Category: Uncategorized

Tutorials: Upgrading GRAMPS on Debian Jessie

June 14, 2015 / tim / 0 Comments

I made a new video this week: How to upgrade GRAMPS on Debian Jessie. More accurately, I’m narrating the upgrading of GRAMPS on my own computer. Some aspects of this upgrade, such as the directories when I store my exports, will be unique to my computer, but hopefully you will get the gist.

The video is long, and probably could have been shorter. But hey, I was enjoying myself. Note also that the command I used to uninstall the previous version of GRAMPS was not written correctly on the instruction card. The correct command for me was:

$ sudo apt-get remove python3-gramps

This command may vary based on your previous installations. It may end with either python-gramps or simply gramps.

Lastly, important links for this video are the GRAMPS home page, and the GRAMPS download page. Enjoy upgrading GRAMPS!

52 Ancestors, No. 27: John Hougendobler, Veteran of the American Revolution

July 4, 2014 / tim / 2 Comments

Today is the Fourth of July, and I can not think of a better way to spend the day than to write up a short profile on the first—and so far the only—direct ancestor I’ve found to be a Revolutionary War veteran! There are bound to be more, but let’s start with this one: Mr. John Hougendobler, an ancestor of my paternal grandmother. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No 23: The Unidentified Man

June 10, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

We all have them in our old photo boxes by the score: nameless, ageless people. Who are they? Are they relatives? Are they friends? Are co-workers or business partners? We’ll probably never know. This unidentified man is special to me. He’s the one who got away. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 21: Clyde C. Kitch, the Man Who Gave All

May 26, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

Today is Memorial Day, a time to honor the fallen soldiers of the United States military. I must say that I’ve been fortunate not to have too many military veterans who never returned from duty. There have been a few, but they are generally distant in my family tree. My paternal grandfather, I believe, had a cousin who died in combat, as did my maternal grandmother, I believe. These are lines that I have not yet fully investigated, and they will receive their due consideration in time. Today I’m honoring a man even more distant in my family tree, but one for whom I happen to have a photograph to show you. The photograph comes courtesy of Archive.org’s scan of Bloomsburg State Teacher’s College’s 1935 yearbook. The man is Clyde C. Kitch. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 15: Bridget McShane, Irish Woman of Property

April 15, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

This week I offer the third installment of my McShane series, as I am still compiling McShane family documents for my great aunt and uncle, in between other tasks. There may be another installment next week, depending on whether I can wrap up the project this week. Today’s subject is Bridget McShane, the matriarch of my branch of the McShane family in America. Among her children were my third great-grandfather, Patrick McShane, and Villanova University President Fr. Francis J. McShane, O. S. A. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 11: John C. Graham, and Celebrating My Family’s Irish Heritage

March 19, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

This photo didn’t really need a lot of work, but I gotta do what I gotta do to get a legit 52 Ancestors post up on here, and there is no better way to do that on St. Patrick’s Day than to honor John C. Graham, my great-great-grandfather along the paternal line. He is the Irish ancestor of my surnamesake. Although I’ll never hear his brogue, it still reverberates in the memory of my grandfather, who has done his best to help me preserve the family’s history. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 7: Joseph A. Graham, Sr., Hotel Steward and Union Organizer

February 17, 2014 / tim / 1 Comment

Upon the seventh installment of my 52 Ancestors series, I finally write about someone whose name I share. Joseph Aloysius Graham, Sr., was my great-grandfather of the paternal line. His birth record is a curiosity for genealogists like me, who strive to explain every detail accurately: Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 5: “Grandpop” Morris Anflick

February 3, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

My own personal memories of Grandpop, my mother’s father, are few and quickly dissipating. I remember he used to stop by randomly, bringing with him a bounty of Chinese food. Continue reading

52 Ancestors, No. 3: John P. Boland

January 20, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

Maybe I’m front-loading my list with family superstars whom I truly admire. I think you’ll begin to see, however, that no story is too small, as Amy Johnson Crow will remind us. To the contrary, I think the heroism of my everyday ancestors will reveal itself once it is properly showcased beside the legends. All stories are big, in a way.