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Welcome! This website was created on Feb 24 2009 and last updated on Feb 28 2024. The family trees on this site contain 2795 relatives and 2886 photos. If you have any questions or comments you may send a message to the Administrator of this site.
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Families don`t drift apart because they forget. They drift apart because they fail to remember.
About The Timko/Berish Families Website
Let me take this opportunity to welcome you to the family webpage: 
I am of the belief that  family members should be remembered by more than just the few words carved into their 
headstones. This website is my effort to correct that oversight by so many of our generation.

FOCUS For The Month Of June 2016:
I will be spending the month of June investigating long-term storage of the family photos, books and 
documents both physically and digitally. I am also recreating the family tree on Ancestry.Com for the more 
genealogically dedicated members of the family.

The Timko & Berish Families:
This site is dedicated to the men and the families of Stephen Timko and Michael Berish who came to America in search 
of a better life. They wanted more for their families then they could have ever provided in their native land. And even 
though they toiled long hours in the dark and dangerous coals mines surrounding their homes, they felt they were in a 
better place having come to America. Their children were free to grow, learn and, if they worked hard, to prosper in their 
new home. 

The parents of the families spoke little of their past lives but instead focused on their new lives in Pennsylvania.  While they felt it was important to become Americans and forget about their homeland, it came at a cost. Much  of their personal history was lost and we are left to speculate about our early ancestors and the lives they lived.  Remember that fact as you explore this website. Help me preserve not just the names and dates of  your family, but the images and stories behind where your families fit in to the larger picture we have come to  know as the Timko and Berish families.

The Reasons For This Genealogical Effort:
I started gathering genealogical information about the Timko and Berish families to satisfy my curiosity about 
their identities and their origins. It began with a few names and dates passed down by some of the older family 
members. However, the information was sparse and unconnected. It was only when I was sent the four-page 
story of Michael Berish created by Joan Galetka Kort did the family history begin to come to life. It became more 
real with the addition of old photos and more stories. These elements allowed me to create a mental image of 
the period in which my ancestors lived. And as I gather more information about the family, that mental image 
becomes clearer and more complete. 

However, just documenting the family members who had passed on was not enough. I found I wanted to know  more about them and what became of their children and thus I started collecting information about those of us  who are still living. I also wanted greater accuracy in that data and completeness in the stories behind each  person. I started this website to preserve the information that is currently available to only a few of us. However,  if we are not diligent in our duties, it will either be lost in a few generations or will be so sparse and distorted  that as to be almost worthless. Eighty years ago, everything a family did in their small community was news and  can still be found in copies of the old newspapers. As cities have grown and people have become more  concerned about identity theft, the ability to gather information about relatives has been reduced dramatically.

I hope any of the Timko/Berish family members who visit this website will be wiling to share their family  information, stories and photos and make it available to our future generations. I want our children,  grandchildren and their future descendants to know more about who we were and how we lived. Websites, such  as this one, are only a tool to aid in that work. I hope to bring all the information together in a book, or series of  books, about our families. I also want to use this opportunity to locate and document the descendants of the  Stephen Timko and Michael Berish families so the living family members can begin to discover, or rediscover,  each other.

Acknowledgements:
While the information contained on this website came from a great number of people and a wide variety of 
source materials, there would be no Timko/Berish website, or database, if it were not for the efforts of 
Emma Burin and Betty Jane Hietikko. Their continual support in the pursuit of the Timko/Berish 
history makes this site not only possible but allows the youngest members of our families the opportunity to 
know their Timko/Berish ancestry. I also want to recognize the efforts of Vicki Pasterik for providing 
some of the older photos on this site, and Helen Berish and Jeannette Spence for providing 
much of the initial background information on the families. Thank you all for your time and contributions.

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Getting Around
There are several ways to browse the family tree. The Tree View graphically shows the relationship of selected person to their kin. The Family View shows the person you have selected in the center, with his/her photo on the left and notes on the right. Above are the father and mother and below are the children. The Ancestor Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph above and children below. On the right are the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. The Descendant Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph and parents below. On the right are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Do you know who your second cousins are? Try the Kinship Relationships Tool. Your site can generate various Reports for each name in your family tree. You can select a name from the list on the top-right menu bar.

In addition to the charts and reports you have Photo Albums, the Events list and the Relationships tool. Family photographs are organized in the Photo Index. Each Album's photographs are accompanied by a caption. To enlarge a photograph just click on it. Keep up with the family birthdays and anniversaries in the Events list. Birthdays and Anniversaries of living persons are listed by month. Want to know how you are related to anybody ? Check out the Relationships tool.

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