This incubator of plague and sower of dissent is my daughter. I love her with all my heart, but motherhood isn't easy, no matter how cute the child appears. Sure, plenty of people do tell me she's cute - "So cute!" "How adorable!" "I just love her." "She's no trouble at all." To the outside world, ...
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Snow Days
What are your memories of snow days in your youth? Mine is of listening to WBCN Boston 104.1, hoping for the snow song. It was a parody of Monty Python’s “Spam,” except it went, “Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow…” When you heard that, you knew there was a possibility of a snow ...
Transcripts vs. Original Records
It seems I'm on a roll with sharing my thoughts in 2020! As it turns out, I'm also on a roll with finding Italian records. You see, I have two "sets" of Italian ancestors, both maternal. My mom's parents each have one Italian parent. And those Italian parents are from completely opposite "ends" of ...
Navigating the FamilySearch Catalog
While we know FamilySearch is one of the best free genealogy resources available, most people aren't making the most of what they have to offer. If you're going to FamilySearch.org and searching from there, let me show you what you're missing out on and how to dig deeper! Start with the Catalog ...
The Eventful Existence of Edward Callaghan: How DNA Testing Bridged A Life Lived Across 3 Continents
Edward Callaghan lived quite an eventful life and the funny thing is I never knew that not only was he the ancestor of an elementary school friend of mine, but would also become the ancestor of one my children. I've tried for months to sum up his life. We'll see if I succeed this time. My ...
Witch or Bitch?
In 1997, the song Bitch by Meredith Brooks came out and many women embraced it. You probably still remember dancing around to it, thinking, "Oh yeah, I'm hella edgy!" But how many of you read the book Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel, published in 1998? Elizabeth Wurtzel ...