Entering My 28th Year of Genealogy

In 2026, I'm entering my 28th year as family historian and genealogy enthusiast. 

The genealogy bug first bit me in 1998, when the family historian of my mother's generation asked me a simple question about my father's father. Um, I barely knew Grandpa Isaac Burk's name, certainly not when and where he was born or died. But I became determined to find out and what an adventure that was.

Since then, I've had a wonderful time teaming up with my cousins around the world to learn more about my mother's side of the tree (Farkas, Kunstler, and Schwartz families), as well as my father's side of the tree (Burk, Jacobs, and Mahler families).

It's not a secret that I truly 💘 in-laws. This year I created a colorful booklet about the Pietroniro family, in-laws on my hubby's side of the tree. Then younger relatives chimed in with their fond memories and I reprinted the booklet to include what they had to say, in detail.

I continue to improve and/or create memorials on FindaGrave, WikiTree, Fold3, and the usual big genealogy sites. This is cousin bait and a good way to share what I know with relatives and other researchers. I also enjoy participating in some of Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenges, as well as WikiTree Connect-a-Thons and genealogy chats on Bluesky. 

During 2025, I made three in-person genealogy presentations and many more virtual presentations, including a free Virtual Genealogy Association talk about cousin bait. Plus, my sis and I presented two programs about identical and fraternal twins (something we know a lot about, being the twin daughters of a twin).

In addition, this year I had professional shadowboxes made for Dad's World War II memorabilia and Mom's childhood jewelry (with her twin sister's as well). These archival-quality frames will keep the artifacts and the stories safe for the future.

Looking ahead, I plan to move old original photos from archival boxes to archival albums. Just about everything has been digitized but now I want to better organize the loose photos for the sake of future generations. I stalled out on this project a couple of years ago, so 2026 will be my year of archival albums. 

Now I have another bite-sized family history photo book in mind for 2026, about my parents and my siblings. This will be a great opportunity to tell my own story in context! 😊

Finally, I want to do something with the letters written from folks in England who met my aunt Dorothy, the WAC, when she was posted there during World War II. These kind people took the time to write Dorothy's parents. I've been in touch with a gentleman who is distantly related to the letter-writers, and he is tracing a direct descendant. If that doesn't work out, I will donate the letters to a museum or historical society in 2026.

Wishing you all the best in this new year.

They Added Their Own Memories to Family History Booklet!

For Thanksgiving, I gave two relatives a bite-sized family history booklet (below) about a favorite in-law. 

On the last page, I left a lot of blank space and wrote: Please add your own memories here.

Happily, my relatives were inspired to share their own memories of her. In fact, each wrote a jam-packed page of emotional notes about this much-loved ancestor. 

Seeing how excited they were to share what they remembered, I decided to reprint.

Now this family history booklet is a bit longer, with several pages devoted to memories. I interspersed a few sepia photos to break up the blocks of text and inject a touch of color at the end.

Affordable ($22 for two spiral-bound booklets) and ready for my relatives to take home when they visit for the holidays.

What I learned: The booklet has become a treasure-trove of personal memories of someone special. These reminiscences will live on along with the genealogical background info, to be passed down in print to future generations.

Affordable Bite-Sized Family History Booklet

This week I finished another affordable, bite-sized family history project, just in time for a family visit. 

I created this 20-page booklet in Microsoft Word, arranging photos and maps and other illustrations in between and around brief paragraphs to tell the story of these folks from my husband's family tree. 

20 pages = bite-sized?

I broke the project down into multiple bite-sized pieces: researching the parents of Rosemary and John and then moving backwards to research their grandparents. One parent was an immigrant, one the child of an immigrant, who met and married in Cleveland, Ohio. 

I wrote as I researched and I put their lives in the context of time and place, from birth to marriage to families to working lives to retirement and beyond. I included a page or two about the lives of their siblings, who moved in and out of family homes over the years. The purpose was to show that the main focus ancestors were not "dropped from Mars" but grew up in a household with other siblings, and sometimes relatives from older generations staying in the same home.

Adding in burial details, plus photos and maps and lots of other illustrations, the total page count inched higher, one bite-sized bio at a time. I left a half page empty after the final sentence: Please add your memories here, to encourage recipients to jot notes of their own.

The title page previews the story, as shown above. The reverse side of the title page includes the notation "Researched and written by Marian Burk Wood, 2025," so future generations will know the source of the booklet. 

Definitely not boring

Every page has color to draw the eyes of younger relatives, who routinely complain that black and white is boring. Even when I included a black-and-white image (such as a marriage certificate), I tinted it slightly to help it stand out on a white page and I put a narrow color border around it.  

Boring lives? Nope. During my research, for instance, I discovered that one couple lived with the bride's parents for more than 5 years during the Depression--even while they coped with a lack of steady jobs and the tragedy of a stillborn first child. My bite-sized narratives showed the drama and also noted the pride when a much-loved child was the very first in the family to attend college. 

I kept the paragraphs short and punchy, with enough white space to make the text seem less dense and more readable. Each heading was in color and there were plenty of headings to add to the lively look. Interspersing illustrations everywhere spread out the text and mentioning the dramatic twists and turns helped me to entice readers to turn the page and see what happened next.

Professional presentation

I took the advice of the local print shop and had the booklet digitally color-printed on heavier quality paper. The text and images are sharp and clear as a result, more professional looking than something I could print at home. 

The print shop put on a tight spiral binding, with a clear cover to protect the title page and a thick back cover to support the entire booklet. Very professional and much sturdier than stapling the pages together.

Total price: $10 per booklet, printed and ready to pick up in one day. Affordable and professional and readable!

This is one of the ideas I demonstrate in my genealogy presentation, Bring Family History Alive in Bite-Sized Projects. By focusing on a couple or a family (or a special occasion or special place), I can make the family history project practical and doable, not sprawling and overwhelming.

Free Images for Bite-sized Family History Projects

Sometimes when I prepare a bite-sized family history project, I need illustrations beyond ancestor photos and documents. My goal is to catch the eye of readers and enhance the content with appropriate visuals that engage the audience. 

This year, I've been expanding a booklet I wrote about my hubby's military ancestors, and I wanted additional images to avoid page after page of solid text. (Obviously I married my husband for his interesting ancestors, including men on both sides of the US Civil War, just for starters.)

My regular go-to site for free images is Pixabay.com, where I've found dramatic photos and illustrations to add to my projects. Directly above is a free photo I downloaded from Pixabay, showing a canon and a view of Gettysburg, the famous US Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania where a distant Wood ancestor helped wounded Confederate soldiers. Pixabay features more than illustrations and photos: it also offers downloadable video clips, music, and sound effects.

Recently, I've been introduced to Pexels.com, which also provides free photos that can be downloaded. At top of the page, a colorful photo I downloaded after reviewing dozens of images from my search for "US Civil War." Pexels has video content available for download, as well.

Both Pexels and Pixabay allow (even encourage) you to go ahead and use any of the free images in any way you like. You can modify and adapt them if you choose. Attribution is not required. 

Note: Nancy Gilbride Casey likes RawPixel.com, which has color and b/w maps, illustrations, and more. I plan to explore that site in greater detail!

In fact, I've modified downloaded images by changing the colors (to brighten or soften), tilting the images (for a dynamic look), or flipping the images (to better fit into my content). 

Bite-sized family history projects are a practical way to focus on specific aspects of the family tree. I want my relatives to be intrigued enough to start reading, which is where fascinating images come in. Try Pixabay and Pexels if you need an image for your own family history project. Of course photos/images on Wikimedia Commons are free and downloadable, as well, as long as you follow the guidelines for reusing content.

For more about preserving and perpetuating family history, please see my genealogy book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

Halfway Through 2025's Genealogical Journey of Sharing

Now midway through my 27th year of genealogy fascination and discoveries, I've been spending time on projects to share family history. This focus sets the direction for much of my research, to fill in gaps and confirm details for ancestors in my family tree and hubby's family tree. 

One way I've been sharing in 2025 is by adding and connecting hundreds of ancestor profiles on the free collaborative tree at WikiTree. I appreciate the ability to categorize ancestors (by birthplace or by burial place or many other categories) and to add a sticker to highlight a specific aspect of an ancestor's life.

At top, part of the WikiTree profile I created for Alice Adelaide Slatter, a little girl from my husband's family tree. She unfortunately died young, as you can see from the special sticker. This is one of the very few stickers I can "code" from memory, because I make a special effort to honor the memory of little ones who were sadly lost too soon. 

Of course I'm continuing to add/flesh out ancestor profiles on Find a Grave, Ancestry, and MyHeritage. No deadlines, no specific goals, just adding and connecting as I follow where the genealogical trail leads me. Plus I'm redoing newspaper research using fresh databases to look for additional social and news items about key ancestors.

Having professional shadowboxes made for Dad's and Mom's memorabilia, a very special way to share, has been a highlight of 2025. I'll post more about these in a few days.

For military veterans, I've got a baker's dozen list of ancestors waiting to commemorate on Fold3 memorial pages, after I receive their US Veterans Administration files. I hope when I finally receive the files that they will be informative. Fingers crossed to complete this by the end of 2025.

I'm still drafting bite-sized ancestor bios to post as memories on Family Search. Note that when I include a photo these days, I put on it a caption and attribution ("courtesy of Wood family" for instance) to make the identification and source permanent. Image here shows a small sample of stories and photos I've put on FamilySearch as memories. Each story starts with a brief headline, usually ancestor name and dates.

In addition, I'm testing colors (above) for a surname word cloud for the bite-sized family history booklet I'm writing about a branch of Wood in-laws. Later this booklet will be turned into a photo book, following these ancestors' lives from the start of the 1900s to the late 1960s.

On this genealogy blog, the top five most read posts from Jan-June 2025 were:

• Genealogy bloggers who are also on BlueSky
• New indexes to New York City digitized vital records
• Change, monitor, or hands off the Family Search family tree?
• What will happen to once-treasured silverware and china?
• Learn for free from big genealogy sites' blogs/videos

Celebrating Hubby's Irish Ancestors

My husband can wear green with great pride today because it looks like he has a number of Irish ancestors!

Shehen or Shehan

Hubby's great-great grandparents were reportedly born in Ireland, according to the 1841 UK Census. 

John Shehen or Shehan (1801?-1875) and wife Mary (1801?-1874) left Ireland and moved to Marylebone by 1834, where their three children was born. John was a laborer and Mary was a laundress. Sadly both husband and wife seem to have died in a poorhouse. 

Smith

Hubby's 5th great-grandparents were also born in Ireland. William Smith (1724?-1786) and his wife Jean (1724?-1805) may have been from Limerick. Their children were born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. 

Jean and William's son Brice Smith got "Ohio Fever" and moved to Fairfield County, Ohio before 1820. The name Brice was passed down in the family tree to this man's grandson and great-great grandson. 

Larimer and Gallagher

Robert Larimer (1719?-1803) was born in the North of Ireland, according to the genealogy booklet Our Larimer Family. Sailing to North America to seek his fortune, he was shipwrecked and brought to Pennsylvania, where he was forced to work for years to repay his rescuer. 

Robert eventually walked away from his master and married Irish-born Mary Gallagher (or O'Gallagher) (1721?-1803). They, too, got Ohio Fever and brought their family to Fairfield County, Ohio. Mary and Robert were hubby's 5th great-grandparents.

McClure

Actually, the McClure line originated in Scotland but relocated to County Donegal at some point before Halbert McClure's time. Halbert (1684?-1754) married Agnes in County Donegal and they sailed to Philadelphia together with other family members sometime in the 1740s. 

They all walked to Virginia, where they bought land and kept buying land as their sons married. Their grandson caught Ohio Fever and his descendants moved further west to Indiana. Agnes and Halbert were hubby's 5th great-grandparents. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Linking to Digitized Genealogy Booklets

When I began my genealogy journey in 1998, I had access to a photocopied edition of a Larimer family history booklet printed in 1959. My late mom-in-law had marked changes/corrections/additions, giving me a head start on tracing this line. Years later, I inherited the original (a silvery booklet) and now I can see the changes even more clearly. Plus I feel free to mark up my photocopied version 😉

Not all Larimer researchers know about this booklet. If I hadn't had the Wood family's photocopied edition, I probably would not have known! 

Yet this Larimer booklet has been available via Family Search for a long time; only in recent years has it been digitized for easy access by anyone, from anywhere. Now I've been including links to it on Larimer ancestor bios, hoping to help other researchers interested in the family's background. 

As shown above, I included a link to the Larimer book on the MyHeritage bio of Brice S. Larimer. Anyone can follow the link and see the entire book. There are other ways to add such links: as a link along with other sources, for instance.

I also included the link on Brice S. Larimer's profile on the public tree I posted on Ancestry (as shown above). 

Over time, I'm adding this link to other Larimer ancestors and on other genealogy sites, including WikiTree and FamilySearch--making it a snap for others to access the digitized booklet. Despite its limitations, the booklet has plenty of clues for researching the Larimer line. My good deed is sharing the link far and wide.

Good deed is the week 51 prompt for Amy Johnson Crow's fun #52Ancestors genealogy challenge. I've already joined Amy's challenge for 2025. If you want to join, here's the link. 

Sharing Ancestor Bite-Sized Bios More Widely Because LOCKSS

Many of my husband's US, Canadian, and UK ancestors served in the military over the years. Researching them over the past year, I prepared bite-sized bios as part of a family history booklet for the family. 

What's in a bite-sized bio?

Most of my bios are a paragraph or two in length, including parents' names, birthplace, spouse, children, and occupation.  I usually include birth order to give a sense of family context, and a sentence about the area where the ancestor grew up or moved to. 

Also, I try to mention a historical event (not just war but a natural disaster or movement toward a different geographic area) if it helped shape the ancestor's life. For instance, a number of my hubby's ancestors caught "Ohio fever" and moved to Ohio before it became a state, a point I make in their bios. 

In general, if an ancestor does something that is out of the ordinary or not typical for the time, I point that out too for the sake of readers who might not be familiar with the background. Not military related, that added to the drama of the bio I wrote for a widow who decided to go to Gold Rush country, leaving her children in the care of relatives and neighbors. 

Finally, for this project, I wrote a quick summary of the ancestor's military service and its significance (regiment? rank(s)? actions or battles? awards? capture? service under a well-known figure? health afterward?). More than one ancestor was injured in service, which affected their later lives, I showed in my bite-sized bios. 

The next step was to share the bios on multiple websites so these ancestors and their military service is not forgotten. Remember, LOCKSS (lots of copies keep stuff safe).

Bite-sized bios on Fold3

You don't have to subscribe to post a bio on an ancestor's memorial page on Fold3, which is owned by Ancestry and focuses on military records. Searching the Honor Wall of service men and women is free, as is adding a bio. Search the wall using this link. Also on that page is a link to create a new memorial (free) if none shows up in your search. Sharing ancestor/veterans' bios on that site has been an ongoing project for me.

As an example: For my husband's great great uncle Benjamin Franklin Steiner (1840-1924), I added a bio by clicking the add button on his memorial page (see yellow arrow in image above). You can either type it in or copy from a document and paste it in. Once you save it, you can edit if you like by clicking the pencil tool (see green circle on above image). 

Be sure to bookmark or tag the memorials so you can easily return to them later. The tag tool is at top right (orange circle on above image). You can tag with a phrase like "US Civil War" or use a bookmark tag for a later visit.

Bite-sized bios on Find a Grave

Many (but not all) Fold3 memorials include links to the person's Find A Grave memorial. Since the bite-sized bio is already written, it's easy to copy and paste onto that person's Find A Grave memorial. Above, a slightly edited version of the bio I wrote for Benjamin Franklin Steiner's Fold3 memorial is also posted on his memorial at Find A Grave. 

Benjamin's memorial page is managed by someone else, so I submitted the bite-sized bio using the suggest edits function...also indicating that this man was a veteran. The edits were accepted. A small V shows next to this ancestor's name, a visual symbol of military service that any visitor to his Find a Grave page will see.

Wash, rinse, and repeat

You can post bite-sized bios on even more sites. I added Steiner's bio to WikiTree (above), FamilySearch (below), and MyHeritage (at bottom).  

LOCKSS in action! I don't want family history to fade away--I want to perpetuate it for future researchers and descendants.

Four Larimer Brothers Fought for the Union

I'm in the home stretch of completing a booklet about my husband's ancestors and their in-laws who fought in all major wars involving the United States, from the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the US Civil War through the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. I want to describe not only their military service but also their family lives. Most are not in my hubby's direct line, but my goal is to honor and memorialize those in the tree who served their country during wartime.

Four Larimer brothers, my husband's first cousins four times removed, fought for the Union during the US Civil War: Isaac Newton Larimer, Jacob Wright Larimer, John C. Larimer, and Harvey H. Larimer. I used clues from a printed Larimer genealogy book plus the usual research sources (obit, vital records, military records, news reports) to write a brief narrative of each man, with emphasis on military service but also including spouse(s), children, occupation, and other details of interest.

Focus on Isaac and Marilda

At top, an excerpt from my bite-sized bio page about Isaac Newton Larimer (1828-1910), a farmer who enlisted early in the war, despite being married and the father of a growing family. To illustrate, I included a table showing his war service, drawn from the Illinois State Archives. I highlighted two events in bright blue. 

• During his first major battle, Isaac was captured (one of 55 held) and escaped after 23 days, rejoining his unit.
• At the Battle of Missionary Ridge, won by the Union, Isaac was shot in the face and nearly died. But he did recover and, with only one good eye, continued serving with his unit until the end of his enlistment period.
  

Three years and three months after joining the 35th Illinois Infantry, Isaac was mustered out and went home to his family farm. He and his wife Marilda McCreary Larimer (1835-1905) had 11 children, including a youngster who passed away in infancy. I hope Isaac and Marilda told their descendants stories about the early days, including the other three Larimer brothers who served their country. 

Sharing family history more widely

Creating a booklet such as this is one way to let future generations of my husband's family know about the lives of those who came before. Want more ideas about preserving and perpetuating family history? Please see my genealogy book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

As a byproduct of this booklet, I'm repurposing the bite-sized bios of these men and women and posting online. For instance, I've submitted Isaac's service details to his Find a Grave memorial and also adopted his orphaned WikiTree profile, adding his bio and details. This has led to enriching other WikiTree profiles connected to Isaac, such as his wife's profile. There will be more profiles enriched as I continue to share family history in many places so these military ancestors will not be forgotten. 

Halfway Through 2024: Genealogy Progress and Plans

Six months ago, I made a list of genealogy priorities for 2024. Now, halfway through the year, how am I doing?

• Create a family history photo book about my husband's paternal grandparents. 💙 Done! Family really liked this final grandparent photo book, which included dramatic episodes from the lives of Wood and Slatter ancestors. Now I'm working on a booklet about the 50+ military ancestors in my husband's family tree, with the goal of finishing by end of 2024.
• Continue writing and posting bite-sized bios of ancestors. 👍 Never-ending, but making excellent progress, still posting brief ancestor bios on WikiTree, Find a Grave, and more. Remember, LOCKSS (lots of copies keeps stuff safe)--including family history--so I'm spreading my ancestors around.
• Switch old photos from archival sleeves to safe, convenient photo albums, a project that fell to the back burner in 2023. 😟 Uh-oh, still on back burner. No progress at all, even though all materials are in the house. Maybe later this summer?! 
• Continue redoing research on focus ancestors, as new info becomes available and as I try different sites. 👍 Huge progress. This is partly why the photos are on the back burner: So many different sites to use for research and so much new info found! Plus I've gone down the in-law rabbit hole many times, especially for those who had no descendants so I want to be sure they're documented and remembered. More fun than a barrel of rabbits 🐰 LOL.
• Slim down and reorganize surname file folders. 👍 Real progress. Just last week as I was recycling redundant printed Census documents, I "rediscovered" photos of graves in the same file folder. Some I had never posted on Find a Grave and other sites, so I took care of that pronto. As I did, I became the "manager" of a few Find a Grave memorials that were up for grabs because original managers were no longer active. And of course I had to fill in with bite-sized bios so...🐰

One priority I hadn't listed was participating in multiple WikiTree Connect-a-Thons. The two so far have spurred me to add even more ancestors to WikiTree, as I was on Team L'Chaim, and got me deeper into categorization. The next Connect-a-Thon is in July, and I plan to participate once again. It's a fun way to focus my genealogy efforts on specific people for a specific time. 

In between, I'm adding to my WikiTree and adopting occasional ancestors' FindaGrave memorial pages that are "up for grabs." Finally, my plan for the second half of 2024 is to continue my genealogy education with webinars and genealogy meetings. 

How has your genealogy been going in 2024? 

Revisiting Those Printed Genealogy Books

When I began working on my husband's family tree 26 years ago, I was fortunate to have many clues in hand, including a 1959-era genealogy book about Larimer ancestors. Even better, my late mom-in-law had jotted notes, fixed typos, and corrected dates of folks listed in the book. Today, the Larimer book has been digitized and is available for free download from FamilySearch--including a handy name index. 

Fleshing out "no record" ancestors

Despite the paucity of sources and various omissions and errors, I've revisited this book again and again in search of clues. Of course, now it's easier to research distant ancestors ... even those who the author marked as "no record" 65 years ago when he printed this book. So one of my goals is to flesh out the lives of the "no record" ancestors and add their descendants to my hubby's family tree. 

Nothing in this book is a fact until I confirm with other evidence, but it's been a good starting point for many avenues of genealogical investigation. 

Clues to military ancestors

I've also used the book to identify possible military ancestors in the Larimer family tree. Above, an excerpt from p 30, indicating that Isaac Larimer (1828-1910) and John Larimer (1836-1871) both served in the US Civil War. My research (using Fold3, obits, Census records, and more) confirms that yes, both of those men (1c4r from my hubby) were fighting for the Union.  

Isaac Larimer was in the 35th Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry. As shown above, during his first battle against Confederate forces, Isaac was captured. His obit says he was held for three weeks until he escaped and rejoined his unit. Then he was wounded by a gunshot to the face in 1863. He nearly died but managed to recover and eventually was mustered out, returning to his wife and children on the family farm. 

With more than one John Larimer in the family tree during that period, I had to be sure I had the correct spouse, children, dates, and place. John Larimer's Civil War pension record showed dates when he was declared an invalid, and dates when his widow Anna Mary claimed pension and money for minor dependents. Also this card showed his unit (10th Missouri Cavalry) which helped me reconstruct where he was and what he did during the Civil War. 

Other Larimers in the military?

What about the other two adult Larimer men in this excerpt, the brothers of John and Isaac? James Larimer's obit mentions nothing about military service. He registered for the Civil War draft but was marked as married with children, I saw on the ledger page. Very likely he did not serve, but I'll take a closer look. George Larimer doesn't seem to have been in the military, either, but I'll dig a little deeper just in case.

Interestingly, lower on this same page, J. Wright Larimer and Harvey J. Larimer are listed as younger sons of Moses Larimer and Nancy Blosser Larimer--without mentioning that both enlisted in the 151st Indiana Volunteer Infantry in 1865, ready to fight for the Union. My own research uncovered their stories, which are now in the booklet. Maybe their descendants weren't aware of this military service?

Anyway, go ahead and revisit those printed genealogy books but be sure to double-check names, dates, and everything else!

Korean War Veterans in Booklet About Hubby's Military Ancestors

Throughout May, I've been updating the bite-sized bios of veterans in my husband's family tree, as I add them to an expanded family history booklet about ancestors who served in the military. I'm proud of their service and looking ahead, I want the rest of my family to know of their service in the years to come.

Originally, I focused on his Civil War ancestors (both Union and Confederate). Then I expanded my research and documentation to include his ancestors who served in WWI and WWII, and a handful who served in the War of 1812. Plus there is one, just one, direct-line ancestor who served in the American Revolution, on the side of the Colonies.

Now I'm adding hubby's second cousins who served in the Korean War. As I do that, I'm also checking that their "veteran" status is indicated on their Find a Grave memorial pages. 

In the case of cousin James "Jim" Simmons (1930-2009), there was no Find a Grave memorial. He had been cremated, no burial listed, according to the death record. So I created a page for him, and before it was finalized, Find a Grave asked me to check that it wasn't a dupe of a page for someone with a similar name who had been cremated. Not a dupe, so I went ahead.

On Jim's page, I indicated a "V" for veteran (top red arrow), and wrote the dates of his service in the bio section (lower red arrow). Then I linked his memorial to the pages of his younger brother (also a Korean War veteran) and to his parents.

On Memorial Day weekend, thank you to all the veterans who have served their country. For those in my family tree and my husband's family tree, I'm doing everything I can to keep their memories alive for future generations--so our valuable family history doesn't get lost to the mists of time. See my book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past, for more ideas about preserving genealogy for the sake of those who come after us.

PS: I've submitted a suggestion to Ancestry.com to request that it provide a "V" designation we can use to designate someone as a military veteran in our family trees. The company is giving it consideration. After all, if Ancestry-owned Find a Grave can do this, it would be great to be consistent and have a "V" designation available on the family tree side as well, IMHO.

Preserving Bite-Sized Bios of Military Ancestors

During the 2020 summer of pandemic lockdown, I had lots of time to create a research-based but very readable booklet about the 18 Wood ancestors in my husband's family tree who served in the US Civil War. I sent the booklet to descendants, knowing several were keenly interested in that war and had visited battlefields in the past. Over time, I discovered additional ancestors who served for the Union, but I never updated the booklet. Until now.

With Memorial Day on my mind, I'm currently expanding this booklet to include Wood ancestors who served in:

• The American Revolution (1 militia man in Massachusetts)
• The War of 1812 (4 men in Ohio, 1 man in Massachusetts--son of the Revolutionary War patriot)
• The US Civil War (20 serving for the Union, 3 serving for the Confederacy)
• World War I, Allied side (8 US/Canadian/British ancestors)
• World War II, Allied side (7 US/Canadian ancestors)
  
• Korean War (2 US ancestors)

My goal is to honor the military service of these 40 ancestors and briefly tell their family stories in context. For instance, I was surprised to learn not long ago that my husband's uncle enlisted as World War II was ending, becoming a Staff Sgt with 1958th Service Command Unit of U.S. Army, which escorted military prisoners. Even though this man was 35 years old, married with two children at home, he chose to serve in the military for a year. I want his story to be remembered, along with the stories of all the other veterans in the family tree. Every story matters, and I will continue to post these bite-sized bios on genealogy websites to share what I know now--part of my plan to ensure a future for my family's history so these names and lives aren't forgotten.

As shown at top, I'm using two royalty-free color images to illustrate the title page. Color catches the eye and attracts readers to my short paragraphs. I'm updating the index to include all names, all military branches, all units, any honors and awards, and adding a special listing of the few who were unfortunately killed in action.

Just as important, I'm explaining the exact relationship of each ancestor to my readers, such as: John N. McClure, Union Army, 2d great uncle of my husband, 3d great uncle to the following generation. This helps my readers understand the family relationship to people they never met but will come to know through my bite-sized bios featuring their military service.

"Preserve" is Amy Johnson Crow's prompt for week 19 of her #52Ancestors  genealogy challenge.

Tell Them About Telegrams and V-Mail and More

When writing captions or family history stories, tell your audience (younger folks in particular) about anything that might be unfamiliar or outdated, but figures prominently in a photo. The idea is to enhance the meaning of the photo.

When I included the above photo in a photo book about my parents' courtship, wedding, and honeymoon, I wrote a quick caption telling readers about congratulatory telegrams. I have to assume that future generations will have little knowledge of telegrams, since the last Western Union telegram in America was sent in 2006. This photo is a happy reminder that many relatives and friends sent their best wishes to the newlyweds in the form of telegrams delivered to the hotel where they were married.

Similarly, I wrote a brief caption to explain V-Mail when I included a photo of one such letter in a booklet about my aunt, a WAC in World War II. My aunt sent V-mails from France and other European posts, and the V-mails are still in the family (safe in archival boxes). Without an explanation, will readers have any idea that it was common for relatives of those serving overseas to receive V-Mail correspondence during the war? 

Just a sentence or two will avoid confusion and add important context, linking family history with the wider world. Like how "operator" as an occupation when the employer is in New York City's garment district meant someone who sewed, not a telephone operator. 

Newspaper Research Adds Nuance to Family History

As I prepare a new family history photo book about my husband's paternal line, I'm freshening up my research to uncover any new info. 

The last time I wrote a booklet about the family trees of James Edgar Wood (1871-1939) and Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925) was five years ago. Lots of genealogical content has been digitized since then, especially newspapers being added to databases.

Sure enough, I discovered there's a little more to the story of Mary's Slatter family. I already knew that her sister, Adelaide Mary Ann Slatter (1868-1947), married James Sills Baker on Aug. 23, 1896 in Cleveland, Ohio, as shown in marriage record at top. What I didn't know was exactly where and who was present.

When I searched GenealogyBank for news coverage of Adelaide, I discovered two social items that mentioned Adelaide's father (hubby's great-grandfather) John Slatter (1838-1901). The items are quite similar, so I'll quote from the Cleveland Leader, Aug. 25, 1896, p. 4:

On Thursday evening, a score or more of invited guests assembled at the home of Mr. John Slatter, 433 St. Clair Street, to witness the marriage of his youngest daughter, Miss Adelaide M. Slatter, to Mr. John Sills Baker of Toledo. Mr. Thomas Lees officiated in tying the legal knot. Hearty congratulations were extended to Mr. & Mrs. Baker by their many friends. Supper was served, and the remainder of the evening was devoted to music and a social time. Many choice flowers and presents adorned the parlors. The young couple leave for Toledo, their future home, Saturday morning.

Well, the father hosted the wedding ceremony and supper for his daughter! John had been widowed for the second time the previous year, and worked as a paper hanger. My impression was that his financial situation was rather tenuous. Perhaps the married couple actually paid for their own wedding supper but the father offered his home for the ceremony? I'll never know for sure, of course.

But I'll hold onto the image of a father happily watching his daughter get married. And of course this nuance about great-grandpa John Slatter will be in the new photo book. 

How My Immigrant Grandparents Helped Other Immigrants in NYC

My maternal grandparents were immigrants from Hungary who came through Ellis Island as teenagers, years before they met each other. 

Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz arrived alone in March of 1901, at age 14, and parlayed his flair for languages into a job as runner for the steamship lines. Hermina "Minnie" Farkas arrived with three siblings in November of 1901, age 15, joining her parents who had earlier come to New York City. She sewed silk ties to earn money for the household while learning English at night classes.

Leaders in the Kossuth Ferencz Association

Minnie, Teddy, and some of their siblings were active in the Kossuth Ferencz Literary, Sick & Benevolent Association, from its founding in 1904 in New York City. My grandparents were still teenagers and had only lived in the Big Apple for a few years at that time, and they barely had two nickels to rub together, yet they jumped right into a new group to help other Hungarian immigrants get a fresh start. 

Happily, I have a 1909 souvenir booklet for the Kossuth Association's fifth anniversary, in Hungarian, that describes the group and its accomplishments. I typed a few words into Google Translate for quick translations, but I really wanted more specifics about what the Kossuth Association did for immigrants.

Google Lens helps with translation

Yesterday I tried Google Lens on my iPad, which involves photographing the page or a few sentences and then having the app translate what it "reads." I'm not a tech wizard, so for more about the mechanics, please do an online search for articles or videos like this one. Google Lens is compatible with both Apple and Android devices.

At top, a side-by-side comparison of the 1909 financial report in Hungarian (original) and English (via Google Lens). This quick-and-dirty translation is far from perfect, I'm well aware, but it does suggest how the Kossuth Association actually served immigrants. 

Services for immigrants

The association had a good deal of money in the bank ($436 in 1909 is worth $14,600 today). It spent the money on renting a ballroom for its big yearend fundraiser, buying a library cabinet and books, badges for its members, and 11 medals to award to officers ("medals" not properly translated by Google Lens, but I checked with Google Translate). 

The accounting also shows a small advance payment to a cemetery--part of the association's affordable burial services for members. Later, the group purchased a large plot at Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York, where nearly 600 members and their families are buried (including my immigrant grandparents). 

What this financial accounting doesn't show is that the association had a long-time physician, Dr. B. Hohenberg, to help members. So as the full association name indicates, it provided literary services (books), medical aid (a physician's care), burial services plus even more by partnering with other agencies and service groups in the area.

Over the years, my Grandpa Teddy served multiple terms as Kossuth's treasurer. My Grandma Minnie's brothers Alex and Albert served multiple terms as president and in other official positions. Both Alex and Albert met their wives through Kossuth activities. Alex and his wife Jennie were movers and shakers on the cemetery committee. Of course I've described their dedication to volunteerism in my most recent family history photo book, about my Farkas and Schwartz ancestors. This is one way I'm keeping family history alive for future generations. 

Bite-Sized Family History: Upgrading to Professional Photobooks

For the past decade, I've been compiling bite-sized family history booklets to share facts, stories, and photos with my relatives. Choosing a specific focus helps me manage each project so it doesn't become overwhelming for me or my readers.

Now I'm in the process of converting my many paper-based family history booklets into professionally-produced photobooks, one at a time. In the past, I had a local copy shop print my bite-sized booklets in color on heavyweight paper, then I put them into a plastic sleeve or a binder for each recipient. But I've noticed the earlier booklets are becoming worn looking, pages getting creased and torn. Some of the thinner booklets have been lost in the shuffle. 

I'm ready to upgrade, little by little. Why pay more for a professional photobook?

• Professional photobooks are much higher quality, more polished looking. The photos are sharper, the layouts more sophisticated. 
• Professional photobooks will far outlast my previous paper-based booklets. 
• Professional photobooks can be customized so photos are larger or smaller, text areas carry more words, headlines are in different colors, etc. The creative possibilities are endless.
• Professional photobooks impress my readers more than the paper-based booklets. I found this out with my small (6 inch by 6 inch) photobook about ancestors in World War II. Readers responded very enthusiastically!
• Remember: Watch for discounts and sales. Some photobook sites announce discounts for major holidays...others offer free "extra pages" or other specials. Shop around and see which site meets your needs.

At top, the cover of my latest bite-sized project in progress, a photobook (8 x 11 inches) about my Mom and her twin sister. I first created this in paper booklet form two years ago. Transformed into a photobook, it will be a more durable keepsake that readers can page through again and again for years to come.

Plus I finally know the names of all the people in all the photos so my captions will be more complete! An older cousin reached back into her memory to identify the two "mystery children" in the above photo as part of the FAN club (friends, associates, neighbors), not relatives. We also dated the photo after carefully studying the apparent ages of the kids. 

Redoing my family history into a professional photobook offers an opportunity to correct, add, subtract, and focus. Everyone is identified by full name AND I inserted info from the 1950 US Census, among other changes. The paper-based booklets looked quite good, but these look really great.

Without question, photobooks are much more costly than paper booklets. For me, after 25 years of researching my family tree, it's a worthwhile investment in memorializing ancestors for the long term--but let me stress again that I wait for a sale to order. Actually, I'll first order a single copy to see how the book looks. Then I can either tinker or reorder for all my readers (on sale of course). 

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Bring Family History Alive in Bite-Sized Projects is one of my genealogy presentations--learn more here.

Save Family History with LOCKSS

To keep family history alive, start to share now within the family and, if you choose, outside the family.

The idea is LOCKSS: 

Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe

Genealogy guru Amy Johnson Crow writes about LOCKSS as a way to prevent genealogy from being lost due to disasters, etc.

Multiple copies within the family

Inside the family, I've been sharing bite-sized (and longer) writeups of family history for a few years. At top of this page are just a few pages from the many booklets I've created, focusing on Civil War ancestors and their spouses, special heirlooms created by ancestors, and an ancestor's military career. Even an ancestor coloring book is a simple way to keep key genealogy details from being lost.

Every descendant receives a colorful printed copy because, well, copies keep ancestors alive for the future. Recipients may flip through the booklet only once and put it on the shelf, but they have it. Some day, when they're more interested, they can take a closer look.

Also, I've digitized 500+ pages of minutes taken at family tree meetings from my mother's Farkas family, 1933-1964. Some cousins received a spiral-bound hard copy, at their request. Younger cousins requested a flash drive OR a PDF file to download. Perhaps the digital format will need upgrading in the future, but having multiple copies (digital/print) circulating in the family gives me more confidence that these documents will survive well into the future. 

Also, I've been experimenting with video-based family history. (I offer a few ideas in the new edition of my book.) Relatives do say they watch, and enjoy...but whether they will ever watch again, I truly don't know. The format is MP4 video and perhaps will be upgradable in the future, as needed. Meantime, multiple copies circulating = better chance the stories will survive, the ancestors will be remembered.

Multiple copies outside the family

Friends and cousins have already shared family history booklets with a variety of institutions that invite submissions, including the Family History Library and the Library of Congress, among others. One couple I know wrote family histories and had them professionally printed and bound for donation to history societies and libraries where their ancestors lived and worked. 

Consider whether a genealogy library, museum, archive, or another institution would be interested in having copies of some or all of your collection, and/or whether you can digitize your collection for yourself and possibly for others.

For instance, the Kentucky Genealogical Society offers special grants to help local museums, libraries, and archives digitize genealogical materials, such as old family letters and other documents of interest to Kentucky researchers. If you have Kentucky-related materials, do check this out--the clock is ticking on this year's grants.

DIY digitizing: The Dallas Genealogical Society highlights how family historians can digitize their own materials for free by going to the Heritage Lab at the Dallas Central Public Library. The Heritage Lab has an impressive array of equipment for use by the public. If you're in the area, this would be one way to transfer those old Super 8 home movies to MP4 video, and share widely within your own family.

However you decide to share, LOCKSS can help keep family history safe for the future. 

Clues in Genealogy Book Lead to Another Civil War Veteran

My husband's family tree has multiple generations of men named Isaac Larimer. Untangling who's who has taken many hours of research. But thanks to the printed genealogy book Larimer Family, 1740-1959, by John Clarence Work (now available digitally, free, through Family Search), I picked up enough clues to identify one as yet another Civil War veteran in hubby's family!

Few sources, missing information

Above is an excerpt from page 30 of the Larimer genealogy, where the top name is ISAAC LARIMER (my husband's 1c4r). No sources on this page, and missing information such as birth/death dates; the first name of the wife of Isaac Larimer; the first name of the wife of John Larimer; and the first name of the wife of Jacob Wright Larimer. 

Other pages list as sources specific relatives (living at the time of publication) who provided information, and church letters showing who was born where/when and the movement of Larimer families as they moved westward. But of course the author didn't have the benefit of digitized, transcribed, indexed data available with a click or two.

Starting point for research

When I saw that this particular Isaac Larimer was "wounded in the Civil War," according to the book, I jumped him to the top of my research list. My priority was discovering more about his military service. But first, I had to be sure I was focusing on the correct Isaac Larimer.

Using Ancestry, I entered Isaac's spouse's maiden name and quickly discovered an Isaac Larimer who married Marilda McCreary (not McCrory, as in the genealogy) in 1852. The place/date fits, and matches other details from the printed genealogy--including the fact that another McCreary was married into the Larimer family, which I easily verified. That tiny note in the book clinched it. Correct Isaac Larimer!

"Gunshot wound of face"

Next, I searched the database U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865. I found an Isaac Larimer born about 1828 in Fairfield County, Ohio. (That fits with what I know of this branch of the Larimer line, from the printed genealogy and other sources.) A farmer, he enlisted at the age of 33 and was mustered into Company K of the 35th Illinois Infantry on August 28, 1861. Just over a year later, he was promoted to sergeant. 

Isaac was mustered out of the infantry on September 27, 1864, after a "gunshot wound of face." I wasn't surprised to see that he filed for an invalid pension on October 8, 1864 (see index card at right).

Later life

As the Larimer printed genealogy indicates, my research confirms Isaac Larimer did return home, and later moved to Southern Illinois, where I found him in the 1870 and 1880 census records. 

Although the author of the printed genealogy found no further records, the trail continues for today's researchers. I soon found Isaac as a homesteader in Missouri. Later, he was enumerated in Webster county, Missouri, as part of the 1890 Veteran's Schedule, where he was noted to be "now blind in rite eye" (enumerator's spelling, not mine.)

Isaac's wife, Marilda, died in 1905 and he died in 1910. They are buried side by side in Redtop township, Dallas County, Missouri. Once I write a bite-sized bio of cousin Isaac Larimer (1828-1910), I'll include it in my booklet of Wood family Civil War ancestors. I'll also post it as a memorial on Fold3, FamilySearch, and other sites to share more widely.

"Multiples" is the week 9 prompt in Amy Johnson Crow's 2021 challenge of #52Ancestors.  

Grandma Minnie Goes to the Ball (Spoiler Alert)

This photo puzzled me for a long, long time.

I recognized my maternal grandmother, Hermina "Minnie" Farkas (1886-1964), who was born in Hungary and came to New York as a teenager, just after the turn of the 20th century.

I couldn't imagine what she was doing in this strange get-up, photographed in a  studio on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where she and so many other immigrants lived. 

The outfit and pose was uncharacteristic of the somber older woman I remember, to say the least. What was the back story? The spoiler alert is in the title, but please keep reading for the steps I took to come to this conclusion.

Comparing Faces in Photos

To date the photo and get more context, I compared the faces, hair styles, and fashions of all my old photos of Grandma Minnie. 

One stood out as very much like the head and shoulders of Minnie as pictured in the costume photo. It was a miniature headshot among a constellation of headshots taken to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Kossuth Ferenc Hungarian Literary Sick and Benevolent Society. 

Minnie's brother Alex Farkas (my great uncle) cofounded this group, which helped immigrants pay for medical and burial services. Minnie was a member, as were other Farkas ancestors, paying dues and volunteering their time. I had inherited a few loose pages from this booklet, with names and faces of Farkas ancestors highlighted (by an ancestor in decades past).

Pages Lost, Pages Found, Mystery Solved

The pages I inherited were almost entirely in Hungarian, so all I could make out was that the booklet was produced for the group's anniversary.

Then a cousin sorting through her family history files found the entire glossy booklet and gave it to me. It was printed in Hungarian with a few key pages in English. 

The mystery was solved!

Shown here is the English-language title page of the booklet for this fundraising event. Grandma was almost certainly in costume to attend the Kossuth Assn's "Mask and Civic Ball" held on December 4, 1909 in New York City. The studio where Grandma Minnie was photographed in costume also produced all photos for this fundraiser, and was credited with an ad in the program as well. 

No wonder Minnie's miniature headshot nearly matched her face/hair in the costume photo--my best guess is she was photographed twice on the same day in the same studio. One photo was a sedate headshot, showing her in a fashionable dress with a long locket around her neck. The other photo showed her in her eye-catching ball costume. Minnie was in her early 20s and a lovely young lady! 

Sharing with Other Researchers

A number of archives collect booklets such as this, documenting immigrant life and the role of benevolent societies in New York City. My plan is to keep this booklet safe for the future by donating it to an archive that will preserve it and digitize it for other researchers to investigate in the years to come. 

Grandma Minnie would approve, I am sure, knowing that this donation will also keep our Farkas family alive in the archives while sharing the story of the Kossuth Assn with the wider world.

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This is my #52Ancestors post for week 4, "favorite photo."