The Search For My Uncommon Last Name, part 2

In 2001 I signed up with Ancestry.com for the first time. I say "first time" because I have cancelled and rejoined countless times over the past 19 years as my budget allowed. At that time, I still couldn't find a damn thing about my Dad's family beyond what I already knew. All Ancestry had at the time was the info I put into my tree myself.

Since 2001, genealogy resources have grown in leaps and bounds. This is in part because more people are using sites like Ancestry.com. Other reasons, I'd say, are the digitalization and indexing of old records from around the world, as well as increased access via the internet to heritage groups and fellow researchers.

Around 2013 I learned about setting up Google Alerts (you choose keyword(s) and Google emails you when it gets new hits on that) I had set some up for the last names in my tree. Lo and behold, one day I got a notification that Google had a link for me to check out related to Tscherne. It didn't have much info for me to work with, but it did have one very important word with it: Gottschee. I had no idea what it was or even how to properly pronounce it, but I set up another Google Alert for that word.

It turns out that Gottschee is a place that doesn't exist anymore, as the Gottscheer residents were "resettled" by Hitler in 1942. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

(Next up, Part 3!)

Comments

New med, New New Med, Old New Med

Alternative title for this post: I might just be a lady with a lisp from now on. I've been lucky to see the the corona-break in a pretty positive light (aside from the light that illuminates how empty the bank account is without paychecks). It has been a time of positive change for my depression and bipolar II symptoms. Right about when the coronavirus hit and "shelter in place" went into effect I started taking the medication Abilify (generic name: aripiprazole). My doctor suggested it as a supplemental medication to take with my antidepressant to try to boost its effectiveness. I've tried this type of thing with Welbutrin before, and it didn't do anything (not good, not bad, just no change at all), so I wasn't expecting much. I've been dealing with severe depression for over 15 years, and you kind of lose hope when it comes to "let's see what happens!" Holy shit. This medication has been GOLD for me. Within two days of startin...

Poetry by Mary Oliver

I am reading poetry by Mary Oliver at present, at the suggestion by a very good friend. I have downloaded 2 books from my library account by Mary Oliver: "Blue Horses," and "Upstream." It has been many years since I read poetry; like, REALLY read it to understand it, and ponder the meaning and discuss it with anyone in any literary capacity. It was back in college, really, but that was also a time when I realized that majoring in Literature was making me no longer enjoy literature (or other students in the major, if I'm honest). With that said, I was thinking about how I'd know if I was getting out of the poetry what the poet meant to convey. I don't think I can actually know that unless I ask the poet, and that won't happen, so I decided that all I can do is try it and see and be happy with what meaning I personally get from the poems. I've always loved quotes from books and bits of passages. I don't mean the kind of quotes that are fam...

Random Acts of Adulthood

Search This Blog