2017-08-06 01:00
No, I haven't found the parents of my great-grandmother, Kunigunda Boser Stenglein. And I haven't learned what happened to my Rüttger branch after they came to America in 1846. (Ye… Read More
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Researching Relatives Blog
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Genealogy blog about family history research to inspire others in their search for ancestors, particularly in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.
2017-07-12 23:00
She wasn't listening. A stranger, who contacted me through Ancestry.com and incorrectly claimed a branch of my husband's family as her own, brushed aside my explanation of why his Jacob &&hell…Read More
2017-05-14 13:00
My wish today is that all mothers, stepmothers, foster mothers, and all who have a maternal role take a little time for themselves on this Mother's Day. No housework!The Kansas City Kansan… Read More
2017-05-04 13:00
There are a lot of Cowdens in Washington County, Pennsylvania. I haven't tried yet to figure out how these cousins are exactly connected to my husband, but this chapter of the family story b… Read More
2017-04-25 13:00
Zerelda is the given name of my husband's 3rd cousin twice removed, the great-granddaughter of Hugh and Polly Cowden Rogers of Washington County, Pennsylvania. Her Cowden relatives were farm… Read More
2017-03-27 13:00
Siegel-Cooper Employees, Long Branch, NJMany of us crave details about our ancestors so we can visualize what their lives may have been like. We want more than a bunch of dates and locations… Read More
2017-02-27 02:00
Oliver Bath House,From The American City, 1915I mentioned the Oliver Bath House almost two years ago in my post "The Pittsburgh Buildings of Henry W. Oliver." On Friday, a newspaper article… Read More
2017-02-14 20:00
I hope you're having a great Valentine's Day. Here's another greeting card from my grandmother's collection. She received it from my grandfather in 1933, a year before they married. I love t… Read More
2017-02-08 23:00
This post began as a tribute to my 3rd great-uncle who lost both his wife and newborn son in the 1880s, but it has turned into a good lesson about the importance of slowing down and paying a… Read More
2017-01-18 14:00
Are your ancestors hidden in the shadows because their names are misspelled in records? All of us have probably faced this issue at some point in our research.Before Louise Binkert married h… Read More
2017-01-13 14:00
Happy Friday! It doesn't bother me when the 13th falls on a Friday, but many people are superstitious. Here's an article about this special day that was published in a Pennsylvania newspaper… Read More
2017-01-05 14:00
Genealogists share many personality traits but, in other ways, we're very different. I'm an introvert who could research for hours (and days!) without speaking to anyone, while others are mo… Read More
2016-12-22 14:00
The Christmas card below was given to my grandmother in 1932 by my grandfather, two years before they married.I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and hope that you make many gen… Read More
2016-12-08 14:00
The holiday season is a time of joy but can also be difficult if you've lost a loved one. One particular loss had to be extremely tough for my Steimer branch to overcome and, since it happen… Read More
2016-11-23 14:00
This vintage advertisement is from The Saturday Evening Post dated November 13, 1920. You can find images like this by searching the Internet Archive Book Images on Flickr. [CLICK… Read More
2016-11-17 14:00
An unexpected find showed me that she was young, a teacher, and died while traveling on a train. I came across this Cowden death while browsing an unindexed FamilySearch collection. The scan… Read More
2016-11-11 14:00
Ester LeMans, fromThe Gazette Times, 1922In honor of Veterans Day, here's a story that appeared in The Gazette Times (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) on August 13, 1922:"Hearing Affected by W… Read More
2016-11-03 13:00
Population Record, 1890-92,Western State PenitentiaryMurder, trial, and prison. If you looked at the life of Stewart Cherry based on census records alone, you'd never know that his life was… Read More
2016-10-31 13:00
If you're giving out candy this Halloween, you'll see children wearing lots of different costumes. The advertisement below from The Philadelphia Inquirer shows what kids might have worn a hu… Read More
2016-10-18 13:00
Paul Wiechmann, 1918In 1918, a teenager from Germany, named Paul Wiechmann, registered for a permit in Wichita, Kansas, to move freely through the area due to work. The document, which is av… Read More
2016-10-11 13:00
Court of Common Pleas,Washington County, Ohio, 1900While browsing Ohio divorce records on the FamilySearch website, I noticed that the documents often showed the wife didn't know what happen… Read More
2016-10-05 01:00
The Pittsburgh Catholic, February 28, 1924Last week was the anniversary of my great-uncle's death in France during World War I. George J. Stenglein was born to German parents just 1 week aft… Read More
2016-09-27 13:00
Orphanage from The Pittsburgh Catholic, April 17, 1924With the help of a digitized collection of adoptions on FamilySearch, I was able to find additional facts to support my thinking that on… Read More
2016-09-20 13:00
When my great-grandmother, Alice Laubersheimer, arrived in New York in 1899, she named Frederick Waldschmidt as her uncle and indicated that he had paid for the trip that would take her to P… Read More
2016-09-14 01:00
If you've found any newspaper mentions of the arrest of an ancestor in Pennsylvania, you may want to search prison records to see if he/she served time for the crime. Ancestry.com has a new… Read More
2016-09-05 13:00
This full-color advertisement appeared in a 1903 souvenir booklet published by the Utica Trades Assembly in New York to mark its 21st anniversary. Here's one paragraph from the group's… Read More
2016-08-30 13:00
The souvenir publication, Pittsburgh and the World War 1914-1918, can be viewed in the HathiTrust Digital Library and contains many photographs of Pittsburgh soldiers. Here are a c… Read More
2016-08-23 13:00
In 1904, a publication about the Cowden and Welch families indicated that a man named David Sloan was the father of Annie Sloan Cowden. David was a Revolutionary soldier who was killed at th… Read More
2016-08-12 01:00
A search in the Digital Public Library of America led me to Book of the Writers, published by the Writers Club of Pittsburg (Pennsylvania) in 1897. Among the men, you can find nine women pro… Read More
2016-08-05 13:00
I'm currently reading a fictional story by Kate Morton that involves the disappearance of a toddler in 1933. (If you love suspense, family secrets, and a touch of history, I highly recommend… Read More
2016-08-02 13:00
This is NOT John George FischerHow exciting it is to find a photograph of your ancestor! Somehow that black-and-white image makes the person more real to us, not just a bunch of dates and pl… Read More
2016-07-21 13:00
Isabella Jeffry was born in Ohio in 1839 and was living in Kansas when she married Hugh Kirkendall, my husband's 3rd great-uncle, in 1862. They moved to Montana Territory by 1870 and were de… Read More
2016-07-12 13:00
Are you overlooking some online records at FamilySearch? Here's one example of a digitized non-indexed collection that isn't on the site's list of published collections.Image from end of dea… Read More
2016-07-07 13:00
From Flickr: Police Officers, 1889The West Virginia Division of Culture & History has posted some online State Police records that caught my eye. Since one of my great-grandfathers was a… Read More
2016-06-29 13:00
James Baker, c. 1915James Baker, the brother of my 2nd-great grandmother, seems to have struggled during his lifetime. It appears that he had problems with anger or alcohol, or both. James a… Read More
2016-06-23 13:00
How can a woman born in 1876 be such a mystery? I don't know the parents of my great-grandmother, Alice Laubersheimer Huber (other than the names passed down in family stories). I don't know… Read More
2016-06-14 13:00
Ghost Image from TheFunny Side of Physic, 1874I've written before about how helpful it is to search for your ancestors' addresses and not just their surnames. Searching for a specific addres… Read More
2016-06-10 01:00
As lots of Pittsburgh hockey fans hope for a huge win tonight, it appears that the love of this sport has been around for a while. Here's an excerpt from an article that was published in The… Read More
2016-06-07 13:00
I've always considered myself to be organized and a planner, but some days I'm easily distracted. Does this happen to you, too? Over the weekend, I found some new family facts by browsing Ma… Read More
2016-06-02 13:00
Civil War Monument,Pittsburgh's Calvary CemeteryI'm late posting this but, for those of you with Pittsburgh roots, I wanted to share a link that appeared in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article… Read More
2016-06-01 18:00
I just got back from a family trip to Delaware, but genealogy wasn't far from my mind. We went to a playground, and my husband pointed out a cemetery just a half black away (he knows me so w… Read More
2016-05-27 13:00
In honor of our upcoming Memorial Day, here are some excerpts from an article published in The Daily Republican (Monongahela, Pennsylvania) on Saturday, May 22, 1897: … Read More
2016-05-24 13:00
My husband has several relatives with connections to Kansas, including the surnames Cowden, Lee, Dawson, Kirkendall, and Klingensmith. Using the Kansas Historical Society's name search, I fo… Read More
2016-05-17 13:00
I have 17 direct ancestors who were immigrants in the United States. The earliest arrival appears to be my Rüttger branch in 1846, which is very different from those of you whose f… Read More
2016-05-10 13:00
University of Washington,1912This month, more than 100 years ago, a future history teacher was born. Thanks to the yearbook collection on Ancestry.com, I can see images of her through the ye… Read More
2016-05-05 13:00
Last week, I wrote about an autograph book previously owned by Susie Jane Lowery Richardson. Inside that book was a loose piece of paper with a note written by Susie's daughter, Lilia, when… Read More
2016-05-03 13:00
As you may already know, updates to Cyndi's List can be viewed directly on the website by clicking "Browse New Links," or you can sign up to receive regular emails showing newly added resour… Read More
2016-04-28 13:00
The first page is signed "Susie Jane Lowery, Pittsburgh Penn." She owned this autograph book as a teenager, before her Manhattan marriage to a Pittsburgh-born banker, before her two daughter… Read More
2016-04-26 13:00
I'm fascinated by family similarities. Some may be the result of a person's environment, such as a similar occupation or religious denomination. Others seem to be more of a personality trait… Read More
2016-04-21 13:00
Harold W. Thomas was a physician for 53 years in Arnold, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He was married to my husband's 3rd cousin 2 times removed, Agnes May Cowden.Harold was born April… Read More
2016-04-19 13:00
Yes, FindAGrave.com is our go-to source for cemetery records, but it's a long way from having every burial. There are other websites that can be used to search for relatives that may be miss… Read More
2016-04-14 13:00
Frank DeTemple, the husband of my great-aunt, was one of 17 children. At first I thought it might be a typo, but both the 1900 and 1910 censuses point out this fact.Frank's mother, Mary Schm… Read More
2016-04-12 13:00
I've mentioned before that the HathiTrust Digital Library has some interesting publications. For example, if you have a chiropodist from Illinois in your family tree, you might be interested… Read More
2016-04-05 13:00
Local libraries can have some great genealogy resources for you to discover. As just one example, the Sewickley Public Library in a suburb of Pittsburgh provides free access to the Sewickley… Read More
2016-04-01 11:00
This cartoon appeared on the front page of The Pittsburg Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) on April 1, 1916:On the same day, The Reading News-Times (Reading, Pennsylvania) had this to sa… Read More
2016-03-29 13:00
Many of my readers have a Pittsburgh connection, so I wanted to make sure you're aware of an interesting Facebook page called The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating History of Pittsburgh. Its… Read More
2016-03-24 13:00
I hope you and your family have a wonderful Easter weekend. Here's another greeting card that my grandfather gave to my grandmother, this one from 1933 when Easter Sunday fell on April 16th:… Read More
2016-03-22 13:00
Ancestry has a database related to the Spanish-American War that can give you some great details about relatives. It's called "Pennsylvania, Spanish War Compensation, 1898-1934," and it cont… Read More
2016-03-17 13:00
Jamieson Sisters Portrait, fromComplete Self-Instructing Libraryof Practical Photography, 1909Jamieson Sisters was a photography studio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which opened around 1900… Read More
2016-03-15 13:00
Seal of Viterbo University,designed by Hildegarde "Imogene" ThieleI recently reconnected with a 2nd cousin once removed, who shared some information that rekindled my interest in doing more… Read More
2016-03-10 14:00
Image from Caroline Ziegler'sdeath record, Bas-Rhin ArchivesI don't know much about the life of my 3rd great-grandmother, Caroline Ziegler Wey, but I'm thankful for the facts I've been able… Read More
2016-03-08 14:00
The Pittsburg Press,April 17, 1908 I came across this article on Newspapers.com while searching for stories about someone in my family tree. I guess it's another reminder that we should… Read More
2016-03-03 14:00
In January, I wrote "Is Genealogy Sharing a 'Female Thing'?" As a follow-up to that post, I'm admitting today that I purposely don't share some things on my blog.I read genealogy blogs for m… Read More
2016-02-29 14:00
In honor of this unique day, I'm featuring my husband's 2nd great-uncle. John S. Pollock was born on February 29, 1868, in Elizabeth, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. His parents were farmer… Read More
2016-02-25 14:00
Partial clipping from the front page ofThe Pittsburgh Press, October 7, 1918I've written before about how scary life must have been during past epidemics (see post at the end). One of m… Read More
2016-02-23 14:00
I have a great-grandmother on each side of my family who is somewhat of a mystery. Kunigunda Boser Stenglein arrived in the U.S. with her husband in 1891, and Alice Laubersheimer Huber arriv… Read More
2016-02-18 14:00
Image of Orphan's Home, 1914, OurPresbyterian Educational InstitutionsIt's a question that's hard to answer, the one often asked by adopted children themselves. If a child appears in a censu… Read More
2016-02-16 14:00
Even in genealogy, timing can make a huge difference. The level of detail on certain documents produced a decade or two apart is astonishing.A passenger list from the 1870s provides just the… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Albert G. Lewis, my husband's 2nd great-grandfather, died on June 16, 1924, in Franklin, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. His death certificate shows that his parents were Nathan & Elizabet… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
For those of us with Pennsylvania ancestors, it was exciting when Ancestry provided access to two vital record collections: Pennsylvania Birth Records, 1906-1908, and Pennsylvania Death Cert… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
This advertisement appeared in the January 1916 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine, which I found by searching the Internet Archive images via Flickr:Happy New Year! Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
These Cowden brothers were farmers born in Pennsylvania. One stayed there his entire life, but the other moved to Kansas. This photograph taken in a Kansas studio shows that the brothers wer… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Have you seen a portrait postcard like this? It's absolutely lovely, and I couldn't let it go when I saw it in an antique shop.The recipient of the postcard, Mrs. Libbie T. Reeves, was a pos… Read More
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