Relics: Genealogy, family stories, history & other curiosities.

      For me the Hudson River will always mean home.     This is the final installment in my Escape from Florida series. From here on out this blog will revert back to all things genealogy and history.  Our regularly scheduled programming as it were.    We for the most part are happy to be back in the Hudson Valley. There is so much we have missed. Kids are growing, things look so different and there is so much new to explore, see and do.     Our condo in Florida is still there. Construction is said to be completed in the fall. We can not go back. I can't live in fear of what to do if another storm comes, wonder where to go to keep my mother safe. Hoping we can get a handicapped equipped hotel room far enough inland. Leaving behind all that is precious to me and hoping the water doesn't rise and wash it all away.    It's been a little over six months now and we are adjusting to our new normal.  Sometimes it surprises ...

  If this were a movie, this part from September to say early December would be that musical montage where lots happens, there is a lot of hard work and then resolution.   It was a blur. It was full of starts and stops and I was stunned for most of it.  I tried to make the best decisions possible, not only for all my genealogy research, but for all the stuff, our place and for us.   Helene hit and our house became uninhabitable. We were in a hotel and could only bring our essentials. The portrait of my grandmother had to stay behind. My mom's wedding album, my dad's beloved high school yearbooks, photos, important, treasured items, documents, art and everything, but what we needed to get through the next few days.   Yes, some of it is only stuff. But it's my stuff. And a lot of if was sentimental and important to me. I wanted it. I deserved it. I am by no means a hoarder.  And yes were lucky that a good deal of our stuff was not floating down...

     While I have been keeping up with the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks project facilitated by genealogist (and former librarian) Amy Johnson Crow, I haven't been writing each week or publishing each essay.  Some weeks I don't have anything to say about the assigned topic or more likely I don't have the time to write more than a paragraph or two. And while I would love to be a prolific blogger and genealogy writer, not is not the time. I am doing what I can and that is enough.   So this week's topic is at the library. This is my love letter to libraries.   I wouldn't be a genealogist or a family historian (and a librarian) without libraries. In particular, without the New City Library. I was already in library school when I discovered the Rockland Room, the name for the local history room at New City Library. I was a loyal user of my home town library and really wasn't looking for a new home, but then I discovered the Rockland Room.   I thought I...

I have been wanting to write about leaving Florida and moving back to New York for a long while now. There was a lot to do physically to make it all happen and there was a great deal synthesize emotionally. Unlike, the rest of the entries I have posted here since this blog started, this post is not solely about my genealogy research.   September 27, 2024 Hurricane Helene caused our home to flood. We were lucky compared to our neighbors, we sustained minimal damage. But enough damage that we needed to evacuate, lost power and then were told by condo management we all needed to empty our condos and move for the 3-6 months repairs were underway. Of the 300 units in our development 296 of them were deemed uninhabitable by FEMA.  In the ten years I lived in Florida caring for my parents and working, I lived through five or so hurricanes, some big and scary, others minor. During each I worried about things.  I felt concern for our safety but knew I would do whatever I need...

I have many favorite family and historic photos so it was hard to choose one. This photo of the Haverstraw Baseball team was in a box of my Great Uncle Harry's belongings. I was going through the box with his son and we were happy to come across some newly discovered and some long forgotten treasures.   In this photo my Uncle is second from the left in the bottom row. Next to him on the end is my grandfather, Tuck. I never met Tuck and thrills me that they were friends as well as brothers and did things together like this.   Almost immediately,  we wanted to identify the rest of the team. My dad took some guesses and then suggested I take the photo to the local senior citizens center. The members there had a great time trying to guess who was who and it generated lots of conversations. We narrowed down who might be who and several members were certain they identified family members. One senior suggested I take the photo to the local hometown newspaper (this was ...

  My goal is to be a better and more consistent blogger in 2025.  I still have a lot to say about my genealogical research in 2024 and will do so soon.  I decided to participate in Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks initiative. Once you sign up, she sends a prompt each week and you can interpret it and work on it any way you wish. I did post week one on her Facebook where other participants are posting. I will also post here. I hope to think of new avenues and ancestors for storytelling and to build on my writing skills.   Week One: Beginnings. I learned as a pretty young girl that I was interested in genealogy, except I didn't know there was a name for it. I was a voracious reader, I love History and I felt very rooted in place. My father and his father were all born in our small town like my brother, sister and I. I couldn't walk in town without being recognized as my father's daughter.  My mother and her father and his father and so on, were all bo...