Everyone in the small town of Dothan, Alabama considered my great-grandfather, Jeff Orr, a genius with all things mechanical: a characteristic that would follow him all the years to come after dropping out of school in seventh grade. Following his mother’s death, Jeff’s father hesitantly permitted him to withdraw from school. He worked on the …
Continue reading "The American Rifleman"
Gardner, Massachusetts. A town that can be summed up in one word: quaint. The town proper is just hardly big enough to fit the shops needed to sustain a community — the grocery store, gas station, car shop, etc. Today those roles are filled by a number of business big and small; the town has …
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My Grandmother In most families, people grow up in a warm, engaging, environment. For my grandmother, that was not the case. My grandmother, Edna Archer, grew up in Galveston, TX, with a mother, father, and brother. Her great grandfather was a well-known entrepreneur, William Lewis Moody, famous throughout Galveston and the southern part of Texas. …
Continue reading "Annie Archer: My Grandmother"
Ever since I was a little girl, my dad used to tell me that I was related to Sir William Wallace. I was always slightly skeptical as to how he knew this to be true. However, being too young to know any better, I just assumed he was right. As I grew older, I began …
Continue reading "Sir William Wallace: Scottish and Catholic Hero"
As an orthodox Christian, it came as a bit of shock to me that practically my entire father’s ancestry line was Mormon. This religious dynasty extended to even the founding of what I had previously considered a cult. While it might not seem that I would be thrilled to write about this discovery, after some …
Continue reading "Stephen Fletcher: Mormon Roots, Christian Fruit"
The Inventor Who Almost Did Many immigrants came over to this land with nothing but the clothes on their backs, dreaming of wealth and freedom for themselves and their families. Many claimed that freedom but far fewer claimed the wealth. My own great-great-grandfather, Theodore Lolos, was no different from most others in this regard. He …
Continue reading "The Inventor Who Almost Did"
My mother’s side of the family has had several soldiers fight in many different wars over the past 150 years, and their service is something of which I am very proud. Military servicemen have always been regarded as the most courageous and altruistic people in America. Soldiers give up years of their lives to serve …
Continue reading "Connor Woodall: Freedom Fighters"
Nestled at the base of the Appalachian Mountains sits a tiny liberal arts school, Union College. Up until a few weeks ago I had barely even heard of this college, let alone paid any attention to it or imagined its relevance to me. This apathetic feeling quickly subsided when my grandmother told me that we …
Continue reading "Brenna Barber: Leaving a Lasting Mark"
For generations, the Mims have been nothing but simple farmers. They did not move around too much, preferring to stay in the South. We tended small farms, not the stereotypical mega plantations, and led quiet, simple lives. My dad grew up in the small town of Clanton, in Chilton County, Alabama. He lived in a …
Continue reading "Samuel Mims: From Farmers to Engineers"
I have always been curious about my ancestry before this project, but I had never looked into it all that deeply. I was excited to maybe find that I was related to someone famous or had accomplished something great. But there was very little I could find on both sides of my family. There …
Continue reading "Hunter Pollok: Starting a New Life"
I have known for a long time that we Covingtons are a proud family of very creative people, but I did not know that we had a history of engineering. However, the Covington family traces its lineage to Martin van Buren who was a “weekend” engineer at his home in Kinderhook, New York and enjoyed …
Continue reading "Kevin Covington: Creativity in Engineering"
Our class was told we would be writing a genealogy paper, and I thought “great, time to show off how awesome my ancestry is!” My class downloaded ancestry.com to aid us in forming our family trees, and after a call with my mother, I was able to witness the magic of the website. Census reports …
Continue reading "Paul Brazie: From Rags to Opportunity"
As I read the clipping from an Akron, Colorado newspaper, I pictured the life of some “Paul Bunyan-esque” American hero or character in an old western: full of danger and adventure. The article followed the adventures of a man who was seemingly pursued by danger as he traveled across the country, and yet he was always one …
Continue reading "John Andrews: A True Fontiersman"
At the turn of the twentieth century, a Jewish family fled Poland in pursuit of change. The family wanted to take a new direction in life and sought the American Dream: the idea of freedom, equality, and opportunity for every American (“American…”). Along with millions of other Jews living in Russian ruled land, my great-great …
Continue reading "Sadie Pudles: A Jewish Family Changing Culture"
The U.S. Civil War is known as the single deadliest war in American history. More American soldiers died in this war than in all of the country’s previous conflicts combined, most likely because the soldiers on both sides were, in fact, American. The war pit state against state, town against town, neighbor against neighbor. For …
Continue reading "Lexa Rains: A House Divided"
It is common for a person’s last name to confuse others when it comes to pronunciation and spelling, as last names often illustrate a family’s original culture. I learned early on from my parents that my last name, Boucher is French. However, I did not learn until I was around twelve that my father had …
Continue reading "Meaghan Boucher: What’s In a Name?"
“Remember that your soldier still loves you,” wrote Ann Hollis’ husband from a training camp in North Carolina as he was preparing to travel overseas during World War II (the picture shown above is one of many letters written to his wife found in the W.S. Hoole Collection). Much like this solider who found himself …
Continue reading "Virginia Wilson: Unconditional Love"