When I started researching this family, nearly 30 years ago, I knew his name, the general area he was from and who he married. From there speculation from others served as clues for me. Heinrick Frederick Gode was my great-great grandfather and information about him was scarce. He was a Lutheran Minister according to family…
Today would have been my father’s 100th Birthday! One Hundred Years Old! This day will be set aside for me to remember him joyously, not to mourn, but to celebrate the life he led and how much he meant to me! He was born William Francis Sherman, Jr., on September 4, 1915 in Sibley Memorial…
I walked through this Church many years ago. I wanted to picture my great-grandparent’s wedding in 1890. I wanted to picture myself sitting through a Church service led by my great-great-grandfather, Jeremiah Mark Carvell, PhD, Pastor there from November 1885 thru November 1891. My great-grandparents met there. My great-grandfather sang there. Their cousins went there,…
Divorces are never fun. Some body has to be right ~ some body has to be wrong. After 40 years you think the couples could move on, and my ex and I almost did! Until I found my passion, Genealogy, and proved his father wrong . . . William Henry Bowman was the second son born to…
Short story: Today is Pearl Harbor Day and let us not forget the many lost in the horrific attack on Pearl Harbor that morning. However, if it weren’t for this I would not be. My parents met when my father was in the service, stationed in Hawaii. My mother’s family lived in Hilo. She was…
The mother-in-law I never knew was not always a United States Citizen. That is not to say that she was not born in Iowa, or that she renounced her citizenship, rather that she did what most other young ladies do when they are in their early 20’s ~ she got married! Jessie Kroese was born…
My Great-great Grandfather, and several of his brothers served their country in the Civil War. They served from Pennsylvania and all were in different units, Ephraim, my GGGrandfather served in the 122nd, Company E, His brother Harry (or Henry) served in the 157th, Company C, and John served in Ind Batt. I, Lt Art. I…
My Father’s hobby was photography and he was good at it. He’d set up the camera and we’d pose, leave a spot empty for him. Timer set, he’d hustle into his spot and VOILA! We’d have our Christmas Picture. So it was in 1949. This blog is about the tree as much as it is…
Everybody remembers where they were were and what they were doing on certain days. My parents remembered D-Day, some people remember the Space Shuttle exploding and my grandchildren will remember the Twin Towers. I remember Dallas, November 22, 1963 for more than one reason. This was the day! The day my first child was due.…
Family Historians, Genealogists, Name Collectors, they go by different names. Some people collect names and their databases grow, others just document THEIR particular line of the family, and brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles be damned. Everybody emphasizes something different. Me? It’s the stories! Good or Bad, they all are a part of who I am.…
Don’t you love to hear that expression? “I know it’s true, I read it on the internet.” Thank goodness for Snopes.com! We can check all of those rumors that circulate today. Back on September 10, 1914 there was no place to check when you read the newspaper. Did you take it for granted that what…
When my father died in 1990 I inherited a ragtag collection of photographs, letters and Bibles. They were all from his Grandfather, my Great-Grandfather, Edwin Alfonso Niess. Among this collection are a few pictures of homes the family lived in during the Washington D.C. stage of their lives. In November of 1889, Edwin moved from Harrisburg,…
Why can’t all of my ancestors have marriage announcements in the newspapers? and why couldn’t Ursula Oxer been my ancestor? Yes, I do research Auxer, Axers and Oxers, however, she married into the clan and I’m trying to find out what happened to her previous husband! Look at all of this information in six short…
Water can be beautiful. I have fallen asleep listening to the sea through an open window, water-skied (in my youth!) on beautiful Lake Mead, and seen many awe inspiring waterfalls, including this one on Rt. 100 in mid-state Vermont. That is until Hurricane Irene! She started up from the south creating havoc as she went.…
It’s a bad flood. Central Pennsylvania was hit hard. The rain didn’t stop and it wasn’t just rain, it was a torrential rain! Estimates are over 12″ of rain with river banks overflowing and basements flooded. Twenty seven feet above flood stage! Some are comparing it with the 1889 flood, a record that may be…
From Axer to Ziegler 