Greetings,
My Cousins is an epistolary story told entirely in online communications. Mostly told through email, there are Facebook and LinkedIn communications also shared. It is both about dialog and information sharing. The dialog is what inspires the project to its eventual resting place with you.
It all begins with a Family Tree created for the Elcik and McClanahan surnames. A family record, however, is more than names, dates, and places. It is about people – what they did, and why and the how. This project is designed to record the history of our family and our ancestors forever.
The MyCousins project almost died in 2008 with a failed “family and friends” effort. It was to be a chronicle of favorite recipes and family history. And there were grand plans to revise and publish periodically. We said at the time that there was a lot to do for this to be a success. There was, and it wasn’t. Even a modest request for help fell on deaf ears. Everyone was asked to contribute a favorite recipe and a page about themselves. The document produced was a lot of work and not particularly useful. Ultimately, it was used twice. Keri Lucas made inquires and received a copy. And Stacey Elcik used it as part of a school project.
Judith Lakkis, in 2011 tried to revive the Elcik family interest in genealogy research with a request for a DNA sample. Her own research suggested a family connection, and she wanted to explore it further. I was not ready for this. Not only did I not know much about the technology, but I was also too busy at work to give it much thought. The opportunity thus came and went.
In 2020, I took a fresh look at updating the family tree. This time it was different. My cousin Jack Gamache volunteered his wife Beth to help. Beth had spent years working on building family trees. And she is passionate about her love for the work. The Elcik tree was the least developed, and we agreed to collaborate. The process was much different this time. I was no longer working alone. Beth introduced others to the project and using social media, our numbers grew. The project includes 29 contributors and 25 subscribers as we go online.
Beth and I make a great team. First, we both are committed to ancestry research. For us, it is both important work and fun. Beth is outstanding with outreach both within the family and professionally. And I have the technology interests to support the work.
The ancestry research by Beth and I cover a lot of topics. But in the background is always the desire to solve the mysteries surrounding our immigration to America. Why did we immigrate? Why do we spell our surname Elcik? Are there other members of the family to find? Can we reach beyond our shores to Europe? If answers are to be found, this is where we report them.
Yes, Elcik and McClanahan surnames were my starting point. I added: Adams, Brekke, Byras, DeRosa, Skillin, and Strand. And then Gamache and Lucas. There are now hundreds of surnames and still growing. Beth started with the Purinton surname. She has added Day, Gamache, and dozens more. For now, we are both happy with our separate trees. Who knows, someday there may be a need to combine contents into one World tree. If, so it will be my job to handle the technology.
Dr. John P. Elcik, IV
Email: john@mycousins.org
Greetings,
The idea for turning our online communications into a book came about suddenly. I have a unique book my parents gave me on the genealogy of Durhan, Maine. Both of us concluded that Lisbon Falls needed similar treatment. This became even more pressing as we struggled with the mystery that connects the two communities. Eventually, we concluded that Lisbon Falls was too large a subject and focused on the mystery of Elcik immigration.
In the late 1800s, two Elcik families immigrated to America. John Elsik came in 1891 and John Ilcik in 1905. Both families came from Austria-Hungary, spoke Slavic, and had a Catholic heritage in common. Both families have ties to Androscoggin County, Maine. John Elsik is John’s Great-grandfather with ties to Durham, Maine. John Ilcik is the Great Grandfather of John Elcik in Rocky Point, New York. John initially referred to the Ilcik family as the New York Elcik’s. In retrospect, we now believe his ancestral ties are also with Durham, Maine. Regardless, both John Elcik’s are steadfast in their belief that the families are related. But how?
Beth Purinton Gamache
Email: beth@mycousins.org
