Continuing our virtual visit to my family cemeteries with my great-great-grandparents, let’s start with my mother’s side, where we’re coming to the Civil War generation. Her paternal grandfather Roland R. Neifert’s parents were Martin Neifert (1840-1912) and Harriet (Gerhard) Neifert (1939-1915). Martin is buried in Christ Church Cemetery, Barnesville,...
Memorial Day, 2016, Part 1–Generations 2 through 4
On Memorial Day it used to be the custom to visit family cemeteries. As a young girl, my mother did so with her grandparents, and I’m sure my father did as well. When I was a child, my family did not live close to the burial places of any...
Researching a 20th-Century Military Ancestor Without a Service Record, Part 1
In 1973 fire ravaged the National Personnel Records Center in the suburbs of St. Louis. Stored in the facility were millions of service records belonging to men and women who served in the armed forces of the United States. The fire destroyed an estimated 80 percent of the records...
The Power of Dormancy
Never believe that something will never happen if it doesn’t happen right away! I just received an email message from a distant cousin I have never met, sent in response to a letter I wrote to another distant cousin I have never met. Commendable, but not very remarkable, right?–until...
Ancestry’s Family Tree Maker Announcement: The Sky is Not Falling
Yesterday Ancestry.com announced that it will no longer sell its popular Family Tree Maker software, and the Internet lit up. Genealogists everywhere began blasting Ancestry’s decision and wringing...