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“Everything is relative except relatives,
and they are absolute.”

-Alfred Steiglitz

Family history is a way to bring our ancestors to life.

This blog details my journey as a genealogist and is a means to record my notes, recent discoveries, and the stories of my ancestors. The goal of Relatively is to inspire other family historians to preserve and share their own family stories.

RECENT POSTS

Brooklyn Navy Yard, 1911

Clarkson V. Hendrickson vs. the United States

My great-great-grandfather Clarkson V. Hendrickson, Sr., and Jasper Chisholm, a coworker, filed a claim against the United States in 1912 for payment of overtime work…

Desiree at Christmas with safari outfit.

On the Hunt for that Holiday Spirit

Now that the holidays are here, it’s hard to shake the feeling that something’s missing. I’m sitting on my patio in sunny Florida, everything’s green,…

photo of McKnight Family

Love and Victory: Photo of the McKnight Family

About the photo: The first thing that caught my eye in this photo of my great-grandmother Matilda (Goettisheim) McKnight and the first five of her…

1950 Census Enumeration Map

Mom and Dad in the 1950 U.S. Census

Every ten years, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts a federal census to gather the names and other details of every person living in the country.…

Carlton Hendrickson Sr. and Dorothy McKnight

Love Me Two Times: Carl and Dot

My paternal grandparents, affectionately known as Grandpa Carl and Grandma Dot, proved that sometimes lightning strikes twice—they married each other in 1939 and again in…

Graves of McCulloch and Hendrickson Families

An Unexpected Connection at Green-Wood Cemetery

Have you experienced any strange coincidences in your family tree? By definition, a coincidence is a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal…

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