Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

Although I haven't yet had the chance of visiting our own National Archives in the States, on Donna Moughty's Dublin adventure in October 2023, I made it to the National Archives of Ireland (NAI)! National Archives of Ireland, Dublin DAY 4 While this was my fourth day in Dublin, it was only my second day of research and second repository of the trip, so needless to say, I still had some nerves about me when it came to visiting the archives. Luckily, we were walking over there as a group (a healthy 17 minute excursion, as Google Maps would claim -- probably a more realistic 20 minutes, especially with crosswalks and traffic lights). However, we only discovered later that one participant in our group had set off on their own before us, hoping to get a head start and not slow us down. We all got worried when they hadn't beat us to the punch, and instead, were missing! Somewhat terrifyingly, they had been given repeated misdirection from locals, pointing them toward the Registr...

This year marks the first in which I've discovered, or more so, realized that the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade has a "never on Sunday" rule and will, therefore, be held on Monday, January 2nd of 2023. Yet, that's not the mystery I'm set on solving here, but merely a fun fact to kick off this puzzler. The older woman on the right of the above photograph is my 2nd great-grandaunt, Mary Ann Wells (Miller) Webb, the sister to my 2nd great-grandmother, Margaret (Miller) Hinman, on my father's side of the family. The Miller siblings were born in New York in the mid-1850s, migrated down to Iowa, and eventually both came west to California. The pretty young woman in the crown and gown on the left side of the photograph is Mary Ann's granddaughter, my 2nd cousin 2x removed, Mary Madeline Webb, who later became Mary Hendricksen. Here (above) she stands in a picture labeled with the year 1931. The description?  Princess at Rose Bowl Parade But herein lies the ...

  JUNE 07, 2021 Take a gander at the uniform patches I’ve inherited from family members from their military service. Week 22: Military ROY ALAN FOLTZ. The ASA patch (left) stands for Army Security Agency and was worn throughout the Cold War in the 1960s-70s. From 1945-1991, the ASA was the US Army's electronic intelligence brand. Its motto was "Vigilant Always." The patch depicts a griffin clutching two lightning bolts; the griffin symbolizing vigilance and the lightning bolts symbolizing communication and speed. The blue background represents the Intelligence units, while the black feathers allude to the covert nature of gathering intelligence. The Berlin patch (right) was worn on the Army Class A uniform jacket and displays the insignia of the US Army in Europe, specifically for the Berlin Brigade, of which, Roy was a part of while stationed in Germany. RAYMOND LEE MILLHOUSE. This is the Class A patch for the United States 5th Army, which was first activated on 5 Januar...