Spending My Weekend…

…at Shades of the Departed!  My friend footnoteMaven apparently thinks I’m humorous, so I’m spending the weekend at her place.  Please visit the debut of my monthly Weekend with Shades column, The Humor of It.  This month’s post: Off With Their Heads!

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Paternal Grandmother’s Patrilineal Line

I rarely have time to even read Randy’s Saturday Night Fun Challenges on a Saturday night, much less respond to them.  But tonight, I do have some time, and this one is not so challenging for me to answer!  If Randy had chosen any other line, it would have been harder. The challenge is this:  [...]

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Bank Records: Another Resource for Tracing Immigrants

I enjoy highlighting unusual genealogical resources – records other than vital records, passenger lists, naturalizations, and the federal census.  Recently I entered some of my “usual suspect” names into Ancestry and discovered a resource previously uknown to me: immigrant bank records.  The historical background about these records is described on Ancestry.com as follows: In the [...]

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I Remember Betsy

Today it was announced that actress Betsy Blair died on March 13 at the age of 85.  Unless you are a fan of classic film and/or Gene Kelly in particular, you might not recognize her name.  Her obituaries seem to highlight two main facts about her life: she was the first wife of Gene Kelly, [...]

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Memories of Aunt Joan

Joan Delores Pater was born on August 30, 1932 in Philadelphia, PA.  She was the first born child of Henry and Mae Pater.  Their family was made complete three years later with the birth of a second daughter, Anita Jane, who was born in 1935. Despite their closeness in age, the two sisters did not [...]

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The Answer is 42

But what’s the question?  Fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will know that it’s the meaning of life, the universe and everything.  But on Sunday, March 8th, 42 happens to be the next mile-marker on my own personal odometer.  (Coincidentally, I just found out that March 8th was also the date that Hitchhiker’s [...]

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Unique Names Day

Several genea-bloggers are celebrating “Celebrate Your Name Week” from March 2 through 8.  I’ve missed out on some of the events, but today, March 4th, is set aside as “Unique Names Day”. Since my surname is unique enough, I’m glad my name isn’t quite that unique (although it’s definitely not as common as it was [...]

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Ancestors on Facebook?

Janet Hovorka, the Chart Chick, had a link to her sister’s blog.  Her sister talks about how great it is to use Facebook to meet up with old friends and plan a family reunion.  Then she asks an intriguing question: …wouldn’t a genealogical version of facebook, devoid of time and space, be intriguing? Locate family [...]

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Brother and Sister: A Family Tradition!

It snowed last year too:  I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea. ~Dylan Thomas My father James was the first-born son of James and Margaret Pointkouski.  Just before his eighth birthday, a new addition arrived to the household – a baby [...]

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Donna’s Picks: March 1, 2009

“Donna’s Picks” is my occasional feature to highlight other blogs, posts, or articles that may be of interest to my fellow genealogists.   Sit back and enjoy the following links! History – A few weeks ago Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, wrote about a new oral history project. The West Point Center for Oral History will [...]

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