Tag: history

  • Philadelphia’s Changing Skyline

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    Brendan Barry
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    Yesterday I mentioned how I spent Monday researching some old family properties in Philadelphia. In some cases the homes my family owned still stand. But, in many others the homes have long since been replaced. But that’s the nature of city development. That got me thinking about an article published earlier this month at Philadelphia…

  • Substandard Housing in Philadelphia

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    Brendan Barry
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    I took a holiday yesterday and headed down the street to the Philadelphia City Archives, which houses some of the oldest documents dating back to the founding of the colony. But I was there primarily to try and find deeds and property information for my ancestors as part of my genealogy work. When I walked…

  • Bodies Buried Under Spring Garden

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    Brendan Barry
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    Okay, technically not Spring Garden Street, but a strip mall along one of Philadelphia’s main arterial city streets. Luckily these aren’t some victims of a serial murderer, but rather the result of Philadelphia being an old city (for the United States). As this article from the Philadelphia Inquirer explains, the bodies were discovered during excavations…

  • Biden’s English Ancestry Revisited

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    Brendan Barry
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    Last week I posted about an article in the BBC on the English ancestry of American president Joe Biden. And these types of article are a bit pro forma, famous person has an article about their personal ancestry with a family tree attached. Interestingly, this article did not, just the timeline I mentioned and a…

  • All the Little Spacecraft

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    Brendan Barry
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    Early tomorrow morning, weather permitting, NASA’s Perseverance rover will blast off from Cape Canaveral on a six-plus month trip to Mars. There, hopefully it will land successfully and join all the rovers that have come before. And so this piece from the New York Times feels appropriate. It’s a great illustration of all the spacecraft…

  • African Descent in African Americans

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    Brendan Barry
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    A study published last week explores the long-lasting impact of the Atlantic triangle trade of slaves on the genetic makeup of present day African Americans. Genetic genealogy can break down many of what we genealogists call brick walls, where paper records and official documentation prevent researchers from moving any further back in time. In American…

  • Armistice Day

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    Brendan Barry
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    Yesterday was Armistice Day, a bank holiday hence the lack of posting. So I spent a few hours yesterday looking at my ancestors to see who participated in World War I. It turned out that on my paternal side, my one great-grandfather was too old and the other was both the right age and signed…

  • The Roaming Life of Rev. Dr. Stephen Remington

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    Brendan Barry
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    As many of you are aware, one of my personal interests is in genealogy and my family history. And sometimes, data visualisation can help make sense of my research. This past weekend, I was looking through some of my notes on my great-great-great-great-grandfather, a man named Stephen Remington. One of the outstanding questions is who…

  • From Frying Pan to the Fires of a War Zone

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    Brendan Barry
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    Moving away from climate change now, we turn to the lovely land of Afghanistan. While the Trump administration continues to negotiate with the Taliban in hopes of ending the war, the war continues to go worse for Afghanistan, its government, and its allies, including the United States. It is true that US and NATO ally…

  • Hotter Muggier Faster

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    Brendan Barry
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    Last week we looked at a few posts that showed the future impact of climate change at both a global and US-level scale. In the midst of last week and those articles, the Washington Post looked backwards at the past century or so to identify how quickly the US has changed. Spoiler: some places are…