Our Growing Family Tree

How Old Family Photos Revealed Ida’s Forgotten Face

October 11, 2026

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For years, everything I knew about my great-aunt Ida Svensson Bengtsson came from Swedish parish books. They told me where she lived and whom she served. They never showed me her face. Then, on Day 4 of my Brooklyn trip, three old family photos turned up in the attic of…

An Unknown Cousin, a Clipping, and One Crossed-Out Word

October 8, 2026

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Kirsten M. Max-Douglas

In March 1945, a cousin I never knew existed sat down in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, and wrote to my great-grandaunt Bridget Plunkett. “You will be surprised at getting this letter,” she began. Margaret Kelley, “formerly Margaret Donnelly (or) cousin Maggie,” had just seen the Brooklyn Eagle notice of my great-grandmother…

A Faded 1940 Dog License Revealed Grandpa’s Forgotten Beagle

October 6, 2026

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Kirsten M. Max-Douglas

On September 11, while scanning papers from the attic of the Kensington house, I picked up a small, creased card: a 1940 Delaware dog license. The owner was “David Stone.” The dog was Susie, a female beagle, black, white, and tan. I knew my grandfather, David Sten, and I never…

Bridget Was More Than a Name on the Census

October 4, 2026

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Kirsten M. Max-Douglas

For most of this year, my great-grandaunt Bridget Plunkett was barely more than a name in my posts. The family remembered only that they called her “Aunt Sis” and believed she lived to be 100. The census kept finding her at the Kensington house with my great-grandparents, listed as doing…

Four Parishes, Sixteen Baptisms, One Cemetery, and a Tired Genealogist

September 24, 2026

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Kirsten M. Max-Douglas

The last three full days of my Brooklyn research trip were supposed to include the biggest parish day of the whole plan. Instead, I spent them almost entirely at the Kensington house, waiting on phone calls, bringing things down from the attic, and visiting with my aunt. On Thursday, the…

The Research Went to Plan. Then We Explored New York.

September 23, 2026

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Kirsten M. Max-Douglas

A morning at the Land Records Research Library in Jamaica, Queens was the appointment I had been waiting weeks to confirm. For a little while I was not sure whether pre-1966 Kings County deeds lived at the Land Records Research Library or at a downtown Brooklyn office, and the Department…

A Sunday of Family, Faith, and Memory

September 16, 2026

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Kirsten M. Max-Douglas

What was supposed to be a research-free Sunday, Mass with my aunt, then lunch with my sister, turned into an unplanned ancestral parish visit thirty-one years in the making. Sitting in the pew at Immaculate Heart of Mary, I realized I had not set foot in that church since my…

Buried Without a Stone, but Never Truly Forgotten

September 16, 2026

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Kirsten M. Max-Douglas

A Saturday at Holy Cross Cemetery was supposed to happen on Friday, then a family obligation pushed it to Saturday, and the cemetery office turned out to be appointment only. That left just the graves. Walking Olive Square, I found my second great grandfather William J. Dowling in a plot…

Our Growing Family Tree

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How Old Family Photos Revealed Ida’s Forgotten Face

An Unknown Cousin, a Clipping, and One Crossed-Out Word

A Faded 1940 Dog License Revealed Grandpa’s Forgotten Beagle

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