Today, I received an email from FamilySearch.org: “You Have a Mayflower Heritage! “Discover your Mayflower connection, and learn about the sacrifices your relative made for religious freedom and greater opportunities as he helped shape the new world.” When I clicked on the View Relationship link, it led me to my relationship with Stephen Hopkins, my 10th great-grandfather. I
Read on »Posts Tagged: Online Research
Binge Watching Life Stories of CNN Personalities
I recently stumbled onto the following series of family history stories. It was broadcast in 2014, but I found it interesting and relevant nevertheless. The link below will give you access if you want to check it out. Note: you will have to endure some commericals. ROOTS: OUR JOURNEYS HOME” kicks off Sunday, October 12th,
Read on »2020: Anniversary Year of the Mayflower
Who’d a thunk it? As a third-generation Finnish-American with a Finnish surname I inherited from my paternal grandparents, I would seem to be an unlikely candidate for membership in the Grand Society of Mayflower Descendents. Yet, I believe that Stephen Hopkins, a Mayflower passenger, and a Plymouth Colony stalwart, is my tenth great grandfather. On
Read on »Goodyear Connections
I was flabbergasted when I read earlier this week in the Cleveland Plain Dealer that our president had tweeted that his followers should boycott the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and not buy its products. Apparently a social media posting to the effect that MAGA gear shouldn’t be worn at a Goodyear plant in Topeka,
Read on »A Finn Was Pitcher for Chicago White Sox
From time to time my cousin Matti in Finland sends emails with links to articles and other text material of interest to me and my brother Walfrid. This morning, he sent an item article about a Finnish national who came to America in the early 1900’s to pitch for the Chicago White Sox. It was
Read on »Jumping into German Genealogy–An All-Day Seminar at WRHS
On Saturday, November 16, Western Reserve Historical Society will host an all-day seminar for beginning and advanced genealogists interested in researching their German ancestors. In four seminar sessions, James M. Beidler will cover the following topics: “Your Immigrants’ Germany,” “German Research Online,” “German Names and Naming Patterns,” “Online German Church Registers, Duplicates, and Substitutes.”
Read on »Finding “Gold” in a 4th Cousin+ DNA Match
The other day, a new AncestryDNA match came to my attention. It was with Riikka and was at the fourth to sixth cousin level. AncestryDNA rated the result as “Confidence: High.” In fact, the little bar used to illustrate the degree of confidence was almost completely green. Looking into the match, I saw that it was
Read on »Smallest Restaurant in World Is Where? In Finland!
My friend Amy sent an email to me recently with an interesting subject: “The Smallest Restaurant in the World.” It turns out that this restaurant — which seats only two people — is in Finland. Amy found this bit of trivia on a website named Atlas Obscura at https://www.atlasobscura.com. I went to the website to read
Read on »Distant Cousin was LDS Pioneer
This morning (22 Jul 2018), I received an email from FamilySearch that I had a Pioneer Relative. When I clicked on the provided link I learned that this ancestor was Jacob Gibson, born 01 Jan 1814 in West Fallowfield Twp, Chester Co., Pennsylvania. I immediately searched to see if I had him listed in my Huskonen-Dingman-Van Court-Scheppelman
Read on »Workshop: Getting Help with Your Genealogy Research
I have been doing genealogical research for over 20 years now (Wow! Has it really been that long?). Along the way, I sought and received information about blood relatives — and collateral relatives — from other researchers both in America and abroad. On Saturday, Sept 8, 2018, I plan to share some of my experiences
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