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

  Today is Father's Day and it's the first Father's Day I can't drive to the cemetery and visit my father.  I couldn't on his birthday this year or Christmas.  I know I promised I was done writing about the storm and that this blog was genealogy full steam ahead. So this may be considered genealogy adjacent.   My dad's ashes were left behind in Florida. I wanted to break him out and bring him with me but it would cost me about $4000. So I had to be practical. I needed every dime I had to move.  I will get him soon. I stopped to say goodbye and make sure the neighbor's flag wasn't blocking his name one last time right before I got on the road. I know lots of people don't like cemeteries. I know people who bury their loved ones and never go back. Those people think I am strange.  I love to visit cemeteries.  I always have.  When I was young, once or twice a year my dad, would take my nana to the cemetery to plant geraniums. She would tell me ab...

      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...

 It's been more than a minute since I have posted!  I wanted to share an important tool for researching your family!  Newspapers.  Here is our latest podcast discussing just that.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDfPCXrZCdo

 Hello!   I have finally found some time to get back to my research!   I was inspired by the Florida Genealogy Society- Tampa annual seminar last week. I haven't missed the seminar since I moved to FL in 2013. I don't attend the regular meeting often as the are in Tampa and I hate driving there. I have been impressed by the quality of speakers this seminar attracts and this year was not exception. I was especially pleased that the program was all virtual and featured my favorite podcast host, Diana Elder and Nicole Dyer of Research Like a Pro. It was a great day! Diana and Nicole are both great speakers and explain their methods well. I was motivated to pick up my copy of their new book and dive right in to their DNA class.  If have not yet listened to Diana and Nicole you are really missing out.  In addition to the podcast, they offer two great online classes, Research Like a Pro and Research Like a Pro with DNA. I was proud of the research and work I...

  On April 21, 1887 Minnie Jones was born in Sandy Fields, NY.  She was my maternal great grandmother and the desire to learn more about her and her life has led me to my life's work, genealogy and family history.   I never met Minnie, she died before I was born.  I was lucky to hear many great stories from my aunts, my cousins and my mother.  I was luckier still that the cousin who had many of her photos stored in the attic, shared them with me.   Minnie has what I imagine would be a very hard life. She was born to a single mother, widowed before age 50 and raised her family through the depression and world war. Her home town, Sandy Fields and its neighboring towns full of family and friends were washed away to make room for Harriman State Park. Yet, every photo I find of Minnie, she is smiling her wide, happy grin.   Finding documented evidence of Minnie's life has been a genealogical challenge! But what I have found has been revealing...

 A new podcast is available today!  What's Your Story? A mid-western Case Study https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMwBenFNNIs For this podcast Lois and I researched our tech expert and producer, Nicole's family.  I was great to work some different records and stretch my research skills.  I have no mid-western ancestors and found Iowa records fascinating!  

Lois and I published our newest podcast this week! It's our 11th and the first of 2022.  We wanted to offer some tips and emphasize some concepts that were less methodological and more common sense based and we had a great time brainstorming our list.   Don't stress, use common sense!  Frequently check your research for reasonable leaks in logic.    Check dates- is mom old enough to have given birth to all of the children? Maybe she is their step-mother.  Names- be sure to keep everyone straight and be careful with family naming patterns.  Don't jump to conclusions! Spelling is fluid Handwriting is subjective Your ancestors name was not changed at Ellis Island, may be the biggest myth in genealogy.  DNA is not genealogy. It is only one piece of the puzzle. One tool in the genealogy toolbox.   Don't believe everything you read and not everything is online. A good researcher, like a good detective mines documents for clues a...

Happy 2022!   While the new year seems to be off to a bit of a shaky start, with Covid numbers once again rising across the country, I am determined to be optimistic and of course cautious.   Yes, I am sad and frustrated that the virus and my inability to travel has been a challenge to my research. But I don't feel like I have right to complain too much.  My friends and family have remained healthy and we are all vaxed and boosted to keep each other safe. My library co-workers have remained vigilant while dealing with the public while we still work in very close quarters.  Since life has continued this year to present us with lemons, I have chosen to make lemonade.  I may not have been able to travel and accomplish some long anticipated on the ground research, I have research, studied and continued to learn.   The opportunity to participate in classes and webinars is abundant! While I do occasionally feel the "zoom fatigue" many have talked a...

  In honor of Veteran's Day this episode of What's Your Story is devoted to researching the Veteran's in our families.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUFAb4WWHas

  Lois Powell and I have completed another episode of our What's Your Story podcast.  This month's topic is Genealogy Websites and Resources that researchers can utilize for free.  Let us know if you have a favorite resource that you like to use.   Listen to our podcast here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyBKp79zoKA

  On August 21, 1862 my three times great grandfather, Jacob Rose enlisted in the US Army to fight in the Civil War. He was 42 years old.  He was accompanied by his two oldest sons, James and John. Left at home was his wife Emeline, three months pregnant with my two times grandfather and ten other children.  I have learned some about Jacob's service and I am waiting for his pension file from the National Archive.  I am hoping the file will lead me to clues about Emeline.  More on her someday.  

  It's no secret that I am a huge fan of utilizing the FAN club to make connections between families in my research. Pun intended. The FAN Club, a term coined by genealogist Elizabeth Shown Mills, is researching  the friends, associates and neighbors of your research subject. Our ancestors often married the girl or boy next door or witnessed their marriages and christenings.  Here is one example from my family research.  Are Sarah Williams Scannell and Bathsheba (AKA Martha) Williams Cassidy sisters?  The FAN Club helps us discover many important clues that can reveal relationships and solve research riddles.  Leaving the port of Londonderry, Northern Ireland on the Caledonia, John (b. 1784) and Margaret Williams (b. 1789) arrived in New York on 15 June 1839.  Accompanying them are their six children:  James         born 1815           age 24 on arrival          ...

 Finding Females in your family tree can be a challenge! In this episode of our podcast, Lois and I share some ideas to help you find those ladies!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlNL9cq_KKA

 Lois Powell and I are back with a new podcast episode, all about one of my favorite record sets, the census!   The census records are a valuable tool for genealogists. Give our podcast a listen here!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8PcS3HUPYs

  I have been focusing some of my time lately on my paternal grandmother's maternal family.  Mainly the Bell and Brown families of Haverstraw and Garnerville, NY.   Mary, or in some documents, Barbara Brown was born about 1833 or 1834.  She married William Brown. They had nine children over the course of 16 years, at least seven surviving to adulthood.  I know so little about Mary/ Barbara. Her first name seems to interchange in each record I find. Her maiden name, while I have several clues, it remains a mystery for now. I was able to find a small death notice for William, who died in 1883, but until recently I had no death information for Mary.  According to the 1870 Census, William and two of his oldest sons work at the Calico Factory, a major part of the economy of the Garnerville area in the 1800's in a building that still stands today.   Two doors down from the Browns, live the Bells. In 1888, Henry Bell marries a daughter of William an...