An Explosion of Trees

Last weekend I was in the Baltimore area. A former colleague from Diamond was holding a comics and toys show in Westminster, so I drove down to show my support. After, I drove down to visit the cemeteries, which I’d not done since Memorial Day. I was both glad and sad that I did. GladContinue reading “An Explosion of Trees”

Memorial Day at the Cemeteries

No Memorial Day parade in Dallastown yesterday — a casualty of the COVID pandemic, no doubt — so I went down to Baltimore to visit the cemeteries of my grandparents and great-grandparents and leave flags. I hadn’t been down that way since March, when I lined up the old photograph of the trolley at LoudonContinue reading “Memorial Day at the Cemeteries”

Investigative Cemetery Explorations

After a couple of mild winters, this year has brought the snow. Since the beginning of the year, I think there’s been a snowfall at least once a week, and for most of the last month there’s been snow on the ground. It hasn’t been warm enough to melt the last snow, and the nextContinue reading “Investigative Cemetery Explorations”

Teddy Roosevelt in Baltimore

This is something I found a couple of weeks ago and have been meaning to share. On September 28, 1918, former president Theodore Roosevelt visited Baltimore and delivered a speech at Oriole Park on Greenmount Avenue to extol the Fourth Liberty Loan (ie., war bonds), and this video shows TR and dignitaries delivering a speechContinue reading “Teddy Roosevelt in Baltimore”

A Look at Old Baltimore

Recently, I found a photograph of Baltimore, circa 1871 — downtown Baltimore, as seen from Federal Hill. There are things about this photo that are familiar, and many things that would be a mystery. Let’s take a look. Consulting with maps, I feel that this photograph of the Inner Harbor and environs was taken fromContinue reading “A Look at Old Baltimore”

Exploring an Old Baltimore Map

Yesterday afternoon, Howard Weinstein shared an interesting find on Facebook, E. Sachse, & Co.’s 1868 map of Baltimore City. Weinstein is writing an historical novel set in Baltimore about a decade later, and he said it would be helpful in his research, and perhaps to others as well. I had ancestors in Baltimore in 1868Continue reading “Exploring an Old Baltimore Map”

A Notable Relation and the Land of Pleasant Living

Yesterday I learned a cousin designed Mr. Boh, the one-eyed, mustachioed mascot of National Bohemian Beer, better known in the Baltimore area as Natty Boh. His name was Donald Fenhagen. He was the PR director for the National Brewing Company and, in addition to Mr. Boh, he was part of the team that came upContinue reading “A Notable Relation and the Land of Pleasant Living”

Exploring Mt. Carmel Cemetery

Late last year I had a dream that I found the grave of Captain Thomas Feenhagen, my great-great-great-grandfather. Feenhagen, the father of my my great-great-grandmother Susan and grandfather of my great-grandfather Allyn Gardner, was a sea captain. He commanded a merchant ship, the bark Seneca, in the 1850s and 1860s. From what little I’ve beenContinue reading “Exploring Mt. Carmel Cemetery”

A Potential Genealogical Discovery

I found something interesting yesterday, a reference to my great-grandfather in one of Baltimore’s German language newspapers, Der Deutsche Correspondent, on December 1, 1899. Der Deutsche Correspondent was Baltimore’s daily German newspaper, and it was published for nearly eighty years, from the early 1840s to 1918. It reads (translated thanks to Google): Marriage LicensesMarriage licensesContinue reading “A Potential Genealogical Discovery”

Scenes of Terrible Beauty

Ducks splashed in the water. Two larger ducks, adults obviously, sat on outcroppings just beyond the shoreline, while four ducklings paddled in the water. Sometimes, the adults would move from one outcropping to another. Sometimes they would see me, twenty yards distant or more, and take flight, either jump-flying to the opposite shore or, moreContinue reading “Scenes of Terrible Beauty”