Exploring the Past to Improve the Future
By Eilene Lyon How often have you seen this label on a product you’ve been buying for years? New? Maybe so. Improved? Well, I usually have my doubts about that. I’ll grant that automobiles have become much safer and more fuel efficient since the early 1900s. They’re also more comfortable and have myriad gizmos to... Continue Reading →
Week 35: #52 Ancestors – At Work By Eilene Lyon This week’s project began as a story about my 4th great-aunt, Catherine Delle, who is credited with establishing the first kindergarten in Madison, Wisconsin. You know I like to write about successful women from my family tree. As I researched, I ended up finding more... Continue Reading →
Week 33: #52 Ancestors – Comedy By Eilene Lyon This story isn’t funny-haha, but funny-peculiar. A comedy of errors, if you will. That does happen in genealogy research. Sometimes you have to come up with a hypothesis to guide you when you come to a brick wall. Then the path you take, based on your... Continue Reading →
Or, Why Charlemagne is Not My Ancestor By Eilene Lyon My recent post, The Instant Tree, sparked a discussion with Zoe Krainik from Hollywood Genes which I thought worthy of expanding on. Zoe provided a link to this article that seems to suggest that each European today is descended from everyone living in Europe during... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon Old Fort Walla Walla After the Lewis and Clark expedition, fur traders began traveling throughout the Pacific Northwest. The Canadian North West Co. established a fort at the mouth of the Walla Walla River, on the Columbia, and called it Fort Nez Perces (present-day Wallula). When the company merged with Hudson’s Bay... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon If you're a historian or genealogist working with original stories, you may have encountered this problem. The writer mentions a geographic place name, and try as you might, you can't find it on a map -- anywhere. This happened to me yesterday. I'm reconciling various accounts of events leading up to the... Continue Reading →
Week 26: #52 Ancestors – Legend By Eilene Lyon A Man on the Move In researching my Jones relatives for the California gold rush book, I discovered a legendary figure who eventually married into the family. Elias Davidson Pierce was born in Harrison County, Virginia, in 1824. But upon reaching adulthood, he moved on and... Continue Reading →
Week 25: #52 Ancestors – Earliest By Eilene Lyon James Ransom and Elizabeth Anderson were among the earliest settlers in what would become Blackford County, Indiana, settling at what came to be called Trenton. They arrived in 1836 from Belmont County, Ohio, towing the first five of their twelve children, including a newborn.1 Blackford County... Continue Reading →
Week 24: #52 Ancestors – Dear Diary By Eilene Lyon So far I’ve only come across one true diary in the family, which I wrote about last year in Reatha Gusso, 1932. For an entire year, my grandmother kept a daily journal without missing a day. To our knowledge, it’s the only one she ever... Continue Reading →
The Martin, McGhee, Vining, Joy, Tower, Kennedy and other family lines. Sharing our photos and stories and history.
Rescuing what might remain of the grey matter.
Tales from the Annals of Crime
Louise Mabey
discovering the story it tells
Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
A Family History in Australia
A genealogical journey
Welcome to My Immigrant, Family Research, and Ancestry Blog
Sharing stories from my family history
Thoughts from the Inner Mind
A blog about my writing and the things that I care about
The less traveled paths
Stories from my family history research.
(Somewhat) Daily News from the World of Literary Nonfiction
A blog devoted to genealogical wanderings - dedicated to family near and far, through distance and time
My Family Stories
Finding the facts behind the legends!
Formerly Fading, But Not Forgotten 🌸 Zoe Krainik Blogs about Old Hollywood and Genealogy
