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

     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 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...

I t's been more than a month since I have updated and I won't let that happen again.   Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope that anyone reading this has had a wonderful meal with family and friends, with many things and people to be thankful for this season.   Here are some things that I am grateful for: My thanks to everyone who has been helpful and support of me in my pursuit of the people, records, photos and more that have built and continue to build my family trees. My sister Stephanie, is an enthusiatic sounding board. My mother and my Aunt Evie continue to offer historical context and help to sort fact from fiction.  I could write a whole post about the support and help I received from my beloved Aunt Nancy and plan to do that separately. I was inspired to start blogging about my genealogy experience after participating in Amy Johnson Crow's 31 Days to Better Genealogy Project on Facebook.  Several members took the time to read and comment and it was a posi...