New Collections in Ancestry
I booted up my computer to draft a blog post about my Schmitt ancestors for this Surname Saturday. While things were warming up, I checked email. And found this: 54 is a large number of new hints, which in itself is interesting. More interesting however, are the hints that stem from new collections. What really…
Name That Ancestor
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…
Voices in the Cemetery
Jim, a fellow Find A Grave contributor and blogger jokingly suggested conducting a séance after reading my post about the elusive Lily Flower. Our conversation continued by sharing experiences with the departed during our frequent cemetery visits. Jim mentioned a cousin who had been spoken to by cemetery inhabitants who asked “Who are you?”, “Why…
Tis A Little Grave
Tis a little grave, but O have care, For world wide hopes are buried here. How much of light, how much of joy, is buried with our darling boy.
Alfred Was Born Wasn’t He?
For my last Timeline Tuesday post, I was able to document the source of my 2nd great-grandparents’ marriage in November of 1874. Early in my research of this branch of my family tree, I surmised that Elizabeth SCHMITT had been married before she married Jacob MUELLER. My supposition was based on the ages and birthplaces…
Labor in My Family Tree
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…
Chicago Daily News Obituaries; 18 September 1886
Ancestors who die between census years can often be difficult to trace. Perhaps the following obituaries, published on page 6 of the Chicago Daily News on September 18, 1886 will be of some help to genealogists doing research in the Windy City. The names of the deceased (including a dozen children) that appeared on that…
What I Learned on Find A Grave
Find A Grave contributors come in many shapes and sizes. I know this because I read the bios that catch my eye when I process edits. I enjoy reading the reasons people contribute memorials to Find A Grave, the stories about what brought them there and about their backgrounds in genealogy or graving. Today I read a…
A Tale of Two Cemeteries
While updating memorials on Find A Grave recently I encountered two burials in the wrong cemeteries. Well not burials exactly, just the headstones. And not the wrong cemeteries exactly, just different cemeteries. The 1st incident came to my attention via email. I received the following message (from a 3rd party, not from the contributor mentioned below):…
