GENEALOGISTS- WHY DIDN'T GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPA MARRY UNTIL HE WAS 44? A client was curious about where their immigrant ancestor, Robert Devard, had come from in England. To answer him, as a genealogist I returned to where he was first found in the client’s records in America, in Mobile, AL, in 1860. I...
GENEALOGY- THE OTHER JOHN ADAMS John Adams (February 1, 1745 [O.S. January 21, 1744] - March 26, 1849), not to be confused with President Adams, on his 100th birthday in Ashburnham, making him possibly the earliest-born person photographed. He was a shoemaker and veteran of the American Revolution. The picture is...
SITTING IN A TRAFFIC JAM ON PRESTON ROAD IN DALLAS, AND THOUGHT ABOUT MY FAMILY TREE AND MY GG GRANDFATHER'S BEING ON THE ROAD 152 YEARS EARLIER From his diary, that I referenced in the last newsletter: January 19, 1871- Leave the Brazos opposite Kimball for Kansas, camp on Nolin 9 miles. January...
ANCESTORS- THE DOLLHOUSE FROM THE MANSION We recently visited the National Toy and Miniatures Museum in Kansas City. When we came across the “Coleman Dollhouse” (see picture above), a sign explained that the Dollhouse was built for the Coleman family, whose patriarch was a coal mine owner. They lived in a...
GENEALOGY- WAS DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ANOTHER SWEENEY TODD? We visited Ben Franklin's house in London, as I am working on a Franklin genealogy. The only residence of his that is still remaining. It is worth the visit. When the Friends of Ben Franklin House, started the restoration, the workmen discovered the bones...
GENEALOGIST- HENRY ALEXANDER CLIMBED THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE U.K IN A CAR They commemorated a statue in Fort William in 2018. Here's the article from 1911 ascent. GENEALOGIST- FLORA MACDONALD'S HEADSTONE ON THE ISLE OF SKYE Flora MacDonald (1722 - 5 March 1790) was a member of Clan Macdonald of Sleat. MacDonald...
CONTINUING WITH THE HERITAGE OF THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION AND THE CONSTITUTION Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an early American statesman, lawyer, and Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States:...
GENEALOGY- SEVEN GENERATIONS OF OF A PREHISTORIC FAMILY MAPPED WITH ANCIENT DNA An adult man buried some 6,000 years ago in what is now France was the son of the man from whom dozens of people also buried at the site are descended. In the mid-2000s, archaeologists excavating a burial site in...
LEGACY- JEWISH REFUGEES IN SHANGHAI One of our clients shared a story about her husband’s ancestors fleeing Nazi Germany by going to Shanghai. She had a small book listing all of the refugees. I had to look up that story. An estimated 17,000 German and Austrian Jews first trickled into Shanghai after...
ANCESTRY- ALEXANDER HAMILTON'S FATHER-IN-LAW GOT TAKEN FOR A RIDE A statue of the Revolutionary War general, newly prominent thanks to the musical “Hamilton,” has been removed from its place outside Albany City Hall because he enslaved people. Lin-Manuel Miranda said that the portrayal of Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and other white...
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