GenTales Aug-Sept Recap
The leaves aren’t quite as colorful where I live this year. It’s been dry and the temperature unpredictable. But it’s inevitably Autumn and time for planning the holidays and looking back at the last two months of GenTales here on Medium. We had abolitionists, blood and vengeance, and ostrich ranchers, as well as deep dives into genealogical research findings.
First, an admin note: You may have heard about the changes to editorial control of Medium publications — I have opted in to allowing anyone to submit to GenTales as guest writers. So, if you know a Medium writer who may be interested, they can submit a draft or a published article even if they haven’t yet been added to the publication as a writer. Guest writers can submit a limited number of articles, but those that get published I’ll add to the accepted writers list to remove that limit. The submission guidelines are linked to the submission page. All they have to do is Follow GenTales and then they can choose the publication to submit an article. The Medium Help article on this new feature is here.
Now, the stories you may have missed in August and September.
Were your ancestors in the big feather industry from 1888 to 1914? Check out the names in Janelle Molony’s article from August to find out.
walked us through discoveries in Georgia newspaper clippings from 1899–1900 from her quest to aid someone looking into their 2x-great-grandfather. Blood and Vengeance is about transforming pain into purpose.
Another deep dive into family history came from . He takes us through his cemetery treks to uncover where his ancestors are buried and to find the Puerto Rican link to the Pennsylvania Dutch Flores family. You can see his photos and research in Flores? You Must be Hispanic.
In August, I wrote about the Stone siblings and their divergent paths to fighting slavery in the 1860s. Sophia and her husband ran a stop on the underground railroad in Ohio, even raising one runaway girl as her own, whereas her brother Dwight worked to establish wage-earning practices for freed slaves on a Louisiana plantation. You can read about their families and the divergent lives of Sophia and Dwight Stone here.
Finally, in September, I offered a lesson in pushing bricks until one gives, with new genealogical insights into sisters Jerusha and Anna Martin.
Call for submissions: As we head into the holiday months, let’s talk about family traditions. What have you discovered about them in your genealogy research? Have there been cultural shifts from your ancestors’ time or due to immigration? Have you found photos or diaries about holiday get-togethers?
This is just to stir inspiration. As always, you can submit based on any call to submission or accepted topic.
