Cannons at Cheatham Hill, Kennesaw Mountain battle site, Georgia

Several lineage societies exist related to service in the American Civil War. These are, as you might imagine, divided by side—some relate to descendants of Union soldiers, others Confederate. Some men..

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 young woman repairs a bicycle while three others watch and help, c. 1895. From Montana State University Library, via Wikimedia Commons.

Along the rutted, moonlit roads just north of Leeds, England, a cyclist in skirts pedals to her local pub. After a pint, she..

Map of Boston in 1870. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Over the last couple of years I’ve been researching the lives and descendants of Irish immigrant Bostonians Edward J. Costello (1866-1926 [?]) and Mary Josephine Maloney (c. 1872-1943). This genealogical journey has taken..

Lincoln County Courthouse, Kentucky. Photo by Russell and Sydney Poore via Wikimedia Commons.

In July of the summer of 2013, my husband and I took a driving trip through the back roads of Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri, so I could visit courthouses and see documents..

According to his death certificate, Rufus Freeman of Myrtle Grove Sound in New Hanover County, North Carolina died on 26 September, 1923.¹An autopsy was done in James Walker Hospital by the coroner G. S. Holden, who confirmed Rufus Freeman’s cause of death: “shot by..

My great-grandmother Kathleen never spoke much about her childhood, but she always wondered what happened to her little brother Joe.

When George Washington Flint was buried in 1873, I doubt anyone suspected that in little over a century, his final resting spot would one day be the parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts.

For many years, my family’s brick wall stood firm at the unknown parentage of Betsey Doty, who married Ebenezer Besse in Plymouth on 26 September..

I wrote about Margaret (Mulligan) Kelleher and her infant son John Cornelius Kelleher a few months ago in a previous Vita Brevis post. While I thought the trail had..