Genealogical and family research notes
My basement has a problem: Me. For years I’ve embraced the role of Archiver in Chief for family materials, amassing more books, letters, photos and ephemera than I can ever hope to properly organize and digest. And as I settle into this latest phase of life, I’m realizing it’s time to take care of jettisoning … Read more
Part II of a series on the story of Byrne Bros hardware. You can read Part I here. My Aunt Cathy tells a story of the closing of Byrne Bros hardware in 1967, and that when my grandfather, John Byrne, decided he was ready to retire, my father, Jack, asked if he should consider taking … Read more
Great Moments in Journalism Splat! That’s all I could think of when I saw the grainy newspaper photo from 75+ years ago. The image accompanied the unfortunate (and somewhat disturbing) story of the death of Roy Pulliam, a distant first cousin (3x removed). Having spent most of his life in and around Fresno, Cousin Roy … Read more
First of a three-part history of Byrne Bros Hardware in Santa Cruz, CA An email arrived recently from an unfamiliar address, containing a photo of an old piece of wood. But unlike 90% of my ByrneFamily.net inbox these days, this was neither spam nor a phishing project, but a delightful relic of long defunct Byrne … Read more
If you keep your genealogy research online, you’ve probably got a data problem. But unlike banking sites or Facebook, simply changing your password or deleting your account won’t solve the issue. That’s because the world’s largest for-profit genealogy services (the vast majority of sites exist to make money) are using your family-tree and DNA data … Read more
Families are chock full of colorful characters, legends and tragedies. In our family, we have a famous science fiction writer, a skyjacker, Mayflower passengers, Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers, the founder of Brooklyn and many others. Genealogy research has its quotient of humble-bragging, and famous relatives and/or salacious tales are simply grist for the mill. As … Read more
I was a chubby kid. Borderline fat. From around age 3 until puberty, when I shed baby fat like a discarded chrysalis, my annual visits to the pediatrician recorded height in the 50th percentile, while weight rarely dipped much below the 75th percentile. These stats are stated with great certainty, for my mother dutifully reported … Read more
My 10th gr-grandmother measured penises with broom handle. In the 1630s. It’s on Wikipedia, so it must be true, right? But this one’s been well-documented by other historians, so I tend to believe it’s not a complete fabrication. Genealogy reveals some strange things about what constitutes fame. When people find out it’s my hobby, they … Read more
Genealogy applications and software have gotten a little boring lately. With all the fascinating technologies surrounding data visualization, machine learning, and otherwise, most people choose the path of least resistance and hand their data over to Ancestry.com. And while Ancestry has some interesting visualizations for family trees and relationships, the closed-platform nature of it pretty … Read more
Ah, the siren song of shortcuts. Who can argue with wanting a faster way to get from Point A to Point B? Shortcuts shave effort, improve efficiency, and enable us to get more done in less time. They make life so much easier. Until they don’t. Recently I’ve been haunted by the shortcuts I took … Read more