Kate Steere's Blog (7)

I stumbled onto this lovely site that is extremely user friendly, and I imagine may be of interest to those with Texas roots:

Portal to Texas History

Through this site you can search for surnames and specific people, not only in newspapers, but in books and other collections. And it's free!

Over the last few weeks, I have been poking at my brick walls as one does, and a few records have popped up, much to my surprise. 



Still not much luck actually 'proving' W.A. Lavelle's parents, as I am still unable to locate him in the 1860 or 1870 census records. I have found him in theater cast lists in various newspapers which trace him through the 1870s and 1880s, I believe I found him on a Chicago directory living with his mother one year - cannot…

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One night a couple of months ago, I was googling some of my ancestors names as I sometimes do, and up popped an article in a historical society newsletter, written by a distant cousin in the early 1990s. The article was about a great great great uncle of mine, who had fought through most of the Civil War, only to die in the last days of the war. The article included several of his letters, and it gave me chills to see some of the names I had been researching for the last few years. The article… Continue

Just thought this was too cool!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/arts/design/24may.html?ref=arts

http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search/

This is great, if this had been available 3 years ago, my Evans research would have been an easy trip. :)

I've been working on my FIL's Tietjen line off and for the last three years. What we 'know'(right, LOL):



Claus(Charles) Tietjen born circa 1856 from Germany, parents unknown, interred March 9, 1890

married Meta(Martha, Mattie) Eichmann(not sure of the correct spelling) born 1854-1856, she was born in NY or Germany.



and they had the following children:

Martha Clara Tietjen born 1879, married twice according to 1900 census, only know of… Continue

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/08/23/weekinreview/20090823_FAKE_SS_index.html?hp

This slide show shows photos that have been 'retouched' or faked in some way. Sometimes I feel researching my family is a way of peeling away the fakery and finding the true parts. This is often very difficult as you can't always trust what you see in front of you-