Slavic Archives - Megan Smolenyak

Genealogy Roundup, March 27

Megan Smolenyak — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 18:39:16 +0000

Airman Accounted for from WWII – Welcome home, Tech. Sgt. Robert Allen. Honored to have researched your family.

Photo credit: DPAA

P.S. Maybe worth mentioning that this was a seriously challenging case, and that he is at least the 70th soldier I’ve had the privilege of researching who has been identified.

Unsettling Ancestry.com Report Informs Man Genghis Khan Descended From Him – (The Onion, so please don’t take this seriously!).

The Peasants – Those with Slavic roots might want to watch “The Peasants” based on Nobel-winning book. Intense, but familiar.

Top Photo Credit: MitchellShapiroPhotography under Creative Commons license

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Genealogy Roundup, April 13

Megan Smolenyak — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:03:14 +0000

Grandpa walked these 3 generations of women down the aisle — in the same dress!

Making a Life: Oral History Interviews — Johnstown Heritage Discovery Center – A taste of the Slavic immigrant experience in America

The Grave of the Female Stranger

Beverly Hills of the Dead: Luxury Tombs complete with Kitchens & Air Conditioning

All the Colour they Left Behind

I called a hotline and got connected to a random Swede. Here’s what I learned. – This makes me wish I had Swedish roots. DNA-wise, I’ve got a bit of Scandinavian. Does that count?

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Abandoned Home, Lost Photos, and Found Money

Megan Smolenyak — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 06:58:32 +0000

Ah, this one kills me. It’s a happy story in a sense – honest urban explorer returns money to family. But the photos – the photos! They protect the identity of the family in the article, but I can see from the photos that they are Slavic, and given that the money was American and Canadian, I’m guessing the vicinity of Detroit. And as someone with Slavic cousins who were drawn to Detroit for the auto industry, back when it was the Silicon Valley of its time, I could all too easily see this happening to my own family. That said, the place is a time capsule, the family now knows (and has presumably taken at least the photos home), and there’s the kindness of strangers aspect. So all in all, a happy tale, but still tugging at the heart, you know?

Here’s MESSYNESSYchic, where I first read about this:

The Abandoned House of Money and the Honorable Urban Explorer

And here’s FREAKTOGRAPHY, the person who explored and photographed the house (photos for sale, if you’re interested):

ABANDONED HOUSE OF TREASURES

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