Genealogy Category
A Feral Family Tree: A Genetics Guessing Game
Posted on September 3, 2021 Leave a Comment
If you are neither interested in cats or genetics—you might want to skip this one. I couldn’t help myself. BACKGROUND: I have been a tad bit busy the past week in an unexpected adventure. I live in a semi rural area that over the past few years was adopted by a few feral cats. About […]
The Challenge: Tokyo Rose
Posted on August 29, 2021 9 Comments
“We live history forward, in the chaos of onrushing events, without a clear guide, but we judge history backward, smugly armed with the knowledge of what did happen and uninterested in what might have happened.” Robert Kagan The genesis of this story began many years ago after my dad had died. He had been interviewed […]
Ice Cream Melons & Foxes: It’s the Mouth Watering Details that Bring an Ancestor to Life
Posted on August 29, 2021 5 Comments
Sometimes we don’t know much about an ancestor so it’s the littlest thing that can add a bit of spice to their life, which is otherwise just a recitation of census records, a wife and children. Context can help fill in the story if we can add what was happening during the time and place […]
Cause of Death: Before Antibiotics and Vaccines
Posted on August 25, 2021 2 Comments
The first smallpox vaccine was developed in 1796. The Egyptians had a practice of applying a poultice of moldy bread to infected wounds, but penicillin as a antibiotic wasn’t developed until 1928. The late 1800’s saw the development of vaccines for cholera, rabies, tetanus, and bubonic plague. More on this timeline of vaccines. I have […]
The Case of the Mysterious Birth Certificate: Mystery solved!
Posted on August 23, 2021 2 Comments
I have to say this story has me digging into families that I never heard of and are of no relation to me, however I am richer for it. It also has me day-dreaming and inventing stories of how Lulu MOSIER and Yolanda Rosa FRANCO parent’s paths may have crossed. And there is one thing […]
The Case of the Mysterious Birth Certificate: Part Three
Posted on August 21, 2021 Leave a Comment
I am doing my best to put this behind me but it just won’t let go. Some rabbit holes are like that—you would swear you were chasing just one rabbit and before you know it they seem to be multiplying. Note Please read the earlier parts or this won’t make much sense. I know you […]
Family Heirlooms: Dog Tags
Posted on August 20, 2021 1 Comment
Maybe you are lucky enough to have some dog tags from a family member or even yourself. For those that wore them close to their heart imagine the stories they could tell. Dog Tags or Military Identification Tags have a long history which is well chronicled here. A soldier wore identification tags so, in the […]
The Case of the Mysterious Birth Certificate
Posted on August 17, 2021 7 Comments
Some mysteries send us down circuitous rabbit holes. Here are the basic outlines of this one. My great grandmother’s Diary had this birth certificate among its pages. I haven’t the slightest idea who this is or why this birth certificate would be kept by her. My great grandmother Mary “Lulu” PADEN MOSIER ANDERSON was born […]
The Well-loved Family Heirloom
Posted on August 15, 2021 5 Comments
Paul Chiddicks recently asked if we have a favorite Family Heirloom. I have too many to have a favorite but this one is certainly a well used one. It belonged to my great grandfather Justus Warren SHELDON who at the time of his acquisition of the cane, lived in Eaton Rapids, Eaton county, Michigan. He […]
Things Aren’t Always What They Appear to Be: Context Matters and the Case of the Missing Record
Posted on August 9, 2021 1 Comment
Like most of my posts I use examples from my own research and genealogy to illustrate important lessons. Although the details are often important to me and those who may share ancestors or places the deeper lessons are intended to be educational for everyone at all levels of genealogical or historical research. We all make […]
Wheaton Wood 