Living in the Past: A Family History

This is a blast from the past, but one worth re-sharing, I think:

I've been thinking about some of the "side benefits" that come from doing genealogy.  These take various forms:  the cousins you discover, the friends you make in the genealogy community, the satisfaction you get from seeing a brick wall come down.  But one of the most enjoyable parts of genealogy, to me, are the subjects and bits of history that open up along the way.  These things can expand our world view greatly, and keep the synapses of those of us pursuing genealogy in our senior years firing.  Here are a few things I've learned about along the way:

1.  The history of the North German Lloyd Company:  My grandfather worked for North German Lloyd for many years, as a machinist, going back and forth from Germany to New York and other places around the world.  Here are the NDL docks  in Hoboken, New Jersey.




2.  The process of emigrating to America -- what it took to get there, what shipboard life was li…

Julie Tarr of Julie's Genealogy and History Hub asked an interesting question today, one that sent me to my tree to start counting:  "What's Your Number?" -- as in, how many ancestors of each generation have you identified?

So I did it.  A table is helpful to show me 1)  how much I've accomplished so far, and 2) how much farther I have to go in particular areas of my tree.  Here's what I came up with:


Even though I obviously have a long way to go from the 4th generation on down, I'm delighted to see how far I've come in the years I've been practicing genealogy. The table also leads me to remember how frustrated I felt at some points, in going beyond one great-grandfather on my father's paternal side, one great-grandfather on my mother's paternal side, and in identifying the mother of my mother's great-grandmother on her mother's side.  
When I think about the reasons for each brick wall, I find that in two cases, lack of a birthpl…

I'm back; I'm really back.  The last few months have been a whirlwind -- I've left California, moved to Minnesota, bought a house, gone through the chaos of moving in, shopped for everything imaginable (from curtains to furniture to light fixtures to toolkit and beyond), had bathrooms painted and flooring replaced with hardwood, found a doctor, dentist, vet, dog park, grocery store, take-out restaurant, on and on.  It's been a busy few months with very little time to think about genealogy.


My new backyard, in winter and spring

But now, I have some time to breathe and time to return to the process of unearthing my family history.  Having been away from it for way too long, I have many things to do to catch up!  Here's my list, as I think about it today:

1. Leaves and other hints:  So very many hints on Ancestry and My Heritage!  I've dipped a tiny toe into the pool and discovered that in my absence the sites have added much information in the way of records.  One…

I'm undergoing some major changes in my life.  For the time being, I'm blogging over at One Woman, Reinvented.  Come visit me there!

One Woman, Reinvented

Recent post:  Reinvented Yet Again




And I've discovered a great blog that you German genealogists might enjoy:  "A German Girl in America."  It's filled with wonderful things that those of German background will recognize and enjoy.

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings sets a topic every Saturday night.  Here's tonight's topic:

1)  Tell us about your "other" hobbies or interests outside of genealogy and family history research, writing, speaking, etc.  Be mindful of your family's privacy, though!


Although I am passionate about genealogy, I do have other interests.  I'm a fine art photographer, with a website here.  Here are a couple of examples of my work:






I've also been studying watercolor painting for the past few years.  I love doing it, but watercolor is a devilishly difficult medium!  Here are a couple of my paintings -- 
after a Turner painting



Beyond this, I love to travel.  In the past several years, we've gone to the UK, to Italy, and to Paris.
The Eiffel Tower after the terrorist attack

Bath, England

Florence, from the Uffizi terrace

We siblings have missed our mom for a very long time -- she passed away far too soon, in 1989, when she was only 62 years old.  Because her side of the family is so long-lived (her mother died at 96, her brother at 94), we expected to have her for many more years, and her passing left a great hole in our hearts that can never be filled.  There's so much we'd like to talk with her about, show her, ask her -- especially whether she's doing fine now, and is she with our dad and everyone . . .

I think this might be my favorite picture of her.  I can't quite figure out where it was taken -- it seems it might have been on an airplane, but there's a companion photo of my dad, and it looks like they weren't sitting together.  Oh well, yet another genealogical mystery never to be solved.


Waltraud Marianna Sophie Berneburg Ortman

This is what I love:  Our mom, all dressed up, hair all done nicely, looking so pretty.  What's most attractive is her look of interest in w…