iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 12/10/2026

Seeking help to #translate #cyrillic #genealogy Google was sufficient for most, but the far right column I need help with. I know it ends with my 3rd great grandfather’s name - Mendel son of Tevel Marzhibovsky. I know the first half mentions Kanev and Kyiv but I’m unsure exactly what it says.

My 3rd great grandfather’s death record - entirely in Cyrillic.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 14/06/2026

#genealogy The stories they tell are sometimes ‘exaggerated.’ #artmemes

Text: How your grandparents claim they met

Art: The Swing, JEAN-HONORÉ FRAGONARD, 1767

Text: How your grandparents met

Art: The Café Concert - Edouard Manet - 1879

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 14/06/2026

Art: Emile Bayard, illustration for Ninety-Three by Victor Hugo Text: Accidents have been known to happen. Don’t forget to digitize your source materials. #genealogy #artmeme

Illustration of three children tearing the pages of a book.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 10/06/2026

I think I discovered one of the artists AI originally used to learn how to draw hands. Art: José Clemente Orozco, Man in Chains, 1930

I apologize but I have no idea how to describe this artwork to do it justice.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 09/11/2025

I have not confirmed all of the surnames. Or the origin. #Genealogy #Netherlands #Surnames

What are some of the craziest, wildest but definitely true stories from across history?

Jay Matthews
Writer, Unsolicited Non-Advice (2000-present) • Jan 12

When the French occupied the Netherlands in 1811, they took an official census and asked for last names, which weren't common for the Dutch to have.
So, they made up some goofy last names, thinking this would be a temporary measure.
It wasn't.
Some of these names are quite common today:
Niemand (nobody)
Zondervan (not from anywhere)
Van der Hoek (from around the corner)
Zonderkop (headless)
Dodeman (dead man)
de Graf (the grave)
Gekkehuis (looney bin)
Donderwinkel (thunder store)

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 30/10/2025

Ancestry is trying out their “famous relative” feature again on their app. Shades of We’re Related and OneWorldTree. Just as inaccurate as before. The below screenshot I found humorous as they messed up on gender, and that is something that should be easy to code.

Image: Portrait of a Woman

Text: Your famous ancestor

Did you know you are related to Elizabeth Kortright? He is your half 4th cousin 8x removed.

Learn more about this famous ancestor below.

Elizabeth Kortright was the wife of James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, and served as the First Lady from 1817 to 1825.

See relationship

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 23/03/2025

I found these images online as possible #photographs of my third great-grandparents. The woman died in 1880 and the man in 1873. The photographs would have been taken in Canada. I know photography was unusual in the #1870s, and was wondering if these are similar to other 1870s photos.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 03/03/2025

1) How we imagine our ancestor’s arrival on these shores 2) Closer to the truth #genealogy

Art: Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, Caspar David Friedrich, c. 1817

Art: The Raft of the Medusa, Théodore Géricault, c. 1819

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 26/02/2025

Today my legacy.com obituary alert notified me of an obituary from seven years ago.

Today's
St. Louis County Obituaries
Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Obituary for Cardinals manager and player, Red Schoendienst who died in 2018.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 26/02/2025

Another genealogical pet peeve. The use of “Mrs. husband’s name” on documents. I want to know HER name. But it’s not just genealogy. In 2025 my wife still gets mail addressed to her in this fashion. It really needs to stop.

Art: Agostina by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot - 1866

Text:
My name is not Mrs. Alberto Rossi!
I have a name of my own!

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 26/02/2025

The look on a genealogist’s face when examining a census record.

Art: Ilya Repin, Portrait of Garshin, 1884, the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Text: This handwriting is atrocious!

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 25/02/2025

Don’t forget to backup your data.

Art: Winslow Homer’s Blackboard. 1877. On the blackboard is written, four times: I will backup my data.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 24/02/2025

Another meme I created a few years ago. (This one in 2019 if my FB memories app is accurate) #genealogy #research #science #politics #everything

Image: Oliver Twist holding his empty bowl.

Text:
Top: Please sir
Bottom: I want a source

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 22/02/2025

It’s occurred to me I should add a photo of #Toonces for those of a certain age.

Toonces the Driving Cat from Saturday Night Live 1989-1993

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 22/02/2025

This #cat is smart #Caturday #genealogy (Image came from Pixabay 12 years ago. Text added by me)

Image of cat walking down a street.

Text: You can't conduct all of your genealogy research online. You may need to go outside and walk (or drive) to a library, cemetery, or genealogical society.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 20/11/2024

#genealogy - just because a “fact” fits the available records doesn’t mean it’s true.

Peeled orange with missing section. A wedge of onion has been jammed into the space.

Just because the onion fits doesn’t mean it belongs there.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 14/11/2024

A poem I wrote back in 2008 about my family history research. Full poem in the Alt Text.

Divergent Yet Intersecting
©Dec 2008

Transylvania, Holland, Alsace, Poland,
England, Germany, Lithuania and Texas
all contain soil upon which ancestors dwelt;
Farmers, beekeepers, shepherds,
tailors, blacksmiths, salesmen,
clergy, judges, and doctors.

As I research ancestral lines I discover
some ancestors celebrated Hanuka,
others Christmas, and still others
the Green Corn Ceremony;
Jewish, Methodist Episcopalian,
Puritan, Christian Scientist, Mennonite,
Choctaw, and Cherokee.

I shall never find the records
for my distant ancestors
who either came to this continent
by crossing the Land Bridge,
or originally emerged
from the Nanih Waiya in Mississippi.

I delve through obituaries,
microfilm depositories,
internet databases;
I interview relatives,
and rummage through attics.

What I find doesn't alter who I am;
It illuminates the divergent,
yet still intersecting
paths of my ancestors.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 13/11/2024

This is one of my favorite Ancestry index entries. The image is a few years old.

Image is of an Ancestry index for Patrick Swayze’s obituary. It lists Dirty Dancing co-star Jennifer Grey as his wife, and says he resided in Ghost.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 14/11/2023

I could really use some help from Mr. kool-aid about now. #genealogy #BrickWalls #OhYeah

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 06/07/2023

My introduction to @neilhimself.neilgaiman.com was Don’t Panic. The second time he kept me awake was Good Omens. I think Eternals was my first comic of his.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 04/07/2023

Reconnecting with my Twitter Mutants

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 04/07/2023

Photo taken at Cardinals - Cubs London Series - Game 2

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 04/07/2023

Westminster Jews Free School - Soho London - built in 1880s. My great grandfather attended 1890s. Photo taken by my wife last week. It’s now being used as a grocery store. We were in London to see the ballgames - but I naturally toured the streets of my ancestors.

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John Newmark @transylvaniandutch.com · 02/07/2023

The only celebrity I saw on a recent trip to #Edinburgh. Dolly was stuffed with haggis when I took her picture at the National Museum, but so was I.

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