Original Photo  Restored Photo As some of you know already, I am an IT major at Marymount University. Recently I have developed a persistent interest in machine learning and artificial intelligence, so you can imagine my excitement when I discovered a tool that incorporates these exciting and constantly developing fields with my other interest- genealogy. The tool is called GFPGAN and its stated purpose is as a Practical Algorithm for Real-world Face Restoration. Now before I begin nerding out on all the cool features and advanced ways you can use thi ..read more

The Videos Documentary on My Grandpa's Life My Grandpa's Funeral Service My Grandfather's DeathOn the 2nd of January, 2021 my Grandpa Tim Wesselowski passed away at the age of 80 years old. He had contracted COVID-19 in the month before and died as a result of the accompanying pneumonia. Unlike many who met the same fate in the last year, he did not die alone. My Uncle Nathan was by his side and my Mom was on speaker phone.  Actually my Uncle had left for a few minutes to get a hymn book from his car during which time Grandpa passed- but that actually seemed appropriate. My Grandpa ..read more

The Collection Among the many artifacts of interest I received from my great-uncle Everette Van Wert (and subsequently scanned) were the letters and postcards I have included in this post. Each one is a letter from Forrest Everette Van Wert (my 2nd great grandfather) to his wife Carrie Blanche Smith (my 2nd great grandmother). Forrest was a risk taker. While this may have contributed to his success in business it also contributed to his early death aged 38 on the 21st of October, 1918- the result of his car rolling down an embankment. It is rather incredible that he survived as long as he did ..read more

 It is with great happiness that I announce my health has improved considerably since my last post. This is the result of finally receiving an accurate diagnosis, surgery, and treatment for my ailments. I was diagnosed with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (JHS), a genetic condition whose name encapsulates the large group of as of yet undiscovered connective tissue disorders that fall outside of the Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) definitions. Connective tissue disorders cause problems in collagen, which is present in most of (if not all) the organs in the human body. This, as you can imagine, c ..read more

 I am sorry to announce the death of my legendary Grandpa Tim. I am preparing a video presentation that I will post in the future to fully immortalize who my grandpa really was. Below is his obituary my family wrote for him. Please keep your loved ones safe and wear masks during these unprecedented times. Tim Wesselowski How many lives can one person touch?  Timothy J Wesselowski, who passed away from complications due to COVID-19 on January 2, 2021 in McPherson, Kansas, impacted hundreds if not thousands over the years. He raised his children to work hard and pursue the ..read more

Hello Everyone, This post will be different from all the other posts on my blog in that it is not about Genealogy so much as it is about me. You may notice that as time has gone on the frequency of my posts has decreased and several series posts never got follow ups. The reason is that for the past 2 years or so I have become increasingly disabled with a mystery ailment. The condition I find myself in is very complex, but to sum it up when my head is turned laterally I experience varying degrees of syncope (also known as passing out). It can be as minor as losing vision in one of my eyes for ..read more

A couple years ago I opened an old, moldy box in my Grandpa Schmidt's basement and found hundreds of old unidentified photos. I have finally uploaded all of these to a single post for other family members to look through. As I do more research I will undoubtedly make better estimations of dates and locations as well as identify more people within the photos. As I do I will update this page with my findings. If you recognize someone in any of the photos after the "Photos of Immediate Family" section, I would greatly appreciate it if you could let me know. All information on photo studios origi ..read more