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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

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…

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…

collage of Viola and her vital records

Viola’s Vital Records Vitally Misleading

Vital records are often the first documents researchers turn to when investigating family history. These records are crucial to genealogical research because they document significant…

Twenty-One Souls Hidden in Plain Sight at Green-Wood Cemetery

Twenty-One Souls Hidden in Plain Sight at Green-Wood Cemetery

As a genealogist, one of my favorite places to visit is cemeteries. While that might seem odd to some, there’s so much to learn about…

Painting depicting Moving Day

Moving Day Madness

I just moved. It seems like I have done a lot of that, especially over the last ten years. This time was more painful than…

family heirlooms

Behind the Scenes: Preserving Family Heirlooms

A few years ago, my mother entrusted me with our family heirlooms. It included documents, photos, and various artifacts such as my grandfather’s military medals, his…

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