The Joy of Genealogy

When I first started “doing” genealogy, any find was exciting and the cause of great joy -  whether it confirmed something I already knew or took me back one more generation.  After a while, I was surprised that the research became “routine” – not that it wasn’t exciting anymore, it was just to be expected.  [...]

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The Slesinski Sisters: Part 3 – Research Confirmed

Part 1 of this series presented the photographs that led me to investigate the lives of my great-grandmother and her four sisters.  In Part 2, I detailed my genealogical research.  Years after I had completed this research, I received a happy confirmation in a rather unusual way.  My mother reconnected with her elderly aunt – [...]

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The Slesinski Sisters: Part 2 – The Research

In Part 1 of “The Slesinski Sisters” I presented some photographs passed on to me by my grandmother that showed her mother and aunts: Laura, Josephine, Mary, Jane, and Sophie Slesinski, from “somewhere” in Poland.  The remaining photograph that I inherited from my grandmother is shown below.  All I had to begin my research were [...]

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The Slesinski Sisters: Part 1 – The Photographs

Genealogists know that finding the “married names” for women is can be difficult.  Is it possible to research women without knowing who they married?  In the case of my great-grandmother’s sisters, the answer was surprisingly “Yes!”  This story is also interesting because it involves photographs – some that began the investigation, and some that proved [...]

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Fun With Maps in Philadelphia

McElroy’s Philadelphia City Directory, 1858 If you have roots in Philadelphia (or southern New Jersey…more on that later), or if you are simply interested in maps or history, there is a very interesting site called the Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network.  There are many useful resources here.  On the Resource Browser page, you’ll find all sorts [...]

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Research Plan: Finding Death Dates for Joseph Bergmeister and Ursula Goetz

Miriam recently challenged genea-bloggers to write about their brickwall ancestors.  In my case, I don’t have brickwalls so much as avenues of research I have not yet pursued.  One of my goals for 2009 was to find some missing details in my Bavarian ancestors.  In the case of my great-grandfather, Joseph Bergmeister, I can document [...]

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Donna’s Picks: Week of January 4, 2009

The “Donna’s Picks” feature returns after a lengthy hiatus!  I may not have “picks” every week anymore, but I will occasionally highlight other blogs, posts, or articles that may be of interest to my fellow genealogists.  For this comeback edition, enjoy the following links! History – In this news article from Science Now, read about [...]

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The Discontent of My Winter

Once upon a time, growing up in Philadelphia, I enjoyed playing in the snow. Then, I grew up.  As a grown-up, snow became rather unpleasant for two reasons.  First, I had to shovel it.  Since being cold and physical exertion don’t fall anywhere on my top 100 list of desirable things to do, you can [...]

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Who are These Guys? (And Where are They Going?)

A funny thing happened on my way to the 9th Edition of the Smile for the Camera Carnival…  I found a pile of photos with unidentified persons that fit this edition’s theme: Who Are You – I Really Want To Know? Show us that picture that you found with your family collection or purchased, but [...]

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Happy Blogiversary

I’m posting this a few hours before the Big Day, but January 6th is the one year blogiversary of What’s Past is Prologue!  It took me a year to realize the irony of the random date I chose to begin this blog, for January 6th is traditionally celebrated as the Feast of the Epiphany.  In [...]

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99 Experiences, Plus More Genea-Experiences

I had been avoiding the “99 Things” meme that’s been all the rage for about a week on other genealogy blogs, mostly because I didn’t think that anyone particularly cared about what things I’ve done or have not done.  But, three things made me change my mind: 1) Other posts I had planned to write [...]

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To the Nines!

2 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 9 Nearly everyone is familiar with the phrase “dressed to the nines”, which means dressed up fancily or fashionably.  But why to the nines?  Why not dressed to the eights or sevens? No one really knows where the phrase “to the nines” originated.  Some think that the earliest reference [...]

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