Dear Family…

Week 50: #52 Ancestors – Lines By Eilene Lyon My favorite lines in genealogy are the ones inscribed by hand on paper—family letters. I didn’t always save the letters I received, but I do have a nice representative sampling from many ancestors and relatives. I’ll begin with my immediate family and my ancestors, then I’ll... Continue Reading →

A Visit to Cincinnati 1851 – Part 2

Part 1 By Eilene Lyon The canal packet Indiana – designed specifically to fit in the locks at Louisville – arrived from New Orleans on Tuesday the 11th, pulling into the public landing, a sloping embankment on the Ohio River, alongside a dozen other steamboats. Though scheduled to depart the next day, obtaining a suitable... Continue Reading →

A Visit to Cincinnati 1851 – Part 1

Week 50: #52 Ancestors – Witness to History By Eilene Lyon  Introduction: This two-part feature is an excerpt from my book about the California gold rush. The Blackford Mining Co. left a farming community in eastern Indiana to seek their fortunes in 1851. The ten men ranged in age from Peter Liestenfeltz, the youngest at... Continue Reading →

A Letter from Henry

Week 40: #52 Ancestors - Oldest By Eilene Lyon I believe the oldest document in my possession is this letter written by Henry Z. and Abigail Jenkins, dated October 19, 1855. The entire letter runs to over 1500 words, so I won't give a full transcript here - your eyes would be glazing over long... Continue Reading →

Philadelphia Firestorms

Week 33: #52 Ancestors – Troublemaker By Eilene Lyon Henry Z. Jenkins rose before dawn one morning in June 1827 in his single room in north Philadelphia’s Penn Township. His workday normally began at sunrise and ended at sundown – just like that of every other journeyman in the city. The master tradesmen dictated the... Continue Reading →

Back to the FANs

Week 1: #52 Ancestors - Fresh Start By Eilene Lyon To genealogists, the FAN acronym stands for Friends, Associates, Neighbors - people we should be researching alongside our ancestors to provide context and clues to family connections. My knee surgery rehab time on the exercise bike prompted me to start watching some Legacy Family Tree... Continue Reading →

Good Intentions

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 →

Wrong-Way Emily – Part 1

Week 39: #52 Ancestors – Map It Out By Eilene Lyon Note: This three-part series is adapted from my California gold rush book. Sources will be listed at the end of Part 3. Background The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in January 1848 set off the largest mass migration to a single destination up... Continue Reading →

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Moore Genealogy

Fun With Genealogy

My Slice of Mexico

Discover and re-discover Mexico’s cuisine, culture and history through the recipes, backyard stories and other interesting findings of an expatriate in Canada

Waking up on the Wrong Side of 50

Navigating the second half of my life

The Willamette Valley's Heritage through its Barns and Structures

A history of the people of the Willamette Valley as revealed through their structures.

A Dalectable Life

Doing the best I can to keep it on the bright side

Amusives

You might think you understand what I said, but what you heard is not always what I meant.

Tumblereads: A New Twist on the Old West

A New Twist on the Old West

Eilene Lyon

Author, Speaker, Family Historian

bleuwater

thoughts about life from below the surface

Northwest Journals

tiny histories

Ancestral Writing in Progress

... stories of significant others in the Allery, Cutting, McCulloch and Robertson tribes ...

Coach Carole Ramblings

Celtic, Mythical and More ...

Shedding Light on the Family Tree

Illuminating the Ancestral Journey

Forgotten Ancestors

Tracing The Faces

The Patchwork Genealogist

Uncovering Family Legacies One Stitch at a Time

Family Finds

Adventures in Genealogy

What's Going On @ ACGSI

Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana Blog

sue clancy

visual stories: fine art, artist books, illustrated gifts

Ask the Agent

Night Thoughts of a Literary Agent