Learning German for the Sake of Ancestry: Part 5 – Busuu Review
So I got a new phone and lost all my apps. Then, of course, I got busy at school and...well, my German lessons have been nachlassen. Translation - I’ve been…
Our family trees are ongoing projects. But, sometimes it’s about the journey. Here we’ll keep you posted on what we’ve done lately. You’ll find our latest research initiatives, attempts at breaking through brick walls, and any crazy extracurricular activities that we pursue in the name of genealogy.
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…
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…
Learning German for the Sake of Ancestry: Part 4 – Rosetta Stone Review
I’ve been watching a show about an investigative team using old FBI files to try to find proof of the possibility that Adolf Hitler didn't die after World War II,…
In Search of Erik Bergstrom Part II: The Dig
You might have read In Search of Erik Bergstrom, Part I a few weeks ago. To recap, it covers the tragic story of my great-great-grandma Emma Hagberg and her short,…
In Search of Erik Bergstrom Part I: The Story
“Was great-grandma a hooker, or just stupid?” That was blunt, teenage me asking my mom a rather rude but absolutely serious genealogy question. While I have no ground to stand…
A DNA Family Tree – Or Not!
A couple of years ago my mom bought me a 23andMe DNA kit for the sake of ancestry. I had already done the Ancestry.com test, but 23andMe had some different…
Learning German for the Sake of Ancestry: Part 3 – Babbel Review
As I said in Learning German for the Sake of Ancestry: Part 2, I'm continuing to work on my German lessons. I go in spurts. I’ll be motivated for a…
Learning German for the Sake of Ancestry: Part 2 – Duolingo Review
Guten Tag! You’re probably wondering how my German lessons are coming along. Well, I was really faithful... for a while. Since my first post on learning German for the sake…
Genealogy Abbreviations: A Cheat Sheet
When I first started digging into old records and research it was... overwhelming. There were so many names, so many dates, and so many different ways to handwrite the letter…