for all concerned.

Mme.  Strombotne is a vocalist with the range, Wagnerian power and freshness we have come to expect from Scandinavian singers. The size of her voice, free from vibrato, suggests a career in opera and oratorio but as a recitalist she proved to be a sensitive interpreter, at home in many styles. The soprano’s pitch is not always flawless and she needs to curb an urge to take all top tones fortissimo. Her English diction can be improved upon. LeRoy Miller contributed sound accompaniments.”

* * *

mezzo-soprano is the middle vocal range for women, comparable to the baritone range among men. The word mezzo means medium or middle in Italian, and usually refers to female singers with characteristics of both alto and soprano singers. The classic mezzo soprano has the ability to reach high notes, usually up to the C two octaves above middle C, while retaining a richer timbre of voice similar to that of a deeper-ranged alto.

vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music.

fortissimo : very loud

Hear one of Elsa Strombotne’s recordings