A Big Brick Wall: When the Family Story Doesn’t Match the Records
I was very hopeful that I would solve another one of those genealogy mysteries this past month, and now I’m very frustrated that I haven’t quite done that. Many of…
Stories and research from Janet’s husband, Tim Meydam’s family trees, the Reinecke and Meydam families.
Small World: The Family Link
When I was in my early 20s and attending college in Madison, Wisconsin, I worked at Lake Kegonsa State Park, near Stoughton, Wisconsin, for about a year. Along my commute…
The WWII Bridesmaid’s Dress… Made of Parachute
There are countless love stories about World War II sweethearts. Couples enduring distance, economic hardship, and an overwhelming sense of the unknown. Handwritten letters full of vulnerability and hope back…
Don’t Throw Out Those Old Pictures!
Last night my mother-in-law, Helen, left me a funny voicemail. A distant relative had reached out to her about a bunch of old pictures of the family. He felt he…
An Unusual Boat
My husband’s great-great grandfather, August Meydam, immigrated from Danzig, West Prussia (now Gdańsk, Poland) to Elderon, Wisconsin, USA in the early 1880s. A certified carpenter and wagon maker in Prussia,…
Story Not Accurate? You Can Still Use It for Research Clues.
Some stories that our parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents tell are spot on. They fall in place nicely with the facts and records from our family trees. Yeah. Some stories do.…
The Golf Outing: A Love Story
Couples have all kinds of stories about how they met. Some sound like they're straight out of a fairytale. Others... well, don't. Some stories are so typical of the era…
Thank you, Czechia! How to Search for Czech Republic Ancestry Records
My latest genealogy project has been tracking down my mother-in-law’s ancestors on her mother’s side. When I asked her where they were from, she said that her grandfather, Wilhelm Franz…