where2look4ancestors

  • Family Photo Friday: First Bethlehem Lutheran School

    My dad and two of his sisters attended the same elementary school for a short time. The coolest part of that for me is that all three of them appear in the same 1944 class picture. My grandmother wrote their names in the border. There’s my dad: My Aunt Jan: And…

  • How Changing My Editorial Calendar Changed My Life

    I started this blog while looking for cousins who share my love of family history. It’s been really fun connecting with kindred spirits and meeting extended family. Love love love collaborating with cousins who are equally inspired. But family history is only one of my interests. There’s also photography, old newspapers, graving, exploring technology, travel and so…

  • Wedding Bells for Peter Tolf and Augusta Landstrom

    How did this young couple meet I wonder? Peter August Tolf was born in Svenarum, Jönköping, Sweden 01 Jan 1858. Augusta Sophia Landstrom was born 13 Feb 1858 in Norra Sandsjö, Jonkopings, Sweden. While they weren’t terribly far from one another, they weren’t exactly neighbors. In May of 1878, Peter, three of his…

  • Chicago Family History in the News: The City in Brief

    Looking for family history in Chicago between census records? The City in Brief columns can be a source of information about an elusive ancestor. The excerpt below is from the front page of the Chicago Daily News January 21, 1882.

  • Wednesday’s Child: Little Sister

    Happy birthday little sister!

  • I Leave My Blessing to Everybody

    In October I visited Calvary Cemetery in Evanston Illinois. It was my first trip to the predominantly Irish Catholic cemetery which was consecrated in 1859. It was also the first time I saw a bas-relief of the deceased on a headstone. Meet Grace O’Dwyer Ryan who was born in Ireland in 1824. Grace died in…

  • Françoise Adam: My Sixth Great-Grandmother

    When I last wrote about my 6th great-grandmother Françoise Adam, I didn’t know very much about her. Her first husband Jean Bouché died in 1737. Françoise married my widowed 6th great-grandfather Jean Schmitt in Boulay, Moselle, Lorraine, France on 02 Sep 1739. The couple had at least three children. Shortly after the birth…

  • Family Photo Friday: Brenkes and Muellers

    Pictures are among my most treasured belongings. I love seeing the faces of my ancestors, watching family members change over the years, reliving fun moments and rekindling forgotten memories. Photographs and photo albums, slides and negatives, archival storage containers and digitized images consume space all around me. But not in the fun “Oooh,…

  • Wednesday’s Child: The Ryan Children

    The loss of a child must have been devastating to our ancestors. I can only imagine the anguish of parents who lost several children. Like James and Bridget, the parents of Margaret, Michael and Mary Ryan. State registration of births in Minnesota began in 1900, but the rules weren’t really followed statewide until after 1915.…

  • The Cost of a Funeral Carriage

    The 19th and 20th century obituaries I transcribe for this blog and for Find A Grave often mention cars (railroad cars that is) or carriages as the mode of transportation for the deceased and their family and friends. I’ve often wondered about the cost of each and which my ancestors chose.…