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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

family tree diagram for Charles Robinson Hendrickson and Mary Ann Pearsall

Bringing Ancestors to Life with Never-Before Seen Family Photos

As researchers, we have the incredible advantage of being able to conduct genealogical research right from the comfort of our homes. There is so much…

Trade card of Edward Goldsworthy

It’s About Time

Daylight savings time got me thinking about my ancestors who were clock and watchmakers. Edward Goldsworthy and James Knowles set up shops mainly in the…

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…

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…

Sophmore class at Springfield High School, 1929

Where’s Grandpa?

The Hendrickson family made Brooklyn and Long Island their home for at least 8 generations. So when I found my great-grandparents, Clarkson and Olive Hendrickson…

James Joseph McKnight

Poppy

On my last trip to New York, I visited a family member whom I hadn’t seen in a long time. Before I left, she handed…

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