Exploring the Past to Improve the Future
Week 52: #52 Ancestors – You By Eilene Lyon I am my ancestors’ future. Their legacies to me were their hopes, aspirations, and privileges…as well as their fears, anger, and disappointments. These things, passed down to me, shape who I am today. From my father, I learned the work ethic that came through generations of... Continue Reading →
Week 51: #52 Ancestors – Future By Eilene Lyon “The future” is a seemingly contrary topic for a historian. But the tagline for my blog includes the word “future,” because I believe history can teach us so many useful things. Preserving knowledge for coming generations is important in my view of the world. So what... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon A couple weeks ago I confessed to being an unreliable caretaker of family heirlooms. Fortunately, not everyone in the family is so irresponsible. In fact, it has recently come to light that a couple of my second cousins have some remarkable items. One of these cousins, Karen, brought a whole trove to... Continue Reading →
Week 50: #52 Ancestors – Tradition By Eilene Lyon I can’t think of too many traditions that have survived down to my generation, but one of them is age-old and nearly universal: marriage. When I look back through my ancestry, I find a surprising number of winter weddings. I think people were always looking for... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon The Slide Years is a series in which I select an image my dad took from 1957-1982 with Kodachrome slide film, then I write a stream-of-consciousness essay – a sort of mini-memoir. The year is 1967 and we’re celebrating Christmas at my Smith grandparents’ home in Little Rock, Arkansas, the city I’d... Continue Reading →
Week 49: #52 Ancestors – Craft By Eilene Lyon My maternal grandfather, Laurence M. Smith, was a crafty man in more than one way. He loved to play practical jokes. He used his wit in a cunning, sneaky way. But he also like to make things, especially in his retirement years. It isn’t surprising that... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon Part 1 A Mysterious Disappearance Emily and Harvey Ransom expected W. C. to return home no later than Thursday, July 19. When he didn’t appear, Harvey and a friend headed to Chicago and began making inquiries. They retrieved the doctor’s bag and mail from the Sherman House. Thinking the correspondence might contain... Continue Reading →
Week 48: #52 Ancestors – Thief By Eilene Lyon Note: The Historical Society of Michigan published a version of this story originally in Michigan History Magazine May/June 2018. Due to length, I will present it in two parts. South Haven, Michigan, 1894 The schooner George L. Wrenn rested lightly in the South Haven harbor. Her... Continue Reading →
Week 46: #52 Ancestors – Poor Man By Eilene Lyon He had to be desperate – it was such an insane thing to do at his age. Traveling to California and mining gold was for the young and strong, not for 49-year-old family men. But Henry Zane Jenkins made that difficult choice: to leave his... Continue Reading →
Adventures in Genealogy
If you love history, travel, and humor this blog site is for you!
The Martin, McGhee, Vining, Joy, Tower, Kennedy and other family lines. Sharing our photos and stories and history.
Historical Non-Fiction in Northern Ontario
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
