Author Archives: pursuingyourpast

It was a beautiful fall day. I found myself driving through Beatrice, Nebraska. As a Nebraska native, I learned early about the significance of the Homestead Act and the rich history of how the land in our state was settled. However, I had never had the chance to visit the National Park site that paysContinue reading “Homestead National Monument”

A couple weeks ago, there was a special gathering at the depot in Ellis, KS commemorating the arrival of a train full of hopeful African Americans here in 1877. They were coming to Kansas from Kentucky in the hope of owning land at Nicodemus, KS. They got off the train in Ellis and walked theContinue reading “Ellis to Nicodemus 2022”

A couple of months back, I’d met a distant cousin. She had shared several interesting photos from our shared Merritt family back in eastern Ohio. One of the photos intrigued me. It was a large group gathering. I could pick out several familiar faces in the crowd. There was a stamp on the back withContinue reading “The Power of Crowdsourcing!”

100 years after my great grandmother and her sisters joined the Daughters of the American Revolution, several cousins and I went through the process of proving our lineage back to George Brown, Senior.  Today at our local DAR meeting, we got to introduce our Patriot ancestor to the members.  Here’s a little bit that IContinue reading “A D.A.R. Patriot”

Years ago, I received a hand written list of all of the important books my great grandmother had owned.  She had listed information on why the book was significant and which of her sons was to receive each book.  All of these awesome old family treasures had been accounted for, except one book, Elizabeth K.Continue reading “Lizzy’s Diary!”

We have a great tradition in our clan, a family newsletter, published annually, keeping everyone connected and sharing the family history. We call it “SchNel Mail” to honor the families represented in it’s pages. In German, schnel means fast. Well, there’s nothing fast about gathering and compiling the happenings, photos and history of these families!Continue reading “Family Newsletter . . . a Labor of Love!”

This has been a year in the making. With 2021 comes a new opportunity to launch a new website, a new business endeavor and a new blog. We’ll be sharing research tips and tricks, fascinating family stories and new discoveries as they are made. Looking forward to sharing as time allows.