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Judy Lakkis and the Spivak Family Tree


Tue 7/7/2020 1:12 PM

Judith,

First, I hope all is well with you. Distant, or not, I like to think we are family.

You have been most kind by responding to my belated outreach.

Wow! How disappointing for you to have lost the data after your hard work and the expense. I feel somewhat guilty that I was not more receptive at the time. But you are wise in realizing that interests change, and I respect that.

Interestingly, I have found that building my family tree is a real challenge. It turns out, based on Census data, that three Elcik families immigrated to the United States from Austria. I can only confirm two are directly related despite the similarity of names and country of origin. Third, if it is related, the relationship will only be discovered through research in Austria. I probably won’t have the resources to take that journey. But it would be fun. ?

Nevertheless, I am tracking what I can for the third family and have added your husband into the tree as unassigned individuals for further research, someday.

When I attempted to build your family tree, I may have found data on your husband and father. We never identified him by name. Is your husband Howard B. Spivak born 1 Mar 1949? And could his father be Thoma Spivak, who passed 5 Sept 1960 in Connecticut?

I also was interested in finding your information, but I could not identify your records without your maiden name and birthdate. Likely candidates were not born in Connecticut, which I believe you said you were. If you wish to share your information with me, I may someday surprise you with results you aren’t expecting. ? No promises, but I will try.

Also, curiosity compels me to ask. Is the user account on “Find a Grave” yours? If so, it was a wonderful thing you did for others.

Warmest regards,

John, IV

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Volunteering for Find a Grave


Wed 7/8/2020 9:43 PM

Hello John,

Yes, I was a volunteer for “Find a Grave,” and I loved it. I know every cemetery within a 30-mile radius. I had to leave cause I had trouble with the Catholic Church. Even wrote to the Arch Bishop. To make a very long, long story short, The Catholic Church wanted $25.00 per location, so I use just to put the names in alphabetical order and spend a day at the cemetery. I knew every section, the dates, etc., so it was easy to find a few. The best story I have is someone from the Chicago area wanted a specific name. I found the headstone. I later received a thank you; the most gracious thank you that I ever received. The headstone was the only picture he had of his father he never knew. He treasured it. Warmed my heart. I cried.

Ah, then I was showing another man how to find the graves. Some are computer orientated, and he put “the make’ on me. I went home, trembling. Then he did some vicious things. He would take my claims, take the picture and send it to the person claiming it. I would come home, download the pictures to post, and they would already be there.
He would harass me through emails and phone. I had my husband step in.

Then with the Catholic Cemetery, some other man went and took pictures and emailed me to delete mine, “cause his was better.” I made the mistake of putting the location of the plot for the family, NOT HIM. Of course, I did NOT delete.

I also had some spooky things happen to me. Strange spiritual things. Not scary but very interesting.

My husband was born in Lebanon.

My father’s name is John Chester Spivak. His father was Timothy Spivak, and his mother was Tessie Spivak. I have all the info and the ships they came on in the early 1900s to Ellis Island.

You are sparking interest. Maybe I’ll join ancestry again.

All the Best,

Judy

[FindAGrave Profile for Judy – Editor]

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Find a Grave


Wed 7/8/2020 10:28 PM

Judy,

Wow! Your experiences with “Find a Grave” would have frightened any sane person. No, wonder you stopped. I am glad, however, that you had a couple of positive experiences. It was an excellent service you provided. Even more, people appreciated it, I’m sure. I’m not big on travel (I miss cruising), but when I did, I needed my GPS. Your challenge to locate the right gravesite may be as difficult, or more so than the hunt for distant relations. There would be the satisfaction of knowing you got right, which I bet for you happened frequently.

I’m struggling with a decision on which pictures to put into the Ancestry database. Based on what I think others are doing, a profile picture and the gravestone is all that most folks do. And for some, the headstone becomes the profile picture. Funny, without the examples, I don’t know if I would have thought to use images of the gravestones.

I was initially going to post many pictures, but have decided against it. The Image Gallery doesn’t function like a scrapbook. Instead, one must select a picture one-at-a-time to view them properly.

I have learned how to build websites in my retirement, and I think I will update and expand mine: www.mycousins.org. The difference between a private website and Facebook (aside from privacy) is the opportunity to curate the contents. I’m finding my Facebook contacts publish photos of fair, and only occasionally better quality.

As a photographer, you must notice this. One advantage of my newly developed web design skills is that I am becoming skilled at manipulating images to improve them. Often just cropping a photo makes it more interesting. I was a marketer before I retired, but my creativity was limited to hiring talent. Web design allows me to try my ideas. It has led me to build two websites for my wife, Pam: www.princessofcrafts.com & www.beadedneckaces.com. If you have the time, please check any of them out. Enjoy!

Thanks for sharing,

John, IV

 

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Would I Research Other Surnames?

Fri 7/10/2020 5:24 PM

All,

What would it take for me to research another surname?

It helps if I had some data to work with…

I could extend the research to Del Moral, Duryea, Flickinger, Grap, McMahan, and or Portell; if I had the
names and birthdates of siblings and parents.

And yes, I know it is early, for some of you to think about this.

John

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My Family Tree Project


Sat 7/11/2020 8:32 AM

All,

Facts are never enough. Knowing that our ancestors came here from Austria/Hungary does not definitively tell us the motivations. And changes in the spelling of surnames or given names are not necessarily done to make them fit better into their new lives in America. Sometimes, it is just a misspelling on a public document.

The motivation for immigration to America in the late 1800s is unknown. I have speculated it was both political and economic, given the timing and events in history. Census data records the early arrivals working as laborers in construction, wool, and paper mills, suggesting that economics may have been a factor. There are no first-hand accounts yet to tell us to what extent economics or politics played in immigration.

In researching the Elcik surname, I discovered that the name in official documents (Birth, Census, Marriage, and Death records) spelled “Elick” or “Elsik.” Is this a misspelling or a thoughtful name change? I don’t know. Certainly, misspellings occur. The transformation of Mary Elcik into “Marie” is the most obvious.

John

P.S. The three emails I have mailed you are published (with edits) in the family tree to document the journey.

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The Spelling of our Last Name


Sat 7/11/2020 4:38 PM

Jim & Jeff,

I realized after the last message that there is a follow-up to the story in why today we spell our name “Elcik.”

If we look at the history of usage based on United States Federal Census data, we learn:

  • In 1910 Sr. had his surname recorded as “Elsik” while Jr. and the rest of the family were written as “Elcik.”
  • In 1920 Jr’s and family had their surname recorded as “Elcih.”
  • In 1930 and 1940, John III’s and family had their surname recorded as Elick”. It, of course, predates our birth.
  • Today the surname is used as “Elcik.”

It looks like our Dad over several decades, used “Elick” as our surname, but with our generation, he and we have gone back to our roots by using “Elcik.” Recall that I said the “Elick” spelling was used for Dad’s siblings: Madelyn, Gertrude, Mary, Richard, and Elinor. I was also of interest that “Madelyn” and “Elinor” eventually become “Madeline” and “Eleanor,” respectively. When overtime names change, it becomes increasingly difficult to be sure you have been recording them right. ?

One final mystery. Until I got the dates right the John Elcik, who was born in 1886, was incorrectly finding his way onto our tree. First, we know John P. Elcik, Jr. was born in 1896. I doubt as a ten-year-old, he fathered a child. The mystery is solved with the 1910 United States Census. Both the “Elsik” and the “Elcik” spellings are used within the same household.

Finally, one other surname has been a source of frustration. John “Elsik’s” wife Mary Pelcarskey had has also been recorded as “Maria Ilcik.” Ouch!

Inquiring minds wanted to know. So, as Paul Harvey used to say, “That is the rest of the story.”

John

[All this research and I can’t answer for the way we pronounce “Elcik” as “El-check.” I do vaguely recall having uttered it “Elsick” when I was young. I also remember saying, “check, like in Czechoslovakia.” Could kids in school have been bullying us? Maybe. – Dr. John P. Elcik, IV, Editor]

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Ancestry Software Needs Enhancements


Sat 7/11/2020 6:20 PM

Jeff,

If you or Jim decide to take on a trial of the Ancestry.com software, you might get a kick out of this listing of enhancements I will be submitting. ?

I’m a fan of the Ancestory.com product. Thank you!

As a former software analyst, I would love to submit several suggestions. Do you accept feedback? If so, where should it be sent?

The following suggestions are in order of those I think would generally help the most.

  1. Ease-of-use and easy-to-use are not the same. Some actions require eliminating repetitive steps. The most annoying is searching for an individual. Not counting entering the name, to search for an individual takes five clicks every time I use the Leaf on the top menu. Find a Person ought to be a top-level menu option. And yes, I do realize that using the tree sometimes is more straightforward.
  2. The five hints shown from the Leaf on the top right-hand menu is too many. Too often, and especially when you have a system message, the menu must be scrolled to show all hints and gain access to searching for an individual. Please give us a settings option to change the number of hints displayed or put the Show all Hints at the top of the list. 
  3. The List of All People is hidden. I love it now that found it. But it has shortcomings. It only sorts by name. It should also be sortable by birth-date or death-date order.
  4. Word and PDF documents can only be downloaded, not displayed to screen. Do I take the time to create a LifeStory and delete the Word and PDF copies? Time permitting, I sometimes do. Ouch!
  5. It is nice to view the full gallery of images and pick a type of media. But there is no way to search the media. Ouch! It would help if you could sort the full gallery like you can sort the gallery of an individual’s record. Search and sort options are needed. Sort options need to include by-event-date. An event-date sort for LifeStory documents helps establish a timeline. Also, gallery photos should display without the necessity to click on every picture to see the full image. The labels should be under a photo, not on it.
  6. Ancestry’s HINTs is a powerful feature, but mistakes can happen. A box of explanations (similar to those offered for ignored hints) is needed when we make a manual reversal. Optionally, to do a reset on the “history” of Ancestry hints would work. Of course, In both situations, I know data must be manually corrected.
  7. LifeStory options should display and use “when the story took place” as the default or an optional sort-by-date. The current sort-by-date-entered has value, but it shouldn’t be the only option.
  8. A “pet” relationship would be appreciated. Pets are essential for many of us, but I don’t think we should use family relationships for them.
  9. We need a Site profile in addition to the Personal Profile. It is a place to provide general site narratives and updates. The present limit of a couple of sentences in the Personal Profile is ok for displaying to the public. It doesn’t address the need for detailed information and summary updates for users as the site grows. One option is to place Site Profile as a top-level menu item and map it to a user-selected URL.
  10.  A font solution setup to give users overall control of website and document fonts would welcome enhancement. Some of us, not all, need larger or a more readable font.
  11. The statistical summary should also count the number of web links. Do this if for no other reason than it acts as a friendly reminder that web links are useful. I don’t have any audio or video yet, but I think about it every time I review stats.
  12. You have the best Reports on the Market. I love your LifeStory and Facts reports, but it took me a long time to find the Family Group Sheet. I would relocate it beside your other two World-Class reports.

Thank you for listening.

Dr. John P. Elcik, IV
Retired Systems Analyst

https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Providing-Feedback-About-Ancestry