This is the tombstone of my great grandparents, Theodore P. Smith 1877-1914 (aka Theodoro Pacheco) and Mary P. Smith 1878-1938 (aka Maria de Braga). They were buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Oakland, CA. When I visited the grave site for the first time, the fence was bent over and the ivy was seriously in danger…
Delayed Birth Records May Help Hawaiian Genealogists
One of the most frustrating things about researching in Hawaii is the difficulty in obtaining vital records prior to 1910. Their are registry logs, but the information can be cryptic, incomplete, or undecipherable. I’ve gone through them and found entries where parents are listed only as “Jose and Maria”. Great, which Jose and Marie? Almost…
A Noble Life: My Great Aunt Julie
I didn’t know my Great Aunt Julie very well. I met her a couple of times as a child. Then when I started doing my family tree, we shared a few phone calls and letters. But, what I knew, I admired. My conversations with my Great Aunt took place while she was in her 80s. …
Newspaper Clipping File: McSwegan
One of the families I know very little about is the McSwegan’s. My Gr Gr Gr Aunt, Catharine Kelly, married Thomas McSwegan sometime in the 1870s. They’re children were Hugh, Nellie, Joseph, Catherine, Alice, Arthur, and Ellen. The family lived in various areas of San Francisco. I know that Catharine lived with several of her…
Impossible Places to Research: the Hawaiian Islands
Another installment in “My Area’s of Expertise”… Now, let me tell you about Hawaii, that beautiful island paradise. In Hawaii, I’ve experienced a similar problem but for different reasons. Hawaii was very isolated until the 1830s. When outsiders started seeing the potential to make money, Hawaii became much like a super sonic boom town. Things…