A photograph of my ancestors (and me)

family history photography

I’ve been spending more time with a camera this past year, and less time doing genealogy research and website additions. This wasn’t a conscious decision, more a byproduct my professional time in 2013 and 2014 being consumed by development of a new website and CMS for my firm, GreenBiz, making ByrneFamily site additions and enhancements … Read more

Henry Felix Kloman’s WWI battlefield letters

Henry Felix Kloman

Gathering data online is my primary research activity these days, but there’s something special about holding a historic book, letter or photograph in your hands. This was brought home to me recently when I revisited a stash of letters from my grandparents and great grandparents.  I had glanced at them several years ago, but never read … Read more

Keziah Whitson Coles’ 1870 photo album brought back to life

keziah coles photos

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

A farewell to Digg

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

Ryland Drennan photos lost no more, and a found cousin

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