I’m my own grandpa [video]
This is often how I feel when I'm researching my father's side of the family. Lyrics: Many, many years ago when I was 23 I was married to a widow who was pretty as can be This widow had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red My father fell in love with her and soon they too were wed This made my dad my son-in-law and really changed my life For now my daughter…
S.S. Columbia sailing [video]
A short video of the Columbia, the ship Rev. William Weiler came to the in May 1891 on, filmed only 3 years later in June 1902. It shows the ship as it gets under way in Hoboken, with waving passengers. I suspect the scene would have been similar when it left Hamburg. Bonine, R. Camera, American Mutoscope And Biograph Company, Paper Print Collection, and Niver. "Columbia" sailing. United States: American Mutoscope & Biograph, 1902. Video.…
Wagner Treasure Trove of Photos
Recently my cousin Ben Wagner sent me scans of over a hundred photos that were in boxes from his parent’s estate. I was thrilled to discover a photo of my great great grandfather William Wagner in his Civil War uniform. I had written an extensive chapter about him and his brothers, including a lot of information about their service. This photo is priceless! I updated the chapter to include this photo. Here are a…
Bill Russell, Cosimo Matassa, and the Musical Culture of the French Quarter
February 03, 2016 Robert Ticknor, reference assistant, The Historic New Orleans Collection ... Russell, born in 1905 in Canton, Missouri, became an indefatigable jazz-record collector after he found a Jelly Roll Morton record that one of his students had left in the classroom at the school on Staten Island where he was a teacher. His work for the Jazzmen book brought him into contact with Bunk Johnson, an old trumpet player who had fallen on…
Bill Russell and the Discovery of Jazz
Leading A Revival 12/28/2018 Jason Berry photograph courtesy of Preservation Hall An eccentric man of many talents, William Russell was a catalytic presence in the rise of early jazz. Born in 1905 in Canton, Ohio, the classically trained violinist got hip to the groove in 1928 while teaching in New York. Like most seminal jazz producers, he began as an addictive record-collector scouring stores for rare discs, even going house to house in a black…
Bill Russell’s Explorations Of The Origins Of Jazz
Published in Offbeat Magazine MARCH 1, 1996by: JASON BERRY1 COMMENT 1 When The Outspoken Jazz Documentarian Died, Much History Died With Him. But He Left Behind Enough To Keep Historian Arguing For A Very Long Time. Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of Jason Berry’s continuing series on the history of traditional jazz, to mark what is roughly the hundred-year anniversary of the emergence of jazz as an idiom. Berry’s work has appeared in many…
Rollin’ on the River: Pittsburgh Shanty Boat Life
This article by Sue Morris discusses shanty boat living in Pittsburgh, a topic close to my mom's heart, who lived on several in the 1960s on the Allegheny River. Here are some excerpts: there were plenty of other Pittsburghers who called the rivers home year-round, for whom living on the water was a matter of necessity, not trendiness. No $10,000 water crafts for those folks: they lived in what Pittsburghers of the day called…
Using DNA matches to confirm distant ancestors
Several years ago I took the DNA test and attached it to my tree there. I have two separate trees - one for my father's side and one for my mom's. My mom also took the test, and I attached it to her tree. Ancestry then matches our DNA to the thousands of other testers and then shows me how it thinks we are related. They recently rolled out a new visualization tool called "Thrulines"…
Am I a soldier of the cross
I remember one night while on duty as officer of the guard, tattoo had sounded, I discovered a light in their quarters. The first notes of taps was sounded, I approached silently to discover the reason. I expected to find that the inmates were engaged in a quiet game of "Old Sledge," but as I got near the tent I heard singing in a low subdued tone. I listened, they were singing in German. It…
23 and Me DNA results
I just got my DNA results from 23 and Me. I already took the test, which is usually what I use to connect to cousins since that's where my tree is. But the 23 and Me test looks at the MtDNA which is the direct Maternal line. The test just shows cousins, whereas the MtDNA (or Y-DNA if you're male) is much more accurate since the Y or Mtdna gets passed to son/daughter almost intact…