One of the things I love about genealogy is being able to make a big discovery by piecing together tiny discoveries. As mentioned in a previous post, William and Olive Rathkamp are the only great grandparents of mine for which I have no pictures. Not a single picture that I know of has made its […]
Adding a Face to the Name (Well, Hello There Willie!) Read More »
In October, 2009 I wrote THIS POST about my Great Grandmother, Olive (Hassel) Rathkamp, my dad’s grandmother. Olive died in 1926, 16 years before my dad was born. Until last week she and her Swedish ancestors continued to be a complete mystery. I’ve accumulated some anecdotal evidence, but nothing concrete. Here’s what I suspected: That’s
The Swedes Come Out of the Weeds Read More »
Last week, my cousin Paul asked via FaceBook if I’ve dug up any “Dead Rathkamps” lately. The answer was a simple “no”. I’ve been so busy with other stuff that I haven’t really been working on any genealogy projects lately. One of my favorite nightly rituals is to log on to Google Reader and peruse
Esther Just Before Easter Read More »
[singlepic id=20 w=800 h=450 float=center] From left to right, starting from the front row (my grandparents): Bill Rathkamp, Alice “Pat” (Waege) Rathkamp, George Niesl, Emma (Walz) Niesl 2nd row (my great grandparents): Wm. Waege, Ida (Brockhaus) Waege, George Niesl, Katherine (Dachs) Niesl, Fred Walz, Sophia (Bischke) Walz 3rd row (my great great grandparents): Wm. Waege,
The Photo Tree and the Missing Branch Read More »
[singlepic id=17 w=320 h=240 float=left]It’s hard to imagine the conditions our ancestors faced in Europe and even harder to imagine what finally happened in their lives to ultimately get them to commit to leaving their homes and families. I’m sure there had to be the promise of opportunity, but this was a much heavier decision
Did They Come Alone? Read More »
When people visit downtown Milwaukee, a lot of them comment on how many old buildings they see. Actually, what they see is a fraction of what once was. Milwaukee has managed to replace its history with parking structures, sports venues, and bland concrete buildings. I still love my home town, but the remaining buildings only
Fun With Google Maps, Part 1 Read More »
[singlepic id=7 w=320 h=240 float=left]These are two of my favorites from my collection of family pictures. The first picture was taken on the porch of the Brockhaus family farm nearl Campbellsport, Wisconsin in about 1913. Seated from left to right in the back row are my Great Great Grandparents William and Pauline Brockhaus, their son-in-law
Brockhaus Family Pictures Read More »
If I am the trunk of my genealogical tree, Olive Hassell is the closest branch with the most mystery surrounding it. Olive is my paternal great grandmother, married to William J. Rathkamp. I know almost nothing specific about her other than her date of death. I know she was born in Sweden (my only non-German
The Swede in the Weeds…Such a Hassell Read More »
It’s amazing what you find when [singlepic id=1 w=320 h=240 float=right] really look closely at a census sheet. The genealogy software I use is Family Tree Maker which is owned and developed by Ancestry.com. One of the nice things about this software is the “shaking leaf” it shows on a family member when it
My maternal grandmother, Emma (Walz) Niesl was born in Freeman, SD in 1913 to Fred Walz and Sophie Bischke. The Walzes and Bischkes were German, but we had always been told as kids that they had lived in Russia or Ukraine. This seemed to make our family history just a little exotic, almost as if
Over the last couple weeks, I’ve been spending some time at the Golda Meir Library on the campus of The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. For whatever reason, the library was chosen to archive all or most of Milwaukee’s vital records. Some of these records can be found on Ancestry.com, but are very incomplete. From what
Tapping into a New Source Read More »
This is WAY cool! Today I was sending emails back and forth to my friend Ernst-Dieter in Bassum. Ernst-Dieter sent this picture of the house built by Johann Heinrich Rathkamp in Neubruchhausen in 1822. I’m still not sure what my connection is to Johann Heinrich. It’s possible he’s my GGG Grandfather, but I have to