Tag: EJT
-
What the Record Keeps: Following Eliza Huguenin Thomas Magill
The Names That Return In my previous post on “Cousin Rosa,” I introduced her as the daughter of Eliza Huguenin Thomas and John W. Magill. As I have noted in earlier writings, tracing female ancestors often requires the application of different guideposts than those typically employed for men. It is precisely this challenge that made Read more
-
The Life and Shadows of Mary Jane Thomas Gaden: A Story Waiting to Be Told
If I were a fiction writer, I’d already have a novel on my hands. This story has all the elements: a strong protagonist, mystery, wealth, betrayal, spiritualism, social reform, crime, and ruin. But it’s not fiction—it’s the real-life story of my 2nd great-aunt, Mary Jane Thomas Gaden. And I’m piecing it together, fragment by fragment, Read more
-
Follow the Women
Where I started over two years ago in genealogy research and where I am now are two very different places. My skill set for this work has steadily progressed. Still, I catch myself in frustration when I try to locate evidence of my female ancestors. When I spent a month in August of 2024 in Read more
-
Operating Instructions
Whenever I unbox a new gadget, I often ignore the operation manual. I usually fumble around, perform a bunch of unscripted tactics, and voila, I figure it out. Or not. Then, maybe, I pull out the instructions to witness the breadcrumbs of predictable mistakes I could have skipped had I considered the proper steps, all Read more