Among the books on the new non-fiction shelves at the central library, I found a few gems, including Sarah Palin and the Wasilla Warriors: The True Story of the Improbable 1982 Alaska State Basketball Championship. It is probably the only book on Palin I will ever possibly read. Another one I grabbed was Lincoln, Inc., [...]
Archive for the ‘Germany’ Category
Sarah Barracuda, Clark Gable, Lincoln & Two Politicos
Posted: May 26, 2012 in Abraham Lincoln, Books, Germany, Pop Culture, United States0
Today, while browsing through the books on Germany in the Suzzallo Library, I discovered an important book to help me understand why my ancestors ventured so far from home. The book primarily covers the years 1887 and 1888, and events leading up to what the author describes as an imperial succession crisis. The subtitle provides [...]
In discussing the plight of a current organization in New Jersey that helps immigrants, a writer with the journal Nonprofit Quarterly has provided some key details on the immigration experience in earlier times. The institute is located in Jersey City, the second largest city in the state. . . . Jersey City . . . in fact, all of Hudson [...]
I love history. In early May I gave a presentation on German genealogy research. I included quite a bit of German history. Most genealogies are dry and boring, just a collection of names and dates, without adding two key components: history and biography. Today I discovered a site for students, which could be worthwhile for anyone tackling [...]
Roughly 3,500 years ago, folding chairs remarkably similar to ones found in Egypt suddenly became must-have items in parts of northern Europe. . . . Tutankhamen‘s tomb included two of these folding chairs, one made of ebony with ivory inlays. In a few weeks I am heading to the King Tut exhibit at Pacific Science Center [...]
On May 1 I gave a presentation on German genealogy research, a sort of introduction to it and my experiences, including several useful sites. One attendee sent me a nice, little note the other day. Thanks for the great class regarding German history and family research ideas. . . . I must admit that your [...]
I found the following on the Huffing and Puffing-ton Post. While the article is sad and depressing, I love reading about the origins of words, particularly Germanic ones such as Old Norse. The author writes about the words anger and anguish. The root of our word anger is, in fact, the Old Norse word angr, which means anguish, distress, grief, sorrow, [...]
A German at Castle Garden in 1887
Posted: March 5, 2012 in FROMKE, Germany, LENTZ, New York, United StatesOne of my automated alerts sent this to my inbox just now. Although whatever it is was uploaded today, the document has been deleted, which is frustrating because I’d like to read and see it in its entirety. My great grandparents were German, arriving on a ship and processed through the Castle Garden immigration depot in 1887. [...]
I have taken a few trips to the local National Archives building recently. On Friday I began skimming through the catalog of materials that are available. I discovered one group, known as Record Group 242, that has a lot of German records, seized by the U.S. or other governments during and after World War II. [...]
In 1889 a wax cylinder recording of Otto von Bismarck–recently re-discovered–was made by Thomas Edison’s assistant, Theo Wangemann, who had gone to Europe to attend the World’s Fair in Paris. Afterwards, Wangemann visited Bismarck in his castle at Friedrichsruh near Hamburg. Bismarck’s wife urged the Chancellor to make the recording, and he went along with it, recording lines [...]
