My sister Ann and I are born bookworms. If it were allowed, we would move into the library – any library – and just live there, eating books. One of the things we really love about our annual Ohio pilgrimages is that our ancestry research takes us into two beautiful old Carnegie libraries – in … read more Day 33: Bookworm feast
Category: Inheritance
Ancestry and DNA, memory, blood ties, what we gain from the past and our parents. The nonfiction book 1919 looks at people and events of that year in their convergence, as harbingers and initiators of all that happened in the century.
Day 29: A gathering in court
One Friday morning in March, a group of 20 men appeared before a judge in the Huron County courtroom. They were foreigners, part of a recent wave of immigrants who had rushed in seeking steady work and the possibility of a buying their own land and home. A new president had just been inaugurated, promising … read more Day 29: A gathering in court
Day 27: Uncle Ray and the gang
I don’t know what the collective noun for cousins is, but on the Schnellinger side it should be “a riot of cousins.” Eight brothers and sisters, born of my grandma Alma Schnellinger, had a total of 32 kids – and that despite the fact that two of the eight became nuns. The rest were typical … read more Day 27: Uncle Ray and the gang
Day 13: Getting the name right
I’ve been doing ancestry research for a few years. It can be very addictive, like playing mahjong or Sudoku, putting all those pieces into place and making everything add up. One thing I really love is to correct mistakes made in the index to the U.S. Census. These records were hand-written, and transcribed to searchable … read more Day 13: Getting the name right
Day 3: 16,070 to go
If I live to be 100, that is 16,070 days from today. I had to double-check my calculations so that I don’t set aside the wrong number of pennies. On Day 1, I had 16,252 pennies, and I’ve “spent” two of them, so I should have an extra 180 pennies. I’m using those 180 to … read more Day 3: 16,070 to go