I feel like I've been on a roll with Civil War ancestors lately--sorry, not sorry. For the longest time, I had no connections to the Civil War, and my only knowledge of the years between 1861 and 1865 came from high school--and later, college--history textbooks. But then I started this blog--forcing me to comb through [...]
I spent the past week in Buffalo, New York visiting my aunt and cousins and grandparents; we stopped by the Broadway Market for makowiec and placek, spent an afternoon wandering around Forest Lawn Cemetery and went wine tasting in the Finger Lakes. My favorite part of the trip, though, was going through old family photos [...]
Last Halloween, I shared the story of George Amos Gritton, the coroner--and, eventually, treasurer--of Amador County, California. He was born on February 4, 1852 in Henderson, Illinois to George Amos Gritton, Sr., and Lucy Nation, and at the age of 18, he set out west to follow the California Gold Rush. That's where he met [...]
The one thing I often overlook when it comes to researching an ancestor's story is the weather. And it shouldn't be: climate patterns and weather phenomenon guided both our ancestors' day-to-day decisions and their long-term migration patterns, just as they guide our own. Rainstorms were essential to keeping crops alive, but snowstorms may have kept [...]
My great-great-grandfather, Milton Marion Cook, was a Methodist circuit rider; he was born on July 28, 1877 in Mason City, Iowa, and he grew up on a farm with his parents--James Milton Cook and Emily Cornelia Damon--and five older sisters: Martha Louise, Ella Rosina, Fannie Lucina, Florence Ellen and Hattie Ethel. Milton met his future [...]
