My dad’s paternal grandparents married young. Very young actually, Gustav Robert Mangels was 18 when he and 16 year old Esther Ingeborg Clarin tied the knot. They were married in a Lutheran church which may explain the embellishment of their ages on their marriage certificate. Both Gustav and Esther had unhappy childhood homes. Gustav’s father…
The League of American Bicyclists was originally founded as the League of American Wheelmen in 1880. Bicyclists, known then as “wheelmen,” were challenged by rutted roads of gravel and dirt and faced antagonism from horsemen, wagon drivers, and pedestrians. From the past to the present, bike riders have been a part of my family tree. Growing up, pretty much…
Along the same lines as my proposed TV show Name That Ancestor, I have a book idea. It’s a take off of the children’s book Are You My Mother? In this time machine fantasy series, we could go back to the date a picture in our collection was taken and ask each of the subjects,…
Today we at Where 2 Look 4 Ancestors are holding our mugs high to celebrate that wonderful elixir of life, a cuppa Joe, our early morning wake up call, the precious java that helps so many genealogists stay awake in front of their computers. Happy National Coffee Day!
Gustave Mangels‘ sister Louise was a woman ahead of her time. She worked for the Federal Reserve Bank in the early 20th century when women didn’t hold such positions. But all her life she suffered from a mental illness that would eventually overtake her. Rosa Louise Mangels died in a sanitarium on this day 47…
My great-grandfather Gustave Robert MANGELS died on this day 44 years ago. Although I was 13 or 14 at the time, I had never met him. And as I was drafting this post, I started wondering how much my dad had known of his grandfather. Gustave and my great-grandmother Esther Ingeborg CLARIN divorced when my…
That first day of having you on the planet was an amazing day for all of us. You hold a special place in our family tree; the eldest child of the eldest child (your mom) of the eldest child (me) of the eldest child (my dad). And you certainly hold a special place in all our…
I’m addicted to I really enjoy watching genealogy-related shows like Who Do You Think You Are?, Finding Your Roots, Genealogy Road Show, and History Detectives. I have an idea for another show Ancestry dot com could host. I’d call it Name That Ancestor. Here’s how the show would work: Ancestry dot com would choose a…
Otto Victor MUELLER was the son of Elise SCHMITT and Anton BIDENHARN. He was adopted (informally I surmise) by Elise’s second husband Jacob Koebe MUELLER. A wonderful snippet about Otto appeared on page 5 of the October 6, 1905 Suburbanite Economist [Chicago Illinois]; “Otto V. Mueller, a former Englewood business man, has been appointed to…
where2look4ancestors 