November 5th marked the 135th birthday of Carl Christian Siegel, my maternal grandfather. To celebrate I wanted to highlight one of the things I have noticed while digitizing family photos- grandpa liked cars! There are many photos of Grandpa and his family with cars so I … Continue reading "Grandpa Siegel & His Cars"
One of the first rules of genealogy, long neglected by genealogists is to write down your own stories. On this German Unity Day, as falling leaves and temperatures finally reach Alabama, memories of my Year of Firsts, thirty (!) years ago flood my mind. But the beginning of the story, like so many tales, requires … Continue reading "A Year of Firsts"
How do you find a cemetery record that is not online at FindAGrave, BillionGraves or any other online database? Look it up in a book! Our ancestors were traced and recorded by amateur and professional genealogists for generations before us and often we are lucky enough to spot their footsteps and follow their … Continue reading "A Nearly Forgotten Cemetery"
Genealogists know that city directories are not simply phone books, rather that these resources were created for businesses to get access to customers and vice versa. They are genealogy gold ready to be mined! Ralph L. Polk, the most widely known publisher, began his business with 1872 Evansville, IN directory, listing … Continue reading "City directories: Just boring phone phonebooks?"
On this day in 1871 the Deutsches Reich, or German Empire, was proclaimed from a group of 26 disparate entities. According to Wikipedia, they included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, four duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic states, and one imperial territory.
Source: WikipediaMy ancestors hailed from the western side of the … Continue reading "The German Empire and German Americans"
