Celebrating My 17th Blogiversary

On August 25, 2008, I wrote my first genealogy blog post. Seventeen years later, I've written over 1900 posts about researching family trees, preserving genealogy materials, understanding social and historical context, finding cousins and having them find me, and more.

If I had known then what I know now, I would have called this blog something like "Good, Bad, Ugly Genealogy" because my years of research have turned up such a wide range of ancestor backgrounds in my tree and my husband's tree. 

Good: loving/compassionate relatives and in-laws, indigent journey-takers who helped each other survive in a new country, civic and military leaders, hard-working entrepreneurs, ancestors who sought to give their children and grandchildren better education and more opportunity. Bad: a few bootleggers (considered "bad" at the time), a few thieves, some wild kids, some absent parents. Ugly: too many early deaths from causes now preventable, a few questionable criminal activities, family estrangements for reasons that in retrospect seem repairable, a couple of sad suicides, and more. 

With one key exception (because someone still alive might be hurt by something an ancestor did), all of what I've learned is posted on my public family trees and has been relayed to my relatives and those of my hubby. 

I don't want to hide the truth, nor do I want the truth to be lost to future generations. As family historian, I want to be told the truth and I want my relatives and future generations to trust that I will share the truth with them.

From my heart, many thanks to the dear cousins who have connected with me via my blog. It is such a joy to be in touch with the descendants of ancestors and share photos and stories.

Finally, a big tip of the hat to my wonderful readers. Please know how much I really appreciate you all! 

My genealogy research:

My maternal grandparents (both from Hungary, both died in New York City)

    Hermina "Minnie" Farkas (1886-1964) m. Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz (1887-1965)

My paternal grandparents (Mahler from Riga, Burk from Lithuania, both died in NYC)

    Henrietta "Yetta" Mahler (1881-1954) m. Isaac Burk (1881-1943)

Husband's maternal grandparents (both born and died in Ohio)

    Floyda Mabel Steiner (1878-1948) m. Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970)

Husband's paternal grandparents (Slatter from London/England, Wood from Ohio, both died in Ohio)

    Mary Slatter (1869-1925) m. James Edgar Wood (1871-1939)