#76: A Year of Change | 1904-1905 Caroline "Lena" Schmitz

A Year of Change: Caroline "Lena" Schmitz (1904–1905)

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a series of weekly prompts to get you to think about an ancestor and share something about them. The weekly prompt is provided by www.amyjohnsoncrow.com. The prompt this week (2026-17) is "Working for a Living" and I'm covering the early work of my great-grandmother Caroline "Lena" Schmitz who was born December 18, 1888, to Peter Schmitz and Catharine Pirron in New York City. For this week's blog post, I am focusing on a "Year of Change" for Lena, covering a pivotal window in her young adult life.

#65: Remembering Adam Pirron: Celebrating his 155th Birthday (February 22, 1871–After 1916)

Biographical Sketch: Pirron, Adam (1871–After 1916)

The following biographical sketch is based on the family history research conducted by my mother, (name withheld for privacy). Supplemental historical context and geographical details of the Bavarian Palatinate have been provided by Gemini.

Adam Pirron was born on February 22, 1871, in Fockenberg-Limbach, Bavaria (modern-day Germany). He was the son of Adam Pirron and Elisabeth Westrich. While his sisters, Catherine and Caroline, sought new horizons across the Atlantic, Adam remained the "anchor" of the family in the Palatinate, living a life deeply tied to the land and his community until the winds of war changed everything.

#28: Peter Schmitz - Fireman

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (2020-27)

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a series of weekly prompts to get you to think about an ancestor and share something about them. The weekly prompt is provided by www.amyjohnsoncrow.com. The prompt for the week of July 5 is "Solo."

Today, let me introduce you to Peter P. Schmitz, who was a firefighter in New York City.  His is our family's "solo" paid firefighter.  All the others in the family were volunteer firefighters.

Peter Schmitz, Jr., 1941.  From the collection of ©Virginia Summers Olsen

The Rhode Avenue Houses

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (2020-04)

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a series of weekly prompts to get you to think about an ancestor and share something about them. The weekly prompt is provided by www.amyjohnsoncrow.com. The prompt for the week of January 22 is "Close To Home."

As a response to this genealogy blogging prompt, I have decided to update an early family history blogging post that I wrote in 2015.  How does this post fit the topic?  My great grandparents, their daughter (my grandmother) and their son all lived side by side in North Merrick, New York.

In Memoriam - Edward Louis Gillen

Edward Louis Gillen passed away on 50 years ago today on Saturday, November 15, 1969 in Freeport, Nassau, New York.

Wordless Wednesday #1: Caroline Schmitz Gillen (1888-1959)

What is "Wordless Wednesday?"  On Wednesdays all over the internet, bloggers post a photograph with no words to explain it on their blog. Hence the ‘wordless’ title. The idea is that the photo itself says so much that it doesn’t need any description.

Front

Grandpa Gillen's House

Recently I received an email from my mother that my Great Grandfather's house had been torn down in 2014 to make way for a new house.  I wanted to document a little about what I knew about the house.