MOTORING ON MICHIGAN HIGHWAY 185 IS IMPOSSIBLE Out of more than 4 million miles of public streets in the United States, there’s an 8.2-mile stretch of road on Mackinac Island that stands apart. M-185 is the only state highway in the country where motor vehicles are not allowed. Instead, the traffic on...
HAVE YOU EVER GONE CEMETERY HUNTING? Yes, it is part of Genealogy. I had come across a comment in an old newsletter saying that my 3rd Great-Grandfather, Gilbreath Falls Neill, was buried in the Neill Cemetery across the railroad tracks in Beech Bluff, TN. So, in about 2013, I was in...
THE ROSE OF LONG ISLAND AND HER HERITAGE Julia Gardiner was the daughter of David Gardiner, a landowner and New York State senator (1824–1828), and Juliana MacLachlan Gardiner. The Gardiners had a prestigious heritage, were a wealthy and influential family, and she was taught to value social class and advantageous marriages. She was...
COULD YOU GET A PENSION FOR YOUR DESCENDANTS IF YOU HAD A JOB WITH NO SALARY? The answer is yes if you are a former First Lady. The president's wife receives no salary, but they can receive a pension. I became aware of first ladies' pensions when we visited Sherwood Forest. The...
ANCESTRY- THE HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRE Ancestry, The Hollywood Vampire. The Richmond Vampire (locally called the Hollywood Vampire) is a recent urban legend from Richmond, Virginia. Richmond residents claim that the mausoleum of W. W. Pool (Dated 1913) in Hollywood Cemetery holds the remains of a vampire. Supposedly, Pool was run out of...
5 MILLION PEOPLE LIVE IN IRELAND. THERE ARE 39 MILLION AMERICANS OF IRISH DESCENT WHO ARE INTERESTED IN GENEALOGY You can imagine the demand to discover Irish records for genealogy purposes; however, Ireland is one of the most challenging first-world countries to find information. Here is one of the reasons why...
BEFORE THERE WAS WOKE THERE WAS WIDE AWAKE, ARE THEY PART OF YOUR ROOTS? The Wide Awakes were a youth organization and later a paramilitary organization cultivated by the Republican Party during the 1860 presidential election in the United States. The organization introduced many to political participation through popular social events,...
THE GRAYBEARDS OF THE CIVIL WAR In the last edition I mentioned from my family tree, my three- times Great Grandfather, John Van Vliet (pictured) of Brighton, Iowa, enlisted on December 27, 1862, at age 58 in Company H, 37th Iowa Infantry Regiment. The unit was the Graybeard's regiment, as you...
THE 14TH AMENDMENT, THE SOUTHERN CLAIMS COMMISSION, AND GENEALOGY We’ve heard much lately about the 14th amendment and the barring of insurrection officers from serving in the government. It made me take another look at my southern ancestors whose attempts to rejoin the United States as citizens in good standing were...
HOW MANY TIMES WAS THE VICE PRESIDENCY VACANT? The Society of Presidential Descendants Panel highlighted that there were long periods when we had no Vice President since both Taft and Truman inherited the Presidency. The vice presidency has been vacant 18 times, totaling 38 years. The occurrence was due to the...
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