Jean Germain Voisard was the mayor of Montecheroux, France from 1815 to 1826. He was a fifth great grandfather on my father’s side. As the “maire” of the commune he was first and foremost a bureaucrat whose main responsibility was enforcing the regulations of the “Code civil des Français” – also known as the Napoleonic Code. Msr. Voisard was born in 1754 and he was … Continue reading The Napoleonic Code
Geneanet.org is a genealogical website headquartered in Paris, France. It differs from ancestry.com in that Geneanet is a collaborative site where the members share in the effort of building family trees and supplying transcriptions of registers, both civil and parochial. The site has been around since the mid-nineties, and I was a regular visitor twenty years ago. At Geneanet, I could connect with fellow researchers … Continue reading A Well-Regulated Militia
George Spiegel enlisted in the 58th New York Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. The regiment, composed mainly of immigrant soldiers, fought in key battles such as Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Despite facing prejudice and hardship, the 58th displayed resilience, especially during the chaos of Gettysburg, contributing to the Union’s efforts. Continue reading 58th New York Infantry Regiment
Reaching back through the space time continuum, I finally found my great-great-grandfather in time 1860s, in the space exactly where I expected him to be – on the grand island of Manhattan. I am referring to my mother’s great-grandfather, George C Spiegel, an immigrant from Germany and a cigar maker who lived in Dallas, Texas, from the 1870s until he died in 1925. He continued … Continue reading The Lost is Found
The other day, I had what I like to call a “Monk Moment.” You know that point in an episode of the TV series “Monk” where the detective Adrian Monk would smile and say, “I think I just solved the mystery.” Following this, he would reveal how the crime was committed, prefaced with the words “Here’s what happened…” Presented for your reading pleasure is my … Continue reading Here’s What Happened…
I love mining old newspapers for family history bits and pieces. Here is today’s haul. Death of an Old Lady Here is the obituary of my great, great, great-grandmother, Elise Faivre, that appeared in the Stark County Democrat (Canton, Ohio) on Thursday, October 29, 1891. Sixty-one grandchildren… Imagine that! In the text below, I have corrected misspelled surnames. Mrs. Frank Gaume died at the old … Continue reading Bits & Pieces
This is more on the Dakota war of 1862 and the Minnesotan white community’s response towards the uprising. My O’Malley ancestors were living in Mower County, Minnesota, then. I am trying to get a feel for how people in their community responded to the uprising by members of the Dakotan tribes. From what I have read so far it seems that the feelings of the … Continue reading A Final Solution?
As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I am working on a rewrite of Gathering Leaves with the working title of “Gathering More Leaves.” Since I started my retirement in August, I have made considerable progress on the book. I have completed about half of what I estimate will be two dozen chapters, and I am now up to the part of the story where … Continue reading The Overlooked
My mother passed away in July 2020, and since then, I have been busy finding stuff about the family history of both my parents. Over 100 blog posts have been written, and after a review of what I’ve written, it is warranted that I do a complete rewrite of my book Gathering Leaves. In preparation for this work, I have tried to put all the … Continue reading List of Blog Posts in Semi-Chronological Order
Although my Southern ancestors on my mother’s side settled in the British colonies sometime before the Revolution, the question of when they arrived and where they first settled is challenging and, in some cases, controversial. Nevertheless, I have found one branch, the Morgan family, that is well documented. In contrast, other branches lack sources for events before the American Revolution. I recently viewed the primary … Continue reading The Carolina Connection
Gathering Leaves 