On July 19, 1918 at about 2 am, a firing squad left a puzzle for DNA to solve. Over the previous eighteen months, Russia had undergone two revolutions, capitulated to Germany and suffered an ongoing civil war between communist and anti-communist armies. The first revolution led to the Tsar’s abdication. The second revolution and the […]
“Aunt Debbie” has been my nemesis for a while now. I’ve mentioned her before as I’ve tried to decide if she is a red herring or an important clue for a client. I know of her from letters that don’t tell me whose aunt she was, let alone how she might be related to one
School of Hard Knox Read More »
Well, well another blogyear has come and gone and sure enough my blogiversary is upon me. For the second time I get to put on my blogging party hat and celebrate just a bit. But first, as is traditional a short “real” post. (Ok, I did it this way for the one other blogiversary that
Should That Be Preserved and Blogiversary II Read More »
Everyone who researches their family history wants a good story. Almost everyone who finds a soldier in their family, at least secretly, hopes to find a good story of martial glory. Usually we don’t find those stories of glory but we at least come away with a story of a typical soldier who honorably did
Just, and Unjust, Deserts Read More »
When you are working on a tricky problem, some reticent relation for example, does it matter what information you find first? At first thought, it should not. Data is data and it ought not to matter what was the first bit gathered and what was the last bit. In the end there is a data
First Come, First Swerved Read More »
I thought that since my last two posts had been about preserved landscapes and preserved buildings, I ought to make it three of a kind by writing about preserving things, something that genealogists not only can take advantage of, but can actually do. Fortuitously, last weekend I attended a program about preserving objects at the
Last week I wrote about looking at preserved landscape to get a glimpse of what our ancestors saw but last weekend I had some personal experiences with preserved buildings, so I will turn from the natural to the architectural landscape. My family and I went to the village parade, which is always an “Americana Moment,”
Building for the Past Read More »
As I write this, I’ve just finished a twenty-mile bicycle ride with my daughter. There are many reasons for taking a long ride. It is time together. There is the mind-clearing relaxation, fresh air and exercise. Of those twenty miles, about 1 block in total was spent on streets. The rest was bike paths—a wooded
The Three-Mile-Per-Hour World Read More »
I have been giving quite a few talks of late—three in seven days in fact. One was “Quantum Mechanics for 5th Graders,” which my wife and I did for our daughter’s class at school. The kids were excited and asked a lot of good questions and had a lot of good answers as well. It
The Stories at the End Read More »
If there might be Three Laws of Genealogy, I wonder if there could be Seven Deadly Sins as well. As I was thinking about what they might be, my wife happened to show me an article she had seen concerning the Seven Deadly Decorating Sins. That, and the possibility of illustrations from Hieronymus Bosch, clinched
Seven Deadly Genealogical Sins? Read More »