Book Review: The Book of Lost Names

Heroes in real life don’t wear masks and capes. Sometimes they don’t stand out at all. But real heroes can save a life—or many lives—just by answering the call in their heart. ~Victoria Arlen

Doing God’s Work: The Monks

It is week 25 in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge. This week’s writing prompt is Unexpected. Unexpected? The one thing I have learned in more than two decades of genealogical research is to expect the unexpected. You never know what you are going to uncover! Take for example my recent “religious” findings…

Book Review: The Key to Everything

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving” ~Albert Einstein

The Key to Everything, a novel by Valerie Fraser Luesse, tells the tale of 15-year-old Peyton Cabot. The only child of well-to-do parents, Peyton must watch helpless as his tender-hearted father, broken by the battlefield, drowns his demons in a bottle of bourbon.

Handed Down

Holy mole! How did that happen? I missed week 24 in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge. Granted, only a day has passed me by, but still, I feel like such a slacker! Oh well, before I lose another day, this week’s, I mean, last week’s writing prompt is/was Handed Down.

ABCs & Our Family Trees: Letters N & O

I have always been fascinated by language, specifically where it originates and how it adapts, mutates, and relates to other languages. That is why I found the recent series of blogs by Andrew’s Kindred so intriguing. It combined my love of etymology with my love of genealogy. I was so inspired, in fact, that I decided to try my hand at chronicling the origins of our families’ surnames.

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This is the thirteenth installment of a series of posts documenting the etymology of many of our families’ surnames (recent and distant, direct and indirect.)

Well, since I already covered the M names, let’s now address the letters N and O: