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NICHOLAS BROME & the Three Murders: Part Four

When last we left Nicholas BROME we had fixed on the approximate date of the murder of the priest as about 1485. One of the challenges of trying to understand Nicholas is to understand the time and the circumstance in which he lived. Trying to do so with someone who lived 500 years ago presents […]

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Photos and Postcards: Now and Then Part Two

This is the second post as a follow up to the first Photos and Postcards: Now and Then. I just keep running into more examples in my photo and postcard collection. This one it will take 3 to illustrate as I obviously wasn’t matching up angles. These are of St. Nicholas Church in Henley in […]

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Just Say NO to Favorites! Writing challenge

I can’t be the only one who cringes everytime I hear the word favorite. No offense intended, but asking me for my favorite ancestor or heirloom is like asking a mother to choose a favorite child. Reminds me of those moral dilemma stories they gave us in high school, where you have to pick who […]

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Unexpected Roman History Lesson While Traveling in France

I recently spent a couple of weeks in France. I was there to visit my son and grandson who are living there while my son is on sabbatical. Most of my travel in the past decade has been genealogy related (both in the US and Europe). Pre-trip I checked out where I would be and […]

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Justus Warren SHELDON in Eaton Rapids, Michigan & the power of Colorized Photos

I have written posts about my great grandfather Justus Warren SHELDON before but this one is going to focus on his time in Eaton Rapids, Eaton County, Michigan. It seems that Matthew LaRue “Rue” PERRINE owned a large 472 acre farm on the banks of the Grand River but he died of Typhoid fever in […]

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Property Map Treasure Hunts: Finding the Places Your Ancestors Lived

One of the many wonders of Google Maps is the ability to travel down many streets and roads via “Street View.” And then of course there is aerial view that allows you to locate your ancestors properties of a bygone area by comparing old Platt and Ownership Maps with current ones. I am always amazed […]

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Comfort Laps: Writing Challenge

Our reminiscences are important parts of who we are. As we stitch them into narratives they connect us to our ancestors, sometimes in unexpected ways. I urge my readers to not shy away from writing about uncomfortable and challenging topics. My mother, for reasons that remain somewhat of a mystery, did not like to be […]

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Genealogy Intersections: Revisiting the 1719 Deed of Little Packington in Warwickshire

You can’t do genealogy for long before you realize what a small world we live in and how everything and everyone seems to have some sort of relationship. I call these genealogical intersections and they often crop up when doing gophering. I wrote about a very important one in my story of A Tale of […]

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ANCESTRY DNA’s Beta Chromosome Painting

This one sneaked up on me—I didn’t know it was there! It’s a new feature at ANCESTRY DNA currently in BETA. If you have tested there you should check it out. My favorite part was probably the questionnaire where it asked whether I would want to see the segments of my matches? HELL, YES! We […]

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Serendipity Strikes Again!

Most every Sunday, SheldonGenealogy.org sponsors a free Zoom chat, where anyone with SHELDON ancestry around the globe can join in to exchange information or get help on their SHELDON genealogy. Well this weekend we were joined by Steven SHELDEN who told a story about his grandfather and great uncle being surrendered to a VFW home […]

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