Category: family history travel
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Telling Ancestors’ Stories
Recently I printed a new five-generation pedigree chart and took a long look at the names that appear on it. I wondered about a few things; in particular, how well do I “know” each of my direct line ancestors? I mean, what do I know about the hurdles those who…
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A Week of Ancestors
April 21-27 Seeing the places where my ancestors lived their lives was an amazing part of last year’s trip to Scandinavia. BIRTHS: It was an emotional experience being in the spot where “our” cottage stood 154 years ago. Elis Peterssdotter, who I wrote about here, was born at a farm…
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The House that Tønnes Built
One of many treasured memories from last year’s trip to Scandinavia was an overnight visit to Sogndalstrand. A Norwegian newspaper article from 1987 told of a house built there by my 3rd great-grandfather Tønnes Christiansen. It is still standing. Across the street from Tønnes’ house is the lovely Sogndalstrand Kulturhotell…
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Monumental Perspective
My 2nd great-grandmother Elisabeth Schmitt had 13 known siblings. One of her younger brothers, Emile, married the daughter of a beer baron in Cincinnati and played an instrumental role in the John Kauffman Brewing Company in the late 19th century. Although I am not related to John Kauffman, I have…
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Unsolved Family History Mystery
The Chicago Genealogical Society recently coordinated a visit to the Oak Park River Forest Museum. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to finally meet other CGS members with whom I’d been virtually chatting for many months over Zoom. And the OPRFM has a plethora of materials one might use…
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The First Child of the First Child
My long-running daydream about a someday trip to Scandinavia has been updated to planning a trip that will take place within the next few months. Yippee (and eek)! This means my 2022 genealogy goal of finding all the living descendants of my Swedish and Norwegian 4th great-grandparents moved up to…
