Introducing the Curator Team

I've updated my information and realized I wasn't on this discussion. So, I apologize if I've missed anything.

Haha, I can't believe I haven't posted here yet. I swear I thought I already did. I was Curator #9, I believe. I'm a software developer from Huntsville, Alabama (I work on Asterisk (http://asterisk.org) and related projects). I work a lot in the early American immigrants lines as well as the ancient Anglo-Saxons and other Western European royals.

Areas of focus: Stephen Gates (immigrant to USA) family - descendents and ancestors; early PA settlers; KS settlers; some English/Irish/Scots areas, usually no farther back than 1500.

Languages: English; rusty French

I guess I haven't introduced myself yet. Ben M. Angel, civil engineer (currently between jobs), traveler (some would say wanderer), and curator, currently based in Valparaiso, Chile. I also write for an English-language Chilean publication.

I started using Geni mostly to organize what my family knew of its tree and to insert all the pieces into a timeline of interesting historical events that I had been compiling, mostly as hobby. Then I started finding lineages that others had researched but my family knew nothing about. As a result, I ended up discovering a tree that spanned nearly 2000 years before finally getting merged into Geni's big tree - something with which at first I wasn't overly pleased about, but which led to my greatest learning experience in genealogy: defending one's own research.

My areas of interest related to my own tree have been the Huguenots, the Pilgrims, New Mexico history, the Old West in general, American Civil War, American Revolution, Anglo-Normans, early French Royalty, early Russian Royalty, Frankish nobility (Carolingian and Merovingian), and late Rome (both Roman side and Barbarian side). Areas of interest outside my tree relate to South American (and in particular Chilean) history, the Great Game (the contest between England and Russia over Central Asia in the 1800s, and any of the events that contributed to its start), the Puritans of Massachusetts in general (including the Salem witch trials - well, any witch trial really, doesn't have to be limited to New England), and other major events involving locales in which I've lived and worked in (Philippines, Middle East, Trans-Caucasus, Ukraine and Belarus, etc.).

As you can tell, I've a great love for history, and an interest in the stories of the profiles I work with. To me, you can't really disconnect the two.

Languages: English is my native language. I've 3 years of university study in Russian, and can carry out simple conversations in that language. I've one year of German study, but that was many years ago. I am currently trying to learn Spanish - and doing my best to get used to Chilean linguistic quirks (with all its dropped consonants and odd slang). I can give basic greetings in smatterings of other languages (Polish, Ukrainian, etc.).

I'm always willing to help where I can.

I am a new Curator on Geni.com I am a retired Army Staff Sergeant, and am presently a Reverend of The Universal Life Church, The Monastery.
I have been my Family's Genealogist for around 5 or 6 years. I inherited the family tree from my Uncle Edwin Caulk who was a well known Genealogist. He published many books using the name Gerald Caulk and many of those books are still available through the Church of The Later Day Saints.
I moved my tree to Geni.com because I liked the concept of having one tree that is connected to everyone else's tree and sharing the info with other family members is so easy.
I have a wide area of interest since my family tree seems to spread over most of the globe and I still haven't connected all of my legs to the main tree yet!
My Native Tongue is American English and I picked up a working knowledge of German from my wife's family after I married her while stationed in Germany.
I'm looking forward to working with everyone on Geni.

Welcome, Marvin.

Glad to have you on board, Marvin!

So glad to have your help, Marvin. Welcome to the curating team.

I am new curator.
My interest is to study the genealogy of the Baltic-German and Russian nobility.

Peter

congrats to Peter Trefilov and Marvin :-)

welcome

I'd be VERY interested in anything you can find on Carl Dahlgrn - he fled Sweden to St. Petersburg.

Carl Theodor Dahlgren (1749-1798) were bookshops and
Secretary of St. Petersburg.

Carl Theodore Dahlgren

@peter Trefilov
Here's to us new kinds on the block!

kids

Welcome Peter!

Welcome Peter

Welcome Marvin & Peter! We are grateful for the extra hands!

Welcome Marvin and Peter! Thank you for coming aboard.

Welcome Welcome..

I am a new curator with a background in technology, history, linguistics, and languages. I've been interested in genealogy for several years and Geni has been my site of choice for building out my family tree and that of my husband's family. Three features I particularly like are projects, computing relationships, and of course the beauty of the big tree, despite some of the drawbacks to collaboration. Curators are a wonderful addition to Geni and I am honored to join the curator team.

I have an undergraduate degree in history with an emphasis on Medieval and Renaissance history and History of Religion. I lived in Israel and in Egypt. I speak and/or read Hebrew, Spanish, and Arabic (rusty) and studied French, German, Amharic, Romanian, Berber, and Aramaic.

I spent 19 years in Islamic History. Arabic language and linguistics, formal linguistics, and Semitic languages. The next two decades I spend working in information technology. I was married to an Argentinian for 30 years, so have a strong background in Spanish and in South American and Hispanic culture.

My genealogy interests have been Eastern European Jewish families in Suwalki, Lithuania, and the Southern Ukraine; Southern Ukraine immigration to Argentina; various of the well-known rabbinical families that I am descended from, notably the Margolis branch related to the Katzenellenbogens and others; and my mother's Williams, Johnson, Stowe, Gallup, Wilbur, Bradford, and other Mayflower and Great Migration ancestors in Taunton, Roxbury, and Barnstable; and more recently the Anglo-Norman families that my Colonial American ancestors descended from.

I hope I can grow in my technical skills and branch out and help and interact with many of you. For now, I know what I know and where I need help, so go easy on me! I expect to be calling on Erica Howton, Pam Wilson, Tammy Swingle and others where needed.

Welcome Hatte

Nice to meet you, Hatte. Do you do genealogical work professionally? I am hampered doing my own research as I don't speak Romanian (paternal father/grandfather) or Lithuanian (maternal great-grandparents - I think!). Thanks!

Marsha Gail Veazey I still work more or less full time and genealogy is a recent "hobby". For Lithuanian ancestors there are transcribed databases for some towns for Jewish families that I could point you to, if they are relevant to you. Lots of good resources available. That's what I have have been using. I haven't done any Romanian research and don't know what the resources are.

@Hatte Blejer
Welcome to Geni's Curator team.
I read your introduction and got very excited, because my wife's mother comes from Southern Ukraine, the Tarnopol area, and she is a descendant of Margolis. She was the only survivor in her family after WWII, other than an uncle of whom she lost contact and never heard from again.
I started building my family tree only a few months ago, and managed to add, mostly from Yad Vashem, close to a 1000 people to the tree, and thru those Testimonies discovered living relatives on all sides and living in many different countries. We have located some of them, and even met some. It is a fantastic journey of discovery.
In this fashion I have managed to find information about Benzion Margolis (Margalit), who is deceased, but found out that he has three children living in Israel, one of whom, together with his wife and youngest daughter, we have recently met on their visit to the States.
But not much more information is available about that extended family, and my excitement reading your introduction came as a result of the combination Southern Ukraine and Margolis, except that I guess those are two different and unrelated projects you are working on.
If by chance you can have any input into this saga, your help would be highly appreciated.
Welcome again, and good luck!!!

@Daniel Levy

Private User It sounds like you are doing a great job! My Margolis family was in the Suwalki and Lithuania region in the late 18th, early-mid 19th centuries. Their ancestors moved from Spain into Western Europe, Italy, and Eastern Europe. Even a few generations back, sons were moving hundreds of miles across Lithuania to become rabbis in some distant town, so I assume that explains all the movement. So your wife's Margolis family could be related, although records are sparse and so these relationships are hard to prove. My Southern Ukraine family are Blecher (Blejer in Argentina) although I know a lot of the names of families from that region, if they then settled in Argentina and intermarried with my husband's family.

Hatte, I am so delighted that you joined our team. Welcome!

Could somebody make master profiles for some of the Peter and Thomas Montagues? I am not familiar enough to merge everything and it is a mess because it ties into George Washington's line. There are tons of merge issues since the names repeat in several generations. I would really appreciate it if somebody is really sure about their sources and could clean this up a little. I think there are 4or 5 Peters in different generations. If the birthdate is not there it is hard to merge.

Shari, can you please provide links to those profiles? Thanks.

Again, Hatte, welcome! I'm looking forward to continuing our work together!

Always a pleasure Tammy!

I’m a new curator from Johannesburg (the place you all came to hear the screech of the vuvuzelas in the morning, blowing for the World Cup!)

I’m part of a team of new curators who are hoping to provide support for the South African progenitor tree that stretches back through the Huguenots to the French nobility and the Vikings, as well as to England through the 1820 settlers, and to the Netherlands through the VOC Shipping Lines. In addition, we’d like to see the Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho family lines drawn into our tree.

I have an undergrad degree in History, and postgrad degrees in English Literature, Psychology and Education. I was once an English teacher, and when I miss teenagers too much, I get to do guest-teaching at local schools in fun things that interest me, like ‘Introducing Philosophy Through Science Fiction.’ Now I practice as a child psychologist, specialising in cognitive neuropsychology, and Lacanian psychoanalysis.

I’m supposed to be working on a Phd entitled ‘The Name of the Father’ – in the process of which, tracking down the styles of partnership and inheritance in patriarchy and matriarchy, I have wandered into stories of the Medieval Troubadours and the Orkneyjarls; I have found myself researching the genealogical lines of Herod, Akhenaton and Macbeth, and, chasing an elusive Scots king’s line down a rabbit hole, stumbled upon Geni and found myself in… well Carolingia at the moment ;-)

Also, I heard there were T-shirts!...