The journey

OK, first, let's get a few things straight. I'm not going to romanticize the story about the Cotopaxi Colony. While there was romance involved, I'm going to do my best to just stick to the facts. With one single comment..... I marvel at the mere fact that they did survive. But that's for a later day!!!

There were 13 families totalling 50 people who first arrived at the Colony in 1882. I'm probably only going to share what little I know about 3 brothers, Isaac Leib Milstein Shames, Benjamin Zalman Milstein and Saul Baruch Muhlstein.

So first, how did Isaac get a different surname? Ah! Another day! Don't you love how I'm dropping hints that will keep you coming back? LOL!

As for the other 10 families....their stories will be told, should Jehovah allow me the honor of living to do so.

Back to S.B. Muhlstein. It has been said that he was the "patriarch" of the Cotopaxi Colony. But he was never there! So, how on earth could he have been given that title? Someone who is not present being called the patriarch? So, I looked up the word. Originally, it meant someone who exercised authority over an extended family.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the 3 patriarchs of the people of Israel.

So when I look at it that way, I can fully understand. S.B. probably had the funds and the ability to send his family to America while he was liquidating his assets in Bresk, Russia. Good man. Getting his family out of the area that was later completely destroyed in the Holocaust. Of course, he could not have known what the future might be, but he was responsible for their move to America.

The other thing to consider is that while we suspect many of the families who came to Cotopaxi were related by blood or marriage, we have not yet proven that. So Muhlstein would not have been the patriarch to those not related to him. Yet I suspect that all of the colonists might well have honored his ideas and ideals.

It seems to me that we can quite seriously call him the patriarch of the Milstein (Muhlstein)/Shames family. And I will honor the traditon of calling him the patriarch of the colony.....as long as we understand that he did not physically reside there.

So, Saul Baruch Milstein was never in Cotopaxi. He and his family left Glasgow, Scotland and arrived on December 15, 1884, on the ship named the "State of Indiana", at New York City. They came via steerage! From Bresk, Russia.

Baruch Muhlstein, age 45, male, pedlar,
Muske Muhlstein, age 45, female, wife
Moses, son, age 11
Mathis, son, age 8
Chaim, son, age 6
Rachel, dtr, age 5
Menache, son, age 2 1/2
Ethel, dtr, age 9 mos






Those were the only 2 pages of passengers on this ship. All were in steerage, or 3rd class. You can easily use photoshop to blow up parts of a document in order to get a more clear view. Hint - use the "stamp" filter to get and even clearer view of old print.




You can also use photoshop to enhance the image of an old ship - most were black and white sketches:




Of course, when you get it all put together, you make your scrapbook page. Because this album has to be printable, I'm keeping it rather simple and flat:


Although S.B. Muhlstein did not come to America until after the Cotopaxi Colony ended, he did send his nephew, Jacob Milstein over before the Colony started to scout out prospects in America. Saul's oldest daughter, Nettie, also came to America earlier than her father. We'll talk about these two 1st cousins next.

A world lost in 4 generations?

Tuesday night, I finally found "Tuesday Night Live in Jerusalem" on TV. Channel 366 if you have Direct TV, or look for JLT. Ari said that most Jews today are only 4 generations from being devout. That all you have to do is start to study. I happen to think that applies to the rest of us as well. 4 generations ago, our ancestors were all pretty religious in one way or another. I think we have lost a lot. I've written already about how language was lost in my ancestors in just 3 generations. Along with language is customs, culture, photos, memories and stories.

Today I start a journey that I've not taken before - scrapping a story that is not related to me in any way....other than the fact that Dad owned a Texaco station in the place the story took place.

I've gotten just a few emails from you all asking about genealogy and how to get started. So, here are my thoughts. Interview your parents and your grandparents. Ask cousins, aunts and uncles what they know. Oral histories are the best place to start and 9 times out of 10, you can prove the oral history with legal documents.

Next start with the 1930 census. It's the most recent available to us. Join ancestry.com or another site that will give you access. Worth every penny! If your grandpa was 40 in the 1930 census, then look for him as 30 in the 1920 and so on. Don't bother looking at the indexed names. Take the township where he lived and look at each individual name. I swear....people could not write and today, the people doing the transcriptions don't have an ounce of logic! LOL!!! Newby is NOT Neuman, no matter how you look at it. But I know, it's just a job and they are in a hurry. So, tip #1 - look at each page of the census. Usually, family lived pretty close together, so if you find someone with a similar name, start looking real close!

Tip # 2. Anything in writing is only as good as the person who took down the information and we all make mistakes. But look for the obvious. 2 sisters born 6 months apart....probably something written down wrong.

Tip # 3. Think about spelling. No one knew how to spell and mostly did it by how it sounded in earlier census records. Moore could be Moor, More, Mohr, Muir and so on. Clark could be Klark or Clarc or Klarc. And then add accents. My ancestors came from Germany. Haus became House. And in one census, it is written Hauce. Hmmm....Not sure about that one!

Tip # 4. Until about 1917, you could change your name anytime you wanted. To anything. We didn't have driver's licenses, etc. In my family, the story was told that 2 brothers got mad at each other and the one changed his name from Kerr to Karr. Sure enough, that is exactly how they are in the 1930 census!

So, when you find something, don't just write it down, do something with it. Today, Kathy came over and gave me an almost full day lesson in the cricut. WOW!!! I have been having fun using my jukebox and Design Studio. Amazing technology. We'll see where I can take it.

Note, just click on the photo and it will come up in it's own window. IF you are a descendant of the colony, feel free to print and make your own scrapbook as you follow along with the stories here.

And please email me! I'd love to hear from you! jlowe54@gmail.com

Saul Baer, Sal Baur, Baruch, SB....he changed his name on nearly every single document found. He died as S. B. Milstein. I have decided to say that his name is Saul Baruch Muhlstein because that is the name I found on the ships register which is the earliest document found.

Last tip today, invest in some type of software. I use Reunon for Mac, but have used Familytreemaker in the past as well as other packages. I kept everything by hand for years and still have boxes of stuff to enter into my computer. OK, it may never get done. But remember, I've been doing this off and on for over 40 years. Loads of stuff to scan!

Build a family tree and add to it as you find new information. A tree in itself can help you find people and I'll talk about that next time. And really, I plan to scrap my way through part of the story of Cotopaxi, but as I do it....look at the layout. Can you tell what is store bought and what I made myself with the cricut? Kathy showed me how to merge different elements together and I think I may just go crazy combining diecuts! You will have to look hard to see that the flourish and star in the upper right corner are one piece with other stars layered on top and below them. Truly gives great dimension to a page!

You have to know where you came from to know who you are.

Yesterday, I shared that I've been doing genealogy since I was 17 years old. It has been an amazing journey. I can trace one line back to Judah. To Kings and Queens of England, Scotland, and Norway. Other lines, I can't find anything past the American Revolution. I descend from a pioneer woman who was scalped and gutted by Indians and left to die, but survived on tree sap for a week. And I descend from a guy who died drunken on a city street.

Ancestry.com has a new show starting on NBC on March 5. I will be watching this one for sure! You can see the promo here. It looks great! Sarah Jessica Parker says she is related to those at the Salem Witch Trials. I have ancestors who were part of that. Just shows that we are all connected in one way or another!

Over the last 40 years, people have often told me this is a waste of time. They question why I love genealogy so much. They have even told me I am ridiculous for doing this.

But when you walk on the land where your third great grandfather homesteaded in 1822 and the current owner lets you use your metal detector and your cousin who is studying anthropolgy in college digs up the rings from the horse-hitching post that he would have tied his horse to....it is a moment when you want to know exactly who this man was, who his wife was, what did they look like, do you look like them.....it is an adrenaline rush like no other!

Genealogy and scrapbooking go hand in hand. It is why I started scrapbooking - to preserve the stories, the memories, the photos.

When I learned that we descend from Penelope Stout, I was so entrigued that I did a layout that was one of my first to get published in a book. Great inspiration creates great art!!!

I've been pretty quiet on this blog for the past few weeks as I've been busy with a different type of genealogy project. This is a project researching history as well as family, combining the 2, correcting oral history and locating living descendents of a historical event. And in an arena that I am totally unfamiliar with. I've been researching the Russian Jewish Agricultural Colony at Cotopaxi, Colorado.

About 1973, my dad purchased the Texaco station in Cotopaxi. My brother still lives there. Together, we are building a family tree of the descendants and ancestors of the people who were part of the Cotopaxi Colony. I hope to scrap the photos that have so generously been shared with me.

So stay tuned, as I return to my love of basic paper crafting, watch the new TV series with me, and as we find out where we came from, I will share with you where the Cotopaxi Colonists came from and where they went, and why Cotopaxi has a story to be told.

WOW moments

I am lost in the world of genealogy. Waving goodbye forever as I sink farther and farther down into the never ending hole of research, notes, printed family trees, photographs, emails, census pages......

Just kidding!!!

What a fantastic few days I have had! And I'm not even doing this for me or my family. I'm working on a family tree of the descendants and ancestors of the Cotopaxi Colony. Jewish immigrants. So I'm learning a little yiddish as well!

Dad bought the Texaco station in Cotopaxi in the early 70s and my brother still lives just south of town. While there were others before the colony, it was the Jewish immigrants who probably put the "town" on the map and I am just having the best time ever with my research.

And today, I got an email with 3 "WOW's" in it from a descendant of the colony. More than enough to keep me going.

I also spent today at the Denver Public Library's Genealogy center. If you haven't been there.....and you don't already know, it is one of the 5 largest genealogy research centers in the states. And just 26 miles down the road from me. I had not been there in over 20 years and much has changed.....but much is still the same.

There is a story to be told about the colony and when I have it written, I will share it here. So I am creating....creating memories to share on paper. Maybe I'll have to add some art to them as well!