The Heart of the Family
Every family has a heart, and while it isn’t a literal organ—like the one the beats inside us—this heart is an essential, living part of all families. I have been thinking about our family...
Tagged: Ethel “Brandt” Gutshall
Magnetic Memories: The Clock is Ticking!
How do you capture your family memories? Digital files, printed photographs, film negatives, and magnetic tape are some common methods. Each has its pros and cons, but perhaps none is more fragile than magnetic...
The Harrises of Hidlay: Part 2
It’s sometimes difficult for me to remember how I got started on some of my genealogical work from decades ago. I know that I did very little work on other branches of the family...
Mock Shotgun Weddings
As my father wrote about last week, we recently received a collection of photographs from the Harris family. The Harrises intermarried with the Hagenbuchs and the two families attended Hidlay Lutheran Church in Columbia...
Wreaths of Remembrance
As Christmas approaches, each year for the past several years my wife, Linda, has made evergreen wreaths to give to friends, to hang outside at our abode, and to place on relatives’ gravesites. These...
First Thoughts on the 1950 Census
April 1, 2022 marked an important occasion for genealogists—and, no, it had nothing to do with April Fools’ Day! On this day, family historians celebrated the release of the 1950 United States Census records,...
Distinguishing Features
“Ahh, she looks just like Uncle Joe!” “No, she doesn’t. But she has her mother’s nose.” “Well, I think she looks just her Daddy’s picture when he was born. Look at those eyes and...
Mother’s Day: May 10, 2020
The first Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1908. It was initiated by Anna Jarvis as a memorial to her mother in Grafton, West Virginia at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church. A campaign was started to...
Family Foods
What foods conjure memories of your family past and present? A few weeks ago, while planning a trip to my parents’ house, I asked if they had any favorite dishes that their parents used...
Cousins Around the Corner
We went to my wife Linda’s 50th High School reunion at Greencastle, Pennsylvania a few weeks ago. Greencastle has a different way of scheduling their school reunions. The reunions coincide with the town’s Old...
