know.

CookbookHome and familyNo. 43

A family history bookrecords, stories and the questions still open

Recipe No. 43 · Home and family

For: A family historian writing up four generations

You get: A history by family line, every claim resting on a record

Time: A weekend, then an evening a record set

See it in know.sh

Jan and Anna Marek’s line, with a timeline in its overview drawn from its own records, the disputed birth years side by side.

The Marek familyNo. 4

Jan and Anna Marekfrom Spiš to Cleveland

12 sections, 3,860 words, about 17 minutes, 3 highlights, revised 21 September

Jan Marek left Lipník in the county of Spiš in the spring of 1910 and was working in a Cleveland steel mill by the autumn. Anna Novak followed a year later. Everything below rests on a record; what no record settles yet is filed as a Question.

The naturalisation petition, if there is one, should fall after 1920; the search is laid out in section 11.

Sections

  1. 1Where in Spiš was Jan Marek born?Question, 2 sources
  2. 2Jan Marek on the 1910 Bremen manifestEvidence, key, 3 sources
  3. 3Anna Novak on the 1911 manifestEvidence, key, 2 sources
  4. 4Jan Marek in the 1920 census, Cleveland Ward 14Evidence, key, 3 sources

and eight more sections

One record as an Evidence section: what it says, what it supports, what it leaves open, and ChatGPT pointing to a later record that disagrees.

The Marek familyJan and Anna Marek

4of 12

Jan Marek in the 1920 census, Cleveland Ward 14

Evidence, key section, 1 highlight, 1 note, 3 sources, 310 words

What it says. Household 142 on Fleet Avenue. Enumerated 9 January 1920 by M. Horvath, who lived four doors down.

Name as writtenRelationAgeBornNotes
John MarekHead36CzechoslovakiaImmigrated 1910; “Pa”; laborer, steel mill; mother tongue Slovak
AnnaWife31CzechoslovakiaImmigrated 1911; mother tongue Slovak
JosephSon6Ohio
MaryDaughter3Ohio

What it supports. The family was at Fleet Avenue by 1920, which fits the 1918 city directory. “Pa” means Jan had filed his declaration of intention but was not yet a citizen; look for the petition after 1920.

What it does not settle. His age. Thirty-six in January 1920 gives a birth around 1883–84; the 1910 manifest (section 2) gives 24, around 1886. A neighbour may have answered for the family.

Sources. 1920 census image, sheet 7B, line 42 (familysearch.org); the index entry (familysearch.org); 1918 Cleveland city directory, p. 1204 (archive.org).

The shelf’s index of surnames and places, each with where it turns up; Novak is there because the maiden name recurs in section titles.

know., Index, C · Look up, New, ⋯

Index to The Marek family

Cleveland to Spiš

C

  • Cleveland
    • Jan and Anna Marek, 4, 5, 7, 9
    • Joseph and Helen Marek, 1, 3, 6

K

  • Kowal
    • Joseph and Helen Marek, 2, 5
    • The Kowal line, 1–9

L

  • Lipník
    • Jan and Anna Marek, 2, 12
    • The Kowal line, 3

M

  • Marek
    • Jan and Anna Marek, 1, 2, 4, 6, 10
    • Joseph and Helen Marek, 1–8
    • The Kowal line, 5

N

  • Novak
    • Jan and Anna Marek, 2, 8
    • The Kowal line, 3, 6

S

  • Spiš
    • Jan and Anna Marek, 1, 2, 12
    • The Kowal line, 3

How it works

A family tree tells you who, not why two censuses disagree on Jan’s age, or which spelling of the village is right. Your assistant files each record as a section saying what it supports and what it does not, every brick wall stays a Question, and a timeline sets the disputed dates side by side.

  1. Give your assistant the research log

    Ask for a document per family line, an Evidence section per record, and a Question for every brick wall. Each record gets three headings: what it says, supports and leaves unsettled.

  2. Check every section against its record

    Read each section beside its record image in the editor. Put back the spellings it tidied away, add the source links, and mark the records that fix identity as Key.

  3. Let the conflicts show on a timeline

    Ask for a timeline element at the head of each line, one event per record, and where records disagree, every date with its section rather than one chosen.

  4. Share the dead, not the living

    Press Share on a line, add a password, and leave out every section about someone still alive. Cousins read the records and the reasoning; your notes stay yours.

Try this prompt

Your assistant, connected to know.sh (Claude, ChatGPT or a local model):

Using know.sh, read the Evidence sections in *Jan and Anna Marek* on my *The Marek family* shelf and add a timeline element to the top of its overview: one event per record, dated as the record dates it, grouped as In Spiš, The crossing and Cleveland, each naming its section. Where records disagree on a date, give every date and its section rather than choosing one.

Your assistant, connected to know.sh (Claude, ChatGPT or a local model):

Using know.sh, read every Evidence section in the document *Jan and Anna Marek* on my *The Marek family* shelf. Make a table of each age, birth date and birthplace the records give for Jan Marek, with the section number and the record. Where two records disagree, leave a proposed note on the later section naming the earlier one. Do not change any section.

Made with

DocumentSectionYour AI assistantElementsThe A–Z indexPublic link

See also