The Story of Byrne Bros Hardware, Pt. 1

Byrne Bros Hardware, 46 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA

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

Fernald Byrne’s deadly roller coaster ride

Giant Dipper roller coaster

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