Genealogy Category
The Three Brothers Story, Retold: Johan Martin MOSER
Posted on January 5, 2024 8 Comments
The “Three Brothers Story” is so prevalent in Family History Circles that it is often recounted smugly by experienced genealogists as a sign of family mythology. Some of you know my contrarian nature causes me to poke holes in establishment edicts. Nowhere is that more fun than with my own “Three Brothers Story.” More on […]
When Records Are Wrong: Why Original Research is Necessary
Posted on December 11, 2023 4 Comments
In my recent piece about Resurrecting the Dead Part Two. I relearned an important lesson. It doesn’t matter what the books, genealogies or sources say—they can and often are wrong. My research into Peter HALL showed: NAME With a very common name like Peter HALL middle initials matter. In everyone’s tree, including my own of […]
A Tornado in November: Remembering
Posted on November 18, 2023 2 Comments
Dorothy repeats after the good witch, Glinda, “There’s no place like home”. Dorothy then clicks her heels three times. The makeshift sheet otherwise known as the stage curtain drops and we scurry about. The curtain rises, “Where am I?” asks, a bewildered Dorothy and in a blink of an eye we are bowing to raucous […]
Revolutionary War Details in Ancestor’s Pension Files: Peter P Hall
Posted on November 11, 2023 4 Comments
In honor of Veteran’s Day I decided to look a little closer into the pension files of some ancestors. While reading through the Pension Application files I found this lovely letter. A bit heart breaking but, worth sharing. The point is we all need to take the time to read deeply and reflect on the […]
Old Rehoboth, Massachusetts & the Ring of Green: Mapping the Past on Greenwood Ave, East Providence, Rhode Island
Posted on October 16, 2023 12 Comments
Background Two years ago in the lead up to visiting Rehoboth and Swansea, Massachusetts I contacted the East Providence Historical Society and I asked for help in locating the original home lot of Robert WHEATON on the Ring of Green. Sandra Turgeon and I exchanged emails and arranged to meet at the East Providence Historical […]
Mind The Gap: Making the Connection to the Royal STEWARTs of Scotland
Posted on August 17, 2023 12 Comments
Sometimes you can prove a connection without being able to flesh out the in-between. Thus like the announcements at the train station “Mind the Gap.” Sometimes people grasp at anything to make the connection and falsify the record in doing so. This is part of a cautionary tale to be careful even when evaluating something […]
We Can’t Write What We Don’t Know: A Journey from the Fjords of Norway to the Shores of New York Mid 19th Century
Posted on August 8, 2023 2 Comments
If you decide you want to write about an ancestor be prepared to go down many gopher holes you never dreamed of visiting. Almost every time I decide to dig deeper into an ancestor’s story I end up researching things I never knew anything about. My last blog post Deep Diving: Water Wheels and Papermaking […]
Deep Diving: Water Wheels and Paper Making in 19th Century Sweden
Posted on July 29, 2023 3 Comments
Researching is really about deep diving. It is the only way to flesh out an ancestor’s life. For me it almost always starts with a question. In this case why was my 2nd great grandfather Carl Gustaf Vantsrum [originally Wenernström] born in Fässberg, Jönköping Sweden, which was 100 miles west of where his family had […]
FILLING IN THE BLANKS: Researching the Story of How They Met
Posted on July 25, 2023 1 Comment
See How my Forty Year old Brick Wall was Broken and Locating Immigration Records for the earlier part of this story. It is amazing how much you can find to fill in pieces of the story. For this part I searched for early maps of Chicago at the Library of Congress. Searched for histories of […]
Locating Immigration Records: As luck would have it from Norway to Chicago in 1852
Posted on July 20, 2023 2 Comments
Retracing the steps of our ancestors is a time consuming research challenge, but it is almost always worth the effort. Like most of my blog posts, although this is about a specific ancestor, the process is what is important. If you happen to have Norwegian ancestry a search of Norway Heritage is in order to […]
Wheaton Wood 