
“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
Great-Grandpa’s Big Invention
My great-grandfather, Clarkson Valentine Hendrickson Jr. (1890–1964) was a mechanical engineer or draftsman as I remember my father describing his occupation. But I never had…
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…
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…
Y-DNA Mystery: Hendrickson or Henderson?
One mystery that has plagued me over the years is trying to unearth our Hendrickson family origins. Faced with the challenge of tracing our direct…
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…
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…
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