I Forgot My Cemetery Kit

As a result, I couldn’t fix this: Husband and I recently took a genealogical road trip to Illinois. First Stop – Judy Russell. The Legal Genealogist spoke at the Chicago Genealogical Society meeting in Arlington Heights. That was a day well spent. Next up – locate the final resting place of two of my Tolf ancestors.…

A Second Look at January

In November and December I printed calendars from Family Tree Maker and used them to create my genealogical research to-do lists for the upcoming month. The calendars added a sort of random focus to my family history research which I enjoyed, so I played the same game in January: 01 Jan 1858 – My 2nd great-grandfather Peter August…

She was a Good Christian Lady

From the Batavia (Illinois) Herald, Wednesday 16 January 1901: “Death of an Aged Mother – Died, at the home of her daughters, Misses Christina and Amanda Tolf, on Hueston [sic] St., West Batavia, Sunday, Jan 13, 1901, after an illness of several weeks, Mrs. Elena Tolf, aged 78 years. Deceased was an old resident of…

23rd Psalm for Genealogists

In honor of Family History Month, I’d like to share a parody of the 23rd Psalm as recorded by the Minnkota Genealogical Society of Grand Forks, North Dakota: 23rd Psalm for Genealogists Genealogy is my past time I shall not stray. It maketh me to lie down and examine half-buried tombstones. It leadeth me into…

Death or Divorce?

I’m trying to determine if my 1st cousin thrice-removed had been widowed or was divorced before her 2nd marriage. Myrtle H Youngberg and John L Miller were married 01 Jul 1910 in Michigan at a popular destination for elopements: None of the John Millers in the 1910 Chicago city directory seem to be a good match for the John…

Birthday Celebrations

How does your family celebrate birthdays? How is this similar to/different from the way you celebrated birthdays as a child? My childhood birthdays included party hats, cake and ice cream, and games like Pin the Tail on the Donkey and Clothespin Drop. Relatives joined the festivities until we were school-aged when our celebrations grew to…

Ancestral Look Alikes

With which ancestor do you share the most physical characteristics? What similar characteristics are there and how do you feel about them? I began this quest with a photo of my parents taken in 1956. Searching their faces for specific features that match my sisters’ and mine, I began to wonder where those features originated. Credit for our…