Recently, while writing about a property in New Jersey I contacted a descendant of one of the previous owners. I wanted to use a photo that I had found online to go along with the story of the building. After looking at some of the blog articles I had posted surrounding residents of buildings,...
The property at 336 changed many investors’ hands while still a grassy meadow before John T. Farley, a wealthy builder and real estate dealer, purchased it in 1895 to begin plans of developing a row of homes on 89th Street. The idea of constructing elaborate homes in that area may have been considered crazy...
The year 2022 has flown by as years often do! In May I was able to spend my first Mother’s Day in England as a grandmother with my daughter and her newborn; three generations on such a special day. While there, I was able to meet up with my English house historians, which is...
Though the idea of setting aside a day to honor the “First Americans” was set in 1915, it wasn’t until 1990 that an entire month, the month of November, was designated as Native American month. Read more about its beginnings here: https://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/about/ In honor of the month, Legacy Roots has gathered a few website links...
{1934 – Harrisburg, Pennsylvania} What if you could build a tower to prevent airplanes from flying over your property. As ridiculous as that may sound, Baron Bestecki did not think it was. Born as Zdzislaw Alexander Maximilian Von Bestecki in Poland into Polish nobility, he arrived in the United States after marrying American citizen...
{Buildings Archaeology Artifactual Feature Origins Part IV — Overhangs and Drops} Introduction As part of the series English Origins of Early American Building Techniques and their connections to English origins, we can see that the commonality among dwellings was not simply in the floor plan. This can be seen in the techniques of framing,...
{The Use of Hats in Creating a Pictorial Family Tree} National Mad Hatter Day, celebrated on the 6th of October every year, is a day of fun creating silly hats, having tea parties a la Alice in Wonderland, and telling riddles. The holiday naturally brings to mind the phrase, ‘mad as a hatter’ with...
{Researching Commissioned Officers Gone Awry} We all know about infamous pirates like Blackbeard and Captain Kidd. But beyond those who made a career of it and whose life stories have shown up in numerous books over the centuries, there are those who had a much less notorious history who started out as privateers, commissioned...
{Buildings Archaeology Artifactual Feature Origins Part III — Widely-spaced Studs} The spacing between studs may not be considered a unique technique, but the study of the method over time provides a window into the evolution of early American structures. Today’s standard stud size, 2×4 (1-½ x 3-½”) or 2×6 (1-½ x 5-½”), are spaced...
INTRODUCTION If you have ever searched through old deeds while investigating the origins of a house’s history or to discover where your ancestor lived, you may have run into a dead end while searching through the deeds. There are multiple reasons why this occurs, anywhere from the property being conveyed through probate of an...