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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

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Comparison Photo. Hazel (Knowles) Ewart's Work Badge

Trying to Preserve Your Family Artifacts? Don’t Do What I Did.

During World War II, my maternal grandmother Hazel was a glassblower for scientific glassmakers E. Matchlett & Son in New York City. When my mother…

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