The Mystery of the Waders in the Water

Here we are again. Another mystery for your Monday.

Here are this week's clues:

• The photo was previously glued to a black scrapbook page.
• The border is identical to several photos that I believed belonged to Estelle Karvoius.

And that's pretty much all I've got. If you recognize the girls or the pier, shout it out!

Come on in, the water's fine!

The Mystery of the Backyard Ball Game, Part 3

Final Inning.

Here's the last installment in the Ball Game series. There's no ball playing here, but I'm including it because you'll see two familiar faces if you've been following along.

The boy on the right is our friend the batter/catcher from Parts 1 and 2. And oh goody! Two more people who's names I don't know!

The batter (right) and his buddies. Do you know these guys?

In the next photo, I'm sure you will recognize the prim little miss from the photo in Part 1. Same dress, same demure pose. I think the older girl in this photo is another unknown person. At first I thought it was Sophie Karvoius, but if you compare the hair from the previous photos, you'll see that this young woman has her hair parted on the side and is wearing what looks like a barrette or hair clip. In the other photos, the girl I believe to be Sophie has a center part and bangs.

I don't know who these girls are, but I wish I did.
The younger girl appears in another photo in this series.

I haven't bothered to enlarge the faces in these photos. They are pretty blurry, and it doesn't add any detail to see them larger.

If you've been keeping up with the play-by-play here you'll realize that I don't know who the heck most of these people are. If you'd like to weigh in with some expert commentary, please do!

The Mystery of the Backyard Ball Game, Part 2

Batter Up!

As we continue with our backyard baseball extravaganza, we see the same boy with a bat.
 

Taking his turn at bat.

He's a cute kid. Sure wish I knew his name!

Sophie's at bat! At least I'm almost certain that's Sophie Karvoius.

Cropped closeup of the original photo. They look like they're having fun.

I'm striking out on identifying the boy. Throw me a fast ball with his name written on it if you know who he is.

The Mystery of the Backyard Ball Game, Part 1

Play Ball!

Another Monday, another mystery. For the next three weeks I'll be bringing you a series of photos from the Karvoius branch of the family. I believe were all taken at the same place and on the same day. Here's why I think that:

• The clothing doesn't change
• The location doesn't change
• A few of the children appear in more than one photo

We'll kick things off here with my favorite picture of the lot.

Taking a break from swinging the bat. The older girl is, I believe, Sophie Karvoius.

 I believe the oldest girl is my grandmother, Sophie Karvoius. I don't know who the other children are. Here's a closer look:

Snacking, posing, playing baseball. Sophie Karvoius is the third from the left. The other children are unidentified.

That sure does look like Sophie.  I'm intrigued by the very composed little lady sitting next to her, with her legs crossed and her hands on her knees.  Also, I'm interested in the appearance of the African American boy on the right. I have never seen him in any other pictures. Perhaps he's a pal of the boy with the bat?

In the 1924 Elizabeth City Directory, they Karvoius family lived at 109 Inslee Place. In the 1925 Elizabeth City Directory, the Karvoius family lived at 247 Clark Place. Was this photo taken at either of these addresses. Was Sophie visiting other family or friends? Your guess is as good as mine.

If you've got a guess about who the people in this photo are, pitch it to me! Stay tuned for the second installment, coming one week from today!

The Mystery of the Lady and the Boulders

Another Mystery Photo Monday!

Another mystery woman. I like her shoes.

This was pulled off of a photo album or scrapbook with black pages. It looks like a professional portrait, though her face is sorely lacking focus, so perhaps not.

I have no other clues to her identity. It is possible that this came from one of Estelle Karvoius's scrapbooks.

Take your best shot mystery lovers. Any hints, clues, or positive ID's greatly appreciated.

The Mystery of the Baby in the Buggy

Unidentified baby, in  a buggy.
Presence of rubber baby buggy bumpers unclear.

Welcome to another episode of Mystery Photo Monday.
I have absolutely no idea who the mystery baby is.
Do you?

The Mystery of the Lovely Legs

Lovely legs on sassy lassies.

Another great photo of people I don't know.

The girls are adorable and sassy. I'm sure there were lots of laughs before and after this photo was snapped.

I am tentatively placing this one in the Karvoius collection. The photo is the same size and has the same border as others that I've identified as belonging to Estelle Karvoius.

Do you recognize any of these beauties?

Sophie (Karvoius) Dixon & Her Children in 1928

The good thing about scanning photos is that each image gets your undivided attention for at least a little while. Instead of being just a pile of pictures, each picture becomes a piece of a puzzle. Looking closely at each image and logging a description in my photo log can give me missing insights and connections in the larger family story.

My big discovery this week was a set of photos taken on the same day, and labeled with the year. They feature my great-grandmother, grandmother, her sister, and some friends. Better still, my Mom and her brother are there too. These may be the youngest I've ever seen them! This set of photos, with dates on them, help me connect the dots to other images that I have.

The first photo is of my great-grandmother,
Alice Karvoius. She was 45 years old in 1928.

Alice (Rimkus) Karvoius, Sophie (Karvoius) Dixon,
an unidentified friend, and Sophie's sister,
Estelle Karvoius, holding a baby.
In 1928, Sophie was 22 and Estelle was 19 years old.

 

Unidentified friend, left,
Sophie Dixon, on the right,
holding Mary Elizabeth Dixon,
Wallace A. Dixon in front.

This third photo is the one that gives me another clue to help me identify the people in other photos.

That's my grandmother standing on the right. The photo is dated 1928. My uncle, Wallace A. Dixon was born in July of 1926, and my mother was born in October of 1927. I believe that the child my grandmother is holding is my Mom, Mary Elizabeth Dixon, and the toddler standing in front of her is my Uncle Wally. Here are some close-ups from the photo.

Mary Elizabeth Dixon, born 1927,
with her mother, Sophie (Karvoius) Dixon

Wallace Andrew Dixon, born 1926.
Son of Wallace B. and Sophie Dixon.

You've seen my Uncle Wally in a previous post, The Mystery of the Boy With the Boutonierre. He's the toddler standing in front of the group.

Little Wally Dixon,
as seen here.

I was only guessing that it was him, based on family resemblance. But this photo gives me more evidence that it is him. It also helps with an estimated date for that photo.
 
There are only a few mysteries related to these photos. Who are the unidentified women, and where in Elizabeth Port was the picture taken? If you have any clues for me, please get in touch!

The Mystery of the the Boy with the Boutonierre

Mystery Photo Monday : More kids, and familiar faces.

The Boy with the Boutonierre.
Does anyone recognize this boy?

More children this week! Does anyone recognize this boy? It looks like he just made his First Holy Communion. Here's another photo from the party, with more mystery kids.

More Mystery Ancestors.
Doesn't that toddler look like Wallace A. Dixon?

There's the Boy with the Boutonierre, in the back. That toddler in the front sure looks like my grandfather, Wallace B. Dixon. But given that this photo looks more like a scene from the 1920's, it could be his son, Wallace Andrew Dixon. That is an extremely wild guess. If any of my cousins would like to weigh in here I'd appreciate it!

And more girls! But wait! That girl in the back there. She looks familiar. I think we saw her sitting on a stoop with some kids back in another Mystery Photo Monday post. Same girl, just a little older in this week's installment? What do you think?

Mystery girl from this post.

Mystery girl from previous post.

Sophia Karvojus : Two Baptism Certificates

The Perils of Derivative Documents

This is the tale of two baptism certificates. They both record the baptism of my grandmother, Sophie (Karvoius) Dixon. They claim to be "As appears from the Baptismal Register of this Church" but they record somewhat different information.

I think this is a good illustration of the perils of derivative documents. Those are documents that are not created at the time of an event by a person with direct knowledge of an event. They are, instead, generated after an event, copying (sometimes inaccurately) information from another source. Or the facts stated were given by someone who may not have firsthand knowledge of the event.

If I had no prior family knowledge, and I only had the older of these two certificates, I'd be off on a wild goose chase for people who don't exist, and dates that are sketchy at best.

Evaluating These Documents

I found helpful guidance on evaluating these documents from the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

Using their criteria I find that both documents state direct, as opposed to implied, facts. It seems likely that the records in the Baptismal Register of the church were probably [though not definitely] recorded by the person who performed the ceremony. So the Baptismal Register would be a primary source.

However, and it's a big however, these two documents are very much derivative, as they were copied from the register some time after the event. The fact that they give conflicting information proves that copying errors did occur.

But. They are both certified copies, bearing the seal of the church and signatures of the Rector or Pastor who copied the information from the register.

On her website, Evidence Explained, Elizabeth Shown Mills says that certified copies "usually can be treated as originals or equivalents, so long as we are duly critical."

This is me being duly critical

Fact 1: Name of Child
Both certificates list her name as Sophia Karvojus. I will accept this fact as true. The family eventually settled on a different spelling of the last name, and my grandmother had her name "Americanized" to "Sophie." I am confident that both these certificates are accurate on this point based on personal knowledge, and other documents that agree with this point. I have a wedding announcement that gives her name as "Sophia Mary." The last name is spelled so many different ways that I can hardly keep track, but I am confident that this is my Gram.

Fact 2: Parents
The older certificate, issued in what looks like 1924[25?] says that she is the child of Alex Karvojus and Constance Rimkus. I know this is incorrect. The Rector has mixed up the names.

The second certificate, issued in 1942, shows that she is the child of Constantin Karvojus and Alexandra Rimkastis. This is more true, as far as my personal knowledge goes and other documents state. Her father was Constantine [I've also seen it as "Constant"], and her mother was Alexandra [Americanized to "Alice"]. Rimkastis is a new twist. I've always heard my great-grandmother's maiden name as Rimkus. The names here are close enough to what I know and what appears on other documents to accept as true that these are Sophia's parents and their names are some variation of Constantine and Alexandra.

Fact 3: Date of Birth
The documents disagree on the date of her birth. The older document says 26 September 1906. The newer document says 26 October 1906. We always celebrated my grandmother's birthday on October 26. Finding a birth record that confirms this would be great.

Fact 4: Baptismal Date
They do agree on the baptismal date: 11 November 1906. Hooray! As a bonus, the 1942 document also gives the date that the baptism was entered into the register - 11 November 1906.

Fact 5: Witnesses
Justin Karvojus, Margarita Dorneika. Both agree.

Fact 6 : Celebrant
They disagree on who performed the baptism. The older certificate lists B. Z[?]zius, who also signed the certificate. The website of Sts. Peter & Paul Church tells me that Rev. Bartholomew Zindzius was the second pastor of the Parish, serving from April 1896 to March 1924. The date the certificate was issued is 27 July, 192?. The 1942 version says A. Calitri performed the baptism. It is signed by Rev. Star[?]. I don't know that this fact is all that important, but it does highlight the discrepancies between the two documents.

Conclusions

Although the earlier certificate was closer to the event of my grandmother's birth and baptism, just the fact that the Rector got the names of her parents switched around and her birth date wrong causes me to think that this document is unreliable. The only thing it really confirms is the date of the baptism and the names of the witnesses. Maybe that's enough.

These documents support the fact that Sophia Karvojus was baptized on 11 November 1906, and that the witnesses were Justin Karvojus and Margaret [or Margarita] Dorneika. They also support the conclusion that Sophia Karvojus was the child of Constantine and Alexandra Karvojus, with variations in the spelling of the name a minor factor. Positive confirmation of this fact could be made by examining the original Baptismal Register, if it is available or even still exists.

One of the documents confirms the known birth date of Sophia. The other document, because of it's general unreliability, can not be used to confirm this. However, I also don't think that it can be used as a reliable documentation of a conflicting fact for the birth date. It's just that wacky.

Next Steps

• Contact the church and ask them to confirm the information in the original Baptismal Register, if possible.
• Find a reliable birth record for Sophie Karvoius or Sophia Karvojus.
• Research Justin Karvojus and Margaret Dorneika for other possible family connections.

Sources

Linda Woodward Geiger, "Guidelines for Evaluating Genealogical Resources," OnBoard 14 (May 2008): 14-15. Board for Certification of Genealogists (http://www.bcgcertification.org/skillbuilders/skbld085.html : [02 January 2016]).

Elizabeth Shown Mills, “QuickLesson 10: Original Records, Image Copies, and Derivatives,” Evidence Explained: Historical Analysis, Citation & Source Usage (https://www.evidenceexplained.com/content/quicklesson-10-original-records-image-copies-and-derivatives : [02 January 2016]).

Saints Peter & Paul Church website ( http://www.peterandpaul.us/peterandpaul/ : [8 January 2016]).

The Mystery of the Girls on the Stoop

Mystery Photo Monday - Who are all those girls?

I've got two photos for you today. They are related. I'm going to take a wild guess here and say these kids are connected with the Karvoius side of the family. Family, friends, neighbors? Your guess is as good as mine.

Seven girls, sitting on the stoop. It looks like it's laundry day down the Port!

Here's a close-up:

Girls, girls, girls!

Note that the girl on the far left is wearing the same dress as the girl who is second from the right. Social faux pas, or sisters? I'm going to go with sisters. 

Two girls from the first photo,
bravely standing on the trap door to the Cafe basement.

So, does anyone recognize these girls? If you do, I'd love to hear about it.

(In urban architecture, a stoop is a small staircase ending in a platform and leading to the entrance of an apartment building or other building. Wikipedia)

The Mystery of the Sports Team From Bayonne

Welcome to Mystery Photo Monday!

Sports fan poses with guys from Bayonne and that other team.

Questions. I've got questions. I've got lots and lots of questions....

• Do you know any of these people? I have no idea who they are. This photo might be from either the Dixon or Karvoius side of the family. I don't know which.
• Is that the Singer Sewing Machine Factory in the background?  I'm pretty sure it is. If you compare it to this image from the Library of Congress, the buildings look to be the same. For a really close look you can download the high res image from their web site and enlarge it. The windows show the same pattern in both photos. The Singer factory in Elizabeth, NJ was a major employer in the city for 109 years. It closed in 1982. Many of my Karvoius family ancestors worked there. Probably a few Dixon ancestors too.
• What sport do you think they might be playing?
• Can anyone date this photo? Roughly?
• What team is that other guy with? The one with the big "F" on his chest?

[06Jan2016 See also this post: Resource Roundup : Then and Now]

If you have answers to any of these questions, or can offer any insights at all, drop me a note or leave a comment.

Thanks a bunch!