Family Stories I've Found

Lost and Restored Histories and Mysteries of People I Research

* 43 Incredible and True Family Stories *

I’ve researched the genealogy of my ancestors for several decades. Along the way, I found people, some relatives, some not, who were long forgotten. While restoring their memories, I discovered fascinating stories and a few mysteries yet to be solved.

  • Feature Images are AI generated and do not represent real people, places, or things.
  • The Iowa Land Patents of Christian Tenebahn
    The Iowa Land Patents of Christian Tenebahn

    In the spring of 1852, several Tenebahn families emigrated to the U.S. from Germany. From New Orleans they took a steamboat to Dubuque, IA. There, they split up, some traveling to Minnesota via wagon train. The Christian Tenebahn family remained in east central Iowa, homesteading for about three years. This is their untold story.

  • Lots 188 and 189 of McGee’s Addition
    Lots 188 and 189 of McGee’s Addition

    In June, 1857, pioneering immigrants, Christian and Caroline Tonebohn, purchased a residential lot in the speculative McGee’s Addition in, what was then, the town of Kansas, Missouri. The lot, then Missouri prairie, is now situated in the heart of downtown Kansas City, MO. Here’s how that happened.

  • Johann Friedrich Daniel Wendt – Soldier, Immigrant, and Farmer
    Johann Friedrich Daniel Wendt – Soldier, Immigrant, and Farmer

    We know quite a lot about Max and Minnie Wendt after they settle, by 1870, first in Moberly, MO, then St. Louis, MO, finally Kansas City, KS. Before that; before they emigrated from Germany, we have few details about their whereabouts and lives. Here, we present what is known and unknown with a few theories…

  • Discovering Lemuel Hopper
    Discovering Lemuel Hopper

    Sometimes, while doing genealogy research, you discover a person who you would have wanted to meet in person. Lemuel Hopper is one of those people. His life was brimming with adventure and self-reinvention. Here is his story.

  • The Curious Life of Edourd Bruno Czaska
    The Curious Life of Edourd Bruno Czaska

    Edourd (Edward) Bruno Czaska lived a short yet adventurous life. In his 44 years he, with his wife Elizabeth, traveled from Germany to Baltimore, MD then westward to San Francisco, CA. We will explore these travels, reveal mysteries, and find that, in the end, it was Edward’s wife Elizabeth who lived long and prospered.

  • The True Identity of Delamer Duverus
    The True Identity of Delamer Duverus

    The Golden Reed, by Delamer Duverus, outlined the vision of humanity and the future where he predicted the downfall of mankind in the kind of apocalyptic terms usually reserved for science fiction, oracles of doom and madmen. Let’s see who he actually was.

  • Redd Family Children – Parent Mystery Discussion
    Redd Family Children – Parent Mystery Discussion

    The Red family were thought to be Cherokee. That story is partially true in that the Redd family settled on land in Habersham County, GA not long after the Cherokee’s had been removed. In fact, the Redd family are named Red because two Redd sisters named their children as such. Here’s how that happened.

  • Anchors Aweigh – the Naval Career of John Baldwin
    Anchors Aweigh – the Naval Career of John Baldwin

    In this story, the 2nd of two parts, we will set sail on the naval career odyssey of John “Johnny” Baldwin. We will use official US Navy documents to recall his tours of duty. Along the way, we will get to know this man, who joined the US Navy at the tender age of 16.

  • Dearest Dorothy – the Love Letters of Johnny Baldwin
    Dearest Dorothy – the Love Letters of Johnny Baldwin

    Between June 1939 and May 1940, with World War II looming, Naval Signalman, John “Johnny” Baldwin carried on a long distance letter writing courtship with Dorothy Lee Dixon. In all, 35 letters were sent to Dorothy. Before they married in May 1940, they had only met twice.


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