Category Archives: Serendipity

Where did Little Joe go?

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

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Finding Clues in Unexpected Places

Handwritten letter attached to Patrick Joseph Morrissey's death record, 1 March 1922. (1)

Death certificates can add depth to a family tree, but when the parent names for the deceased are documented incorrectly, it can lead research down the wrong path—especially..

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Saving Grace

Sometimes it starts with that picture in the attic. It falls out of its black corners and yellow cellophane as if to say, look at me, I’m here for a reason—challenging you to rediscover its past, to make the voice of its subject heard.

I think it must have happened..

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The Search for Hannah Hobart’s Missing Husbands

I recently went searching through newspaper records for information about the family of John Doane of Eastham for the next Early New England Families (ENEF) sketch. Newspaper resources about 17th- and 18th-century families are rare, but do exist for larger cities such..

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A Tale of Two Brayton Descents

Home of John Summerfield Brayton, built ca. 1870, once stood at 369 Highland Avenue, Fall River, Massachusetts. Photo from author’s copy of “Fall River, 1911, A City of Opportunity.”

Anyone who lived in Fall River, Massachusetts more than fifty years ago would..

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Mr. John Griffin and the Boston Common Treasure

Detail of 1814 map of Boston Common by John Groves Haley.

As anyone who as ever spent time doing genealogical research can tell you, searching through historical records can oftentimes feel like a little bit of a treasure hunt. When I noticed an unusual headline..

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An alter-ego's tale

Groucho Marx:"Well, whaddya say girls? Are we all gonna get married?"

Woman: "All of us? But that's bigamy!"

Groucho: "Yes, and it's big-a-me, too."

Researching the collateral relatives of my great-great-grandfather John Henry O. Record has brought a host of..

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Mrs. Frank Leslie

In early July I was given the opportunity to attend an online educational event, “Women in the Gilded Age,” with guest speakers Laura Thompson and Betsy Prioleau, part of the American Inspiration series at NEHGS. The draw was my interest in women’s history, and this..

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One more for the road

When Scott Steward told me about his forthcoming departure from NEHGS, he asked if I could send him one more Vita Brevis post “for the road.” The posts I have written have largely been when I need a mental break from whatever genealogy I am working on or go down a..

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What they looked like 2

My father

My earlier post, featuring my parents and both sets of grandparents, sought photographs of these relatives from early adult life – I am fortunate to have a number of such images for all six from which to choose!

Looking for photos of my eight..

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