Last week I featured the picture of one of my grandfather's army buddies, Wilbur Bohne. This week I continue the series with a photograph of Malachi O'Connor, who provided my grandfather with the address, 148 Main Street, Middletown, Connecticut. The writing on the back of the photograph appears to be Malachi's own, as it matches the signature on his WWI Draft Registration Card. Malachi O'Connor Contact me at jucallahan@yahoo.com if you would like a higher resolution versio

Recently, I was looking back at photographs I scanned from my grandfather, Clarence R. Fleming's photo album. I was reminded that he had five or six photographs of fellow soldiers. On the back of the pictures he wrote the names and home towns of these fellows. I'm not sure if copies of the photos were ever shared with the subjects. In the event they were not, I will publish them here on the blog over the course of the next month in the hope they will be discovered by desc

Last October, Christopher Robbins' article entitled "New Evidence for the English Origins of Nicholas Robbins" was published in the prestigious genealogical quarterly, the The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Now his research has been cited in the Great Migration Newsletter*. According to the Newsletter, "The author clinches the identification [of Nicholas Robbins] by noting that the immigrant was described as a shoemaker in New England records and then find

Originally published 10 Nov 2013 Everett H. Fleming Everett H. Fleming: 1923-1995 On the eve of Veterans Day, I’d like to say a few words about my father, Everett. H. Fleming, a descendant of Nicholas Robbins, and a World War II veteran. I have thought of him a great deal lately though he’s been gone over 18 years. He could be a challenge to live with sometimes, but then, aren’t we all. And he had many admirable qualities: he built up and ran a greenhouse business for m

Originally published 21 Jul 2014 Today I was pleased to receive a certificate of membership in The National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century as a descendant of Richard Warren. Warren was a passenger on the Mayflower and a signer of the Mayflower Compact. Before coming to the New World, he was a merchant in London. Relatively little is known about his life in America, but as all his children lived to adulthood, he has many descendants. Perhaps one day more will be learn

Originally published 19 Jun 2014 On Friday, I departed Cambodia after a two week work trip there. During the intervening weekend we visited the temples of Siem Reap located about 200 miles north of Phnom Penh. The temple of Angkor Wat was the most fabulous, but there are many remarkable temples in the area that were built from the 9th to the 15th centuries. The temples are in various states of disrepair from the forces of the jungle and the damage done by the Khmer Rouge.

Originally published 23 May 2014 Many, many NGS attendees carried a tablet device. While it was exciting to see widespread use of technology supporting the field of genealogy, it was also troubling to me personally—and here’s why. Last year I created the new NicholasRobbinsFamily.org website using a template available on Wix.com. I loved it because of the nice transitions from page to page. What I didn’t know at the time was that the template used a program called Adobe F

Originally published 13 May 2014 If someone told you to think creatively about your genealogical research, what would you envision? Genealogists have worked for years to promote evidence based research for the discipline. So what's this about creativity? According to Elizabeth Shown Mills, a very well-known genealogist, we should employ creativity in our genealogical research and while attacking brick walls. This means incorporating our knowledge of other areas such as geo

Originally published 10 May 2014 This week I had the pleasure of attending two days of the NGS 2014 Family History Conference in Richmond, Virginia. All the sessions I attended were worthwhile, but two in particular were exceptional: "Using Evidence Creatively: Spotting Clues in Run-of-the Mill Records" by Elizabeth Shown Mills and, "Can a Complete Research Problem be Solved Solely Online?" by Thomas W. Jones. Both speakers are icons in the genealogy field. Both deliver

Originally published 1 May 2014 Miradouro de Lua Cousins, I've just returned from a two week trip to Angola. The country is a study in contrasts. It has great wealth in oil and diamonds, but most people live in poverty. Sadly, because of the lack of infrastructure in Angola and in other African countries, garbage is pervasive. Not only is the garbage a danger to the health of the people, but it is a scar on our lovely earth. Also of particular note is that the Chinese ar