Andover

As Cursive Writing Becomes a Lost Art, What About Reading Cursive?

I was spurred into writing this post by a post on “Rootdig,” the genealogy website of Michael John Neill, posted on April 4, 2018 It was titled “Scripting An Answer–Palmer and Spencerian Handwriting” and was intended to give information on the timing of the two main handwriting systems that have been used in America until recently when

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Walfrid Huskonen’s Dream: Andover Pattern Co.

My mother, Mary Jane Huskonen (born Dingman), passed along to us the promise that my father, Walfrid Herbert Huskonen, made to himself to be in business for himself by age 45. He achieved that goal when he quit working as a patternmaker at Glauber Brass in Kinsman, Trumbull, Ohio, and founded Andover Pattern Co. in

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Eating Pizza in a Covered Bridge in Andover, Ohio

In my quest to accumulate information about the history of Andover, Ohio, where I grew up, I ran across a Google search result for the Covered Bridge Pizza Parlor. The company’s web page provides details of its origins: At the Covered Bridge Pizza Parlor we invite you to discover a pizza parlor that gives you

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Historic Photo Website Has Andover Square Image

In my latest Google search for historic images of Andover, Ohio, I ran across a website that provided me with a wonderful image of stores lining part of the village square. The website is FamilyOldPhotos.com, with the tagline “Free Old Photo Archive.” Here is a screenshot (using the program Snagit by TechSmith) of what came up

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Visit to Andover Public Library on 2018 To-Do List

During my youth in Andover, Ohio, I often visited the Andover Library. I remember well the two-story building on the southwest corner of the town square. I would step through the door in the front left of the building and see books lined up on shelves all around the main reading room. Over the years,

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James S. Morley, An Important Collateral Relative

James S. Morley was not a blood relative, but he was very important to my family’s history. He and his wife, Jennie, raised my Grandma Grace as their adoptive daughter from the time she was orphaned at about age four, hence the somewhat tenuous collateral relationship. James Selby Morley died on the 6 Jun 1900

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Thank You Ancestry.com for Andover (Ohio) School Yearbooks

The other day I learned that Andover School, my elementary and high school alma mater, published a yearbook for 1928. I was doing a routine search on Ancestry.com for my grandmother Grace Darling Dingman/Tripp/Stafford (born Green; adoptive name  Morley). I was searching specifically for Grace Tripp. At the time, she was married to–but separated from–John James

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Andover Square Mystery

I was looking earlier today for historical information about Andover, the village and township in Ashtabula County, Ohio, where I grew up. There is precious little available online providing details of the the village’s history. On a whim, I Googled for postcards showing scenes of Andover. Most of them showed buildings and scenes I could

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Six Months Since Passing of MJ

Yesterday, I realized it was 6 months since the love of my life, Mary Jane, aka MJ, passed away. The effect of this realization was softened by being surrounded by family. I am visiting our daughter Karen, and her family, leading up to Thanksgiving. MJ would have enjoyed this visit with Karen, her husband, and

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Small World Dept: Meeting Up with a Cousin

Last evening, I presented a program, “Some Experiences with Finnish Genealogy,” at the Geneva (Ohio) Public Library. Among the attendees were James Siekkinen and his wife Nancy. Jim is my first cousin once removed and they live in Ashtabula, Ohio. In reminiscing after my presentation, he said he remembered visiting our house in Andover, Ohio, as

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