I find it difficult to watch the news these days. And visiting social media sites like Facebook for more than a few minutes at a time leaves me feeling anxious and overwhelmed, and often, on the verge of tears by what I read. Because I'm deeply disturbed by the chasm dividing us so that no [...]
As I made my annual Memorial Day pilgrimage to clean and decorate my ancestors graves, I noticed several that were in need of a good maintenance. Wandering around the cemetery in the town my parents live, trying desperately to read the utterly confusing cemetery map to find certain plots where several of my ancestors were [...]
In honor of Father's Day, I wanted to share some of my writings and research on the men of my family tree. So often my focus is upon the mothers and grandmothers, the women of my family tree, that I'm thankful for the reminder to take time to honor my paternal heritage . I'm reminded of [...]
It's been a while since I've last visited my 4th great-uncle, James Albert Wildrick, and his family, the West Coast Wildrick's in Los Angeles. You can read more of their story here, here and here. They've provided me with several laughs over the years, especially as their exploits were so often shared within the pages [...]
A few weekends ago, I managed to talk my life buddy into a mini adventure to Wymore, Gage county Nebraska. Wymore is a small town of around 1000 inhabitants, twenty minutes south of Beatrice. Not, perhaps, appearing on most people's bucket lists as the most exciting of adventures, but it was one that I've been [...]
Of all the places I've traveled, Washington DC ranks high upon my list of favorites. There's a unique blend of hustle and slow with people either hurrying to catch trains or relaxing under the sun upon the green space of the mall. There's something for everything and always something to do. With so much history [...]
Family lore states that the patriarch of our Schimmer family was murdered by the precursor of the Gestapo. As the Gestapo wasn't formed until 1933, almost 100 years after Joseph Matteus Schimmer's death, I have a difficult time accepting that as fact. Following both the American Revolution and the French Revolution, Germany in the 1800s [...]
For some time now, I've been trying to prove a definite connection between my Freeman ancestors and John Freeman and Tabitha Hoyter. I gifted my mother AncestryDNA two Christmases ago with hopes that something would appear. While the results were fascinating, we were both a little disappointed when it did not. However, I've spoken with [...]
I love revisiting family lines that I've already researched quite extensively, because one never knows when a new "hint" may provide a breakthrough. And since I've already received so many wonderful suggestions from several shared posts, today, I'd like to highlight my Morton family and see what new information the Universe is willing to share. [...]
As I was researching my 3x great-grandmother, Honora (Murphy) Kennaley and her travels around Iowa following the murder of her husband, David, I discovered yet another family relative was laid to rest in the same cemetery as Honora, in Neola, Pottawattamie county, Iowa. Thomas Walsh, my 3x great-grandfather and father-in-law to Honora's son, Jeremiah, was [...]
BRIANNA WRIGHT 