A Smörgåsbord of Stories
James E. Garnett was the son of William Hopkins Garnett and Mary Victoria Jackson Willis. Born in Adair County, Kentucky in 1864, he used several nicknames: Ed, Ned, and, most frequently, “J. E.” Family members spell his middle name Edmund or Edmon. I … read more
Florence Gertrude “Gert” Rector has no birth certificate and no baptism record. Let me back up. To date, I have not discovered any document that was produced at the time of Gert’s birth that provides her birthdate and birth location. Birthdate Theory: Florence … read more
The idea for today’s blog post comes from a second great granddaughter of this couple. She is doing a family tree for a school project and asked her grandmother, who then asked me, for this photo. Her timing was absolutely, very, astoundingly perfect! … read more
The purpose of this post is to show the importance of checking genealogical sources, especially transcribed sources. The research questions posed herein may elicit some negative reactions because of the mystery involved. My intention is not to pass judgement, but to present the facts. See … read more
This year, I’m participating a writing challenge orchestrated by genealogist and author, Amy Johnson Crow. The program is called 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. This week’s writing prompt is: Tell the story of a favorite photo This is a … read more
When my family immigrated to America, they chose to settle down in Cass Lake, Minnesota. Why did they select this small town in the north woods? As with many genealogy questions, the FAN Principle was critical in discovering why my family chose Cass Lake. … read more
Konstantin “Charlie” Nörenberg departed Hamburg on 9 January 1909 and arrived in New York seventeen days later. Yes, he passed through Ellis Island and saw the Statue of Liberty. Leaving his home country, he traveled to Hamburg and embarked on the voyage with three other … read more
Family naming patterns give us a deep-rooted sense of tradition and family bonding. Victoria Prosser (daughter of Joseph Prosser and Brigitta Winkler) was born in 1856. Yes, the baptism record (shown below) spells her name as Viktoria and the German pronunciation would be fick-TOR-iah. See this … read more
In October 2013, I took my mother on a 3300-mile road trip from her home in northern Minnesota through Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. One of the highlights of our trip was going to the Garnett Farm in Adair County, Kentucky and meeting … read more
The only photo I have of Victoria Blees shows a strong, confident, mother of five posing in a St. Paul, Minnesota studio, circa 1900. But who were her parents? Where was she born? When I wrote about the Blees lineage in 2007, Victoria’s early … read more