Sophia Fredericka Arnold was barely 6 months old when she arrived in New York on June 19, 1843 from Hamburg, Germany. She came to America with her parents, Leonard and Christine; two sisters Katharine and Barbara; and a brother, George. Sophia is my maternal 3rd great grandmother. While the Arnold family is found on…
I am forever amazed at how the life of someone long passed has impacted my own … how the life and death of a man who lived 150 years ago had such an impact on my very existence, and that of my entire family. The Facts Philip Wolf was the first husband of my 2nd…
If you have Germany ancestors and need help figuring out where – on the map – they originated, this is a great resource! Personally, I can never remember where the different political divisions (L änder) are without looking. Map from PlanetWare.com
Grandpa Douglas is a bit of a household name, even though Winfield Scott Douglas is my maternal 2nd great grandfather and died 5 years before my own grandpa was born. Grandpa Douglas is a man attached to stories told by his daughter, Phoebe, and her son, and his sons … stories that have been told…
I am utterly amazed at how much information is available on the Internet, especially if you know how to dig around and find it! I have compiled stories, photos, and documents on several ancestors. Reuben Bramlett is no exception. In fact, I ran across his name on the Illinois Gen Web page for Saline County,…
Was Nellie Davis born on January 26, 1886? Or, was Nellie Davis born on February 25, 1886? The short answer is … both. The Davis Family I haven’t done a lot of research on Chili’s side of the family. I have my own family mysteries to solve and adding his family mysteries just makes my head…
Last week, I wrote about Lucy Jane Land and her long-lived life. While researching Lucy and her husband, Joseph, I found Joseph Dunn. Joseph is Lucy’s father-in-law and my 3rd great grandfather. Joseph Dunn was born around 1812 in Ohio, although various documents from census records to military records put his birth anywhere from 1809…
We’ve just passed the 70th anniversary of D-Day. My family has been watching WWII documentaries on the History channel, including The World Wars series which is one of the best I’ve ever seen. We’re coming up on the 100th anniversary of the beginning of WWI. It doesn’t seem like these events should be so far…
I absolutely love that I have baby pictures of my Grandma Raines, my mom and me. My mom and I look alike, and sometimes I catch a glimpse of Grandma when I look at Mom. I don’t think any of us look alike as babies, though! Grandma, Doris (Schuster) Raines…
Lucy Jane Land was the daughter of the farmer. She lived to the ripe old age of 92 and was spry until the very last year of her life. She was third of 14 children, born on February 17, 1857 to Overton and Mary Ellen (Prather) Land. Lucy is my paternal 2nd great grandmother. Raised…
I don’t remember my Grandma Moore. She died when I was 2 years old. The only thing I have that connects me directly to her is a book titled “The Real Mother Goose” that she gave to me for Christmas in 1976. On the inside front cover, she wrote “To: Nicole, From: Grandma Moore, Christmas…
It’s hard to know where to begin my family history story about Adaline Isabell LeMaitre. Belle is my paternal 2nd great grandmother. Her portrait has hung on the wall of my parents’ home my entire life. I used to stand in front of it in awe of her beauty. She reminds me of a pioneer…
Imagining what my ancestors looked like is akin to devising physical attributes of characters in novels. I put together descriptions, stories, history, and even old movies … anything that helps me create an image in my mind. I usually end up with a cross between family features and movie characters. I don’t conjure nonexistent photos…
Writers suffer from writer’s block and I’m convinced that genealogists suffer from something called ancestry block … that moment when you think the branches and leaves on your family tree are so many that you can’t decide which branch to research next! Okay, I just made that up … but I suffer from this pretty…
My Grandma Raines’ grandparents, Jake and Anna Mueller, were married on October 29, 1895 in Ava, Illinois. This wedding photo was nestled in a box of family portraits that Grandma kept on a shelf above her washing machine … a likely place for family photos, eh? Jake is the grandson of Jacob Heinrich…
When I was a little girl, my bedroom door was right across from the “family portrait” section of the hallway. Portraits of my dad’s grandparents, great grandparents and an as of yet unnamed female (presumably a 2nd great grandmother) hung there. My bed was, unfortunately for me, positioned so I could stare back at the…
Piecing together family history from 18th and 19th century published genealogies is like putting together a puzzle with frayed pieces … nothing fits quite as perfectly as you’d like. It seems, at least, that the Lindsay Clan was established well enough in Scotland to merit some record keeping. There are variety of books and publications…
My Grandpa Raines always took care to place flags on grave sites of his veteran ancestors … my mom would handle flowers for the rest. Grandpa’s people are buried in Boucher Cemetery in Murphysboro, Illinois … his mom, grandparents and many of his siblings. He would always visit on Memorial Day weekend ……
My Grandma Raines kept all of the Schuster family photos in a box marked “trophies” on the top shelf of the linen closet. She would often get it out and show me photos of long lost relatives that were completely foreign to me. To her, however, they were memories of childhood and stories of the past….
I have spent the better part of the evening deciphering my Lindsey heraldry. Okay, it was actually only one family, quite a distance from any royal line, but I had names and birth and death dates completely out of joint and it was driving me nutty. So, like any good family historian, I pulled the…
It’s Throwback Thursday, and that means it’s time for me to showcase another favorite family photo. I have many portraits of ancestors, but very few snapshots … I like the more candid moments because they tell such a story that portraits really can’t. This is a photo of my 2nd great grandfather, Winfield Scott Douglas…
Last week, I quietly looked toward the sky and wished my Grandpa Raines a happy birthday. Yesterday, I looked the same direction and wished my grandparents a happy 74th wedding anniversary. I seemed only fitting that this week’s 52 Ancestors post be about my grandmother, Doris Louise Schuster. Grandma was born on July 23, 1923…
I love the Throwback Thursday (#TBT) trend on Facebook. Seeing photos of my friends when they were tiny tots or in high school often makes me giggle. I’ve decided to put a family history spin on #TBT and share some of my favorite photos. Photos always tell a story, even if we only read things…
One of my favorite things about researching my family history is finding little nuggets of information somewhere unexpected. This afternoon, I found a few nuggets about my dad’s grandma, Agnes Moore. Until tonight, I didn’t know much about her. She wasn’t the topic of conversation in our house … I vaguely recall Daddy talking about…