As I prepare a family history photo book about hubby's grandparents, James E. Wood (1871-1939) and Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925), I'm colorizing a few old b/w photos to catch the eye of younger descendants. Of course, I'm noting that the photos are colorized. This book (and others I've created) are helping to keep family history alive for the future. Above, the photo as colorized by Ancestry. James has more color, the second floor of the home has more color, but Mary appears less colorful. Overall, this photo is more interesting to look at and brings out more details than the origina ..read more

The April WikiTree ConnectAThon added nearly 89,000 new profiles to the worldwide WikiTree. I was part of Team L'Chaim and mostly added ancestors and ancestors-in-law from my Jewish roots. Along the way, I discovered new documents and worked my way backward to older generations as well as horizontally to siblings and spouses of distant cousins whose lives I'd never researched.  FREE New York City Vital Records A huge help: finding FREE vital records from the late 1800s through early 1900s on the New York City Digital Vital Records site. This site has birth, marriage, and death re ..read more

This week, when looking at a German language Hamburg passenger manifest for one of my ancestors, I noticed that Ancestry was offering me the opportunity to explore this document using its Ask AncestryAI feature. Of course I took a look! I haven't tried any Ancestry AI feature before this. Above, part of the screen, with the AI interpretation on the right and the transcribed record (plus the original image) on the left. The AI seems to have used the info from the record detail and constructed a narrative that began "Bela Roth, a Hungarian male, departed from N. Bereg, Hungary, at the ..read more

My great aunt Jennie Birk Salkowitz was born on this day 134 years ago--on April 9, 1890 in Gargzdai, Lithuania. She came through Ellis Island on September 7, 1909, just 19 years old, and worked in the New York City garment district until marrying her husband, Paul Salkowitz (1889-1957). They were happily married for 38 years, jointly owning and running a Florida citrus grove after moving South from the Big Apple in the post-WWII period. To honor her memory, I'm sharing her bite-sized bio on additional websites. When I posted her bio on MyHeritage, I also added a link within the b ..read more

Today is Eclipse Day 2024 but I'm revisiting the August day in 2017 when I used a pinhole viewer to watch the solar eclipse from a nearby garden. The eclipse was clearly visible through this home-made contraption, and what I saw looked like a bite being taken out of the sun.  Not as dramatic as the view will be for today's eclipse, but still exciting to experience. Fun to remember as we look forward to the more visible eclipse this afternoon, depending on cloud cover in my neck of the woods ..read more

In my husband's family tree are a number of ancestors who made big life changes for their faith...were very involved with their churches, some as cofounders or leaders, some who married church leaders, some whose children led or founded congregations. Here are a few of these ancestors: Hubby's Mayflower ancestors (Isaac Allerton, Mary Norris Allerton, Mary Allerton, Degory Priest, and Francis Cooke) came to America as Separatists, to worship as they chose. These ancestors are in my husband's Wood family line. Hubby's great uncle and great aunt, Marion Elton Wood (1867-1947) and Minnie Mill ..read more

As I write about my husband's paternal family, I've found a few ways to insert ourselves into the narrative and photos.  For example, this page in my latest photo book is all about hubby's great uncle, Capt. John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954). John was one of three brothers who joined the British Army as young teens or preteens, working their way up through the music ranks. All three served 20+ years in the British military before they came to Canada and became bandmasters. All three attained the rank of captain and were well-known in their regions. Capt. John D. Slatter gained worldwide fa ..read more

In the 1910s, a young Wood relative in Cleveland, Ohio received this Easter postcard from his teenaged first cousin in Toledo, Ohio. The sender wrote in cursive, although the recipient could not yet read it!  Why is a rooster is guarding a nest full of colorful Easter eggs? And why does this holiday-themed scene appear to be in Holland?!  Happy Easter to all.  ..read more

These genealogy fan charts will appear on pages 2 and 3 of my latest family history photo book. The book focuses on my husband's paternal grandparents, Mary Slatter (1869-1925) and James Edgar Wood (1871-1939). The colorful charts attract the eyes of readers and show, at a glance, the names and the dates (where known) of their ancestors.  Thanks to one of the Wood cousins, who began his genealogy quest more than 40 years ago, we have a lot of solid, sourced info about James Edgar Wood's paternal family tree (on right). That same cousin tried for decades to learn more abo ..read more

When writing captions or family history stories, tell your audience (younger folks in particular) about anything that might be unfamiliar or outdated, but figures prominently in a photo. The idea is to enhance the meaning of the photo. When I included the above photo in a photo book about my parents' courtship, wedding, and honeymoon, I wrote a quick caption telling readers about congratulatory telegrams. I have to assume that future generations will have little knowledge of telegrams, since the last Western Union telegram in America was sent in 2006. This photo is a happy reminder that ..read more