Now, as I'm turning back to create a timeline of name changes for both Anastasia Zegarska and her daughter Rosalia, I'm reminded of how thankful I am to be able to access online versions of such documents. The fact that I can, despite being on a business trip far from home this past week, pull up virtual copies of hundred-year-old records from New York City for both Anna and her daughter is all thanks to the efforts of one nonprofit organization called Reclaim the Records.
If you have been following their ten-plus year saga—yes, Reclaim the Records received some of the first fruits of their labor from the city almost exactly ten years ago, on October 14, 2015—you know there have been several updates, as well as setbacks. But eventually, they won.
And so did we: with several ways to access government records concerning our ancestors living in New York City.
The other day, in my new ongoing collaboration with another Zegarski researcher, I noticed this cousin mention accessing these historical vital records via a New York City website. Sure enough, I could jump right on that latest research goal to harvest the details from the digital copies of marriage and death records for my New York City ancestors. Sure, I could wait until I got home and pull out the paper copies I had paid for—but this is now, and I didn't want to wait to start the review. Patience, apparently, is no longer a virtue for an online research project.
With that, I'm beginning to construct that name-change timeline for both Anastasia and Rosalia—or, as they were known in New York, Anna and Rose. And all the while, I'm appreciating some intrepid attorneys back in the Big Apple who wouldn't take "No!" for an answer.
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