Prestonia P.T.A. Jefferson Co., Kentucky, 1950
Flora A. Breitenstein, a.k.a. Mrs. Emil R. Breitenstein, was the president of the Prestonia P.T.A. in Jefferson Co., Kentucky in 1950. She saved memorabilia from her term in office minutes, photographs, thank you letters, ephemera, PTA annuals, programs, name...
Read moreImmigration
America – A Nation Of Immigrants If, as I have long suspected, Temperence (Baley) Cocke was the daughter of Cecely (?) Jordan Farrar, she and her mother are my earlier known ancestors on this side of the Atlantic. Temperence...
Read moreWhat’s in a Name?
Unusual Names are Fun and Informative and Clues A friend told me her grandfather’s grandfather’s name was Rensselaer Holmes. I wanted to know more, how nice to research Rensselaer instead of George, William, John or Thomas. I also wondered...
Read moreSocial Studies Teachers, One of the Best
I was lucky to have Mr. Burrows for 6th grade social studies at Cedar Hill Elementary School, so were my sister and brothers. I don’t know his full name, perhaps Robert. This was when teachers’ first names were Mr.,...
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Semantics – Are You From Here?
Native, Born, Bred, Reared, Raised, or Just From Somewhere Recently, Reinette Jones, a staff librarian at University of Kentucky Libraries, asked a provocative question, if I was from Kentucky. Technically I am, I lived there about fifty years ago....
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Who is the Little Girl in the Front Row?
My second cousin, Mara, has been sending me various Breitenstein family photographs as she unearths them. I love this, new pieces of history I haven’t seen before falling into my lap, unbidden. The last bunch included one with my...
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Eight of the Nine Breitenstein Brothers
Michael Henry Breitenstein and Elizabeth Ann Steinmetz Breitenstein had nine sons between 1888 and 1908. In 1955 eight of the nine brothers had a family reunion at the farm in Okolona, Jefferson Co., Kentucky. In order from left to...
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Dating Reunion Photographs
Locate the family groups, identify the babies, check for death dates of grandparents, get a fashion time estimate and reunion photographs will be a cinch to date. Break it down, who is missing from the photograph? Who ought to...
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Thank the Photographers
Kudos! Early this week my friend Donna put a photograph on Facebook of her daughter’s “last first day of school” which was so nice it made me smile. I liked it so much I shamelessly set out to copy...
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Plat Maps – Land Ownership Maps
Land Ownership Maps are like photographs, a snapshot of a specific time and place. Sometimes land ownership maps can solve genealogical questions and others times they pose the questions themselves. The county courthouse should have the most up-to-date maps...
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