Happy Memorial Day

Michigan Redneck wants to remind readers to remember those who are currently and have sacrificed their lives for this great country. God Bless the troops, past and present!

Slideshow Coming Soon!

Elizabeth Selinger
Kallis
I have started a Flickr account so that I can put up a slideshow on the side bar of this blog. I guess I have to wait a few days before the feed from my account can show up. I will be adding photos from the Kallis family album given to me by my grandmother who got it from her mother. I have only posted pictures of identified persons. Most of these were taken in the Will and Grundy County areas. A few are from South Dakota. Most of the pictures from the album are unidentified persons and some really cute unidentified children. So keep on looking for this.

Sand Ridge in Grundy County

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.

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.

Ancestry.com is Inviting User Community Participate in World Archives Project

Ancestry.com has come up with a wonderful way to help searching genealogy easier. Check it;

Help us keep the
world’s stories alive.

For centuries, key moments in our stories have been captured on fragile paper. These records are often all that’s left of ancestors’ lives. Sadly, many of the world’s historical records are disappearing faster than we
can archive them on our own.

The World Archives Project lets anyone from the genealogy community help bring FREE historical record collections to the public. Contributors become the first to see new collections as they type in information that creates searchable record indexes.

more here

I think this is great. Sadly though, I need to have Windows XP or Vista in order to download the software. I am still stuck with Windows 98. Maybe they will let me at the library.

Calling up a Few Funeral Homes and Contacting Catholic Churches

Since the Kallis family was Catholic I emailed to someone at the Diocese of Joliet, in Illinois, who has to do with funerals and burials. I asked if they could tell me how I might be able to find information on burials of Catholic ancestors. He emailed back with a few phone numbers for funeral homes that would have been around at the time of Frank Kallis' death. He said that they sometimes have records dating back many generations.
I am also going to check to see if I can find info on Lena/Ellen/Helena Selinger/Seliger, since she was listed in the 1880 census with the Kallis family in Wilmington, Illinois. She was the mother Elizabether Selinger Kallis. Frank passed away on December 25, 1880. I am guessing that Lena would have passed away soon after Frank. I also assume that she passed away in Illinois. The majority of the family, minus Emma Kallis, Elizabeth Kallis (daughter) and Joseph Kallis moved to the Dakota Territories in about 1885. This was the year that Mary Kallis married Mortimer Powell. I doubt that they would have brought an old woman in her 80's out there with them back in those days.

I had asked the person that I contacted at the Coal City Library about how to find Catholic records. She said that I should try to contact some of the Catholic Churches in the area. She gave me link info to the Catholic church in Wilmington, Illinois. I am going to do all this stuff tomorrow, and through much prayer, I hope to find the information I need. Especially on Lena Selinger, her being the oldest ancestor on this side. She is the link to Bohemia.

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.

My Mitochondrial Family

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;

Mitochondrial 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.

more here, with all the scientific stuff

Specific for my research in layman terms, I am studying from my mother to her mother to her mother and beyond.

Here is what I know. I will leave out names of living persons. So I will not mention my mother or maternal grandmother. Let's start with my maternal grandmother's mother was Dorothy (Nelson) Reimel Behnke.

Dorothy Nelson was born on July 26, 1900 in Wilmington, Illinois to Henry and Elizabeth Kallis Nelson. She married William Reimel, son of Michael and Katherine (Catherine) Shoemaker Reimel, on April 3, 1918 in Owosso. Officiating was Reverend D. Gale. Marriage information has been taken form marriage license. After becoming a widow, she married Edwin Behnke, of Durand in 1955.

Henry Nelson was probably born on April, 8 1861 in Denmark. Coming to the US sometime during the 1880s. The possible birthday deduced according to info on his death certificate and his stated age on his youngest son's (Carl) birth certificate. According to Henry's and Elizabeth's marriage certificate, Henry's father was Niels Powelson. In the early days, Danish surnames were decided by the given name of the person's father. That is why Henry's surname is Nelson. Technically according to this theory, his true surname is Nielsen; meaning Niel's son. But Nelson is the Americanized version of the name.
Elizabeth Kallis was born to Frank and Elizabeth Selinger Kallis in Diamond, Illinois on January 5, 1864. Possible birthday deduced according to information on her death certificate and youngest son's (Carl) birth certificate.
Henry and Elizabeth Nelson were married on April 21, 1890 at the First Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Illinois. Officiating the ceremony was Reverend Thomas S. Anderson. Information according marriage certificate.

Frank Kallis was born sometime during 1826 in Bohemia (current day Czech Republic). According to a distant cousin in South Dakota, Frank came from a town called Nosálov. He had a brother named Joseph, possible spelling Josef.
Elizabeth Selinger was born on May 5, 1835 in Bohemia, possibly in a town called Mšeno. According to Henry and Elizabeth Nelson's marriage certificate, "mother's maiden name Seliger." She did have a brother named Wenzel. Wenzel's address was Nassa del#11 Mšeno region Mělnik Bohemia. Possible parents' names were Wenzel and Lena.
Lena lived with Kallis family, in the 1880 census. According to the census info, spelling of given and surnames as Ellen Selezer. She was widowed at the time. I have found an immigration record of a Helena Seliger who was about the same age as my gggg grandmother. She arrived in 1863. Yet, in the 1870 census I can not find her.

Dorothy Nelson Reimel Behnke passed away on July 5, 1995 of a stroke at Owosso General Hostpital in Owosso Michigan. She is buried with both husbands, William Reimel and Edwin Behnke, in the cemetery in Vernon, Michigan. This is family information.
Henry Nelson passed away April 15, 1929 from obstruction of bowel in Durand, Michigan. He is buried with wife and sister-in-law, Emma Kallis at Oakwood Cemetery in Wilmington, Illinois Lot 42. Information taken from Henry's death certificate and family information.
Elizabeth Kallis Nelson passed away on June 20, 1909. Immediate cause was heart failure. She had suffered from Pulmonary Tuberculosis for 6 months. Attending physician was Wm. B. Welch. She is buried with husband and sister at Oakwood Cemetery in Wilmington, Illinois. Information taken from death certificate and family information.
Frank Kallis passed away on December 25, 1880 of unknown causes. He is buried somewhere in Illinois, possibly at a Catholic cemetery. Taken from family information.
Elizabeth Selinger Kallis passed away on April 4, 1918 in Wessington Springs, South Dakota. She is buried in Hope Cemetery in South Dakota. Taken from family information.
Lena/Ellen Selinger most likely passed away in Illinois and would most likely be buried in Illinois. Just an educated guess.

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.