Category Archives: GenBlog

Week 38 Prompt: Cousins This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is”Cousins.” Growing up, there were a few family members that I referred to as aunts and uncles. I never really gave it much thought—until I started doing genealogy, that is. Turns out, some of these aunts and uncles are technically cousins (and some aren’t related at all!). For example, my “Aunt” Shirley. Technically, she is my mom’s first cousin, making Shirley my first cousin once removed. And my “Uncle” Bob, well he’s my dad’s first cousin, making him my first cousin […]

Week 37 Prompt: Mistake This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is”Mistake.” This post isn’t focused on a particular individual or family. Instead, it’s related to genealogy in general, and how a mistake I made early on cost me valuable time and energy. Back when I started doing genealogy (over ten years ago), I really didn’t know what I was doing. I had a research background, but genealogy research was certainly different. I knew I needed to keep track of what I was finding, and I downloaded a copy of Personal Ancestral […]

Week 36 Prompt: School Days This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is”School Days.” Last week, many of my genealogy friends were busy posting their yearbook photos on Facebook because Ancestry was offering their yearbook collection for free (likely a back-to-school promo). So with this week’s prompt being school days, I figured I’d look for family members in the yearbooks available in the Ancestry collection (gratefully, mine are not there!). I’ve found all of my dad’s and mom’s high school photos, three of my uncle’s high school photos, and one of my […]

Week 35 Prompt: At Work This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is”At Work.” I actually have some photos of my maternal grandfather at work. According to my mom: “Dad never liked working for anyone else. He went through a lot of jobs because he didn’t like someone telling him how to do his job. That’s why he started his own business.” Perhaps that’s where I get my entrepreneurial spirit (for exactly the same reasons!).

Week 34 Prompt: Tragedy This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is”Tragedy.” I wrote about this briefly ten years ago. Before writing this post, I set out to correlate all the information I had regarding the death of my great-grandfather George Rottman. Here’s what I’ve been able to glean. There were ten newspaper clippings related to his death in my family files—I also found four additional articles. The short story is that George “fell” off a streetcar, suffered skull fractures, and died hours later. But there are various versions of what really […]

Week 33 Prompt: Comedy This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is”Comedy.” I really couldn’t think of anything, so I enlisted the help of my mom. Here’s a cute little story about my maternal grandparents, as told by my mom. “Soooo, once upon a time my mom and dad were having an argument. Mom was very upset. She had been making a pie and thought it turned out pretty good. Mom always had a heck of a time making a pie crust and she thought this one was the best. Well, during […]

Week 31 Prompt: Brother Week 32 Prompt: Sister This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is”Brother,” and next week’s theme is “Sister.” I decided to combine the two into one post and write about a brother and sister who are both direct-line ancestors. It’s probably not an unusual occurrence in colonial times to see this happen, and I believe I have another instance, I just can’t remember it offhand. Because the one I’m writing about is on my Webster line, it naturally sticks with me. Lieutenant Robert Webster (1619-1676) and Susannah Treat […]

Another year has passed, making this my eleventh year of genealogy blogging! Thanks to all my loyal followers who have stuck with me through some ups and downs!! Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash