Oil Painting of Virginia Smith (1827-1906)

I recently had a family heirloom appraised.  It's an oil portrait of 2GG Virginia Smith (1827-1906) as a girl, painted by her older brother Hamilton Lanphere Smith (1819-1903).  We had it hanging in our dining room, but moved it recently to…
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The Thoughts of Our Ancestors

There are many reasons why I like genealogy.  I should do a blog post on the subject someday. But, certainly, one reason is to get to know you're progenitors more personally.  What did they look like?  What kind of personalities did they…

Solved! The Fate of Maren Olsdatter Bønsmoen

In my last blog post (here), I told the story of an 1880s autograph album owned by my great-grandfather Bernt O. Bonn (1856-1937).  In Norway, he was known as Bernt Olsen Bønsmoen.  The album revealed that Bernt went back to Norway over a…

Autograph Album Reveals Bernt Bonn Trip to Norway

It’s another discovery from my Mother’s cache of memorabilia.  I found a small autograph book from the 1880s belonging to my great-grandfather, Bernt Olsen Bønsmoen (1856-1937).  He was born and raised at the Bønsmoen cotter farm…

Road Trip to Quincy Township

Lucia and I paid a visit in July to my Aunt Susie in Rochester, Minnesota.  On a beautiful, but hot summer day, we drove over together to Quincy Township, about 20 miles east.  We were hoping to find the farm where our ancestors, Avery Vermilya…

Photo Discovery: 2GGs John K. & Alice Vermilyea

In plodding through my Mother's personal effects, I recently came across a 1921 family reunion photo involving several Vermilyea brothers and their relations.  It's 99 years old!  One of the brothers in the photograph is John Knickerbocker…
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Charcoal Drawings of Bernt & Bertha Bonn

In a previous post (here), I unveiled new photographs of Bernt Olsen Bonn (1856-1937) and Bertha Pettersdatter Aaberge (1865-1936) which were obtained last year from our Norwegian cousins in the Sogndal area. This summer, we brought…
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Harriet Kennelly Was Orphaned at a Young Age

My very first breakthrough when I started working on the family tree a decade ago came in my Kennelly line of ancestors. My Father's 1995 genealogy report went back no further than Harriet Kennelly (1835-1906), his great-grandmother and my…

Gravestone Discovery: 4GG Henry King

In a 2018 post, I detailed the case for Henry King as the father of 3GG Stephen W. King (1824-1865).  See it here.  The conclusion was that Henry was a good candidate, but more evidence was required to be sure of the relationship.  The analysis…

The Illegitimate Baby of Rosalie Rist

We've been exploring my Alsatian heritage rather extensively in recent weeks.  (See blog posts here, here, here, and here.)  While reviewing one last time all the parish and civil vital records for Dannemarie, France, I discovered an intriguing…