Did you miss me? Or at least my weekly posts? I returned last week from our fabulous Grand Circle “Great Rivers of Europe” trip cruising from Amsterdam to Vienna, Austria. If you follow me on Facebook, you were able to keep up with our daily activities. If not, and you’re interested, I’m on Facebook as […]
Read MoreThis week’s topic for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge is “So Far Away!” It couldn’t have come at a better time! In just a few weeks, Scott and I will be joining my sister Jeanne and her partner, Suzi on a very special trip, a river cruise beginning in Amsterdam and ending in […]
Read MoreToday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The lives of my mother and her family were changed forever one day in March 1938. On that day, the Nazis appropriated my great-grandfather’s business. As he (Sigmund Lichtenthal) explained in a letter written years later, “The firm, Lital, came to a natural end when Austria was occupied by […]
Read MoreMy mother, Doris Lichtenthal, passed away on December 2, 2011. Her purse has been sitting, untouched on the floor of my closet since then. I just can’t make myself get rid of it. As her executrix, I did go through it after her passing, but it seemed like some sort of violation. Like a sacred […]
Read MoreI really don’t know much about this object. There are actually two of these goblets. Unfortunately, the glass insert for the other one broke. (So why am I keeping it??) Although the goblet appears to be made of silver, it is actually silver-plated, maybe over brass, as it is very heavy. Thanks to my husband, […]
Read MoreToday would have been my maternal grandmother’s 114th birthday. Rose Spiegel Lichtenthal was born on October 19, 1903 in Java (Indonesia) to Herman Spiegel and Sophie Weiss. Here are a few pictures her descendants (other than me!) have never seen. Rose (right) and her mother, Sophie – The Haag – 1921 Rose (left), sister Claire […]
Read MoreToday’s post is inspired by Marian Burk Wood. Yesterday on her blog, Climbing My Family Tree, Marian suggested taking “virtual field trips. ” Using Google Maps, this is pretty easy. Of course, you do need to have an idea of where your ancestor lived. Below are then (1938-ish) and now shots of the apartment house my […]
Read MoreFamily history is not just a collection of vital records – the who, what and when. For me, it’s more about the why and the how. Those items we have so lovingly saved help round out the stories of our ancestors. There’s something about holding your great-grandmother’s slippers that cements that family connection. My mom was […]
Read MoreIt’s been 5 years since you left us. Before you said goodbye, you told me, “I had a job to do and I did it.” You sure did your “job” well, Mom. Since Dec, 2, 2011 there have been high school graduations, college graduations, two weddings, house renovations, household moves, retirements and TWO new additions […]
Read MoreOne of the first tasks in the Genealogy Do-Over was to interview family members. Sadly, we have almost no one left in my parents’ generation to interview. My mother, Doris Lichtenthal Falcone passed away on Dec. 2, 2011. Today she would have been 83 years old. I spent some time regretting the fact that I […]
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Who We Are and How We Got This Way 