My husband’s great-grandfather Charles Garver had a brother, Thomas, who married two sisters—Mary Ann and Ellen Heilman. Thomas Garver (1850-1902) was farmer in Defiance County, Ohio. According to notes taken by his great-granddaughter Ruth Marie Burkhart in 1943 for a school project, he had a sideline as well. She wrote, “He was a preacher of …
Last year I spent some time researching the family history of my sister-in-law Susie. Along we way we discovered some memorable stories, including that of Rhoda Wyatt (1830-1910). Susie’s great-great-great-grandfather was William Wyatt (1799-1867), a landowner in Somerset, England in the 1800s. He had seven children with his first wife, most of whom ended up …
I was married for the first time in 2007 at age 51, to a wonderful man. His father, Norman, walked me down the aisle that day, since my father had died many years before. As I got to know Norman, I was intrigued by the story of his mother, Eliza Jane Carriveau Mosey, who had …
My paternal grandmother was Sara Elizabeth Peterson Wallin. It was Grandma Wallin who gave me my love of genealogy (and some of my Swedish genes). Grandma was born in Nebraska on November 8, 1894 and died nearly 100 years later, in 1986. She grew up at a time when girls, especially daughters of immigrants on …
“The grandson wants to remember what the father wished to forget.” –anonymous One of my great-grandfathers was a Swede named Charles Anderson (1859-1916), a boatman on the canals of northern Illinois—and he was quite a character. Grandma never talked about him—but being a big fan of black sheep stories (especially when the aforementioned stories come from …
Okay, February is over. Enough with the sentimental love stories! Now for some tales of love gone very, very wrong. When researching the ancestry of my sister-in-law Susie, I came across the stories of two sisters—Anna and Eva Grimm. Anna was Susie’s great-grandmother (at least on paper!) and Eva was her infamous sister—and both of …
An excerpt from a letter my father wrote to his parents from France during WWII: “Well, at least I have a chance to write again. I have not been hurt, except just one little scratch on my leg from a mortar shell. Don’t worry, please, I went 4 days after and then went to the …
Letters from the Front, Part One: Don’t Worry, Please Read More »
“You live as long as you are remembered.” — Russian proverb My sister-in-law Susie lost her beloved father a few months ago. She asked me to share some thoughts about him. So I combined info from his obituary with the pictures and notes she gave me, and this is what I came up with. I hope …
My paternal grandmother, Sara Peterson Wallin, came from a Swedish family of six girls and two boys, all long dead now. Several of her siblings have stories which intrigue me—particularly the story of Aunt Therese. Therese Irene Peterson (1907-1937), the youngest of eight, was born in 1907 on the dry plains of Nebraska, near the …
Find Dad’s College Letters Part One Here More gems from my father’s letters home during college: On being a role model: “I was given the privilege of being made a voluntary Civil Defense Military Instructor, to teach Boy Scouts elements of mayhem and elementary & advanced treachery. I get a kick out of the starry-eyed …