Cousin Connections

Dorothy Nelson
and her cousin
Phoebe Powell
A few years ago I was able to connect with a distant cousin in South Dakota who is the great grandson of Mortimer and Mary Kallis Powell. I am very greatful to the information he has given about the Kallis family. I have been able to take the information he has given me and take it farther. I am still working on trying to find burial places on Frank Kallis and Lena Selinger (Frank's mother-in-law). And also I need to find death information on both. If I can find the death certificate for either Frank Kallis or Lena Selinger, I will be able to find the parent's names of both of them, along with other pertinent information.
Through Rod & Clan I have managed to find a very distant Czech cousin and her father. The father is married to a Kallis and still lives in Nosálov. Sadly, they only speak Czech and I have not kept up with my Czech lessons. So I have temporarily lost contact with them. I will be getting back to my Czech lessons and trying to reconnect with them. This family is somehow related to our Kallis family. They spell the surname as Kalis. I just need to find that missing link to figure out how they are related. The oldest Kalis ancestor they know of is a Josef
I also have managed to find a pen-pal through Lidé on Seznam, a Czech search engine like Yahoo. He is not related, but he is into genealogy and gave me a few pointers for searching Bohemian genealogy. He according to him, he found a František and Josef (pronounced Yosef) Kališ in Nosálov, who would be the same age around the same time as our Kallis family. So that is another person I need to reconnect with. Not really for the genealogy stuff, since he is not related, but he was a fun and cool person to talk to plus it helps me get in practice for when I finally do get to the Czech Republic. Look out Prague, here I come!

Frank J. Kallis/
Cousin of Dorothy Nelson
Even though Frank and Elizabeth Selinger Kallis had a total of twelve children, this figure includes little Maria who died at sea, there is only three of their children who have living descendants. Of course we know of Elizabeth Kallis marrying Henry Nelson (Nielsen) and Mary Kallis marrying Mortimer Powell. But Frank Kallis, the second youngest son of Frank and Elizabeth, married Minnie Seymour. According to the 1900 census in Lead City, Lawrence County, South Dakota they had been married for four months. Since the census was take in June, that would mean they were married in February of 1900. According to our Powell cousin in South Dakota, Frank and Minnie had a son named Frank J. Kallis. To our knowledge this was the only son. Our Powell cousin also says that Frank and Minnie divorced. The Powell cousin's family believes that Frank J. Kallis grew up in Washington state. I would love to find descendants of this cousin and exchange any knowledge I or they may have. Internet and Ancestry.com searches have shown quite a few multiple generations of Frank Kallises in Pennsylvania.

Some people are coming to this blog via searches for Reimel, Nelson, Kallis or Selinger names or combinations of the names. So I know there are cousins out there looking. I have found family trees on Ancestry.com that were entered by definite cousins. I have messaged some of those people. I don't mind if anyone uses any of this information that I have posted, for their personal family record. That's why I have posted it. I would love to hear from and connect with any of the family. Even those that I have never met. If you are able to take information I have given and go farther, please let me know what you have found. The best way to get all the information we all need is to work together. If you are shy and don't want to comment on this blog, please email me at gypzychik (at) yahoo (dot) com. My Ancestry.com name is nosalov, so you can also send me a private message.

Sand Ridge Cemetery/Burial Place of Joseph Kallis

Sorry I have not kept the blog updated on my research. I am still trying to find info on the deaths of Frank Kallis and Lena Selinger. I have come across information via Coal City public Library on the burial of Joseph Kallis, oldest uncle of my great grandmother Dorothy Nelson Reimel Behnke. From an email exchange from one of reference librarians;

The Kallis in the Necrology of Will County Pioneers 1902-1907 is Joseph Kallis.
His listing is under December 28, 1902 as follows:
Joseph Kallis, of Wilmington, aged 46 years. He was a native here.

We have a Will County Death Index book here that shows Joseph Kallis's place of death as Wilmington and cemetery location as Sand Ridge. The certificate number for this record is 10365 book # 176. These records should be available from the courthouse.

Another email exchange;

As for Sand Ridge, nobody around here recognizes that as being anwhere nearby. There seems to be a town named Sand Ridge in southern Illinois, but I do not know if that is what the record is referring to. Therefore, I don't know of any contacts to find out if Frank Kallis or other relatives are buried there as well. Again, the courthouse may have more information in that area.

Busy with Genealogy Stuff

I wrote this over at Michigan Redneck II;

Ahoj kamarady/Hi friends,

I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but I always get a melancholy feeling in regards to family, those living and those who have passed on. Y’all know I am into searching my Bohemian genealogy. On a complete fluke I found an answer to an inquiry I made to the town office of Mšeno, Czech Republic, one of my ancestor’s hometown. I was expecting an answer via email. When I did not receive an email, I gave up. I did not know that there was a q & a page. I found the q & a page while searching for something else. Right now, I need to do some translating, a few things that I need to follow up and talk to some contacts (such as write to my pen-pal in CR and re-initiate contact with cousins in CR). I am going to get back to writing and updating at the original Michigan Redneck about family, genealogy, cooking, sewing and other girly stuff. Don’t worry, I will continue to write here (at Michigan Redneck II) about politics, Czech news of interest to readers and other news of importance. Just right now, I feel there is something that I am searching for, just don’t know what it is. When I do know, I will let y’all know.

Na shledanou/See ya later

Some of the tags below are not words not mentioned in the post, but are relevant to the post about my genealogy.

I intend to write up a post here soon, detailing some of my genealogy searching and spotlighting different ancestors with pictures when possible. If not today, in a few days.