Here are some names and statistics for the children of Henry and Elizabeth Kallis Nelson;
While mainly I want to post on research findings in my genealogy searching, part of researching is stories as told by the older persons in the family. I am thankful for the times I went with my grandmother to take her mother to lunch. Since my parents were divorced and my mother had to work I spent a lot of time with my grandparents after school. When my grandmother would go to visit her mother and mother's second husband, Edwin Behnke, she would take me along. Sometimes she would take her to the cemetery or just shopping. Afterwards, she would take her to lunch, in Durand or Vernon/Corunna area. One of the restaurants I recall well is that little restaurant on the corner by Carters Grocery Plaza, just on the other side of the railroad tracks. I can't remember the name of it. There's a bank there now. Sometimes my mother would visit Grandma Behnke on Saturdays. Mom didn't usually take her to lunch. She knew Grandma Behnke wouldn't let her pay and my mom didn't want her to pay either, so we would just visit her in her house.
I remember she used to always have gum in her purse. When I was little I was not allowed to chew gum. I recall whispering in her ear asking for a piece of gum. She would always give me a piece of gum. Whether we were visiting her at her house or at lunch, many times she would talk about growing up in Illinois and/or family that she would talk to on the Nelson side. She never revealed too much about growing up. But would reveal little bits and pieces. In her house she had a box of old photos on her stair steps that she had shown us a few times. A couple that I recall asking to see when I would come over was of her and her youngest brother Carl Nelson, one was with her and her cousin Phoebe Powell (daughter of Mortimer and Mary Kallis Powell), another was a really neat photo of her aunt Emma Kallis where Emma had her back to the camera and her long hair was let down. The photo of Emma was really neat. Her hair was down to her ankles and she was wearing this curve hugging dress that belled out at the bottom and had bell sleeves.
Anyways, besides documented research that I find, I will also be sharing stories that have been told to me by the older people in the family. So consider it having lunch with me. These will be short quick posts.
A couple posts ago I mentioned that Joseph Kallis, uncle to Dorothy Nelson Reimel Behnke, was buried in Sand Ridge. According to email exchanges with someone from Coal City Library she mentioned that there was a Sand Ridge in southern Illinois, but had not heard of a Sand Ridge in that area. In an unrelated search, I Googled "Towns in Grundy County." A search result showed a website that named the towns in Grundy County. One of the towns listed was Sand Ridge. I thought this may be a mistake, since I was told that Sand Ridge is in another county. So I Googled some more, "Sand Ridge in Grundy County Illinois." I found a map of Sand Ridge. It is located between Morris and Minooka, on the way to Joliet. I emailed the contact in Coal City, to give her the good news, and she gave me the email adress to someone at the Morris Library. Of course I have emailed this person. Praying to receive a positive answer with information about Frank Kallis and/or Lena Selinger.
According to Wikipedia Sand Ridge is unincorporated, and is in Aux Sable Township. It looks like there is not a cemetery called Sand Ridge Cemetery. The cemeteries listed are Aux Sable, Dresden and Saint Mary's. Details here.
I also put up a message on Ancestry.com asking about Sand Ridge. I received a reply. The messager says that there is a transcript of Aux Sable Cemetery available at Morris Library. I am not putting up all my bets on Frank and Lena being buried in Sand Ridge or the area. But this may look like a good lead, until I can find a yea or nay on this angle.
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.
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.
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.
I have been away from this blog for a while. I hope many of you have kept up with me over on Michigan Redneck II over on Wordpress. I have decided to continue with politics and news on the other site and use this site for ancestry and sewing updates.
For the title of the post. What is Mitochondrial DNA? Wikipedia has this;
more here, with all the scientific stuffMitochondrial inheritance
[edit] Female inheritance
In sexually reproducing organisms, mitochondria are normally inherited exclusively from the mother. The mitochondria in mammalian sperm are usually destroyed by the egg cell after fertilization. Also, most mitochondria are present at the base of the sperm's tail, which is used for propelling the sperm cells. Sometimes the tail is lost during fertilization. In 1999 it was reported that paternal sperm mitochondria (containing mtDNA) are marked with ubiquitin to select them for later destruction inside the embryo.[10] Some in vitro fertilization techniques, particularly injecting a sperm into an oocyte, may interfere with this.
The fact that mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited enables researchers to trace maternal lineage far back in time. (Y chromosomal DNA, paternally inherited, is used in an analogous way to trace the agnate lineage.) This is accomplished in humans by sequencing one or more of the hypervariable control regions (HVR1 or HVR2) of the mitochondrial DNA. HVR1 consists of about 440 base pairs. These 440 base pairs are then compared to the control regions of other individuals (either specific people or subjects in a database) to determine maternal lineage. Most often, the comparison is made to the revised. Vilà et al have published studies tracing the matrilineal descent of domestic dogs to wolves.[11] The concept of the Mitochondrial Eve is based on the same type of analysis, attempting to discover the origin of humanity by tracking the lineage back in time.
Because mtDNA is not highly conserved and has a rapid mutation rate, it is useful for studying the evolutionary relationships - phylogeny - of organisms. Biologists can determine and then compare mtDNA sequences among different species and use the comparisons to build an evolutionary tree for the species examined.
