The Horrifying Reality of Eugenics in AmericaNote — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. There is a context to my grandparents’ story — and the secrecy around it — that is likely to feel alien to contemporary audiences. Consider, for… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
Can you experience loss for someone you never knew?Note — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. Can you experience the “loss” of someone you never knew? Or never even knew existed? The late Rachel Held Evans had this to say about family origin… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
Elizabeth makes an involuntary visit to the Buffalo AsylumNote — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. The first thing you notice coming up the drive to the Henry Hotel Resort Conference Center in Buffalo are two tall Romanesque red brick towers, each… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
Secrets, secrets and more secrets — the hunt for my grandparentsNote — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. It’s been a while since I last published information about the quest for my grandparents. Some of this has been due to the pesky crowding out of my… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
Traveler’s Guide to Buxton, NCA post from 20 years ago that magically popped up. Goodness, how time flies. August 31, 1999 BUXTON, NC Note — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. Every summer, we go to Buxton, and we’ve been… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
Anchor Babies, My Dad and the 1925 CensusOtherness I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Matthew 25:35 My father has now been gone for almost 32 years. Goodness. Half my life. Note — This series has been enhanced and… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
The Search for My Grandparents — Chapter 10 — And the Death Certificates ArriveNote — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. We last left my quest for my grandparents Frank and Elizabeth Mancini with a startling discovery by genealogical savant Bro Joe — they were actually… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
The Search for My Grandparents — Chapter 9 — Ancestry and our WTF MomentNote — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. The thing is… Yes, John, what is the thing? A quick recap re my mystery grandparents, Frank and Elizabeth. 1 — Growing up, we knew nothing about them.… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
Chapter 8 — The post where we find out really creepy things about the Rockland Psychiatric Hospital and expect to meet Nurse RatchedNote — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. Have you ever seen the Martin Scorcese film Shutter Island? In the movie, U.S. Marshals Edward “Teddy” Daniels and his new partner Chuck Aule travel to… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
The Search for My Grandparents — Chapter 7 — The post where the 1940 Census is released and we unexpectedly run into Frank and Elizabeth againNote — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. So, a bit more on the whole “killed in a fire in the 1930s” story. After a bit of a lag when I started this series, my Mom caught up with it. She… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
The Search for My Grandparents — Chapter 6 — The Story of Ne’er-do-well Grandfather Number OneSo let’s see. Where to start with unknown grandfather number one? Note — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. I posed this quiz last week: The answer is all of the above. Yes, this grandfather —… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
The Search for My Grandparents — Chapter 5 — Where We Reconnect with Frank and ElizabethNote — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. OK, as a special treat — and NOT because some of the readers of this story have said, “OK Irish history boy, what happened to Frank and Elizabeth”… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
The Search for My Grandparents — Chapter 4 — Why Sarah “Had to Leave” IrelandNote — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. So let’s see…where did I leave this story? I know we need to return to the original point of this entire narrative — my father’s parents, Frank and… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
The Search for My Grandparents — Chapter 3– Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Sarah McEvoy!Note — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. So before moving on to the grandparents who we did not know anything about — the mystery players — let me start with the one we DID know, my maternal… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
The Search for My Grandparents — Chapter 2 — Meet the Brady Bunch!Note — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. This is part of a continuing series. I suppose a bit of an introduction to some of my fellow actors in this play is in order. While I was born in… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
The Search for my Grandparents — Chapter 1 — The Starting LineNote — This series has been enhanced and republished HERE: http://www.searchformygrandparents.com. When it came time to writing, my 9th grade English teacher, Miss Porro, used to tell us “Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them… Mar 16 20March 16, 2020Article at Medium
Secrets, secrets and more secrets — the hunt for my grandparentsIt’s been a while since I last published information about the quest for my grandparents. Some of this has been due to the pesky crowding out of my work on this story by actual work that people pay me for. Some of this has been due to the… Dec 20 19December 20, 2019Article at Medium
The Horrifying Reality of Eugenics in AmericaThere is a context to my grandparents’ story — and the secrecy around it — that is likely to feel alien to contemporary audiences. Consider, for example, the following quotes, and as you read them, guess who might have been the source. (1) Gigantic… Dec 19 19December 19, 2019Article at Medium
Can you experience loss for someone you never knew?Can you experience the “loss” of someone you never knew? Or never even knew existed? The late Rachel Held Evans had this to say about family origin stories: “…we look to the stories of our origins to make sense of things, to remember who we are. The… Dec 10 19December 10, 2019Article at Medium
Elizabeth makes an involuntary visit to BuffaloThe first thing you notice coming up the drive to the Henry Hotel Resort Conference Center in Buffalo are two tall Romanesque red brick towers, each capped with green copper roofing. This impressive building — part of a larger campus — was designed… Nov 19 19November 19, 2019Article at Medium
