where2look4ancestors

Category: Genealogy

  • Serendipity and Systems

    On the day I was to sort through a three-ring binder labeled “Ancestors and descendants of Julia Christine Thompson (1888-1964)”, I received an edit request on Find A Grave for Ludwig Charles Ogren, Julia’s brother-in-law. Julia’s older sister Esther Maria Thompson married Ludwig, who was a Swedish immigrant, on the…

  • Pursue, Preserve and Present

    In the March 31 issue of Genealogy Gems, Curt Witcher wrote, “With the recent arrival of spring, may we all feel inspired to intentionally engage in activities that give us opportunities to pursue, preserve and present our families’ stories.” I’ve had the pleasure of attending a number of Curt’s presentations…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • A Week of Ancestors

    April 14-20 BIRTHS: 200 years ago this week, my 3rd great grandfather Johan Peter Landström was born in Göteryd parish in Kronoberg, Sweden. He was the sixth-born child of a master blacksmith (mäster smed) and as a young man became a blacksmith himself. Johan raised six sons, most of whom…

  • Late to the Party

    I’ve been an Ancestry dot com subscriber mostly on / occasionally off since the nineteen-hundreds. I built my tree on Family Tree Maker. Since FTM works in tandem with Ancestry, changes to one or the other was easy peasy. My free time was limited for a few of those years…

  • Family History Filing Friday

    Something wonderful is in the air ~ spring cleaning! Having recently left my 40-hour-workweek behind, I’m all about pulling, purging and perfecting my environment. My digital environment hasn’t escaped the virtual feather duster either; I’m on a mission to bring my genealogy files to a state of organization they haven’t…

  • What it Means to Me

    All of my ancestors are interesting to me: strong women, young widowers, trail blazers, determined farmers, gifted children. I love learning about the ones who overcame obstacles, those who found love, the people who traveled great distances and those who stayed put. I’m interested in the geography and history that…

  • Genealogy Binder Re-Do

    In preparation for my first WMGS DNA special interest group meeting, Johanna Christina Carlson’s binder was a good place to start my binder organizational re-do. This is a first step in determining if Johanna’s father is Karl Johan Andersson Molin (1854-1895). Johanna is my maternal grandfather’s mother. Currently the spine…

  • Distraction-Free Zone

    I blame myself. Two pieces of paper were left alone overnight and suddenly my desk was awash in clutter. Despite my ‘design for success’ plan, I hadn’t considered the genealogical documents that cannot be addressed immediately. Where do those random various-surname documents go? Certificates and notes started to collect on…