Sabrina RileyJan 185 minThe Best Grandma EverMy sister, Erin, said it best. We stood on her front porch watching fireworks on New Year’s Eve after learning that Grandma Lois had just...
Sabrina RileyJul 22, 20215 minA Colorful LifeRuth Bates Harris may be one of the most significant people of which you have never heard. I discovered her story as I researched a story...
Sabrina RileyMar 29, 20213 minHolding Hands With the PastAs I write, I'm preparing to teach a class about World War II to a group of homeschooled third through fifth graders. Using picture...
Sabrina RileyJan 29, 20214 minLittle House on the Prairie as Family HistoryLaura Ingalls Wilder's beloved Little House on the Prairie series is an amalgamation of memory, fact, and fiction. As recorded in Little...
Sabrina RileyAug 2, 20205 minMaking a Genealogical End RunBrick walls. Every genealogist runs into one sooner or later. The dead-end of a trail of evidence with no obvious solution in sight. When...
Sabrina RileyMar 2, 20204 minGreat-Grandpa's Vaudeville DaysAs I was growing up, I frequently heard about my great-grandfather William "Bill" Morris's days as a vaudeville stagehand in Muskegon,...
Sabrina RileyAug 12, 20187 minStoring Your Family Treasures for PreservationOver the past several weeks on Facebook I have been chronicling my progress in organizing my grandparents' collection of family...
Sabrina RileyJun 13, 20184 minLessons From My Grandfathers"Matriarchs" established that the women in our family are the storytellers. That doesn't mean the men have taught us any less. Their...
Sabrina RileyMay 11, 20183 minMatriarchsWhat makes one family a clan and another family a loosely connected network of households–if they even know each other? Is it simply a...
Sabrina RileyMar 21, 20186 minMystery of the Missing Native American DNA Part IIIt was Wayne Winkler's observation about the fluidity of Melungeon race identity in the United States Federal censuses that prompted me...
Sabrina RileyNov 19, 20175 minDavid Stevenson's Civil WarFort Foote occupied what felt like a remote place four miles south of Alexandria and eight miles south of Washington, D.C. With no access...
Sabrina RileyAug 28, 201710 minThe Stories Your Grandparents Don't Talk AboutWe all have them. The stories at which our grandparents only hint and won't satisfy us with answers, usually because they are too painful...
Sabrina RileyMay 16, 20177 minDeep Diving in Church ArchivesOne of the most important reasons for researching family history is to create a deeper emotional connection to family by better...
Sabrina RileyMar 19, 20175 minA Case of Patronymics and VariationsThis blog post is for my mother who has been suffering a twinge of inferiority complex since the discovery of my father's illustrious...
Sabrina RileySep 18, 20163 minDNA: A Corrective ToolSince I last posted about my own DNA results, a number of my family members have participated in our family DNA project. The results are...
Sabrina RileyJun 11, 20168 minMystery of the Missing Native American DNA Part IThe deeper I dig into DNA genealogical study the more convinced I become that race is an artificial construct of the human imagination,...
Sabrina RileyApr 17, 20166 minForgotten Life of SignificanceOld College View Seventh-day Adventist church about 1945-1946, corner of South 49th Street and Prescott Avenue. Today I feel compelled...
Sabrina RileyApr 1, 20164 minConflict of InterestOften just identifying ancestors back to the 1600s or earlier is a major achievement. Understanding something about the time period and...
Sabrina RileyMar 18, 20166 minConvergenceAfter all of the time I spent on my Nantucket Origins post, I hadn't planned to write again so soon about my New England ancestors....
Sabrina RileyJan 24, 20164 minNantucket OriginsFor the month of November I had thought it would be fun to revisit the Puritan origins of my family. But the process of reviewing the...