My Portfolio

Prompt:  Share a story where the conclusion of your search totally surprised you after believing otherwise. “My maternal great grandparents Folkert Teunis Folkers and Hilje Mulder were both orphans and the records of the orphanage were destroyed, so we haven’t been able to trace the family tree earlier than their personal...

  Dick Whaley born April 1,1929.This is a picture of Dick when he became EXO of , He spent 30 years in the US Navy, He retired inHe enlisted as a boot seaman, became a Chief and then was commissioned as an officer, and without getting a college degree until he retired,...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   We Built It…..We The People It’s regrettable that politics has to be so partisan. On the one hand, the concept of partisanship is the engine that drives the development of political platforms by which voters can...

This weeks question is: What did your Grandparents do for a living? My maternal Grandfather is Parnell Julian Smeby.  In the1930 census at the age of  26 he is listed as a Barber.  Later he farmed in Hickson, ND for about 24 years. He then moved to Nielsville, MN and then...

This week's story prompt asks about activities we remember doing with our maternal grandparents. I've written about this before in different ways but despite my mother's disdain for her father my memories have all be find of Gammie and even fonder of nana, my grandmother and grandfather on Mom's side. Nan...

  My Memories of Grandma Lucy by Karen Blackham Mack Lucy Draper Blackham Born March 27, 1889 - Died 26 February 1974 (almost 85)   It’s funny the memories that you have, but I remember this incident like it happened yesterday.  My earliest memory of Grandma Lucy was when I was...

My Grandfather and Grandmother Ernest Theron Blackham & Lucy Draper Blackham Ernest (56yrs) - Born May 4, 1888 in Moroni, Utah. Died Aug. 23, 1944 - (farm accident) Lucy (almost 85) - Born March 27, 1889 - Died 26 February 1974   Ernest had five brothers and give sisters.  He lived...

Vawn Blackham Guymon Born 20 Sep 1914 – Died 3 May 1992   All of my Aunts and Uncles were favorites each in their own ways.  One that I’d like to share with you at this time is Aunt Vawn – (my Dad’s sister).  She was so much fun.  At one...

Henry Pineau could do everything well. He played semi pro baseball and was a fantastic golfer. He was about as handy as a man could be and succeeded at most of his bright ideas. Henry was my Grandfather, my mother's father. We called him,  "Gammie." I remember as a child going...

I received a package in the mail at Christmas when I was about ten years old.  After gently removing the brown mailing paper on the outside, then pulling off the lovely wrapping paper on the inside, I dug through the layers of tissue.  There I found the most beautiful, albeit totally...

I wish I knew my grandparents better before they passed. What I know of them comes from a few visits as a child and conversations with my parents. Genealogists are often surprised by their discoveries about past family members. But what will my descendants be surprised to know about me? That...

             My Great Great Grandfather and Grandmother              John Blackham                          Susannah Lees                    JOHN BLACKHAM BORN:  14 November 1827 PLACE:  Heaton Norris, Lancashire, England CHRISTENED:  November 1827 BAPTIZED:  4 April 1849 by T. J. Schofield CONFIRMED:  29 April 1849 by John Albiston Jr. MARRIED:  21 May...

Being interested in family history since the age of 10 years old, I am keenly aware of some of the many genes I inherited. Firstly, I believe diabetes came to me from my paternal side of the family--the Masons--because Daddy developed Type 2 diabetes in his 40s and I in my 50s. Well,...

On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   H for Hungary   Most people wonder about where they came from, or where their grandparents came from. The Footloose Forester was no different in that regard. In the case of his grandparents on his father’s side, the...

Wow - this one is a tough one for me.  It truly is.  Given my passion for genealogy and the amount of research I have done it would be a dream come true for me to be able to talk to my ancestors.  What I wouldn't give to be able to...

The only grandparents I knew were my Grandma Beavers, who was to me a consummate witch, and my Grandpa Carriker, who was her polar opposite.   Grandpa Carriker came to visit us in the summer of 1942.   Compared to him, Calvin Coolidge was a blabber-mouth but Grandpa was a pleasant old man...

One - only one?  You would try to impose limits on me?  I have many I want to visit. FIRST and foremost is my great great grandfather John Wesley Martin.  Right now he is my genealogy brick wall.  I have visited his grave in Lincolnton, Georgia and asked him to manifest...

I never really knew my grandfather, John Thomas Sullivan. He died in 1967 when I was two years old, but I was afraid of him anyway. Fearing a dead man may be irrational, but John Sullivan's reputation as a mean, opinionated man transcended life or death. It wasn't until five years...

  The papers were scribbled on and dictation from Ethel Hodge about her family history.    

For the most part my family ancestry is a mystery to me. Having missed the opportunity to ask my father about his side of the family and then also having missed the chance to later ask my mother, I found myself feeling lost and unable to tell my own daughter much...