Our Roots, Our Stories: The Search for Family explores the lives, land, and legacies of early American families through careful documentation and storytelling. Each post combines original records, deeds, church registers, maps, and court files, with historical context to rebuild the world our ancestors knew. AI-assisted visuals and interpretive maps are used to help readers see where these stories unfolded, but they are always presented as aids to understanding, never substitutes for the source data. Whether you’re a fellow researcher or a relative discovering your roots, this blog invites you to step back into the landscapes and lives that shaped the Peterson family and their neighbors.
I look for information from many sources:
- Paid genealogical sites.
- Free genealogical sites.
- Interviews, and
- From memory-my own and others.
Some of the posts here will have no direct connection to my family history, but I am OK with that. Genealogy is a time consuming process and I like to deviate from time to time since most of my ancestors have not left an easy trail to follow. I try to update old post when new discoveries are made, so check back once and awhile.
Please feel free to comment and ask questions.
Moving around the Blog.
- Surnames: (P) or (M)? As you may have guessed, a surname with a P is on my paternal side and a surname with an M is on my maternal side.
- Reverse chronological order. Posts are made in reverse chronological order. To find older posts, look under "Blog Archive" which shows up on the right side. If you want to read my posts in order, you will use the "Blog Archive" do so.
- Search. If you can't find what you're looking for, try the search engine. It is found in the upper left corner of the blog.
- Labels/Index. The labels portion of this blog acts like an index to the entire blog.
- Home. Hitting the home button takes you back to the latest post.
- Images. Click on some images to enlarge them.
- Family Trees. If the names start to get crossed, click on the family trees for specific individuals for some clarity. The four family trees start with one of my grandparents.
- Contact. Feel free to e-mail me with questions or comments.
