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If This Room Could Talk: Christmas in the 1960s
At first glance, this is simply a photograph of two little kids playing with their Christmas toys sometime around 1965. But look beyond the children and the entire room becomes part of the story. The little television perched on it’s metal stand, rabbit ears reaching toward the ceiling; the crocheted doily on the snagged-nylon chair;… Continue reading
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The Hollow Log: A Manley Family Tragedy
Sometimes the smallest newspaper clipping can reveal a moment of unimaginable heartbreak in an ancestor’s life. In April 1840, my 4X great grandfather, Howard Manley (1791-1852), was living with his family near Rochester, New York when an ordinary day splitting wood lead to a discovery inside a hollow log. What initially must have seemed like… Continue reading
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“Failure of the Power of Life”
In my 15 years of researching ancestors, I’ve viewed many death certificates, some are for family who lived before my time and some were peripheral connections. When Martha Elizabeth (Richart) Herriott died in Tecumseh, Michigan on April 15, 1910 she was 84 years old – an impressive age for a woman born in 1825. Her… Continue reading
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No Crying Over Swiped Chickens
One of the things I love most about genealogy is discovering that our ancestors weren’t simply names and dates neatly recorded on census pages. They were actual people – and occasionally, they did really stupid things. About fifteen years ago, I stumbled across a newspaper article about my paternal great grandfather, John Percy Nelson Luttrell… Continue reading
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The Saddest Record: Rose Wilder Lane’s Only Child
Rose Wilder Lane (1886-1968) is remembered as the only surviving child of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder, and as an accomplished writer and journalist in her own right. But tucked quietly among the records of her long and remarkable life is a heartbreaking chapter that is rarely mentioned. On November 23, 1909, two days… Continue reading
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Before They Were Old: A Love Story in Photographs
When I remember my paternal great grandmother, Florence Nightingale (Gurin) Maynard (1883-1970) I remember an old woman. As I was only 8 years old when she passed, I didn’t even fully understand our relationship: that she was my great grandmother, mother to my paternal grandmother, only that she was elderly and we called her ‘Grandma… Continue reading
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Am I Really That Hungry? What 1700s Cooking Taught Me About Fast Food
Several years ago, I became engrossed with historical cooking. To dig deeper into the topic, I downloaded the audio version of ‘The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South’ by Michael W. Twitty. Unfortunately the listening proved to be a little more academic than I was hoping for, so… Continue reading
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Automobile: 1, Jud Manley: 0
Searching through newspaper archives from the 1800 and 1900s, you will find thousands of stories of how people were seriously injured under circumstances that would be nearly impossible to replicate today. The subject of this news article from 1922 is my paternal great grandfather, James Judson ‘Jud’ Manley (1872-1948) in Tecumseh, Michigan. In an era… Continue reading
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She Answered His Matrimonial Ad – And Married His Brother
Around the turn of the 20th century, courtship and marriage in rural communities were primarily dictated by geographic proximity and localized social circles. The experience of my maternal great-grandmother aligns precisely with this historical pattern. Mary ‘Mollie’ Glenn (Powers, Luttrell) Ryan was born May 9, 1885 in Ossian, Wells County, Indiana. When she was 21… Continue reading
