I can’t believe we’re already 2/3 of the way through October—a very special October—that marks the 25th anniversary of the first 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉. I love how this annual tenth-month-of-the-year observance, established by the U.S. Congress in …
Tag: family history
A First-time Challenge for the DNA Sleuth
Mid-summer found this DNA sleuth tackling a first-for-me challenge, involving Karrie, her adopted mother, and a monumental revelation. Karrie’s mother Judy who’d been adopted as a ten-month-old infant, died in 1975, decades before direct-to-consumer (DTC) DNA testing …
10 Years of Making Connections, Mastering the Lingo, and Paying it Forward
JULY 23, 2026, marks the 10-year anniversary of an event that continues to have a profound impact on my life. On Saturday, July 23, 2016, as we drove to a local community concert, my husband turned to …
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Spring Memories from the Recipe Box
I married into a rhubarb-loving family. Large, well-tended plants produced a bountiful crop each spring/summer in the southern corner of the property, out the back door of the red-block farmhouse where both my husband and his dad …
Clues + DNA = Solved Paternal Mystery with a Side of History
For almost half of his life, Paul Gilgen has pondered a family mystery. In the late 1980s, Paul’s nephew Kim Eisenhut shared news of a long-held family secret, one that had tumbled out of hiding while family …
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4 Ways to Celebrate Family History this Thanksgiving
The things we love most about Thanksgiving— the family gathered from far and near, the dining table overflowing with favorite foods, and the cherished, passed-down traditions—create a lovely backdrop for a day spent reveling in family history. …
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Memories plucked from the Family Recipe Box
I can picture the scene so clearly in my mind. Sitting around the Formica topped table in my grandma's old farmhouse kitchen. Gathered with my grandparents, my parents, and my siblings, for a home-cooked-from-scratch meal on holidays …
The Scrapbook
My latest sleuthing adventure has sent me on quite an interesting and thought-provoking journey. It all began with an early morning email message on a Wednesday in July. “I have something I want to run by you,” …
How will you Celebrate National Cousins Day?
There may forever remain multiple who, when, and where questions about the origins of the lesser-known July holiday celebrated on the 24th—National Cousins Day. While some admit the history of this commemoration is “shrouded in mystery,” others …
Two Family Mysteries and their Journeys Toward the Truth
The search for a grandfather Mike Holloway, of Willshire, Ohio, is a man on a mission—a genealogical mission, that is. In recent years, his interest in a long-time family mystery found him taking up the search …
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