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
Things are in motion right now with the site design & layout. Looking for Byrne, Trapnell, Garland, or Asimov genealogy data? Just click on the ‘Genealogy’ tab.