At the age of 17, my great-grandfather deserted the U.S. Army, packed his belongings into a rucksack and made his way by foot to Lockport, New York. He changed his name to John Gates during a stop in Ohio, married my great-grandmother in Buffalo and raised five children of his own. He didn't tell anyone--not [...]
Last month, I shared a letter penned by Betsy Maria (Penfield) Cook to her son, Arthur, during the American Civil War; in it, she worries about Arthur's safety and laments the death of her son, Wesley, only a few months before. It's an emotional and touching letter (one of my favorite lines is: I feel that I [...]
Jayne Florence (Lippert) Fikes, 1947 // Sagamore Motors, Rochester, New York
Of all of the lines in my family tree, the line I've written about the least is the Getman's. I was lucky enough to know two of my great-grandparents, and one of them was a Getman: Marie was born on May 10, 1921 in Buffalo, New York, and she studied at St. Joseph's College in [...]
Luther Baker was a strong man, and it seems as though he was always destined to be; after all, Strong was in his name. Luther Strong Baker was born on March 22, 1840 in Allegany County, New York to Daniel Baker and Abigail Strong, the sixth of fifteen children. He's described in multiple sources as [...]
