A few days ago I wrote about public history (Defining Public History, May 22, 2020). Now I’m thinking about the relationship between genealogy and public history. Remember, public history is typically defined as history work prepared for a non-professional audience. It’s implied that the public historian is a professional, applying professional standards. So, what about…
Category: Genealogy
Medieval Irish Genealogies
A good orientation to the problem of trusting medieval Irish genealogies. Don’t make the mistake of copying what you find online. It’s all very interesting, but it’s not vetted genealogy. Donnchadh Ó Corráin, “Creating the Past: The Early Irish Genealogical Tradition” in Chronicon 1 (1997) 2: 1-32. ABSTRACT: Traditionally Irish early medieval genealogies were seen as the…
Miss Wolcott’s School Denver
My maternal grandmother, Vivian Luce attended Miss Wolcott’s School for Girls, a finishing school in Denver. She studied things like piano, French, water colors, needlework, elocution, etiquette, and other things appropriate to Edwardian ladies. I estimate she was there about 1914 to 1916. Wikipedia defines finishing schools: “A finishing school is a school for young women that…
Kruse Connections
I’ve mentioned several times lately that the Swanstroms have a yDNA connection to a German Kruse family. And I’ve thrown out a few thoughts, but no real details. Today, just a quick note about what I’m really thinking. The soldier Petter Jönsson Cavat, born about 1732, lived in Gärdserum parish, He’s the earliest provable Swanstrom…
Curly Bear
A bit of silliness tonight. We know from yDNA testing the Swanstroms might descend from a German Kruse family settled in Sweden. They, the Svanströms, lived relatively near a noble family named Crusebjörn. The Crusebjörn family’s original name was Kruse. They came from Lübeck in Schleswig-Holstein to Sweden. When they were ennobled their name was…