52 Ancestors #13: Food Roots Run Deep
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…
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#TBT Pregnancy at its best
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…
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52 Ancestors #12: Small Town Socialite Mrs. Agnes Moore
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…
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52 Ancestors #11: How an F5 Twister Shaped a Man
Today is my grandpa’s birthday. Today is the anniversary of the 1925 Tri-State Tornado. One single event that happened on the 6th birthday of a little boy shaped the man we…
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52 Ancestors #10: Philip Schuster arrives in USA
Over 900,000 German men, women and children immigrated to the United States between 1845 and 1855. My 3rd great-grandfather, Philip Friederich Schuster was one of them. Philip was 13 years…
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52 Ancestors #9: Divorce drama of Charles D. Essler
At the end of the hallway at my parent’s house hang portraits of my dad’s great-grandmother, Isabelle LeMaitre, and her 2nd husband, Walter Seaver. Notice I didn’t say my dad’s…
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52 Ancestors #8: The Douglas Brick Wall
Every genealogist has hit a brick wall … that moment when your family tree suddenly quits branching. You can’t get anywhere because there are no more records, no more proof,…
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Genealogy Humor
This is SO true! I think about this quote every time I get and email from Ancestry telling me I have more leaves to turn over!
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52 Ancestors #7: My Daughter’s Namesake, Phoebe Douglas
I’m not sure when I decided I would name my daughter Phoebe … it was certainly LONG before she was even a twinkle in anyone’s eye. By all accounts, Phoebe…
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How a 1946 ‘The Joy of Cooking’ added to my family tree
My mom and I frequent the antique stores in Murphysboro, Illinois. We’re almost never looking for anything specific … but almost always find something interesting. On our most recent trek,…
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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #6 Marion Veronica Essler
One thing I find most frustrating about being relatively young and tracing family history is that I don’t hold much of the actual history in my own memory. Someday I…
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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #5 James Madison Rains
One thing I have learned in the short month of writing 52 Ancestors is that I know very little beyond vital information about my ancestors. It’s amazing how much genealogical…
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How one book helped me prove my father-in-law wrong
Let me preface this post by telling you how much I love MPG’s Daddy … I’m sure they’ll both read that title and wonder about me! MPG and I have…
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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #4: George Melvin Moore
Tonight, I’m missing my daddy and all the crazy stories he told about growing up in Harrisburg, Illinois in the 1950s. So, I’ll share one with you about his grandfather….
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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #3: John Jones
My Dad’s grandfather, Charley Jones, was always one of those conundrums in the family … the genealogy brick wall that I could never get through. Until recently. About 6 months…
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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, #2: Jacob Heinrich Mueller
Jacob Heinrich Mueller is my 4th great grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born in Darmstadt, Germany in 1798 to John George Mueller and Anna Maria Rhutz (1800-1844). He immigrated to America…
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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #1 Margaret Ellen Lindsey
Margaret Ellen Lindsey is my 2nd great grandmother on my mom’s side. She was born on November 17, 1841 near Pomona, Illinois to Lewis and Nancy (Sumner) Lindsey. The Lindsey…
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52 Ancestors in 52 weeks
I had a lot of fun with my genealogy blog in 2013. I’ve managed to combine all of my favorite past times – writing, genealogy and cooking – into one…
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Family History Brick Wall: Veronica Voirol
My third great grandmother on my dad’s side was Veronica (Veronique) Voirol. She was born in Geneva, Switzerland on August 18, 1829 and came to the United States sometime before…
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The family tree
I found this on Tumblr this morning and reblogged it. I love it. The painting, titled Family Tree, is by Vladimir Kush. Everyone interprets art differently, but this definitely represents…
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Merry Christmas!
I introduced Noodle to “A Christmas Story” tonight … she just turned 7 and I think I was 8 or 9 when I first saw it at the theater in…
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Blueberry Muffins and the St. Louis World’s Fair
When I was a little girl, portraits of my dad’s grandparents and great grandparents hung on the wall outside my bedroom. These are from the early 20th century and earlier…
