I'm going to Vienna in June. After writing about the city of my parents' birth for the past two years, I'm finally taking the plunge. I'm looking forward to the trip. I'm also dreading it. I was there only once before, in the early 1970s, at the request of my parents. While I was planning a trip to Europe with a college friend, Andrea, they asked me to visit the relatives
Schmerling family
New York Report, Pt. 2: Family & Film, Pastry & Punctuation
I admit it: It sometimes takes me a while to unpack from a trip. On my recent return to Tucson from New York, I didn't need the winter clothes I'd brought with me (nyah nyah); only an underwear shortage inspired me to retrieve the contents of my suitcase. It sometimes takes me even longer to unpack my experiences, since there's never any shortage of stories -- only some of them
The Kornmehl-Schmerling Connection, Past & Present
I have a tendency to be a bit long winded. I can't quite make this a Wordless Wednesday -- or even an (Almost) Wordless Wednesday -- but I'm going to try to keep my foray into the past and present of the Kornmehl and Schmerling families as brief as possible. Kornmehls and Schmerlings, Past I wrote last week about how I was planning to participate in the family histories that
My Family’s Butcher Shops
When I started this blog, I knew that my mother's uncles in Vienna had butcher shops, plural, and that one of them sold meat -- kosher meat, my mother said -- to Sigmund Freud's wife. It wasn't until I did a lot more research that I was able to put names to the butchers, however, and to learn just how extended the family meat connection was, and how far back it went. The
Fish, Fungi & Funny Jewish Words: The Schmerling Name, Revisited
I thought that my recent post about the origin of the Schmerling name had laid the topic to rest. After going through a series of logical steps, I was certain that the source of the name, handed down matrilinealy, was "loach fish," chosen from a list provided by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the Jews in 1787 when they mandated the taking of Germanic surnames. I subsequently
Of Photo Identification & British-to-American Translation
I often feel deficient in the genealogy department. When it comes to tracing documents, I have been spoiled by help from others, by getting gifts of fish, as the old saying goes, rather than fishing lessons. But I recently discovered that I've learned quite a bit about my mother's family in the past year -- which was, after all, what I set out to do. So forgive a little
The Mystery of the Schmerling Name — Solved!
I won't try to claim that name changes pose a greater challenge to Jewish family historians than those of other groups -- although I'm convinced they do. I just don't have a sufficient basis for comparison to prove it. Unique Genealogical Circumstances I can, however, assert that those searching for Eastern European Jewish ancestors will face some unique challenges.
A Reboot, A Rabbi & A Reunion
...walk into a bar. Just kidding. But that title cried out for it. The Reboot I had a wake up call recently, thanks in part to a comment by guest poster and Viktor Frankl biographer Anna Redsand. Who are all these people you're writing about? she asked. You need a scorecard -- or at least a family tree -- to keep them straight. Only she put it far more
Our Closest Kin: The Schmerlings
I've been feeling a bit discombobulated lately. When I first starting researching my family, I was startled to discover that I had a great uncle and cousin living in Queens whom I had never met, even though we lived a subway ride away in Brooklyn. Recently, another family has come into my consciousness, one-time Manhattanites as closely related to my mother as the Queens
Coming Attractions!
I'm back. Yes, I needed a break after the daily deadlines of February's Family History Writing Challenge, but I miss the structure and accountability that the challenge provided. I thought if I told you what's upcoming on my blog I would be committed to write about those topics or, as you'll see, shame others into providing promised guest posts. If I say so myself, there's