“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
The Fallen—coming in three parts
The letters were hidden for decades, but when they were brought to light, their indecipherable handwriting unraveled, and the readable German words translated into English, they revealed unknown secrets about my family’s relation to this monument and a relative whose name appears right near the top. PHOTO AT LEFT: War Memorial—Grosspold, Romania—my grandmother, Lisi Ebner/Gartz’s [...]
A Tale of Two Photos
Genealogy sure takes you back – but sometimes to a place you didn’t expect to go. Like when I was visiting Margel’s blog, “2338 W. Washington Blvd.” a few days ago. Margel’s blog caught my eye soon after I launched Family Archaeologist last November because I grew up at 4222 W. Washington Blvd. in Chicago, just about [...]
If you love me…
If you’ve ever been young and in love, this post will take you back to those heady days. I’ve been chronicling the letters I’ve found between my grandfather, Josef Gärtz, at aged twenty-one, (photo left), after he left for America on Christmas Eve, 1910 (see Terror Atop the Train) and my grandmother, Lisi Ebner (age twenty-three) who was still back [...]
An Easter Spritzing
Front of Easter postcard from Josef to Lisi. Note Cupid appears to be rowing an eggshell boat filled with flowers and a chick guides the rudder. […]
Family Photo Ties
Maria Ebner/Sonnleitner, seated, my grandmother’s sister and her family. Andreas far left, Maria Roth’s father. Travel Tuesday In our quest to find our family’s roots in Transylvania, my two brothers and I scored a number of heartening successes, often filled with surprise: discovering copies of prized family photos in the Neppendorf church museum, 5000 [...]
The Roma in Grosspold
Travel Tuesday It was getting later into the afternoon by the time we left Frau Sonnleitner, her pigs, and her dog named Linda. (See Going to the Dogs) with no luck in finding the Ebner Hof, my great-grandfather, Samuel Ebner’s, home in Grosspold, Romania. Pastor Meitert said he would make further inquiries on his own, and we [...]
Going to the Dogs
Given the shocking name of “Linda” TRAVEL TUESDAY My parents named me Linda. This shocked my grandfather, Josef. He said to my father, “For why you name a girl Linda? In Romania they only name the dogs Linda.” And he meant literal dogs, not the derogatory term used for unattractive girls. Over the years [...]
Blitzbuggy—A Car with History
Model A Ford-1929 (See Blitzbuggy below)credit: Hubcapcafe.com It’s Carnival of Genealogy (CoG) again, the monthly opportunity for genealogy bloggers to ponder a specific topic—and for April it’s cars. Thanks to Jasia at Creative Gene for hosting CoG. Blitzbuggy. For those of you who remember your World War II history, the term “Blitzkrieg” (Lightning warfare) may come [...]
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