An apprentice butcher's training in 19th century "Germany" included journeying and learning from one expert to another and sta

See the 1922 comparison of small-town Fairfield, IA versus New York City - it's entertaining what doing genealogy research can uncover t

Recall that in our last blog on Herbert Harschnek, the US family had been searching for any German relatives for decades with no success. Wh

Finding Herbert Harschnek - a little saga of 99 years parted: Starting with Alois Harschnek whom we mentioned in our last post.

I feel so very lucky that my family has saved and cared for both family photos and also diaries, letters and other family pieces. Reading...

Voyage to America: Servant Class - Independent Woman

One of the fun things about digging through old family papers is discovering the whimsical pieces that someone has tucked away. Here's

Sometimes you think you’ve heard almost every family story (often multiple times), but I’ve been so wonderfully surprised recently....and in

When it comes to place names, getting from English to German and vice-versa can be challenging, but it's also loads of fun, and useful,...

Turns out that these cards were often the early 20th century equivalent of a photo booth at an amusement park.

One says he's German. The other says he's Danish. They're twins. It actually makes sense, but there's history to understand.

A family postcard goes from gibberish to treasure with translation - the magic of family genealogical translation!