He Knew He Was Right

These were the two biggest pieces from my grandparents’ old bedroom set. I remember seeing them in my grandmother’s basement whenever we’d go over. Primarily used for storage or perhaps just kept because they were too nice to discard, my grandparents got a more modern set I think in the late 1950s or early 60s, relegating these to their cellar for well over 30 years. Not pictured are a small nightstand that had a built-in electric clock and a makeup stand. There was a second nightstand, but after retiring the bedroom set my grandfather–a shipbuilder was one of his trades–joined one nightstand and the makeup stand into a three-drawer storage unit for his shop on the other end of their basement. When I got my first apartment, my dad asked if I wanted the two dressers and nightstand. I of course took them. Attempts were made to get the clock in the nightstand fixed at any clock shop I could find, but nobody could fix it. Oh well. I had an alarm clock anyway. And of course a smart phone. T...

  I visited family this weekend, and left there with a jigsaw puzzle. My paternal grandmother died nearly 30 years ago and my grandfather, well, it’s over 50 years ago now. My older sisters remember them together much better than I do. They often did puzzles together, and apparently my grandparents amassed scores of them for when my family made the 10-minute drive to their place. My oldest sister was the one who really wanted them, and we were all too happy to let her have them when cleaning out my grandparents' place. Well, those puzzles had spent another couple dozen years in storage–from their attic to my sister’s basement. She’s doing something of a Swedish death cleanse, and got rid of the crumbling boxes that stored them, and then transferred them to Ziploc bags. The retired scientist she is, she’s nicely labeled each bag of puzzles–complete with the number of pieces, puzzle dimensions, and other similar metadata–and moved them into bins, with plans to donate them to senior c...

In addition to checking two more stadiums off the list, another goal of this brief SoCal trip was met when I got to meet my cousin Frank. He's my fifth cousin, once removed (5C1R), which means our first common ascendants are my fourth great grandparents and his fifth great grandparents. The father of my fourth great grandfather on this line is Johann Carl Wagenhorst, who arrived in the colonies in October 1772. This is the same ascendant as shared by another 5C1R who I met back in February. Are these two 5C1Rs related? Certainly. Siblings? Nope, not these two. They're third cousins. A 4C2R of theirs will be interested to learn some of the family history we discussed. Further, a third cousin of mine, and coincidentally a 5C1R of theirs who I expect to meet in the coming months, will be as well. While we joke about the specific relations, there is no denying the effort we've put into our genealogies. We've shared data, discoveries, pictures, resources, and have b...

I don't know that I could say anything more sincere than what I said here last Memorial Day. Describing it as a "favorite" holiday is the only thing I sort of wince at when rereading it. As holidays go, its meaning strikes me as important as any. But "favorite" would be a more apt description if I thought of it the way many I know do--as the official start of summer. For the record, I have no problem at all with those who think of Memorial Day that way, for I believe most of us still reflect on this day at some point about those who paid the ultimate price in protecting us, those in the military now, and those who protected us years ago. The posts from my friends on Facebook and Twitter support this, as did the large crowd at my small town's Memorial Day parade and ceremony. To echo what I've seen posted and heard throughout the day--Thank you to all those in the military now and those who served in the past. As I noted last year, my family tree is f...

I haven't done a family history post in awhile, but I have certainly been thinking about it. I intend to pick out certain names in the family tree, and write out what I can, with the hope of providing information to others who descend from these lines. Here is a chart that I put together a long time ago, giving arrival date, boat name, and of course ancestor plus relation. Some lines of my family have been here a long time. I had to move it from Word into an image application, so I can't create links to the names. Still, it is my hope that some of the folks mentioned here will be the subject of future posts. I've learned a lot about some of them, and know next to nothing about others. I'm interested to know all I can about every one of them. Stay tuned.

A weekend visit with my father had me return with another armful of envelopes loaded with an amazing pictorial history of his mom’s side of the family. I’ve been scrutinizing such pictures by the hundreds these past few months. With the previous ones, it was just nice to see and share old family pictures that I had not seen in years, not since really diving into family history. I could tell from those, however, that there was a gap: they mostly skipped from the late 1930s right to 1950. The pictures I took home this weekend filled in that gap. More surprising, though, the number of pictures I had predating the 1930s was now greatly increased. Included are a few of my grandmother as a teenager (younger than I ever recall seeing her), a bunch more of her parents, and many, many more of all of her brothers and sisters. Except for one. I probably had only met my Aunt Gertrude a few times before 2000. She lived in the southern end of New Jersey, and visits between the families just didn...

I recently noticed something similar about some of the trees in my yard and the research I've done on my family. I wasn’t in this house long when I recognized a problem with the four maple trees that were at the top of my driveway. Planted too closely, there was inadequate space for them now that they had matured. Several arborists gave me differing ideas on what to do, all involving felling at least two of them. I combined their expertise in deciding the two that had to go. One of the remaining trees is magnificent, maybe 40-feet tall, and just as wide. The other is not quite as wide, but just as tall. Together, from my window, they have a great profile. From the curb, however, the story was different, with a noticeable concave mass missing from each in space formally occupied by the other two trees. I had been assured, though, that they would grow out. While not there yet, three years later, they’re filling in nicely. Perhaps in a year or two they will have fully rounded out. ...

Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays. While the meaning of many holidays is lost or altered, the reason we celebrate this last Monday of May seems well honored. Sure, it is a day off from the office or school, it is the unofficial start of summer, and it is the day of barbecues, baseball, beaches, and pools. But, it is also the day everyone is reminded to pause at some point, remembering those who fought for our right to exist: Flags are flying everywhere; parades are taking place down main streets all over the country; and frail, brave gentlemen who made it home 65 years ago are out in force to help mark the day. Of course, the soldiers who fought in wars before and after World War II deserve mention too. In my own family, I remember being told as a child about two relatives who fought in the Civil War, one of whom was killed when thrown from his horse on his way home. In further tracing of my family history, I learned that one of my sixth and fifth great grandfathers were vete...

Pat is my dad’s first cousin, making her a first-cousin once removed to me. Today would be her 70th birthday, a fact I stumbled upon just recently when scanning family pictures and remembering some of her story. Near the top of this post, she's first pictured by herself, then with her mom, and then again with her mom plus my grandmother in 1950; below, she is pictured at a gathering that took place between her and her uncle's families, and finally she is shown at the wedding of her sister. The youngest of three, she and her family and my dad and his family got together often. Unfortunately, there are many who experience in their own families or close circles tragic loss, when someone is taken at a young age, and that is the case with Pat. Those who haven’t personally faced such tragic misfortune no doubt have had a chord struck when a news or internet story pops up about such calamity. At age 16, she was killed in a car crash. The car overturned into a small ravine and she was ...

I recently scanned (and had scanned) hundreds of slides and prints dating back to the 1930s through 1970 of mostly my dad’s parents, and particularly his mom and her side of the family. These are among the oldest pictures the family has, and so I was eager to get them all digitally preserved. I presented my father with a CD of these pictures this weekend, and explained that I have a number of others still to process. He went to show me some more old ones that he has, and that led us to dig into some boxes, making us both realize that I have only scanned a small portion of the family’s pictures. Yes, there is still a sizable chunk of old family history to preserve, and while I am glad the older pictures are done, focus can shift to preservation of those from the second half of the 20th century. Regarding the pictures I’ve scanned thus far, it became clear to me that my Dad’s mom was comfortable in front of the camera. Whether it was a demure pose in front of a flower vase or piece of ne...

It is my Dad’s forebears whose lives I’ve spent so much time pondering, as information about them is more readily accessible than it is for the ascendants of my Mom, who was a second generation American. The more I pieced together the different branches of my family tree, the more it often felt like a puzzle—whereas friends and family were playing online games looking for treasures, wizards, or whatever, I was on a more noble quest, seeking real people from long ago. Every time I found another ancestor, it felt like I found another prize, and was eager to move on to the next level, or generation, as it were. I would try to secure the basics of their existence—date and place of birth, marriage date, date of death, etc, and refer to as many sources as possible to obtain or verify that information. However, when asking too directly about when a relative close to her died, my aunt gently chastised me for what must have seemed to her as a lack of compassion, teaching me a valuable lesson: O...

I like genealogy. I have put together a widely branched family tree, the result of pouring through thousands upon thousands of old records, making many visits to cemeteries and genealogy centers, and writing/talking to many relatives, near and far (both in terms of proximity and relation). Well, I didn't do all the work: Some of my forebears lived long lives, stayed on the same farm for 200 years, and did a great job of passing along family information from generation to generation. In 1966, my Dad’s father received a letter from his sister, outlining the names and birth/death years of this line of the family, which was traced back into the late 1600s. In about 4th grade, I remember having to create a family tree for school, and being happy that my parents could help me make a tree that went as far back as my great grandparents. We learned of this letter a short time after I completed my project, but we were still happy to add its information to the tree. When most people trac...