Posts By: whuskonen

My Genealogy Beginnings Happened in Salt Lake City

Nearly 25 years ago, I was on a business trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. At the end of the day’s scheduled activities, my business colleague announced that he wanted to visit the LDS Family History Library (www.familysearch.org/locations/saltlakecity-library) to do some research. Since I had nothing planned for the evening, I decided to tag along.

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Collecting Death Certificates–Payoffs and Pitfalls

Who, what, where and when are key questions that are answered by genealogical records. In the following discussion, we are adding two more questions: why and how. Who to collect death certificates for: ● Direct ancestors are a top priority. ● Ancillary ancestors are a second priority. ● Obtaining death certificates is becoming more costly.

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Did the Pandemic Kill Christmas Cards?

2020 probably was a terrible year for Christmas Card sales. At least my experience would indicate that is was. I received only 1 Christmas letter this year via the U.S. Postal Service. Ordinarily, I would receive a half dozen letters from family and friends. I received only two Christmas cards, and one was hand-delivered to

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Found! My Military ID Card from 1962

I recently was doing some sorting and disposing of boxes and clutter in the attic. I found a box of black and white negatives for photography that I took in the 1960s. I moved this collection to my craft room for sorting and curating. Will I find some negatives that are worth printing out as

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FamilySearch.org Points to Mayflower Ancestors

Today, I received an email from FamilySearch.org: “You Have a Mayflower Heritage! “Discover your Mayflower connection, and learn about the sacrifices your relative made for religious freedom and greater opportunities as he helped shape the new world.” When I clicked on the View Relationship link, it led me to my relationship with Stephen Hopkins, my 10th great-grandfather. I

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Binge Watching Life Stories of CNN Personalities

I recently stumbled onto the following series of family history stories. It was broadcast in 2014, but I found it interesting and relevant nevertheless. The link below will give you access if you want to check it out. Note: you will have to endure some commericals. ROOTS: OUR JOURNEYS HOME” kicks off Sunday, October 12th,

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2020: Anniversary Year of the Mayflower

Who’d a thunk it? As a third-generation Finnish-American with a Finnish surname I inherited from my paternal grandparents, I would seem to be an unlikely candidate for membership in the Grand Society of Mayflower Descendents. Yet, I believe that Stephen Hopkins, a Mayflower passenger, and a Plymouth Colony stalwart, is my tenth great grandfather. On

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Connections to 2020 Cleveland Presidential Debate

Tomorrow night I will be watching the first Presidential debate leading up to the 2020 Presidential election on TV. For the record, I have some connections to the site of this debate in the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion at the Health Education Campus at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic. For example,

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Tracking My 2020 Mail-In Ballot

I have been voting in presidential elections since 1956 when I was first 18 years old. My oldest recollection is of voting machines where I placed a ballot sheet in a machine and then punched my choices, candidate by candidate and issue by issue. Later, I marked a paper ballot which then was inserted in

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Goodyear Connections

I was flabbergasted when I read earlier this week in the Cleveland Plain Dealer that our president had tweeted that his followers should boycott the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and not buy its products. Apparently a social media posting to the effect that MAGA gear shouldn’t be worn at a Goodyear plant in Topeka,

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