I have written previously about my great-great-grandfather Seth Dunham’s discovery of the quicksilver (mercury) lode that became the Redington Quicksilver Mine in then-Lake County. Recently I was sent an article from the Ukiah Republican Press of 8 October 1897 that indicates Seth was also responsible for discovery of the claim that became the Great Western… Read More


For some time I had been stymied in tracking the ancestry of my paternal grandmother Consuelo Chávez Stoltz (1904-1969). Part of this is due to the fact that her father, Carlos Marín [UPDATE: His name was not Carlos, but Mercedes], is said to have abandoned Consuelo, her older sister Aurora (1903-1979), younger brother Carlos (1906-1994)… Read More


I recently came across one of the oldest family documents I have an image of: the marriage record of my 10x great-grandparents George Morton and Juliana Carpenter. And it’s the only one in Dutch. George and Juliana were refugees who fled religious persecution in England. Together with their fellow Separatists, they were welcomed in Leiden… Read More


Rosslyn Hotel signs (partially) lit, by Jim Winstead (flickr.com/jimwinstead)

Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses You been out ridin’ fences for so long now Oh, you’re a hard one I know that you got your reasons These things that are pleasin’ you Can hurt you somehow —The Eagles I have previously written about the unfortunate circumstances of my grandmother María Lucia “Lucille”… Read More


A few years back I met my cousin Rio Healey-Diaz when he visited Los Angeles from New Zealand on his way to Mexico to discover his heritage. Rio is the great-great-grandson of Jovita García Díaz Higgins Cunningham. While Rio was here, my cousin David Hernández described to him the location of the graves of my… Read More


Across the Continent, Lithograph, Frances F. Palmer, 1869.

During the Civil War, Missouri and Tennessee were claimed by both the Union and the Confederacy. The Union dominance in each of these states was achieved by a difficult struggle on many fronts, and my great-great-grandfather William Ivans (1842-1908) lived through the most terrifying years of the war in these two states. He served for… Read More


This fantastic image gives an idea of the glamour of Broadway at its zenith, when it was lined with luxury stores and movie palaces. I haven’t found a credit for the image, but it appears to be taken at the 1931 premiere of Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights.”… Read More


Corner view of front entrance of the old red sandstone courthouse with clock tower; Hall of Records to the right; statue of Stephen M. White fronts courthouse; large letters mown into lawn are the words: County Court House; streetcars; palm trees; buildings in background; people walking on sidewalk. The County built the Victorian style Red… Read More


As previously posted, I located an image of the residence of my great-grandparents José María and María de Jesús Alvarado from the late teens and 1920s at 543 S. Fremont Avenue in the USC Digital Archive, after researching a 1920s Baist map. Recently the USC Digital Archive has begun offering high-resolution downloads of its vast… Read More