Category: Ancestor Stories
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Ellen McAuliffe’s Irish Family Lost in Time — and Rediscovered?
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My great-great-grandmother Ellen McAuliffe lived a brief but consequential life. Born around 1844, probably in Ireland, she arrived in New York in 1857 and died in Brooklyn in 1875 at just 33 years old. Her death record provides no information about her parents, leaving a gap in our family history…
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When Survival Required Remarriage: Anastasia Bosak’s Difficult Choice
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In 1874, Anastasia Bosak faced an impossible choice in Austrian Galicia: remarry quickly or face destitution. Her first husband Stephanus Dubnianski had died, leaving her with young Jacobus in one of Europe’s poorest provinces. For researchers tracing genealogy Austrian Galicia, understanding these constrained choices reveals the survival strategies our ancestors…
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When Genealogy Stops Being Solitary: The Ellen McAuliffe Story
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This post explores genealogical collaboration between the author in Cincinnati and a DNA cousin in Brisbane, Australia. Together, they’re researching whether Ellen McAuliffe (Brooklyn, 1857) and Margaret McAuliffe (Australia, 1845) were sisters, both daughters of Florence McAuliffe and Ellen Healey from Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland. Using DNA matches across multiple…
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StoryTeller Tuesday Challenge: An Ordinary Day in the Plunkett Household
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At 418 Van Brunt Street in Brooklyn’s Red Hook waterfront neighborhood, an ordinary day for the Plunkett household began with the sounds of dock work in January 1875. Peter operated as a middleman in the rag trade while Julia managed eight children at home. Every family member played a role…
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Beyond the Barbed Wire: What Stephen Marcisak’s POW Journal Reveals About Survival
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On April 29, 1945, Lieutenant Stephen Marcisak watched a Sherman tank roll through the gates of Stalag VII-A and wrote in his POW journal: “ALLIES TAKE OVER – FREE.” That journal (actually two versions documenting his 435 days as a prisoner of war) reveals what official military records never could.…
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Storyteller Tuesday Challenge: A Turning Point: When Everything Changed at No. 6 Östad
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Sometimes a turning point doesn’t announce itself with fanfare—it arrives quietly, in the realization of an unexpected pregnancy. In the spring of 1866, two nineteen-year-olds lived and worked at the same farm in Näsum, Sweden: Sven Mattisson and Sissa Andersdotter. When Sissa became pregnant, Swedish church records documented what happened…
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Sixteen Years Old and Brave Beyond Measure: Why I Admire My Great-Aunt Alma
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When I was sixteen, my biggest worries revolved around my high school classes, whether the cute boy outside Moeller High School noticed me, and getting my first job at McDonald’s. My great-aunt Alma Svensson was also sixteen once. But on January 11, 1912, she boarded the S.S. Oscar II in…
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Hello Again: The Genealogist Behind These Stories
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Hello again! As I begin my second year of the #52Ancestors challenge, I wanted to re-introduce myself and share who I am as a genealogist. I’m the researcher behind Our Growing Family Tree, where I’ve spent 25+ years tracing my Irish, Slovak, Polish, and Swedish immigrant ancestors. This genealogy blog…
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Memorable Genealogy Year: A Year of Growth and Discovery
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When I started this year’s #52Ancestors challenge, I knew I was committing to write 52 blog posts about my ancestors. What I didn’t know was how this memorable genealogy year would transform me as a genealogist, writer, researcher, and storyteller. From finally discovering what happened to my great-grandmother Julia Knysz…
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My Genealogy Year in Review: A Musical Journey
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My 2025 wasn’t about musical ancestors—it was a symphony of genealogical discovery. From my fifth year at virtual RootsTech to my first in-person NGS conference, from confirming two sets of Pennsylvania twins to piecing together Irish Brooklyn networks, from Swedish language barriers to AI transcription tools, this genealogy year in…