Wordless Wednesday: Teaching First Aid

This week's family photo...

Anyone Up for a Challenge?

Ok, this one is making me angry. I'll set the scene: I was searching for an ancestor to write about for Amy Johnson Crow's "Namesake" prompt this month, and I eventually decided that it had to be someone on the Merrill side of my family tree. I mean, there's my great-great-grandmother, Celestia Melvina, who was [...]

Tracing My Grandfather’s Navy Service

Thomas Kuznicki, Jr. My grandparents--Tom and Janice (Zielinski) Kuznicki--celebrated their Golden Anniversary last October; they were married on October 12, 1968 at St. Hedwig's Church in Dunkirk, New York, and they moved to the city of Jamestown soon after. Gramps proposed through the mail--he was stationed in the Philippines at the time--and my grandmother accepted [...]

Workin’ on the Railroad

Ward Earl Smith (Left) & Raymond Lee Smith (Seated) The Northern Pacific Railway Company issued each new employee a copy of their "Consolidated Code of Operating Rules" before starting on the job; the rules begin with a General Notice: "Safety is of the first importance in the discharge of duty. Obedience to the rules is [...]

Another Brick Wall Bites the Dust

John & Celestia (Merrill) Peterson with grandsons Robert Peterson (left) & Thomas Kuznicki (right) I've been searching for clues into my great-great-grandfather's past since I began researching my genealogy seven years ago. According to my grandfather, John Peterson was born in Sweden, and he married an American woman, Celestia Merrill, around the turn-of-the-century. Gramps and [...]