People views
Each person in the family tree has their own page showing their immediate family, biographical notes, pictures and sources. You can reach a person's page by clicking on their name in the list on the home page or on any of the tree views.
Family trees
There are two types of trees:- descendants
- ancestors (also know as pedigree trees)
These can be viewed by clicking on the or buttons on a person's page, or by selecting any of the family trees listed on the home page.
The trees show all the descendants or ancestors of the selected person in traditional family tree format, with the oldest generation at the top.
Only direct descendants or ancestors of the selected person and (for descendants) their spouses or partners are shown.
For each person in this view the following information is shown: their full name, their dates and places of birth and death.
Each person's name is a clickable link; clicking on a name with your left mouse button takes you to that person's page where more information about them and their immediate family can be found.
In addition, if you place your mouse over a person's name any notes recorded about them on their page will appear briefly.
Partnerships are denoted by a double hoizontal line, and any children are linked by a single line descending to the next generation.
Where a descendant has more than one spouse or partner these are shown to the right of the descendant, each preceded by a double partnership line.
On descendants trees consecutive partners and siblings may be separated by some distance in order to accomodate their descendants, but to help keep track of relationships:
- if you place your mouse over a line denoting a partnership or offspring the name of the partners or parents will appear briefly;
- you can hide the children of a partnership by clicking on the double partnership line with your left mouse button; the double line will turn red until you click on the line again to reveal the children.
On descendants trees...
- A blue italic A above a partner's name indicates that their ancestry is known; click on the A to show their ancestors.
- A red italic A above a partner's name indicates that their ancestry is shown elsewhere on the current tree; use your browser's "Find" function (usually Ctrl-F) to find other occurrences of the person. Any children of such partnerships are shown only for the first occurence of the partnership.
How do I select a person?
Every person in this tree is listed in the index on the home page, in alphabetical order, grouped by family. Simply find the person you want and click on their name with your left mouse button.
Alternatively, click on a person's name in any ancestors tree, descendants tree or another person's page.
I can't find the person I'm looking for.
There are several possible explanations:- I have used a different spelling of the person's name to the version that you know. Apart from the variations in spelling in the source material (e.g. Borinski/Borinsky, Czwiklitzer/Zwicklitzer), I avoid using accents and non-English alphabet characters so, for example, Müller will always appear as Mueller.
- I believe the person is, or may be, alive. If you know the person is part of the family and is dead please contact me.
- You are using your browser's search or find function (typically Ctrl-F) - I list as many forenames and alternative names as are known to me as part of the person's name so you may be looking for Joe Bloggs while I have him listed as Joseph Bloggs, Joseph (Joe) Bloggs or Joe Frank Bloggs. A good strategy is to search for the surname first, then look down the entries under the surname for the person you want.
- The person you're looking for isn't known to me - if you think they should be included, please contact me.
I'm part of this family, why don't I appear? For that matter, where are you?
Anyone who I know or suspect to be alive is hidden from public sight for their own privacy. That includes me.
As the tree has grown, so has the number of living (or possibly living) people on it. It is no longer possible for me to seek consent from every one of them for their information to be shown. Sorry.
Which calendar do you use?
For consistency, all dates use the Gregorian calendar except where records using other calendars are quoted verbatim.
When a date is quoted in the Julian calendar and as a result the year differs from the Gregorian calendar I have noted that the year is Julian.
The Julian year started on 25th March, so where a date lying in the range 1st January to 24th March is noted as Julian, the year should be increased by 1 to give the contemporary (Gregorian) year.
- Britain and the British Empire (including the eastern part of what is now the United States) converted from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in September 1752: Wednesday, 2 September was followed by Thursday, 14 September.
- In Russia Wednesday, 31 January 1918 was followed by Thursday, 14 February 1918.
- In Spain, Portugal, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and most of Italy Thursday, 4 October 1582 was followed by Friday, 15 October 1582.
- In France Sunday, 9 December 1582 was followed by Monday, 20 December.
- In the Dutch provinces of Brabant, Zeeland and the Staten-Generaal Sunday, 14 December 1852 was followed by Monday, 25 December.
- In the provinces forming the Southern Netherlands (modern Belgium) Sunday, 21 December 1852 was followed by Monday, 1 January 1853.
- In the province of Holland Thursday, 1 January 1853 was followed by Friday, 12 January;
- In Denmark, which then included Norway and some Protestant states of Germany, Sunday, 18 February 1700 was followed by Monday, 1 March; Prussia adopted the Gregorian calendar on the same day.
- In Sweden Wednesday, 17 February 1753 was followed by Thursday, 1 March but only after King Charles XII abandoned an earlier attempt to make the transition over 40 years by losing 11 leap days, and reverted to the Julian calendar by inserting an extra day on 30 February 1712;
- In the territories ceded by Sweden to the Russian Empire in 1809 the Gregorian calendar was retained but dates were quoted in official documents using both calendars until independence was gained (as Finland) in 1917.
- In Alaska the change was triggered by the sale of the country from Russia to the USA, at which time the international date line was moved from the Alaska/Canada border to the Alaska/Russia border, so Friday, 6 October 1867 was followed by another Friday: 18 October.
- In Greece Wednesday, 15 February 1923 was followed by Thursday, 1 March.
Can I see place names in my own language?
Much of the German-speaking family lived in Silesia (a region now divided between Poland and the Czech Republic).
I have endeavoured to provide translations of place names into the current Polish and German variants and, where appropriate also into Czech, as well as offering the place names as they were recorded in the source documents, or as they would have been known to the people concerned (I term this the original variant).
You can chose which language is used for place names by clicking the button; this facility uses a cookie to store your preferences on your computer.
What about date formats?
Click on the button to select day/month/year or month/day/year format.
My device/browser can't show some accented or Polish characters
Click on the button to render place names using only English alphabet characters. This function only operates for place names; elsewhere I try to avoid the use of non-English alphabet characters so, for example, Müller will always appear as Mueller.
What does "geb." mean?
It is a common abbreviation for the German adjective geborene meaning "born"; it is used in German to introduce a maiden name in the same way that "née" is used in French (and often in English). I use "geb." where it is most appropriate, given the context or the quoted source.I spotted something wrong on your website, can I fix it?
No, but you can contact me and I'll make any necessary alterations.
Can I use information from your website in my publication / website?
You may use and reproduce original material from this website provided that you cite this website's domain name (http://www.gen.scatteredmind.co.uk) either by means of a footnote, end note or similar reference or in your publication's / website's bibliography / list of references.
Use and reproduction of infomation which I have identified as being derived from another party's work is subject to the terms and conditions stated by that party.