This week I was organizing some boxes in the basement when I came across my grandparents' wedding album. I had seen photos of their wedding day many times, but I hadn't seen the album in years and since I've been longing to find a picture of my great-grandmother, Mary (Harvey) Reese Gaul when she was young, I thought I'd check to see if there were any photos of her in there. I assumed I had seen all these pictures before and it was a long shot, so imagine my surprise when I c

The brick wall in my ancestry is my 2nd great-grandfather, Charles Russell Leonard. He was reportedly born in Union Springs, New York, in 1830, but finding evidence of this has evaded us. Learning about the places our ancestors lived can prove helpful, though, providing valuable clues about early settlers, churches, industries, and people. This article I found in Yesteryears, Volume 26, was written by Temple R. Hollcroft (1889-1967), former Historian of Cayuga County. It give

As a child, I remember asking my mother to tell me stories about when she was younger. How I wish I had asked all of my grandparents and great-grandparents that question while they were still living. If I had asked my great-grandfather, John Reese, what the most tragic event of his life was, he might have told me first about the death of his little brother, Harold E. Reese, who died at the young age of 6 in 1931, but I'm sure he would have added that just seven years later, h

DNA is a very complex subject, admittedly too complex for my full comprehension, but one thing that is fairly easy to understand is...

It took me way longer than it should have to test my DNA for genealogy purposes. When I finally did, I was astonished to find that parts...

Draft registrations for World War I and World War II can be found online, providing personal details about the lives of our male...