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Easter brings to mind a lot of bullet point memories In 1983, things were bleak financially. I was 12 years old and in 7th grade. So, of course, my Dad decided to join my cousins on a spring fishing trip to the Outer Banks over Easter. They weren’t high end, but it was still money […]
Welcome to the next installment of My Family Story focusing on my 2x great-grandmothers. This is the story of Caroline Feil Bliss (1858-1936) who is my maternal grandmother’s mother’s mother. Caroline was born in New Baltimore, Somerset County in 1858. The story of Grandma Caroline is itself quite a tale, as is the story of finding […]
Perhaps that is her story, her legacy even. She like so many women in history are lost to us in terms of details, but real to us in terms of having actually been here and part of the tapestry of our lives. She existed in all of her unrecorded, complicated and stark reality. Her legacy is real even if the details are shrouded. Perhaps this post will unearth more details or perhaps it will simply honor the life story that we know.
Rest in power, Grandma Annie.
There are two parallel learning tracks with researching my family tree. First, I learn about the actual people to whom I am related – their names, occupations, where they lived, how they died, and sometimes even more details. The second track is the broader scope of historical facts that tie directly into their individual experiences. […]
This was not something I thought about as a child in the 1970’s and 1980’s in suburban West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. I knew my living grandparents and their basic backstories and a little bit about their respective parents. I was raised to believe I was mostly an Irish Catholic/little bit of German kid which turned out […]
The prompt – describe how my grandparents/parents met. My maternal grandparents (Jim and Val) allegedly met at a radio station in Butler County. She was working as a receptionist or clerk or something and he was a salesman. I think they eloped soon after and he ended up working in the mill in Homestead (but […]
Today’s prompts – 3 in 1! 1. I was born in Upper St. Clair, lived in Mt. Lebanon and then Baldwin before landing in West Mifflin at the tender age of 2. My parents still live in West Mifflin. My earliest memory of our home in West Mifflin is the smell of a diaper pail […]
Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo? Edna Kerr was my great-grandmother (my paternal grandfather’s mother.) She was widowed soon after this photo and left to raise 4 children on her own. This cropped image is from an […]
March 1 — Do you have a favorite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about? Write down some key facts you have already learned or what you would like to learn and outline your goals and potential sources you plan to check. One thing I believe to be very […]
