Bringing Alice Schell Berger out of the shadows: 1868 thru 1885

Some women in my family tree lived extraordinary lives for their times. They traveled, worked, and had experiences that weren’t the norm for women of their day. Alice Deisher Schell is not one of those women. She had a nice middle class upbringing, and sustained that through her marriage.

She is the kind of person who normally wouldn’t be remembered when talking about your family history. Unlike some other women in my family tree, there are no “can you believe Alice did…” stories; no mysteries; and no secrets that were revealed when I was researching her life. Which is precisely why I wanted to write about her. She may not have done extraordinary things, but she is still someone I descend from. I wanted to learn what I could about her and bring her out of the shadows so she is not forgotten. Continue reading

Eleanor McGlothlen Kirkpatrick Newhouse “Grandma Newhouse” was kind of a badass

I can’t write all of the amazing things that happened to Grandma Newhouse in her 75 years in one post, so I’ll break it into multiple posts. To see all of the stories click this tag: Eleanor McGlothlen Kirkpatrick

Mabel Winney and Grandma Newhouse (2)

Grandma Newhouse with Mabel Wallberg abt 1903

Eleanor’s stories

I’m incredibly fortunate that my family loved to write their stories and interview their parents and grandparents to find out more about their lives and their families. I have a lot of stories thanks to Eleanor’s diary excerpts and The Grandma Newhouse Story. Continue reading

Agnes Geier Wulfestieg marries aboard a ship from Germany to Brazil

Agnes’ Story

1890s Agnes A Geier Wulfestieg in Santa Ana CA

Agnes A Geier Wulfestieg in Santa Ana CA, 1890s

Most of the story below was taken verbatim from Dorothy Beck’s genealogy source notes that were sent to me. I’ve added details about dates and places of their children being born as I’ve found more information through census data and other records. Continue reading

Amalia Bromander Walks from Finland to Sweden

Amalia Sofia Bromander

How I’m related

Amalia Sofia Bromander was born on March 1, 1822 in Botkyrka, Sweden. She married Ulrich Wallberg on July 27, 1850 in Hatuna, Uppsala, Sweden. Amalia is my mom’s great-great grandmother on her mother’s side.

This information is from “The Grandpa Wallberg story”: Continue reading