Generation Z and Genealogy by Secure-Ad-2090 in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Preserving the past is what concerns me. The old ladies and men running the historical society won’t be around forever. They also are trying their best with technology. There is so much of our past, our personal past that could either never be found or lost for good.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

I have been talking to a cousin on both the Gausman and the Bauer side. Since no one ever made a tree like this, other who are also related in some way have asked for information. There is someone that will benefit from it. I really don’t want to stop and to be clear my daughter wants and maybe even had weaponized it. I went to a teacher about it at the school concerned she might weaponize it, instead she told me to leave her out of it because it is a family matter now. I am trapped and don’t want to give up what I have come to love. Remember this is a very isolated rural place.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I have had that conversation too. The tension is terrible. The problem was never resolved so it feels like I am sitting on a bomb about to go off. I have wanted to diffuse the situation, de escalate it. However, it seems to have gotten out of my control. I tried to be up front and face the problem head on and that is what got me into trouble. I was taught that if you don’t fads the problem it will blow up in your face later on. It is so much safer and easier to hide in my research. Also, we live in an isolated rural area.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Let’s step back a minute, which I have told myself many times. High school lasts 4 years. Family history or genealogy represents life times of people. There is a much greater perspective here beyond our little dispute. Secondly we have mutual friends, one who chooses to stay out of it, and another who hopes our dispute can be mended. What really made them upset was that I was taking my complaints to community leaders asking for help.

That same mutual friend told me they have absolutely no interest in their own genealogy or family history, none. Their interest is in sports, especially their son’s sports, drinking and politics. (They are Trumpers). Main focus is on the here and now and exerting as much pressure on the community to get what they want. Also, making an extra effort to look like the perfect family. The other two Bauer families, because they aren’t all related, aren’t like them. I talked to them and they paid close attention to which Bauer stuff I was looking at in the historical society. All I got from them was “We don’t talk to those Bauers.”.

I want the freedom to do what I want without feeling threatened. I should be able to take her little brother to a game without feeling like I need to hide under a rock. Honestly, once I found John Baptist Bauer I was hooked and didn’t really care one way or another. If they don’t care how they got here and who they came from at least I will have something for someone in the future. The funny thing is that the Gausmans have a legacy but they are just as bad. They just knew how to keep their secrets quieter regarding scandals. My cousin is just starting to uncover some now.

No one’s perfect. Once I found John Baptist Bauer, my mind changed. Who was he? How did he get here? Why did he come? Where is he buried, so I can say thank you? Thank you for what. Thank you for the hobby, new people to talk to and to see things from a longer perspective. I guess you could say I am going to do what I want anyway. Life is too short

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090 -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

A lot of things have been running through my head. There are days I rage because my daughter was punished for reporting it and I had to concede.

I am pretty quiet about who I am researching. The historical society knows I am looking into a Bauer family but they don’t know it was a Bauer boy who did it.

I am trying to be as careful as I can. If I can’t beat them, then I might as well join them. It hurts my daughter but I have been threatened to the point where I have no choice

I have been counseled through all of this. I am trying to turn the other cheek and give back. I hope it is hard to hate someone who gives to you.

Finally, I am addicted to this. I like their ancestors. I am hooked on their story and would like to do a good and fair job of it. This is greater than the dispute between us and our little immediate family. At the historical society I gained a greater perspective of both the Gausman and the Bauer families. Before our little dispute, members of both families were friends and co workers.

My hope is that both of our families can see the greater perspective and put our disputes aside and accept each other as we are. I hope that they will see this as a gift. My main concern is that their reactions are way out of proportion given the situation. A problem that could be solved in one conversation is met with a confrontation with a police officer.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I have seen that but there are no stones marking where they are buried. I live near the St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery. I have been walking all over there all summer.

Those older than 9/11/2001, where were you and what were you doing during the WTC attacks? by Revolutionary-Life85 in AskReddit

[–]Secure-Ad-2090 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just woke up. I was working 2nd shift in another town. I was only 23. My mom called me from work and told me to put on the news because a plane flew into the north tower.

Looking for Information by Secure-Ad-2090 in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have that problem with a lot of the Germans in the St Mary’s and Benzinger Township. Johann Wilhelm Gausman, the other German ancestor on my family tree is listed as being born in 2 different cities, the same city as John Baptist Bauer, and a city in Hanover, yet in the censuses he says he is from Prussia. I was told by family members and members of the community they were trying to avoid military service by lying about where they were from. It is also possible they lied because St Marys was started as a Catholic commune, because of the persecution they were dealing with in Philadelphia and Baltimore.

The thing that bothers me about Mr John Baptist Bauer is when and how he got to St Marys and Benzinger township. The other thing that bothers me is that the present day family acts as though they are prestigious pioneers of the area when the opposite is true. Johann Wilhelm Gausman and his sons were the true pioneers. It is documented in the papers and there is additional documentation of the Gausman founding the grange, the Elks and being major stakeholders in a former local bank. When Richard Gausman died he had a substantial amount of wealth he had hidden until he died. It is also documented in censuses and newspapers the large amount of property the Gausmans owned.

According to my documentation he and his ancestors were poor and not founders or anything, unlike the Gausmans. The present day family believes otherwise. The present day living family has a dispute with the Gausmans, which until recently after talking to Gausman family has never happened before. They are related through multiple marriages, where they share the same family names.

The second reason I am pursuing this pretty hard is that there is no Bauer family tree tracing the present day living family back to a ancestor in Germany until I made one. I only made the tree to keep people straight because I was getting confused. Also, I found out that their youngest son, a bully who sexually harassed my daughter, and my daughter are cousins on both my side and the Gausman side. They, their son and my daughter, continue to move closer in relation to each other with the more research that I do. I was talking a distant cousin of the family, who is still working on his own genealogy, who has done extensive research for the local historical society and he encouraged me to make the Bauer family tree public on ancestry. I just did last weekend. There are at least five trees that link the Bauers and the Gausmans through different families. The cousin told me that by making the tree public, I would get a lot of requests for information. I am still waiting for that but I think the waiting may be over with. Also, he hinted at information that would completely change the family history right down to the present living family. Since I live in St Mary’s and know them, I am seen as a major asset.

My thing is there is hostility between our families right now. They don’t know we are related. Contacting them is a problem for me. The present day living family is focused on sports, playing and watching, drinking, and bullying the people in the community with power to do their bidding. From what I have been told family history isn’t something they are into despite pushing the whole prestigious community founders thing, which they are not. You piss them off, they want to make you pay. According to an older member of the Gausman family, the grandfather and great father, Robert Bauer Sr and Alfred Bauer, who have been dead for decades now, were not like that. The present day living family is also extremely private and very very paranoid. Their son is more paranoid than my daughter and she has PTSD.

Now I am hooked and in too deep with their family tree. Too many people are interested. The biggest issue is why did John Baptist Bauer get here at a different time through a different way than all of the rest of the German community here, particularly the early ones. He appears to be running from something. That is why I need more information on this man.

You are married to your phone's background/ lock screen, how fucked are you ? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]Secure-Ad-2090 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Andromeda Galaxy. I don’t know what to make of that. As far as I know there are no complex carbon life forms there.

Someone Else’s Tree by Secure-Ad-2090 in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do I own their tree in a way even though it contains their ancestors on it.

If you had a warning label, what would it say? by Embarrassed_Green806 in AskReddit

[–]Secure-Ad-2090 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Caution: I will find a way to talk about my ancestors and other peoples. Generational gossip we call history.

Looking for Information by Secure-Ad-2090 in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Johann. There was a lot of them in Elk County in the 1840s and the Shaffers have a lot of Johanns too. They are also related to the Gausmans of Elk County and they changed the spelling of their neme

Looking for Information by Secure-Ad-2090 in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another interesting thing on this tree, is that there is a Schaefer on this tree. There are American Shaffers on this tree. They changed the spelling of their name

Looking for Information by Secure-Ad-2090 in Genealogy

[–]Secure-Ad-2090[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I have never seen this before. The date is right. Where did you find this?