Geiszler Genealogy

My Zumstein, Comfort, Marr, and Shafley lived in Ontraio, Canada. It pays to know where to look for information about these ancestors. I am thankful to Cyndi's List for all the effort she does there. This post is more for me to collect all my links into one spot and why. Could I use bookmarks? Possibly. But, I find that I search my blog for help doing my research. So, I would have better chance finding these links again quickly if they were on my blog. Additionally, this blog also serves as my research workbook, if you will. And, it will serve as a history of my research for those who take up the cause after me. So... there are so many reasons why I'm sharing these links... CanadaGenWeb's Cemetery Project I like using this cemetery project website for information about graves in Ontario. Although, Find A Grave is easier to work with, I haven't found as much on that website for the Ontario cemeteries of interest for my research. As of today, it's still a bit tr...

This is a third installment for my multigreat grandfather Robert Victor Zumstein. Previous posts discussed his earliest years or early adulthood . Doctor of Philosophy for Robert Victor Zumstein awarded by The State University of Iowa Jan 13, 1924 According to his diploma, Victor received a Doctor of Philosophy from the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) on 13 January 1924.  On April 7, 1924, the Iowa City Press Citizen wrote an article featuring Victor. It said, "Another valued educator is lost to S.U.I. "Iowa City will regret to say good-bye to Dr. Robert Victor Zumstein, instructor in the department of physics, who has resigned to become a member of the University of Michigan staff, at Ann Arbor. He will push his investigations in the field of the marvels of the spectro there. "As a physicist, especially one who has mastered the phenomena of spectra, it will be remembered he shone here, winning his Ph.D. degree, via a thesis of unusual worth. ...

In case you missed it, part one of Robert Victor Zumstein 's story is linked here .  During World War I, more than 628,000 Canadians joined the armed forces. Two-thirds served overseas; 60,661 died. Victor's enlistment is said to have been in 1913 with his discharge around 1918, If this is the case, he joined when he was 17 and completed service when he was 22. However, his 1917 Particulars of Recruit form is dated Oct 7, 1917 and May 9, 1918. I'm still learning more and more about his service. Particulars of Recruit: Robert Victor Zumstein From what I've discovered thus far, he served as an interpreter of German prisoners of war, stationed in both France and Germany. What is confusing, is that he also attended school during these years. So it's important to locate his service records and complete the time-line more accurately. Victor attended Dunnville High School taking courses in Physics and Chemistry until he was 16 and able to attend the University of Toronto. ...

Robert Victor Zumstein was born on 26 Dec 1896 in Gainsborough, Lincoln, Ontario, Canada. He was the oldest of four children born to Robert Walter Zumstein and Adeline Snyder. He was born two years after the couple married on the birth day of his grandpa Henry Zumstine. Carson, Robert and Muriel Zumstein His birth certificate is actually a called a "Delayed Statement of Birth". Victor presented himself and certified his own information on July 19, 1967 in Columbus, Ohio. Incidentally, Robert Victor preferred the name Victor throughout his life. Delayed Birth Statement for Robert Victor Zumstein Victor was an excellent student. He started school at the age of four. The teacher boarded at their home and she took it upon herself to start him early. On August 9, 1907, Victor received a certificate that acknowledge his passing entrance examinations required for admittance into Collegiate Institutes or High Schools in Ontario. The certificate was signed by Mr. Ireland who was Inspe...

I've been posting about the amazing journey I took to Columbus, Ohio to seek after my ancestors on my mother's and father's side. Perhaps I'm writing more than anyone would ever want to read. However, my dear mother and a few genealogy obsessed friends wants all the gory details. Plus, I love digital scrapbooking and I see a digital scrapbook solely on the trip in my future. So, here's another installment of a short trip that resulted in a wealth of information. I decided to start at the northern most part of the cemetery and work my way down the map. So, at 7:30 am I was ready to get to work. What I didn't expect to see at the cemetery this early in the morning were other people. I mean, who goes to cemeteries this early in the morning? I saw a young woman and her dog in the cemetery. She may have been out for a walk or visiting a relative's grave, I never asked. I wondered what her story was and why she was in the cemetery that early. Did she have a rel...

German names are quiet challenging to find in Census records. The last name Zumstine has been quite challenging. For one, no family member can agree on how the end of the name should be spelled... Zumstine, Zumstien, Zumstein? Add to that the fact that many government document records are written in terrible hand writing and the search for this family name gets even more complicated. When I was searching in Canadian Census records for the last name, I found the last name spelled Zumptine. Okay, I can see where the last name might have a p in the name if you hear it spoken. I couldn't find the family of Robert Walter Zumstein in the 1881 Census. He would have been in the family of his father Henry as he didn't marry Adeline Snyder until 1894. I found Heny Zumpzine, age 38, in the 1871 Canadian Census in the Gainsborough township of Lincoln, Ontario, Canada. Since the Library and Archives Canada database search, doesn't have a soundex search feature, I was stump...

Do you consider education a talent? Well, in a family where I heard "Get your Ph.D. before your Mrs.", education is considered a talent. Thanks to Ancestry.com I have found out that my great-grandfather Zumstein was not a graduate of Iowa State University in Ames. Robert Victor Zumstein was a native of St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada. He graduated from a university in Toronto in 1917. He moved to Iowa and obtained his Masters in Math and and Physics in 1918. And he obtained his PhD (probably in Physics) in 1924 from S.U.I in 1924 before moving to the University of Michigan to obtain more education and become a professor until 1926. He later became a professor at Ohio State University from 1928-1968. It seems he loves the Big Ten schools! Victor's sweet daughter Dorothy wrote his biography in the 1970s. To his Canadian born daughter who married a Canadian and raised her family in Canada, I'm not sure she knew there were two colleges with similar sounding names in Iowa...