While digging through a treasure trove of papers and pictures, I discovered some information that raised my eyebrows. After doing the math, I realized that my paternal grandmother and maternal great-grandmother were both in a family way upon their wedding days. While this is becoming a more socially acceptable situation, a “shotgun wedding” in the […]
Over the last six years I have taken part in hundreds of paranormal investigations and, as many of you know by now, I have been obsessed with genealogy since I was in the fourth grade. That said, I am often surprised by how different genealogy and the paranormal are viewed considering the strong similarities between […]
This Memorial Day I find myself in Townsville, Australia, thinking about my grandfather, Robert Henry Williams. Like many others who served in the U.S. military during World War II, my grandfather was in Australia before heading off to battle. The Japanese military attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, […]
I can still remember the look on my doctor’s face when she asked me for my family’s medical history. All she saw was this teenage girl sitting in front of her; I can tell you she did not expect the laundry list of information that came out of me. I rattled off all the information […]
From a very young age it was not uncommon to find me with my head buried in a coloring book surrounded by crayons. As I got older, I traded my coloring books and crayons for sketchpads, canvas, colored pencils, pastels, paints and an assortment of other mediums. Art was something I loved and, in many […]
The Japanese military attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, thrust the United States into WWII. It wasn’t long after that Australia and New Zealand found themselves also under threat of Japanese attacks. While the majority of Australia’s soldiers fought alongside the British Royal Army against the Germans in […]
Tracing my Italian roots has been difficult to say the least, especially when it comes to name changes or my ancestors names being misspelled. However, I was stumped with a new mystery when I came across three separate passenger lists that listed my 2nd great grand father, Andrea Cautilli. At first, I figured it must […]
The promise of snow only days before Christmas proved to be no more than a whispered threat, but the wind still whipped a chill around those who slipped from their warmed hearths and into the dark night. Wrapped in blankets and faces smeared dark with soot, they boarded the three English vessels which had docked […]
Over the years, I have learned many things about life and myself by researching my ancestors. Through interviewing my parents, grandparents and other descendants, making visits to town halls, libraries, vital statistic offices and cemeteries I have discovered several things about my family’s past. Every now and then though, this look back comes with a […]
