A few days ago, I was chatting with an architect and he mentioned how useful Sanborn Maps are for historical preservation. I said something about having looked at them and we chatted a bit more and I started describing some details that I’d seen in the maps. Eventually, I could tell something suddenly clicked. He […]
A Memory Trip Down Any Lane Read More »
Memorial Day has just come and gone. I took my kids for a bike ride to the nearby cemetery. There, four of their great-grandparents, one great-great-grandparent and several of their great aunts and uncles lie buried. The main family plot is easy enough for me to find but one of my uncles is buried elsewhere
Quite a few of my posts of late have been of the how-to type. This time I’m feeling a bit more philosophical, more questioning than answering. Perhaps the biggest question that exists is “Why?” Three letters and a question mark, no more, and it can be asked without any particular point or direction. Narrowing it
Not How-to but Why-do? Read More »
I just had a little run in with a new kind of error while checking something for a client. The error came from an index and because of the way in which it probably appeared, that error has gotten me thinking about how the technology we use affects the errors we make and, therefore, the
A Brief History of Oops Read More »
A couple weeks ago I posted the first part of these thoughts about genealogy and mathematics. Thinking that too much math might not feel so magic to everyone, I decided to break what I wanted to write in two. So, once again, with apologies to Donald Duck and his journey through Mathmagic Land, I thought
A Genealogist in Mathmagic Land Part 2 Read More »
Years ago my grandfather ordered a few copies of a book that covered some research into his surname. After he died, my mother asked if I wanted a copy but added that the book wasn’t any good. I wondered how my mom, who is not a family historian, was able to make such a judgment.
Judging a Book by its Innards Read More »
I always loved the film Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land when I was a child. With a few vignettes, it showed how mathematics was everywhere—in music, architecture, nature, games, sports… Funny that they never mentioned genealogy. There is quiet a bit of math lurking within genealogy. Here are a few of my favorite bits of
A Genealogist in Mathmagic Land Read More »
When we were children most of us complained that we had nothing to do at one time or other. At the same time we usually had piles of blocks, Legos or some such thing waiting for us to build something. There were so many things we could have built when we had “nothing to do.”
10 Things to Do with a Piece of Evidence Read More »
Have you ever been happily reading along, learning about a family you’re researching and then you start to get a queasy feeling. A few pages back you read something that you really think might lead you to a breakthrough. Now, after reading just a bit more, inside your head a little voice starts to object.
When Memory Divides Read More »
I’ve been dealing with a few odd records lately. To be honest, nothing too out of the ordinary but sometimes it does get to be a bit exasperating when a person doesn’t have the same place of birth in any two records. That has got me thinking about the unfortunate fact that not only were