Case Studies

A Tribute to My Veterans

Each year on November 11, we pause to remember those who served in our military. Here is the roll of the veterans in my affinity. In my generation (Vietnam and post-Vietnam): My husband Jere Gene Mackin, United States Navy My brothers-in-law Patrick Charles Mackin, United States Navy, and Richard...

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A New Irish Family!

Of my husband’s eight great-grandparents, we know the origins of six and a half: two were descended from nineteenth-century Irish immigrants, three were descended from nineteenth-century German immigrants, one’s mother was the child of Scottish immigrants (father unknown), one was adopted, and one had early American ancestry, probably originating...

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Land Records Showed the Way

One of the first stumbling blocks I encountered in my research was the family of my great-great-great-grandfather Peter Andrews (1814-1882), father of my great-great-grandmother Rebecca (Andrews) Whetstone, who married Absalom K. Whetstone of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. A handy county-history biography of one of Rebecca and Absalom’s sons-in-law revealed the...

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The Case of the Disappearing Daughters, Part 3

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this post, I talked about my search for the daughters of James M. Galt James M. Galt (1849-1939). Part 1 showed how the probate record of the girls’ maternal grandfather David West (1823-1898) provided key information that allowed me to complete the...

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The Case of the Disappearing Daughters, Part 2

In Part 1 of this post, I described my search for the daughters of James M. Galt (1849-1939) and showed how the probate record of the girls’ maternal grandfather David West (1823-1898) provided key information about their married names and whereabouts, information that enabled me to trace all but...

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