When thinking about genealogy, I believe that our homes can sometimes be an overlooked or undervalued resource. Research documents families and the history of a particular place and space. One home can have dozens of owners, but if your family is one of them, then it..

Image 1: Charles Bulfinch by Mather Brown, 1786 (courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums).

21 Chestnut Avenue, Boston, in 2024

Our neighbors affect us in direct and indirect ways. Whether you’ve only ever lived in single-family homes or you have experience residing in multi-family dwellings, you can likely remember your neighbors and the ways you impacted..

Frank Caleb Stowell’s American craftsman home in Medford, Massachusetts, circa 1911-1920

1863 print depicting American artist Washington Allston

I have lived in Allston, a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, for about three years. For most of that time, I never gave the area’s name much thought. I assumed that it was either the name of a town back in..

A few years ago I was researching my Duff line in Ireland, and I came across an interesting occupation for one of my ancestors. My third great-grandfather, Bernard Duff, was listed as a publican and farmer in the 1901 census.¹ Despite the heavy demands of agriculture,..

A few months ago, I chaperoned my daughter’s school field trip to the Paul Revere House in Boston’s North End. I had previously visited this house several times over the course of five..