Brooklyn

What I Found in a Photo

/ Michael / 3 Comments

While enrolled in a basic genealogy online course through Boston University I discovered that you can tell a great deal about the lives of people from looking at old photos and analyzing the objects around them.  Nothing is meaningless. To test my research skills I decided to work with a favorite photograph of my maternal … Continue reading What I Found in a Photo

“Money Cake”- Tales from 4th Street

/ Michael / 3 Comments

As a child in Brooklyn, the first notable event in my family that came after the Christmas and New Year's Holiday was my maternal grandmother's (and her twin brother's) birthday. This year will mark the 111th anniversary of their birth on 23 January 1906. At a family reunion back in October, my mother and her … Continue reading “Money Cake”- Tales from 4th Street

The Perils of Disproving Family Legends

/ Michael / 1 Comment

I am knee-deep in genealogy paperwork this weekend.  A package from the National Archives containing the military records of my great-grandfather, Sidney J. Kelly, Sr. spilled over 100 photocopied pages across my table that probably have not been disturbed since the 1920's at a time when his widow was seeking assistance with pensions and death … Continue reading The Perils of Disproving Family Legends

In Search of Fred Goat

/ Michael / 2 Comments

It all started with a homework assignment from my Aunt/God mother at the Kelly Family Reunion in October.  She wanted a photo of Fred Goat. I remember Fred Goat from my childhood. We lived in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn  during the 1960's, just down the street from my maternal  grandmother's house.  Nana, as … Continue reading In Search of Fred Goat