By Eilene Lyon My recent genealogical research has included using a new feature available at Family Search, the free genealogy site owned by the LDS Church. They are now using A.I. to search some of the handwritten documents in their vast collection. This is an A.I. application I can heartily approve. There will never be... Continue Reading →
Drafted and Disabled
By Eilene Lyon Last month I shared some background on my Arbogast ancestors who migrated to Ohio from Alsace, France. Of the Arbogast children who traveled with their parents to America, my 3rd great-grandfather was John C. Arbogast Jr. He was 12 when he landed in Tuscarawas County in 1840. He still lived with his... Continue Reading →
Alsace Emigrants
By Eilene Lyon It’s time I shared a bit about a neglected line on my family tree, the Arbogasts of Alsace. They immigrated from a tiny village or commune in the Bas-Rhin department of France called Rittershoffen. The prefecture (capital) of Bas-Rhin is Strasbourg, a major city on the Upper Rhine River. Rittershoffen is about... Continue Reading →
Ill-Fated Haiti
Found Photo Project #10 By Eilene Lyon This photo is another case of “How on earth did this wind up in southwestern Colorado?” The young man pictured was born in Maine, and educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard. Eugene Usher Mitchell was the tenth of eleven children born to Maine farmer Charles Mitchell and... Continue Reading →
Paris to Bruges by Bike – Part 1
By Eilene Lyon The major portion of our recent European trip involved bicycling for two weeks from Paris, France, to Bruges, Belgium. We were supported by a barge that provided cabins, meals, bicycles, and guides. Our trip began and ended in London. From there, we took an international train through the Channel Tunnel to Paris.... Continue Reading →
Darwin’s Galapagos
Travel and education go hand in hand. What have you learned? Originally published March 9, 2018. EL "Seeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related group of birds, one might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different... Continue Reading →
Putting History in its Place – A Rant
Another piece about my views on history and how we should interpret and learn from it. Originally published February 18, 2018. EL By Eilene Lyon The premise of this blog is learning from the past, so why would I rant about history? Because I see occasions when history is not put in its proper place... Continue Reading →
An Invitation to Heidelsheim
This piece was one of my first efforts for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks program by Amy Johnson Crow. I completed three full years and did a smattering for a fourth year. Now I'm just randomly doing my family history posts among other topic. Originally published January 27, 2018. EL Week 4: #52Ancestors -... Continue Reading →
No True History
I still feel the sentiments expressed here. I often wonder just how far off I am when I write about people from earlier centuries, people I never knew. Originally published January 15, 2018. EL By Eilene Lyon We recently watched The Abolitionists, by American Experience. It is an excellent and high-production-value 3-part series about the... Continue Reading →