Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

The U.S. federal census, on its face, does not appear to be the most intimate of records in which to get to know your ancestors. However, in addition to dishing out facts on their residence, relationships, occupation, and economic status, at times, it will inadvertently shed light on one's perceived identity. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and details on a census are in the hands of the enumerator! (Left to right) Nelson F. Hinman, Marie Hinman, Margaret (Miller) Hinman, Fanny Louise Hinman, Orlin Hinman, Ethel Hinman, Edith (Goddard) Hinman. Boone, Iowa. 1 Aug 1925.  Photo privately held by Sandra Vallo. There's one particular enumeration that comes to mind when thinking about a 'document with personality' and that's the 1950 U.S. federal census. At the time it was recorded, my great grandmother, Ethel (Hinman) Eggenberger, was living with her sister, Fanny (Hinman) Stephenson, in Huntington Beach, Orange County, California. Both women were wido...

To kick off the summer of 2024, I jumped in the car with my parents for my first ever, legitimate road trip. I was intent on driving from Southern California up to Fort Rock, Oregon where my great grandparents, George and Myrtle Foltz, had homesteaded, and then taking the original Highway 1 all the way back down the Pacific Coast, meandering through all the majestic redwoods. The excursion was many years in the making, and so, too, is this travelogue documenting every stop! My parents had both previously visited Fort Rock, but I needed to see it for myself after all the research I had done on the property. Plus, after watching the BBC series Detectorists and countless episodes of The Curse of Oak Island , I was convinced that waving a metal detector over the property would unlock further clues to my family's presence there. I plotted out a 10-day trip, and off we went! DAY 1 My NorCal friends were more than familiar with making a stop at Bravoland in Kettleman City, CA off the 5 ...