How charming is that? Inside an Air Mail envelope, a handwritten letter. From Irish cousin to American cousin, yet with a rather formal salutation. Grandma must have loved it! Of course she did; she saved it. Then Mom saved it. And now I’ll share it: My Dear Mrs. Cassidy, You must forgive me for not answering your letters, I do trust this note will make up for my mistacks. I was sorry to hear of your mother’s death. R.I.P., too…
This feels like a miracle. Or at the very least, an answer from Saint Anthony. The other morning, I woke up full of determination to look into the other side of Mom’s family. The Cassidy side. Surely there must be someone out there who was also a great-grandchild of Patrick and Annie who wants family stories preserved and shared. Right? I started with the youngest of their seven children, worked my way to Marcella, and put together a story about…
Ever since I saw this woman’s name and added her to our family tree, that song from Hamilton has haunted my brain. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton sing this duet as a lullabye to their newborns, Theodosia and Philip: But who was our Theodocia? She was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, just eight years after the end of the Revolutionary War. She was one of ten children born to Jacob and Lois. Her siblings carried such names as Ebenezer, Sewell, and…
Now that I’m buckling down and finally watching the tutorial videos Ancestry.com provides, I’ve learned the fancy genealogical terms “brick wall” and “breakthrough.” And so, with a bit of a blush and definite tongue-in-cheek, I must proclaim: We’ve scaled the brick wall and experienced a breakthrough! Let’s go back a week, when the luck of the Irish arrived via an email. It was Adrian (who, it turns out, is my third cousin), who had wandered across this blog post from…
This is a tough one. Yes, it happened a long time ago, but it still warrants a trigger warning. This story involves Dad’s side of the family. His grandfather was George Vayo, whose mother was Olive Lambert Vayo. Olive was born in Orono, Maine, in March of 1854. Five years later, her sister Ada was born. This is Ada’s story. Adelaide Lambert was only six years old when her mother passed away at the age of 36. By the time…
A few weeks ago, one of Farmer Gary‘s cousins sent us some photos from a century ago, hoping my husband could identify the relatives. The cousin, Becky, is one of the daughters of Gary’s uncle/godfather Jim. She said the photos were from a huge Schum-family reunion some 40 years ago. There was a table piled high with photos. Copies of old black-and-whites were available to order, but they did not come with any identifying information. Here’s one of them: Gary…
Back when Farmer Gary and I announced our engagement (just-in-time-for-Christmas, 1981), so many of my relatives and college friends chimed in, “My grandparents were farmers!” or “My great-uncle grew up on a farm!” Suddenly, the world was one big farm. I’m experiencing the same with Gary’s family tree. Every ten years, the census report announces this ancestor or that was a farmer. Their children were “farm laborers.” Farmers everywhere! It took a half-second longer than it should have for me…
This really shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but one gratifying side benefit to building a family tree is “discovering” living relatives you didn’t even know existed. It’s an extra bonus when that person is also interested in discovering and sharing family information, stories, and photos. Since I joined a Facebook group for Ancestry.com members a few months back, it’s been amazing to see the many ways there are to delve into the past. Some use multiple platforms, others create…
It’s amazing what is waiting to be found on Ancestry.com. Yesterday afternoon while snooping into Gary’s side of the family, I happened upon the murder of Peter Schmitt. A two-dollar murder. We’ve already talked about Gary’s great-grandpa Henry Schum, who was murdered in 1909. Fourteen years later, there was another murder in the family, this one farther out in the family tree. Peter Schmitt grew up on a farm outside of Ferdinand. Born in 1879, he was the fourth of…
While looking into Farmer Gary‘s story about “The tuberculous house” last week, we climbed a little higher on the family tree to take a look. It was there we found a tiny branch, reaching out for sunlight. We found Peter. Born on May 2, 1848, Peter was one of nine children born to Lorenz and Catherina Dilger in what is now Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Peter’s sister Theresia, who was six years older than he, grew up to be the paternal grandmother…