There’s a long tradition of crappy photographers in my family. Great grandmother Edna was a pioneer of bad photography with her 1900 box camera mirror photo, presaging the selfie by over a century. Her son, Valentine (Coles), inherited the bad photographer gene, and proceeded to marry my grandmother, who was possibly the worst of the … Read more
I keep this blog focused on personal topics and hobbies, primarily genealogy, with only the occasional mention of matters related to my professional life. But the demise of social media site Digg has me straying off topic a bit, if only because Digg insidiously crept into my personal life during the course of the 2-3 … Read more
An afternoon of downtime in Washington DC a few weeks back afforded me an opportunity to visit Arlington Cemetery, and the grave of my great grandfather, Major Thomas Tidball Trapnell. It was a chance to get a few moments of peace in an otherwise hectic week, and to forge a connection with a man I … Read more
Did you happen to find this site while searching for your Byrne ancestors? I’m glad you visited, but want to warn you up front there are very few Byrnes here. In fact, of the 4,500+ genealogical records on the site, only about 100 or so are Byrnes. The reason for the dearth of Byrnes on … Read more
One of the pleasures of hosting a website filled with genealogical records is connecting with family members I might not otherwise know. Neither of my parents were diligent about maintaining family connections, save for periodic trips to Santa Cruz or Los Angeles to visit my grandparents. On very rare occasions, we would go on trips … Read more
A highlight from a recent New England trip was getting to spend some time in and around Portsmouth, NH. The town has a rich history for shipbuilding, fishing, and as an important port for the region. More recently, Portsmouth has become a popular tourist destination, and like most of coastal Maine, the town feels a … Read more
Probably the ugliest and more boring highway in California is Interstate 5. And it’s also a road I travel on a regular basis. So the prospect this past summer of another jaunt to LA via that well-traveled corridor populated by truck convoys and manic Lincoln Navigators was more than I could bear. Instead, we chose … Read more
For many years, my grandparents dedicated a wall in their Santa Cruz home to old family photos. They were mostly run-of-the-mill portraits and snapshots of aunts and uncles, with the notable exception of a blurry image of a dapper man in a white uniform, standing on the deck of a ship, circa 1920. With a … Read more
One of the main barriers to revamping this website was the challenge of integrating my genealogy data, which is powered by The Next Generation (TNG), with a proper content management system (CMS). TNG is the most robust platform for presenting genealogical data, and is well supported by both its author, Darrin Lythgoe, and an active … Read more
Relaunching this site on New Year’s Day was more coincidence than by design, but the timing is a good excuse for a little self-reflection on why ByrneFamily.net exists. And while there is still a tremendous amount of work to do in the way of content, functionality, and design, having a stable site built on a … Read more