A free newsletter for genealogists and family historians is published monthly by the staff in the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Called appropriately enough, Genealogy Gems: News from the Fort Wayne Library, it is sent out by email on a monthly basis. Curiously, its publishing date is the last
Read on »Immigration
How Our Ancestors Became Americans, Or Not–A Workshop
Your ancestor steps off the ship at Ellis Island. What happens next in the process of becoming a citizen of the United States? On Saturday afternoon, 5 Apr 2014, 1 to 4 pm, at Western Reserve Historical Society, I will present a two-part workshop discussing the process of naturalization and the records it produced, as well
Read on »52 Ancestors – #2: Learning About Matthias Flaugh, Revolutionary War Ancestor
Johann Matthias Flaugh (also spelled Flach) arrived in Philadelphia in 1773 as a 19-year-old immigrant from Rimhorn, Hesse, Germany. He was my fourth great grandfather, living most of his life in America in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. I started gathering information on Matthias early in my involvement in genealogical research. More recently, I have benefited from
Read on »Accepting the Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks — #1 Frank Nikkari
Today I accepted the challenge issued this morning by Amy Johnson Crow in her blog, No Story Too Small, of posting a blog once a week for a year about an ancestor. Go to http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/posts/challenge-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ for details from Amy. My first post will be about my uncle, Frank Nikkari, who emigrated from Finland in 1904
Read on »Ellis Island Has Reopened after Sandy Repairs
Many Americans have immigrant ancestors who were among the 12 million people entering America through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. If you are like me, you were shocked when you learned about the devastation caused to Ellis Island by Hurricane Sandy as it struck the East Coast on 29 Oct 2012. Damage was so
Read on »Where’s Otto? The Final Chapter
One year ago, I started on a journey to track down the family of my uncle by marriage, Frank Nikkari. When I started, I only had his obituary and his social security application card (I had purchased it back in the day, when it cost only $7). But there was the Internet, and Ancestry.com, and
Read on »From Finland to America: How the Evert Huuskonen Family Traveled to Ashtabula County, Ohio
(I wrote this piece a few years ago. Except as noted, the links in the end notes still worked as of 2011.10.06)–WDH) By the time I first became interested in genealogy, my paternal grandparents, my parents, and all my aunts and uncles had passed away. There was no one to ask about the rustic wooden
Read on »GeneaBloggers
Recent Comments