How We Vanish

Week 35: #52 Ancestors – Unforgettable By Eilene Lyon This week’s prompt really stopped me in my tracks. Unforgettable? If there’s anything I’ve learned from all my years of genealogy research is that family history is eminently forgettable. So many fascinating stories have been rescued from oblivion by sheer determination on my part (and yes,... Continue Reading →

September 12, 2020 31

Homeland

Week 30: #52 Ancestors – The Old Country By Eilene Lyon Though I have ancestral origins in England and Wales, perhaps a touch in Ireland, an overwhelming number of forebears came from Germanic regions of Europe. I’ve traveled there several times. On one trip, we specifically visited Heidelsheim and Mainz, because I knew my Springer... Continue Reading →

July 25, 2020 46

Game Night

Week 27: #52 Ancestors – Solo By Eilene Lyon If the saying goes… “The family that plays together, stays together”…well, that didn’t exactly work out for us. However, I do have fond memories of our family game nights. We had a number of the standard board games, including Monopoly, Scrabble, Clue, etc. There were dice... Continue Reading →

July 11, 2020 37

Paintersville, Ohio

Week 25: #52 Ancestors – Unexpected By Eilene Lyon I’ve long known that there are pioneers of many stripes in my family background. But I didn’t expect one of them to have been the first settler in Cæsers Creek Township, Greene County, Ohio – a location that is less than 20 miles from where I... Continue Reading →

June 27, 2020 28

The Doily

Week 24: #52 Ancestors - Handed Down By Eilene Lyon I have very few family heirlooms. My Army-brat upbringing taught me to let go of things. We could only take so much whenever we moved. It's been only recently that I've come to appreciate what little I have received and kept over the years. This... Continue Reading →

June 20, 2020 33

They Peel Right Merrily

Week 23: #52 Ancestors – Wedding By Eilene Lyon Ogden and Mary (Kew) Casterton of England immigrated in 1852, shortly after their marriage. They settled for four years in Illinois, then permanently relocated to Winneshiek County, Iowa, in 1856. In their long marriage, they produced a robust family of ten children. The Casterton holdings grew... Continue Reading →

June 18, 2020 26

Mea Culpa

Week 22: #52 Ancestors – Uncertain By Eilene Lyon After I posted my story about Nancy Self, I realized I made a series of errors. It happens when we make assumptions. Nancy’s obituaries stated that of her twelve children, five had died in infancy. But my tree had eight adult children. Um, basic arithmetic says... Continue Reading →

June 13, 2020 28

Not A Centenarian

Week 21: #52 Ancestors – Tombstone By Eilene Lyon Nancy (Ary) Self’s tombstone looks rather ordinary, except that it seems to indicate that she lived to a remarkable age: 105. It isn’t true, but according to her obituary she outlived all twelve of her children, so that makes it pretty easy to claim you’ve reached... Continue Reading →

June 11, 2020 41

She Loved To Serve

Week 19: #52 Ancestors – Service By Eilene Lyon I have a soft spot for relatives who, by choice or chance, left no descendants to carry on their legacy and their stories. Sometimes nieces and nephews step in to fill the void, as with this case, about my dad’s aunt Inez. Inez Lucinda Halse was... Continue Reading →

June 4, 2020 28