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52 Ancestors – Week 5 – Influencers
WEEK 5 – INFLUENCERS By Cynthia Keefer Patton So often we think about someone who influenced us as someone from an older generation that we looked up to. And often that is the case. We looked up to a relative that served in the military and want to follow in their footsteps. But sometimes, there…
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52 Ancestors – Week 4 – Witness to History
52 Ancestors – Week 4 – Witness to History By Cynthia Keefer Patton Thinking back on the stories of my father’s family, living in Western Pennsylvania, some since before the Revolutionary War, there are a lot of times they were a witness to history in the making. It is hard for me to imagine my…
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52 Ancestors – Week 2 Origins
WEEK 2 – ORIGINS By Cynthia Keefer Patton or·i·gin /ˈôrəj(ə)n/ noun plural noun: origins—the point or place where something begins, arises, or is derived. “the name is Norse in origin“. Similar words: beginning; start; origination; genesis; birth; dawning; dawn; emergence. “Where do you come from?” That is a question we have all been asked. Where do I…
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52 Ancestors – Week 1 – Family Lore – Runaway Wives
FAMILY LORE – Runaway Wives By Cynthia Keefer Patton My Mom used to tell us the story of how two of her uncles had wives that ran off from the boarding house that my maternal great-grandmother operated with two other boarders. I know there was the discussion of the divorces that eventually followed. Apparently…
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Discovering local records
As I start the journey of accepting paying clients I am also volunteering at our local Historical Society one day per week. They are assigning me research requests from members and others searching for information about ancestors that lived or passed through Leavenworth, Kansas. Leavenworth was the “First City” of Kansas established when the military…
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What did you get from your grandparents
As I work through my genealogy, I often reflect on the little things that I can remember about my grandparents and the broader question of what traits they might have passed on to me. On my Father’s side, there was Grandma Sara Keefer. She was a sad woman, always looking as if she had…
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The Mahanna Trace – Part I
I am on the ever elusive hunt to discover more about my Mahanna ancestors. When I first delved into genealogy in 1987 my Mother knew very little about her father’s side of the family. Always the mystery, few stories emerged about Donald O. Mahanna and his siblings, parents, and beyond. I was so challenged that…