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Re: Correction?

Sat 1/23/2021 1:48 PM
Beth,
My family is a genealogist’s nightmare. This is what I have, which I think answers your follow-up question.
It is a good thing we have a great team working on the Elcik family tree.
The obituary for Joseph P. Elcik was probably not written by a member of the family. I’m speculating now, but I can see it happening that in interviewing one of the daughters, the writer didn’t make the connection that she was talking about her sisters and not her fathers. 🤔
First, we need to remember that Joseph has a brother, my grandfather. Second, we need to go back to one of my earliest posts. As part of my evidence for their being brothers, I reported on the practice during that time in American history of brothers using the same given names for their children.  In this case, the Elcik brothers did it and hence the confusion:
Thus, there are two Elizabeth Annie Elcik’s born just a year apart.
Elizabeth Annie Elcik (1905-1988) is the daughter of John P. Elcik, Sr. (1886-1941) and Maria Anna Pelcarsky (1870-1936). She married twice. First to Joseph Louis Turcott (1901) and second to Carroll Charles Small (1900-1956). She had five children with Charles.
Elizabeth Annie Elcik (1904-1947) is the daughter of Joseph P. Elcik (1875-1938) and Elizabeth Balnick (1870-1934). She married Melnot Frank.  I don’t think they had any children.
Undoubtedly, they played together. So, who was Elizabeth, and who was Annie? Or did they use Beth, Betsie, or Ann, Ana? Inquiring minds want to know. Lol.
And that, as they say, is my story, and I’m stuck with it. Or did I miss something?
John, IV
P.S. I forgot to mention that John Sr’s daughter is the twin of his daughter Annie. And that Annie is the Annie that married George Francis Karkos.
cc: Earl, Charlie
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The Twilight Zone

Sat 1/23/2021 4:49 PM
Beth, Earl, and Charles:
I bring you greetings from the Twilight Zone.
I just received an interesting message about a “Discovery” by MyHeritage.
First, I’m sharing a copy with you via the following link.
Now, for my interpretation: MyHeritage thinks that John and Joseph had a brother Frank and a sister Anna. Given our foray into the weeds, I couldn’t help but share. We all know old records are incomplete and can otherwise mislead, but the dates are right. Also, we do know that both brothers used the surname Elsik in the 1910 Federal Census. 🙂
Lol.
John, IV
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Re: Reading Hard-To-Read Gravestones

Sun 1/24/2021 12:06 AM
Beth,
I just gave you access to the MyHeritage site, though I don’t know what that means. I’m still learning their system.
It isn’t as impressive as you might think when I tell you the back story.
MyHeritage was having a Good Friday discount on their already low price for a DNA Kit, and I figured why not.  I’m a researcher at heart and like comparing software products.
Shortly thereafter, I ran into a snag with their pricing. It turns out that you can create a free site for up to 250 people with a limit on storage space.  I complained that it did not include a family tree subscription. I could pay for a month or two, but they only sell a one-year subscription. Ouch!  I went on to say (truthfully) that I got 3 months of World Discover for #1 with my DNA kit at Ancestry.com.  I was nice about it, and they rewarded me with a couple of months of free access.  The big advantage of this was I took down my tree with 249 people and used a backup of my ancestry tree to create a new one. When my free trial is over, the side benefit is that while I won’t get any more hints, whatever I have created doesn’t go away.
Very nice of them.
The pictures are from my (new) Top 100 Photos folder. It is exclusively old, black-and-white photos. The neat thing for us is the MyHeritage system used the photo’s file name to create the description, saving me a lot of extra work. I created a few albums, and presto, I have magic. I also have played with their feature to identify people in photos.
The hints on the MyHeritage site work a little differently.  They are always trying to increase the number of people and/or storage that determines the annual subscription price. The Elsik Hint notably said it would add 12 people. Other hints have been offered to add 50-100 people at a time. I usually say yes.
Again, MyHeritage only has annual subscriptions. Without the “Christmas” present of a free 2-month subscription, none of this would have happened.
Two items of note:  First, I don’t keep the family tree on MyHeritage as up-to-date as Ancestry.com.  It is a GEDCOM snapshot, plus their separate HINTs. And secondly, they have their own software, which I can use to sync an offline copy. Again, I am a software addict.
I think that something like the Top 100 will be on the eBook website. I’m still investigating options to make the mycousins.org site special.
Enjoy!
John, IV
P.S. My Ancestry.com site is undergoing a dramatic increase in the number of photos and stories.  Rather than use my workaround to accept individual HINTS, I aggressively use public family trees to grow the site. Since I understand how the software operates (the behind-the-scenes programming), I can do so rather safely. I also know if I do create errors or duplicates, how to fix them.
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Re: Elcik Genealogy

Mon 1/25/2021 6:01 PM
Charlie,
Wow! I am very excited to delve into this information—another goldmine. There is no way I can ever thank you enough for all you have done. You, Earl, and Beth are a dynamic trio.
It will take me time to realize the full significance of all this—several initial thoughts.
  1. I think this totally answers the Elcik, Elsik, Ilcik relations puzzle. Almost unbelievable…
  2. It also solves the puzzle of the mysterious Elizabeth Baron. I have a Social Security source document for her, but until now could only guess who she might be.
I’m going to copy Earl and Beth on this. Earl gave you a great lead, but your follow-up was a hit out of the ballpark.
Beth has been struggling as much as I with these puzzles. I think she will be as over the moon with joy as I.
John, IV
cc: Earl, Beth
Thank you!!!!