“Family Archaeologist” explores a century of family letters, diaries, and artifacts, and how they illuminate history and our shared humanity. To get an overview of the blog, click: “Welcome to Family Archaeologist”
LATEST BLOG POSTS
Channeling the Dead to Life
Missler Wallet with Josef’s Gärtz’s diary inside. Note: “Missler” was a ticket agent in Bremen, Germany, but for years people thought it was the name of this “ghostship.” Scroll down to the “Missler” link to learn more. This piece is a repost, originally published on the blog on December 23, 2010, a day before [...]
Hidden Message Behind Women’s Work
Jickeli Household Help. Lisi Ebner seated 2nd from left. Mrs. Jickeli, center in black. This post was originally published on December 19, 1910 This photo hung in my grandmother’s house for her entire life. The image has been carefully stylized to depict what women did in at the turn of the last century, but [...]
Blended Family Breakthrough
This post was originally published on December 13, 2010 Maria Schuster marries Samuel Ebner May 22, 1899recorded in the Church “Family Book” in Grosspold, Romania Samuel Ebner, my great-grandfather, did not remain a widower for long (see how my great-grandmother died at Life and Death Abbreviated). In May 1899, he married the widow, Maria Schuster, who [...]
Life and Death Abbreviated
Grosspold Family Book This is a repost that was originally published on this blog on Dec. 7, 2010 My grandmother kept a photo of her hometown church tucked into the hymnbook she brought with her from Romania. No wonder. That church was more than just a place of worship. It was the repository of [...]
The moment that I knew…
May 15, 1911: L-R Katarina Gärtz, Lisi Ebner, a cousin This photo of my grandmother, Lisi Ebner, and her future sister-in-law, Katarina Gärtz, dated May 15, 1911, was in our family photo collection for decades. Only when I was able to decipher and translate a letter my grandfather had written that same month, did I realize [...]
Remember Me in 1910
This is a repost, originally published Nov. 29, 2010 About the time Josef Gärtz received his Military Draft Summons (see Drafted 100 years ago), this photo was taken of my grandmother, Elisabetha, (known most often as “Lisi”). It was stored with other old photographs in an envelope on which she listed the contents, including this one: “Mein Bild [...]
Drafted 100 Years Ago!
This is a repost that first appeared in November, 2010. The summer before Josef wrote his sweet postcard to Lisi (see Can Love Last 100 Years?), he had received a written notice not nearly as delightful. A scan is at the left. It was the first page in a notebook onto the front of which my grandfather [...]
Can love last 100 years?
This is a repost of a love note from Nov. 18, 1910, sent from my grandfather to my grandmother. It was originally posted exactly 100 years after Josef wrote it. Funny thing about love. We know it when we feel it. We know it when we see it. I can see it in this postcard, [...]
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