Ancestor Animation, part 2: “Mama was a Yankee, and Daddy was a Rebel”
The proud young parents in this photo most likely would never have met were it not for a specific piece of Federal legislation.
Category: Family History
Ancestor Animation, part 1: Inevitable
William and Lizzie were destined to meet.
Social media of the 1980s
My connection to the Battle of Peach Tree Creek is not what I thought it was.
Technology, competition and cousins: or, How my grandfather learned to tat
I don’t have any clear memories of my maternal grandfather, who died when I was two. He was born in 1884, grew up in the small town of Paw Paw, Illinois, got a medical degree from Northwestern in 1908 and practiced until the 1950s, when he retired from his position as Medical Director of the...
Jennie, part 2: “She was my ideal”
What came in between the grim look on her face in the picture last time, and this triumphant grin?
Jennie, part 1: The Defalcation
In the summer of 1892, my great-great-grandmother's first husband made the national news.
Diary 1862: The complete text
I hope you enjoy Catharine's voice as much as I do.
Diary 1862, Part 4: War, Words, and Silence
At first glance, only one entry - the last - makes reference to the Civil War. But looking at the word frequencies in Catharine's diary hints at another, more oblique, more personal story.
Diary 1862, part 3: Over the River and Through the Woods and Up to the Quarry and Over to Earlville
She makes me and V.I. Warshawski look like homebodies.
Diary 1862, Part 2: The writer’s identity
Whoever the writer is, it's certainly not Catharine's husband Amos, unless he's in the habit of referring to himself in the third person.