Love Me Two Times: Carl and Dot
My paternal grandparents, affectionately known as Grandpa Carl and Grandma Dot, proved that sometimes lightning strikes twice—they married each other in 1939 and again in…
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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…
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…
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…
John Ewart’s Golden Opportunity
Lured by the excitement of gold discoveries in America, Australia, and in the newly settled colony of New Zealand, my 4x great-uncle, John Ewart, and…
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…
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…
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…