Eatin’ Good in the Neighborhood
This happened today, 3 blocks from our hotel and across the street from the “Kebap Salon” we ate at. [singlepic id=63 w=320 h=240 float=center]
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Deutschland, Tag Zwei
Today has been a fun day. We slept in pretty late and then took the tour bus through Hamburg. Getting on a bus is a story in itself, but I’ll spare the details. Let it be said that our mono-linguistic paralysis puts us at a slight disadvantage. Here are the pictures: [sthumbs=66|64|61|59|58|47|46|44|43|42|41|40|39|38|37|36|34|30|29|23|8|6|4|1,160,max,n,center,]
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Liza
[singlepic id=51 w=320 h=240 float=left]Over the last 2 years or so I have devoted this website to relaying stories of my ancestors and preserving these stories for my kids. But the fondest memories I have are those my kids themselves have provided over the years. 26 years ago tomorrow, my journey as a father began
Kissin’ Kuzzins?
[singlepic id=46 w=320 h=240 float=left]I’ve been spending time working on my set of 3rd great grandparents, stemming from my paternal grandmother, Alice (Waege) Rathkamp. Lately I’ve been on a bit of a roll, discovering some of their home towns in what was then Pomerania and now is part of Poland. Originally, this post was going
Working Sideways
[singlepic id=45 w=320 h=240 float=left]Last night was a good night for genealogy in the Rathkamp house. My third great grandparents, August and Henriette (Viergutz) Wesenberg were the first of my ancestors to emigrate to America. They arrived in New York on August 10, 1846. I’ve never put a lot of time into this branch of
What’s in a name?
Val’s always poking fun of some of the names of my German ancestors. She’s pretty sure there’s a Friedrich Heinrich Johann Jakob Jingleheimerschmidt in my tree somewhere. I thought I’d share some of the gems I’ve uncovered from her side: [singlepic id=31 w=320 h=240 float=right]Minerva Belle Tobey Charity Mack Mindwell Mack (there were actually a
Bill & Pat’s Excellent Adventure
[singlepic id=19 w=320 h=240 float=left]Here’s another picture from the archives. I’m guessing this picture was taken sometime in the ’50s. From left, my grandmother, Alice “Pat” (Waege) Rathkamp, unknown friend, and my grandfather, Bill Rathkamp. The tavern most likely was somewhere on the north or west side of Milwaukee. Seeing a picture of my grandfather
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Mr. Rath, Meet Ms. Kamp…the origins of the Rathkamp Surname
My blogging software has a feature that shows me search strings people use to find my website. Some of the search terms are pretty entertaining. Like last week when somebody somehow found me by searching “pic of an old German family having a fight”. Other times, I can see Google doing its job by
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He Left the Horse Out in the Yard
[singlepic id=16 w=320 h=240 float=right]Hearing about the current shortage of the H1N1 flu vaccine, I’m reminded of the fact that this is not by any stretch the first nor the most severe flu epidemic in our country’s history. My great grandfather, Fredrich Walz was one of the many victims of the Spanish Influenza in 1918.
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The Ida Brockhaus Time Machine
I have a lot of family history pictures that originally belonged to my great aunt Grace (Waege) Larson. Just the other day I realized that out of all these pictures, the pictures I have of my Great Grandmother Ida (Brockhaus) Waege are the only pictures I own that do a really nice job of spanning
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Neighbors
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
When the Levee Breaks
My friend Herr Wessels from Bassum, Germany has been a great source of information over the last couple months. He’s also taken the time to teach me a lot about the region, naming practices, and has given me a glimpse into the society my ancestors lived.[singlepic id=4 w=320 h=240 float=left] Originally, his thought was that
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