Monthly Archives: July 2014

Notes on a Wolf family reunion

Family Stories, Research Methods,
Quartette club members
Members of the Quartette Club in New Britain, Connecticut

I arrived last fall at the New England Historic Genealogical Society as a neophyte in family research and I still consider myself one. My position as NEHGS Publications Coordinator, however, has given me some insight into which publications are go-to resources for genealogists and family researchers, and I’m now familiar with translating findings into Register style and the ahnentafel  format. I’ve also heard many interesting stories related to unexpected findings and brick wall breakthroughs, particularly when talking with participants in our Writing & Publishing Seminar this past May. Continue reading Notes on a Wolf family reunion →

World wide Italian immigration

News, Research Methods, , , ,
museo nazionale emigrazione italiana
The Museo Nazionale Emigrazione Italiana in Rome

When we think about Italian immigration here at NEHGS, it is often because the patron we are helping is looking for ancestors who arrived here in the late 1800s or early 1900s. However, Italians immigrated to many different countries, including other European countries as well as countries in South America and other continents such as Australia. Continue reading World wide Italian immigration →

A suspicious first cousin

Family Stories, Research Methods,
Timothy and Louisa_Cropped
My mother’s grandfather and her aunt

One day a few years ago, my mother (who was 85 at the time) got a phone call from a young lady who said “Hello, I think I’m your cousin!”  Mom, who was well aware of and always on the lookout for scams, immediately assumed that this was just one more.  The caller said that she was the great-granddaughter of my mother’s father’s sister, ‘Louisa.’ Mom, who knew all of her father’s siblings, had visited the family regularly in Detroit when she was a child and never met or even heard of an aunt with that name. Continue reading A suspicious first cousin →