The completed family tree is HERE!

After a few weeks of transcribing my notes from all of the phone interviews for which I am grateful, the HRICKO FAMILY TREE is complete...at least as far as I could go.

Before you look down at the scanned pages (all 16 of them), here are some instructions on how the sheets are laid out. Each sheet is lettered A through P. You'll notice that each sheet is set up in column format. Why this way? It was the easiest for me. Anyway, each column is a generation so the farther left you go on a page, the further back a generation you go.

I also circled in RED the base couple that produced the 8 HRICKO CHILDREN that is responsible for every one of us on the tree. Once you print the pages out, lay them down vertically so that page A is above page B and so on. You'll see how they all fit once you start. My name is highlighted in yellow so that you can see how I fit into the family if you were confused with my explanation in an earlier post.

Here they are. Any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

The Final Touches

As indicated by my last posting, the end is near.

Upon looking at the holes in the tree as it is now, I decided earlier this week to make one last final research "push" to search for any people that might be able to shed light on the missing links.

First, I went back to the people who were responsible for getting the ball rolling 3 months ago. Those people are: Betty Senich and Steve Hricko. Without their help, this peoject would not have happened.

The first was Steve. I told him of my progress but also that I needed a few names to fill in the gaps. He gave me another phone number belonging to a lady by the name of Sue Davis (she is Steve's cousin) who was the mother of the person I needed info on. As of this writing, I still can't
get a hold of her. I'll try again next week.

Later that evening, I called Betty Senich and asked her if she had any information on her sister's son Vernon Miller. She remembered his wife and three children. Bingo!

The day before, I finally received an email from Linda Breckenridge from Florida. She gave me the phone number of Helen Costello's daughter Judy in Estero, Florida. I called her, introduced myself and got the names of her children, etc. As it stands now, the only information I need to
complete this branch are the grandchildren of Bob Hricko. Efforts to contact him have failed multiple times so it looks as if the well has run dry.

The Louis Hricko branch is 99% complete.

The Aftonas Hricko branch was next. I called Ron Hricko in texas to inform him on my progress. I still needed information on his cousins from his Aunt Edna Grainer. He wasn't close to them but he did have her number in Farminton Hills, Michigan. As always with me, the juices were flowing knowing that I was that much closer to nailing this branch down so I called her that evening. She gave me her family names and grandchildren. Afterward, she mentioned that she would like a copy of the tree when it was done. "You'll have it in a few weeks", I told her.

The last piece of information on the Aftonas Hricko side that I needed has proved to be the most elusive, that is until a hunch and alot of luck would surface a few nights ago. As mentioned a while ago, Aftonas Hricko had 8 children. One of his sons named James had a daughter names Shirley. After more than 3 months of phonecalls and internet research, no one knew if she had a family or whether or not she was still alive. I called Patricia Barber in Florida (distant cousin on the Aftonas Hricko side) and told her of my predicament. She had no information but she did say she was married to a Bill Sisk and that they lived in Cleveland and that she was sure she had two boys, one was named Billy. She said Shirley had passed decades ago but that all the information she had.

That wasn't much to go on. So I checked the phonebook for all of the William Sisks in Cleveland. It was a shot in the dark but what did I have to lose. Of course it figures, there were dozens of Sisks in the phonebook. I went to the web and tried to scale down the Sisks to the ones that would have been born between 1940 and 1950. Another shot in the dark. I found a William Sisk was born in 1941 and he still lived in Cleveland. In fact, there were several William Sisks with those criteria but the gentleman who lived just outside of Cleveland stood out. I don't know why but I figured this was a good place to start. So, out of the blue, I called him not knowing if he was related or not. His wife answered, as always I introduced myself and told her what I was doing, etc. I asked her if her husband's parents were named Shirley and William.

SHE SAID YES!

I guessed right. What were the chances of guessing the right person out of 20 or 30? Very exciting stuff. She was VERY apprehensive about giving me information. She gave the phone
to her husband. To make a long story short, after talking with him for more than half of an hour, he gave me the names that I needed to finish the Aftonas Branch. At the end, I promised to give him a copy of the tree in the weeks ahead. All in all, the best evening of research to date!

As of March 11th, the Hricko side of the family tree is 99% complete!

Follow phone calls signal and end in sight

Filling in the vacant holes in the tree is proving more difficult than constructing the tree itself. I talked to Ron Hricko in Texas (He is the great-grandson of Aftonas Hricko who, again, is the brother of Mary Hricko, my great, greatgrandmother). Anyway, he was still unsure of a few names that I asked about back in January. However this time, he gave me the phone number of the mother of the names in question! Her name is Edna Grainer (Hricko).

Edna Grainer lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan. After explaining to her who I was (which doesn't really help) and why I was calling and who gave me her phone number, she gladly filled in the holes--her kids, grandkids, etc.

The only holes left on the Aftonas Hricko branch is located on Jim Hricko's small branch, Aftonas's son. Jim Hricko has a daughter named Shirley. She had--from what I found out--three children whose names are a mystery. If she is still alive, she's probably in Cleveland, Ohio. If all of this is true then acquiring her phone number is the next step.

One other hole is on the Wasyl Hricko branch. Wasyl's daughter Julia had a grand daughter Hope who was married to "someone". That someone is who I need to find out, at least his last name. I called Steve Hricko in Los Angeles wondering if he knew. He didn't but he had the phone number of Hope's mom Sue Clark. I called and left a message.

The missing link hanging over this project is Bob Hricko and his information. He's in Elmira, New York. Beyond that, who knows. I need the names of his grandchildren to finish off that side. I have a feeling that I may never get a hold of him due to his lack of a permanent address. Hopefully he will have information on Catherine Hricko and Nicholas Hricko, the last two remaining siblings of eight that make up Hricko tree as we know it.

Back to the Hricko Side

...Just got off of the phone with three people: Richard Kish, John Kish and Linda Breckenridge. Each one is a cousin of Betty Senich.

Richard Kish was busy but his wife kindly filled in the gaps on their side of the family namely their kids, nieces and nephews. The next step was to contect John Kish, brother of Richard Kish to fill in the gaps there. Again, all went well. He was a bit leary in sharing family information. I told him I understood and our conversation ended.

The next person was Linda Breckenridge. She is Betty Senich's niece. Linda's mother is Mary Davis. Linda and her husband, who have done extensive geneology research already spent more than a half an hour on the phone with me sharing what information they had and I with them. I told them what information I still needed to complete my branch of the tree. Through their connections with other family members, she said she would check and email me whatever she can uncover. All in all, not too bad in an evening's work of research.

By my count, the tree, as I see it is about 95% complete.

Big Time Switch to Anna Balash's Side...

While waiting on a few phone numbers to FINALLY finish up the Hricko side, I decided to call my grandmother to give her an update on my progress. Suffice it to say, she was amazed and was eager to look at the hundreds of names that now encompass the family tree.

As with most of my projects, nothing is ever quick or simple. One thing leads to another which in turn leads to another. While talking to my grandmother, she mentioned yet another cousin of hers from her mother's side. This new information suddenly kicked my mind into overdrive assembling questions to ask which I did at a feverish pace. A friendly conversation that should have been 5 minutes summarizing my weeks work suddenly morphed into a questionnaire session which lead to my project taking a detour into uncharted territory:

ANNA BALASH'S side of the family.

Grandma gave me the name and phone number of her cousin Janette who lives in Pennsylvania. Janette is the granddaughter of the brother of Anna Balash wich makes her my second cousin twice removed. Got it?

She gave me names and some basic history of her family which I will include later.