Posts By: whuskonen

Woman Finds Photo from Vietnam, Search for Owner Ensues

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Here’s another example of how modern communication channels work. It involves a Vietnam era photograph found in a parking lot. Here is some of the story: A woman in Southwest Ohio is asking for individuals to take a few moments and give a close look at a seemingly decades-old photograph. According to WDTN, Samantha Bryson

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Sisu and the 1939 Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union

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I have just finished viewing Fire and Ice : The Winter War of Finland and Russia, a documentary video on YouTube. I was interested in viewing this because of my Finnish ancestry–my paternal grandparents emigrating from Finland in 1902 and 1903. My grandfather had many siblings and half-siblings who remained in Finland, so I probably

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Learning About Another Country, South Africa, and its Dutch Origins

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I enjoy reading detective novels. And I especially enjoy them when they introduce me to another region, country, or culture. I have just finished reading Cobra, A Novel, written by Deon Meyer. This fast-paced detective novel provides an introduction to modern-day South Africa. The author wrote it  originally in Afrikaans, a language that has evolved from

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Big Naturalization Ceremony at WRHS on Dec 18, 2014

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There’s been quite a bit of discussion about immigration in the news lately, what with President Obama extending the opportunity to stay in America at least for awhile to some 5 million immigrants who are here without proper documentation. In this context, it’s comforting to know that immigrants with proper documentation are becoming citizens on

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Genealogy Roadshow Season Two Coming in January on PBS

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Tuesdays this winter will bring Season Two of Genealogy Roadshow <https://www.facebook.com/GenealogyRoadshowPBS> with a diverse new cast of participants who take emotional journeys to explore genealogical mysteries. Episodes for the upcoming season were recorded in St. Louis in August, New Orleans in September, and Philadelphia in October. Each video recording session involved pre-selected locals who have

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Harvesting Pennsylvania Death Records on Ancestry.com

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I have a large number of ancestors who passed away in Pennsylvania. For years, it was necessary to visit one of five Pennsylvania repositories around the state to obtain a death certificate for a deceased ancestor. This effectively stopped me from obtaining these valuable records. A few months ago, the Pennsylvania State Archives announced that

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My Heritage & 23andMe Work to Combine Family Trees and DNA

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A few days ago, MyHeritage Founder and CEO, Gilad Japhet, used a news feed on Bloomberg TV to announce and explain a “strategic collaboration” with 23andMe. The announcement was captured and made available on YouTube, which you can view here: http://youtu.be/c1MefhlGTA8. I might point out that MyHeritage < http://www.myheritage.com/>has a very substantial presence in Europe

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Handy Feature of Online Catalog at Western Reserve Historical Society

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I have done a good bit of research into finding World War II service records leading up to Veterans Day (11 Nov 2014, yesterday). In the process, I looked for guidebooks available at Western Reserve Historical Society (http://www.wrhs.org/)  on such research. I used the WRHS Research Library’s new catalog search page at http://catalog.wrhs.org/collections/search. I have provided a screen

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