Navigating Moldova Poll Tax Census Records

Carolyn Schott

I’d heard the siren call of this unexplored group of records for many years. There was almost a fairy-tale-like quality to the promise of this collection—all riches could be mine (in the form of genealogical records) if I could just figure out how to find anything in the “Moldova Poll Tax Census (Revision List)” collection…

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Stumpp Book Quirks Strike Again

Carolyn Schott

You find the darndest things in the Stumpp book.[1] It’s a classic and almost beloved reference work for those researching their German ancestors who settled in the Russian Empire. It’s also infuriating for its gaps and sometimes just plain wrong information. And then other times, it’s…well…quirky. Lists of Odessa City Germans When Glueckstal researcher Tom…

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The Elusive Wesley

Carolyn Schott

I know he existed. But where did he go? One of our family mysteries is Wesley, an orphan boy that lived with my Schott grandparents sometime in the early 1900s. The family lore is that my Grandpa Peter “went to the train station” to pick him up, that he was a bit wild, and that…

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10 Tips for Finding Your Ancestor’s Town

Carolyn Schott

I admire my ancestors’ sense of adventure and determination to seek out better lives by migrating from Germany to Ukraine/Poland/Hungary to North America. But I curse that same sense of adventure, because whenever they moved, they often left their past lives behind so completely that I can’t figure out where they came from. Since most…

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