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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

Citizen Alfred Knowles

Citizen Alfred Knowles

It’s unclear when most of my ancestors became American citizens. Some immigrated to the U.S. before the American Revolution, while others arrived as late as…

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,…

Seaman Passport

Harold Ewart’s Passport to Nowhere

Growing up I remember my mom carrying around her father’s seaman passport photo. It was one of only a few she had of him. He…

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…

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…

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