tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88101436709970737432024-03-08T13:51:33.581-05:00Jack and PaulineWelcome to the place where the lives of Jack William Siulinski and Pauline Yvonne Albert can be showcased and shared. As the author of this blog and the son of Jack and Pauline, I encourage contributions and communications from all family members.Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-23237834453193779912023-05-25T02:14:00.021-04:002023-05-25T12:38:03.424-04:00The Prince of Fundy: Maine to Nova ScotiaA distinct childhood memory when I was ten years old was when my Dad, Jack Siulinski, invited me to tag along with him on a work assignment. Jack was a commercial photographer who provided film for mostly local commercials and advertisements. More on the experience of being on the job with my Dad below.Portland Headlight in the foregroundThe Prince of Fundy was a 387 foot car, truck and passengerCraig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-48417590102638284342022-02-14T01:44:00.001-05:002022-02-19T15:30:36.011-05:00Yearbooks during War TimeAmong the personal effects of my Dad is his 1943 yearbook
from Deering High School in Portland, Maine.
He was a freshman that year. Of course, this was the time of World War
II. Besides studying the yearbook for its usual features and looking for
references to my Dad, I was intrigued to find that the book that year was
dedicated to the “Fighting Men” and its stated theme was “Portland at Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-82847486166569962052020-12-30T02:59:00.162-05:002021-01-02T18:17:24.695-05:00The Grandfather of All the Loyalist DykemansThe ancestry of Ouida Dykeman Siulinski (1905-1985), my Dutch Canadian grandmother, has clear roots in the Dyckman Loyalists of New York. She descended from the "Grandfather of All the Loyalist Dykemans", Garret Dyckman, who changed the original Dyckman surname to Dykeman presumably to appear less foreign in the English-dominated society of early New York. He was born on 4 Mar 1741 in White Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-59809823106349436012019-01-28T02:55:00.001-05:002019-02-03T19:27:14.247-05:00Remembering the Artistic Talents of Jack
Jack at work as WGAN-TV cameraman
For the anniversary post of my Dad, Jack William Siulinski, who passed away six years ago today, I would like to honor the passion he had for his work and his love of photography.
Yesterday, I delivered a speech to a large audience of genealogists at the San Mateo County Genealogical Society in California. The speech was persuasive with a focus to promote Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-21646898125696654212018-02-18T17:40:00.000-05:002018-02-18T18:15:30.490-05:00More Findings on the Szulinski's from Schenectady
The family that drew me to genealogy is becoming more and more known. Our Polish family tree is expanding! With the diligent assistance of fellow genealogist and friend, Michelle LePaule, some key documents have been found to further loosen the brick wall of the Szulinski's of Schenectady. I have long known that Albin Szulinski and Bronislawa (Podorska) Szulinski were processed through Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-27568812327479993682015-01-19T14:01:00.000-05:002015-01-19T14:06:14.592-05:00Finding Bronislawa's Ancestral Homeland
Source:
Liberty Ellis Foundation
The primary goal of a research trip I made to Schenectady, NY, in 2013 was to discover the ancestral villages of my Polish great grandparents. The searching involved lots of leg work,
including visits to churches, cemeteries, former residences and city government
offices. The
death records of my great grandparents obtained from the city hall did not
provide Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-11080561169926232172014-02-23T20:54:00.001-05:002023-05-25T02:40:52.849-04:00The "Gully" Alongside Sargent Street
Our former residence on Sargent Street and the "Gully" behind as it looks today
Growing up along the site of a long-gone canal (part of the larger Cumberland and Oxford Canal) in Westbrook led to a lot of play and exploration for the neighborhood kids. Back in the day, our name for the canal was the "Gully" which today looks a lot drier, more green and not as deep.
My sister, Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-56999359972712119762013-05-05T00:35:00.001-04:002015-04-22T17:17:32.590-04:00Tribute for Cap't Jack - The 5 Qualities Preface: This post and the previous two posts represent a reprinted version of the speech given on April 6, 2013 at the service for Jack W. Siulinski.
There are five qualities, to speak of, that really defined my Dad. The first quality was his love for animals. You may know that he loved dogs and was devoted to our family dog, Buffy, even though he seemed to Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-64406909886785172632013-04-27T22:12:00.000-04:002013-05-05T00:41:50.380-04:00Tribute for Cap't Jack - Family and Career
Jack’s
career, his marriage, and the start of his family all began around the same
time in the early 50’s. When he got out
of the service in 1950, he bought a new car and started taking courses at
Portland Junior College - which later became USM. It was his high school friend, Bud McCue that introduced Jack to Pauline. How that cameCraig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-22523984722006876732013-04-12T14:00:00.001-04:002013-04-12T14:00:25.955-04:00Tribute for Cap't Jack - Early Life
Preface: The next few blog posts are segments from the speech I delivered on April 6, 2013 to celebrate the life of my Dad, Jack William Siulinski.
Good morning everyone. Thanks to everybody for coming especially to the family who flew in from all over the country. Today I will talk briefly about Jack's younger years, his life in the Navy, the Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-57029921073439378652012-01-01T02:59:00.002-05:002021-01-02T23:28:23.200-05:00Tidbits from the InterviewsOn August 13, 2007, Jack and Pauline were interviewed at their home in Portland, Maine. Recently, I reviewed the transcripts from that interview and decided to share some tidbits of information from the conversation. The day of the interview culminated a series of recorded conversations about their lives.
Source: Hurricane Ski Slope
All of the answers provided below are paraphrased from Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-89218831501479715032011-10-14T18:41:00.000-04:002011-10-14T23:34:09.006-04:00The Dykeman Origins in Early New YorkJack’s maternal line (Dykeman) ascends from the earliest European families who chose to settle on Manhattan Island around the time the English wrestled control of the colony from the Dutch in 1664. Our immigrant ancestor, Jan Dykeman, journeyed across the Atlantic around 1666.
The image above shows the connection of Jack's mother, Ouida Dykeman to Jan Dyckman. Notice the difference inCraig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-61237704157133096742010-10-01T02:58:00.001-04:002021-01-02T23:35:29.219-05:00Military Life post World War II
Jack's military life took him to faraway remote places including the Mariana Islands (Guam) and the Aleutian Islands (Adak, Alaska). He entered the Navy in August 1946 as a Construction Electrician. He did his basic training in Bainbridge, Maryland, then went on what he called a "troop train" to California. At Port Hueneme in Ventura County, he attended a Radio and Communications school Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-510288820326608922010-09-01T02:21:00.000-04:002013-01-29T16:58:54.992-05:00The Szulinski Brothers of Schenectady
"The heritage of the past is the seed that brings forth the harvest of the future."
The above quote comes from the title page of a booklet called "Growing with Schenectady". It was prepared for the 1948 sesquicentennial of the city. If you, like me, have never seen this word before it means a one-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary. The booklet told the development story of one of Schenectady's keyCraig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-18140888504984663072010-07-29T02:58:00.000-04:002010-08-30T14:46:46.015-04:00The Dyckman Coat of ArmsIn May 2009, I attended a workshop on Heraldry at my local genealogy society (CGS). James Terzian was the speaker from the Heraldry Foundation. Here is a definition of the term taken from a website: Heraldry is a system of identification of individuals and families based on hereditary devices (or "charges") centered on the shield. The whole idea of decorated arms and shields came about Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-28053384070086459982010-07-01T02:57:00.000-04:002010-07-06T20:46:21.101-04:00The Famous DyckmansThis is a story about one of the oldest Dutch families in New York City. The Dyckmans were one of those families and they prospered from farming and tending an apple orchard in a northern area of Manhattan now referred to as Inwood.
Image source: Dyckman Farmhouse Museum brochure
Before the island became citified, farming was a thriving lifestyle for early colonists. The Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-51205900655213263802010-06-01T02:53:00.000-04:002010-06-01T03:59:04.344-04:00Albin Szulinski RevealedThe odd title to this post comes from the impact that genealogy often provides: information not known about an ancestor is revealed through research and a bit of luck. The children of Adam Thomas Siulinski, Sr. (Jack and Adam, Jr.) did not get to know their grandparents, Bronislava (Bessie) and Albert (Albin) Szulinski. The name change and the son becoming separated from his family of origin Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-36439380391300277982010-04-15T02:59:00.000-04:002010-04-15T14:37:50.083-04:00Brick Wall Broken!"Genealogy is a pursuit of hidden knowledge, and success at the end of the search is like the perfect outcome of a mystery murder". -Graham Landrum
It was three years ago when I began searching for the records of my grandfather's family of origin at the Transylvania Public Library in Brevard, NC. After countless hours of research, the mother of Adam T. Siulinski has at last been found one month Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-5927979953044534532010-04-01T02:58:00.000-04:002010-11-22T13:07:48.079-05:00Jack's School DaysAs you know from an earlier post, Jack attended Morrill Day Nursery while his mother worked at the card shop in downtown Portland. He attended a few different elementary schools as the family moved a number of times. He attended West School in Portland for junior high then went on to Deering High School. He remembers walking three miles to school even in heavy snow as there were no school buses Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-89423405657427525082010-03-21T18:42:00.000-04:002010-04-01T04:40:42.031-04:00Catholic School DaysPauline went to kindergarten at Brown Street School then to St. Hyacinth School for grades one through eight. From the variety of things collected by a family historian, here you see Pauline's grade school graduation brochure from 1943:
Here’s a Siulinski trivia question: What musical instrument did Pauline take lessons in while attending St. Hyacinth School?
&Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-43948745666465120602010-01-24T20:45:00.000-05:002010-01-24T20:52:57.606-05:00Our Family Dog – More Love than Headaches
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Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-15297965021272553382009-11-22T02:54:00.000-05:002019-02-03T19:04:28.006-05:00Earliest MemoriesNow a blog is not a book but it is a way to get started on the massive amount of information I have collected in almost three years of doing family history. One way of structuring this blog is to use the same format of questioning that I used when I interviewed Jack and Pauline. In this regard, the contributions of other family members will make a completed family history more rich. Thus we beginCraig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810143670997073743.post-10001309164811087242009-11-11T16:47:00.000-05:002009-11-27T21:10:24.143-05:00Getting StartedHow I got started in oral history of Jack and Pauline:
In June of 2007, I took a 3 day course across the street from San Francisco City Hall. This course was called "Legacy Oral History Workshop" and it got me started in interviewing Jack and Pauline in July that year. These interviews (approximately ten hours) were audio recorded and later transcribed. Conducting the oral histories of my Craig Siulinskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16791633844406998266noreply@blogger.com0