The Elmendorfs
Jacobus Elmendorf was the first Elmendorf ancestor in this country and an early settler at Kingston, Ulster County, NY. He was born...
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An Exploration of my Family's Genealogy, Ancestors and Their Journey Through History
Chasing Family Ghosts
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Jan 23, 20236 min read
The Slechts
Cornelius Barentsen Slecht was born about 1616 in the municipality of Woerden in Utrecht, Netherlands. He was mentioned in records of...
Jan 16, 20235 min read
The Pettyjohns, Part 2: Delaware
Click Here for Part 1 About 1685, John married Sara (her maiden name is currently unknown). They had seven children who grew to...
Jan 9, 20234 min read
The Pettyjohns, Part 1: Virginia Tidewater
James Pettyjohn was living in Hungars Parish, Northampton County, located on Virginia's Eastern Shore in 1660. The first existing record...
Nov 28, 20226 min read
The Pattons, Part 4: "Georgie"
The story of the Pattons continues. Click here for Part Three. Before he had the nickname "Old Blood and Guts", he was simply known as...
Nov 21, 20225 min read
The Pattons, Part 3: George II
The story of the Pattons continues. Click here for Part Two. George was born as George William Patton in Charleston, West Virginia (then...
Nov 14, 20226 min read
The Pattons, Part 2: Brothers George & Tazewell
The story of the Patton family continues. Click here for Part 1. George Smith Patton was born 26 June 1833, in Fredericksburg, Virginia,...
Nov 7, 20223 min read
The Pattons, Part 1: Peggy And John
The Patton family entered my family tree on 8 January 1824 when Margaret "Peggy" French Williams married John Mercer Patton. Margaret was...
Sep 19, 20223 min read
The Lauderbachs and the Seven Stars
Peter Lauderbach (also spelled Lauterbach, Louderback, Louder-Back, and Lowderback) was born around 1732 and immigrated as early as 1737...
Sep 11, 20228 min read
A Quaker in Himachal Pradesh
Samuel Evans Stokes, Jr. was born on 16 August 1882 in Philadelphia, PA into a wealthy and distinguished Quaker family. His father,...
Aug 15, 20225 min read
The King of Late Night TV
John William "Johnny" Carson was born on 23 October 1926 in Corning, Iowa. He was the second of three children of parents Ruth Elizabeth...
Aug 1, 20224 min read
Thomas Fenwick: His Lands and Island
And now the continuation of story of Thomas Fenwick (for the prior post, click Here.) Thomas Fenwick, born between 1632 and 1635, was the...
Jul 25, 20223 min read
The Fenwicks
The name Fenwick first arose amongst the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. This habitation name was originally derived from the Old English...
Jul 11, 20225 min read
The Huguenots
Welcome to my 150th Post! Since a number of my relatives were Huguenots, particularly the DuBois family, I will now tell you a bit about...
Apr 4, 20226 min read
The Only First Lady, Part Four
Varina's story concludes. Click here for Part One, here for Part Two and here for Part Three. The reasons for the move to New York City...
Mar 28, 20228 min read
The Only First Lady, Part Three
Varina's story continues. Click here for Part One and here for Part Two. Final surrender ended one kind of suffering and began another. ...
Mar 21, 20225 min read
The Only First Lady, Part Two
Varina's story continues. For Part One, click here. Anticipating a call for his services since Mississippi had seceded, Jefferson Davis...
Mar 14, 20227 min read
The Only First Lady, Part One
Varina Howell Davis was not any happier at the prospect of her husband being president than he was. Jeff Davis was no politician and she...
Feb 21, 20224 min read
The Wit of Cousin Abe
In honor of Presidents' Day, I thought I would share some stories that Abraham Lincoln used to tell (Click here for the original post...
Dec 20, 20212 min read
The Horners
On Thursday, 2 November 1752, Johann Melcher (Malachi) Hörner appeared at the Court House in Philadelphia, PA. He took the oath of...
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