where2look4ancestors

  • Instant Ancestors

    The tongue-in-cheek sign by these cabinet card photographs stopped me in my tracks. I’m sure the antique shop owner thought it would be an attention-grabber. It certainly worked for me. Most of the cards were blank on the back. But this card had been a gift, signed by the sender:…

  • The Census Mistake that Wasn’t

    Something had clearly been erased and a new word written in it’s place. I assumed “farmer” was the erased word. That’s the occupation I most often associated with my 2nd great-grandfather William Penrod CLARKE. And optician? Why would the census taker have written that? William was the second of 11…

  • Following the Bread Crumbs Left by My Clarkes

    Every person bitten by the genealogy bug knows the danger/value of exploring collateral lines. The Clarke branch of my family tree is a maze of interesting twists and turns. I often learn more about my Clarke direct line ancestors by focusing less on them and more on the people with…

  • Two Sides of a Coin

    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…

  • Honoring the Dead at Lakewood Cemetery

    Oh how I wish every cemetery had the trifecta of taphophiles Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis does! Last year I spent several hours of nearly every weekend photographing headstones for Find A Grave at this beautifully landscaped 250 acre garden cemetery. At the time the Find A Grave page for Lakewood…

  • Request for Deceased Individual’s Social Security Record

    While trying to prove my great-grandfather had indeed been born, I realized I didn’t have all of the documents identified as sources or alternative sources on Ancestry for Alfred MUELLER’s date of birth. One of those documents listed Alfred’s exact date of birth, the very thing I was trying to…

  • Oh, the Questions I Would Ask

    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…

  • Happy Birthday Grandson!

    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…

  • They Became Americans

    Today is our nation’s Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. It is a day set aside to recognize the adoption of the United States Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. I’m proud of the members of my family who made a dangerous trip across an ocean to start a new life…

  • Killed by the Cars

    As much as we’d like to think the 19th century was a kinder gentler time, the truth is that everyday life was filled with close calls. People frequently dashed out of the way of fast-moving horses, streetcars and trains. And, as is reported in the article below, they weren’t always…