A birthday like no other

It’s getting so late. They were driving from Dulles and they should have been here by 7 p.m. Tom and I hardly know what to do with ourselves while we wait. This meeting has been more than five months in the making: Tom’s biological father, Richard, and sister, Danielle. Richard’s cousin Susan in England, our initial … read more A birthday like no other

Day 33: Bookworm feast

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

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