Family Reflections: The Blog

Who Do You Think You Are?

2011-09-25T07:26:00.006-05:00

I am the Daughter of a:

Coast Guard Vet
Musician
Registered Nurse
College Graduate

I am the Grand Daughter of a:

Women's Army Corps Vet
Smithsonian Clerk
WWII Paratrooper
Homicide Detective
Master Plumber
WWII Army Medic
Telephone Operator
Epic Fudge Maker

I am the Great Grand Daughter of a:

Boston Mobster
Irish Immigrant
Mobster's Mistress
Woman That Raised Her Brother and Sister When She Was Just in Her Early 20's
Filipino Immigrant
Detroit Auto Factory Worker
Woman with a "Wild" Reputation
Fatality of an Ectopic Pregnancy at the age of 32
WWI Navy Vet Who Served on the USS Utah
Middleweight Boxer
Small Business Woman
Baker of Biscuits So Good It Makes You Wanna Slap Your Mama

"Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go." - James Arthur Baldwin

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T02:53:00.006-05:00

When you research your family history you will find many of your ancestors have served in the military. Today I honor two of my ancestors: my paternal Grandmother and Grandfather buried in Cheltenham Veterans Cemetery. Happy Memorial Day to all of our veterans. Photos taken by Kimberly Mills.

From Immigrant to Civil War Corporal

2010-04-12T01:33:00.011-05:00

On this day in 1861 Confederate forces fired on Ft. Sumter starting the U.S. Civil War. Today I think of my ancestors that fought on both sides of the war. If any of your ancestors were living in the US from 1861 to 1865 they may have served as well. My third great paternal grand uncle Joseph Flading (Fladung) was one of the many that fought in the U.S. Civil War. I find his service especially interesting because he was a newly naturalized U.S. citizen.

Joseph immigrated here from Germany sometime between 1840 and 1858 and settled in Allegheny County, PA. (1) In 1858 Joseph became a naturalized citizen (1) of the United States and 3 years later on August 9, 1861 he enlisted in the Union army as a member of the 5th Pennsylvania Calvary Company L. (2)

Camp of the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry near the battlefield of
Fort Burnham, Virginia, October 29, 1864.

As a member of the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry Joseph participated in the Battle of Fair Oaks and the surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House in Virgina. One of the most interesting parts of Joesph Flading's military service to me was his capture at the Olive Branch Church in Virginia on February 7, 1863. I recently found a report on Google Books from the Confederate side of the skirmish describing the fight and the number of Union soldiers killed, captured, and wounded. I've embedded the report below.

At some point he was released by the Confederate army and continued to serve in the 5th Pennsylvania Calvary until he was discharged as a Corporal on August 7, 1865. (2) Joseph survived guns, cannons, disease, and capture by the enemy. And he did it all just three years after becoming a citizen of the United States. I am very proud of my immigrant Civil War Ancestor.

Interested in finding your Civil War ancestor? Start at the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors site for a free search!

Sources:

1-Year: 1910; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 5, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll T624_1300; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 337; Image: 790.

2-Year: 1890; Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll 88; Page: 2; Enumeration District: 49.

Tombstone Tuesday

2010-04-06T03:16:00.003-05:00

August Flading
My 2nd Great Grandfather
Born: December 1866 in Pennsylvania
Married Anna T. Linkhauer on 24 Aug 1890 in St. Agnes Church in West Mifflin
Died: 30 Dec 1943
Spent most of his life as a Driver in the Coal Mines and owned the farm my Grandfather and Father would live and work on at Flading Lane in West Mifflin

The House with Red Trim

2010-04-03T04:21:00.007-05:00

For background on my Coleman line please see my post My Boston Colemans.

A few years ago I discovered my Great GrandUncle Michael T. Coleman was an owner of the bottling company Coleman & Keating based in Boston. Whenever I am in an antique store I'm always on the look out for their bottles to purchase as a family heirloom and every few months I do a Google search for "Coleman & Keating"to see if I can find any more information about the company. About a week ago I conducted one of those searches and came across a solitary blog post talking about Coleman and Keating and listed an email address. I quickly composed an email explaining my relationship to Michael T. Coleman via his brother Patrick Coleman (My Great Grandfather). Soon after I received a response from Patrick Coleman explaining that this he was Michael's Great Grand son and both his father and grandfather had worked at the factory. He also said that his father had very fond memories of my Great-Grandfather Patrick Coleman. Below is the email I received from Paul Coleman (Patrick's father) describing his memories of my great grandfather Patrick:

Hi Sandra,

I am Paul Coleman. I am 81 years old, a retired physician and the father of Patrick Coleman who gave me your address. I live in Danbury Connecticut. I grew up very close to my grandfather , Michel, and am very familiar with Coleman & Keating and worked there for my Dad, Walter, for practically all of my "growing up" years and loved every minute of it with many happy memories with my two heroes--my Dad and my grandfather.

I also knew Uncle Pat and remember him well. My son sent me a photo of him and I can verify that it certainly looks just as I remembered him. Although I knew little of his personal life I visited him several times in his beautiful home in Nantasket Beach. I remember his beautiful spotless shiny red convertible sedan with white sidewalls. His driveway was cement with a flower garden growing down the center - a most unusual site. His home was white with bright red trim and impeccably maintained inside and out. I remember meeting one of his bodyguards at the house and he seemed very nice. As you probably know he and Mayor James Curly were "acquainted " and Uncle Pat had may friends.

If you have any questions about him I would be happy to try and answer them for you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions

Sincerely,

Paul

I can just close my eyes and picture Patrick's fancy sedan and gorgeous home. It's almost like time travel! Paul has also agreed to make copies of some pictures of his father Walter and grandfather Michael for me. Once I receive them I'll post them here.

Birds of a Feather

2010-04-02T00:36:00.005-05:00

I'm a firm believer that your likes, dislikes, and personality are a combination of environment and heredity. I could never explain my attraction to and love of motorcycles. No one in my family that I knew of ever owned a motorcycle and my Mother despises them! So I know I didn't get the fondness for the open road and the wind in my hair from her...or did I?

A few years ago my Mother sent me some photographs of the Garland family (her paternal line) that look as if they were taken in the late 1950's or early 1960's. They show most of the Garlands at my Great Grandparent's restaurant in Maine called The Hilltop. Two in particular that I have posted below caught my attention. It was my Grand Uncle Baker (Full name Andrew Baker Garland Jr) sitting on a motorcycle. When I asked my Mother about it she said that after he served in the Korean War he drove that motorcycle from Texas to Maine on one long road trip. Something I had never known about him. So now I know where my love of motorcycles comes from and have a great family story to pass on to family both present and future!

Do you have information on Andrew Baker Garland Jr. or the Garland line? I'd love to talk to you and exchange information/photos! Email me at FamilyReflections2006@yahoo.com.

Family Reflections is on Facebook!

2010-04-01T02:49:00.003-05:00

In yet another step to expand on my research, I have created a Facebook Fanpage for Family Reflections. There I will give daily genealogical tips and news as well as direct fans here for updated blog posts and help those who need a hand with their own genealogical research. Don't forget to stop by and become a fan!

Raymond L Ruffing Obit and Online Memorial

2009-09-13T20:46:00.002-05:00

Ruffing, Raymond L.

RUFFING RAYMOND LOUIS RUFFING On Sunday, September 6, 2009 of Beltsville, MD. Loving husband of the late Emily J. Ruffing; beloved father of David R. Ruffing of Crofton, MD, Diane L. Ruffing of Beltsville, MD and Debra J. Mills of Stevensville, MD. Also survived by seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and godfather of Dana Payne, Jr. Relatives and friends may call at the ROBERT E. EVANS FUNERAL HOME, Rt. 450 and Race Track Rd., Bowie, MD on Sunday, September 13, 2009 from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m.Mass of Christian Burial will be offered 10 a.m., Monday, September 14, 2009 at Our Lady of Fields Catholic Church, Millersville, MD. Interment Maryland Veterans Cemetery, Cheltenham, MD. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Lung Association.

Published in The Washington Post on 9/11/2009

There has also been an online memorial done online with lots of pics here

Treasure Chest Thursday- Garland Family Bible

2009-09-10T14:25:00.003-05:00

As a child I would always pull out my Grandparent's family bible from a book shelf and look at all the great pictures in it. I would always stop at the family record section and read through the entries of births, marriages, and baptisms. Amazed at the history those pages contained. Just a few years ago I was honored to be presented the same bible as a Christmas gift from my mother and aunt. It is an heirloom I will always treasure.

Remembering PapPap

2009-09-09T10:05:00.003-05:00

My paternal grandfather Raymond L Ruffing passed away two days ago on September 7th in Laurel, MD. Ever since he was admitted to the hospital last week I have been thinking a lot about the man I and my cousins always called PapPap. Pap was born in Mifflin, PA on July 2, 1927 to Florian J Ruffing and Nora L Flading. He worked at a steel mill when he was a young man, joined the army during World War II, served as a Washington D.C. police detective and umpired/coached baseball for as long as I can remember. (See this blog post for a previous post about my Pap)

My best memory of my Pap was 4 years ago shortly after my grandmother died. We were all gathered around the family table after the funeral and Pap was telling the story of when he first saw my grandmother. They were both stationed in Germany after World War II, my grandfather with the 508th Parachute Regiment that was affiliated with the 82nd Airborne and my grandmother was with the Womens Army Corps. Pap said he was in a taxi riding down the street when he saw my grandmother walking down the sidewalk and he told the cab driver "You see that woman? I'm going to marry her one day." He had tears in his eyes as he told the story. I will miss you PapPap, I hope you are at peace, and you and Memaw are somewhere having a most excellent time.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-29T17:33:00.003-05:00

I'm wordless after finding my Great-Grandfather's headstone on Find A Grave. Photographed by: G. Stoecklein
12/16/2008

Another Brick Knocked Out Of The Wall Part 1

2009-07-29T11:27:00.006-05:00

I've been doing a little research on Ruby Bernardo who I mentioned I found some information on with the help of friends in Second Life in this blog post. With the information I found at Family Search on her death I contacted Washington State Library and asked them to look for her obituary. A few days ago I got a response and received the copies of her death notice.

Wow! What great information! I now had her address and what funeral home handled her arrangements. I immediately contacted Gaffney Funeral Home and asked them if they had any information on her. They emailed me back a copy of her funeral record just the other day with a wealth of information. It shows her and Macario are separated at this time, the date of her funeral, cause of death, her religious affiliation, her internment and much more! The full record is below, just click on it to see it full sized.
A friend checked with the cemetery (New Tacoma) and they say they have no record of Ruby so the mystery continues. Stay tuned for part two where I find out some more information on Ruby!

Family Reflections Terms of Service

2009-07-28T16:24:00.001-05:00

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Using Flickr as a Genealogical Tool

2009-07-16T13:23:00.004-05:00

Earlier today I was using iGoogle to read some of my favorite genealogy blogs and noticed the gadget called Genealogy Photos.

This is a great little gadget that pulls photos from Flickr with the genealogy tag and posts them randomly when you refresh the page. For those who may not know, Flickr is a photo sharing site where you can upload up to 100 MB of photos per month for free. You can upgrade to a Pro account with unlimited features for $24.95 per year. It's a great way to share your photos and other genealogy files with other researchers as well as search for ancestors. To conduct a search just simply type the surname, genealogy. For example a search of Coleman, genealogy brings up these results. Of course you could narrow the search further by searching Surname, Genealogy, Place, Year, etc.

When uploading your family pictures and records to Flickr make sure to add as many tags as possible in the tag box. For example if you are uploading a picture of Grandpa Joe Smith from Bangor, ME tag it as Joe, Smith, Maine, Bangor, Penobscot County, etc. If you find a "cousin" you'll want to make sure to contact them using Flickr's messaging system and maybe even add them as a friend. Once you sign up feel free to add me as a friend, my user name there is Family Reflections and you can view my genealogy photostream (Flickr's name for the page where your photos are listed) here. Happy Root Digging!

Breaking Down Brickwalls in Second Life

2009-07-14T17:12:00.003-05:00

I was working online this past Sunday and got an alert via TweetDeck that DearMyrtle had posted a new blog post. The post talked about the genealogy meetings and chats they had in the program Second Life. I thought what a great way to get to know your fellow genealogists. I signed up that very night but wasn't able to join in the chat until Monday evening. Boy am I glad I did!

With the help of all my new friends in Second Life I was able to locate the death record for my elusive Great-Grandmother Ruby Adams (Bernardo). With that information I was able to locate an obituary in a Tacoma, WA newspaper and I'm waiting for a response from the librarians on a copy!

If you join Second Life (it's FREE BTW) feel free to send me a friend request to NAMASTE DEEZUL. I will be on this evening for some chat.
That's me in a green Just Genealogy t-shirt in front of the Live Roots gazebo.

Grandma Garlands School Records or THAT'S why I'm so terrible in Math!

2009-04-26T09:58:00.006-05:00

While organizing the office/genealogy workspace/craftroom a few weekends ago. While I came upon my Grandma Garlands high school transcripts from Milton High School. I love collecting obscure records of my ancestors, it really puts some flesh on the bones so to speak. It was super easy to get the record, all I did was write a letter to the high school letting them know I was the family historian and was looking for my Grandmother's high school transcripts. I let them know she was deceased and included a copy of her death certificate as proof. A few weeks later I got the transcripts in the mail.

I gleaned some great genealogical information from them too! My Great Uncle John J. Coleman (who raised my grandmother) was listed as guardian with his occupation listed as a shipfitter at Boston Navy Yard. WOW! What a find this is! I also learned that prior to her attending Milton High she was enrolled at Mount St. Joseph Academy. Her grades from Mount St. Joseph were also included which was an added bonus. I had no idea she attended any other high school other than Milton. They will be the next people I contact for more information on Grandma Garland.

As for the grades it seems Grandma Garland was great in P.E. class and Sewing but not so hot in Math. Now I know why I have so much trouble with math!! If you send off for your ancestors school records come back here and let me know what kind of great finds you come up with!

Cemetery Touring

2009-04-16T07:10:00.016-05:00

Anna and I just got back from a trip to Apalachicola, FL. It's really a beautiful area and I wish we had some more time to spend there. In addition to spending some time in town we got the opportunity to visit two historic cemeteries. Although none of our ancestors are buried in the cemeteries we had fun touring them.

The first cemetery was the Old St. Joseph Cemetery. Most of the graves in the old section (1835 - 1841) are unmarked graves of the many victims of the Yellow Fever epidemic that struck the area in 1841.

It's not known how many people are buried here but it is believed many of Florida's leaders including several members of the Florida Constitutional Convention rest here. Although there are not many headstones I found this beautiful black headstone on the other side of the cemetery.

The second graveyard we visited was the Chestnut Street Cemetery of Early Apalachicola (Old City Graveyard)

There were so many interesting stones there I didn't have time to take pictures of them all but here are two of my favorites:

The grave of George W. Core

Transcription: George W. son of Rev. D.W. and Mrs. F. V. Core. Born Nov. 27, 1877 Died Mar. 1, 1902 A life so well spent on this earth cannot fail to reap a bountiful harvest in the one to come.

I loved this headstone because the whole stone is a stump of a tree and it has the seal of the Woodmen of the World on it.

The Grave of Catherina Spano

Transcription: Here rests the body of Catherina Spano Bor 17 May 1853 Died Oct 09 1900

I really loved this marker. It's obviously homemade and the shadow it reflects is really interesting.

Spring Cleaning

2009-04-10T11:11:00.002-05:00

I will be off for the next week starting Saturday and in addtion to spending some time relaxing I wanted to take some time to "Spring Clean" my genealogy binders and files. Honestly I had no idea where to begin and looking at my files I was a little intimidated. But soon I found this article at Geneaology.com with tips on how to get your genealogy research organinzed. There are so many great tips I can't wait to get started!

Happy ancestor hunting folks!
Sandra

Pap and the Treasure Trove at Newspaper Archives

2009-04-08T08:17:00.003-05:00

Recently I signed up for a 7 day free trial at Newspaper Archive just to see what I could find. Boy did I find a treasure trove of information on my paternal grandfather!

My Pap has had an amazing life, born in Pennsylvania in 1927 and descended from German immigrants. He was raised on my great grandparents small farm on Flading Lane. He played high school baseball and was set to join the Red Sox when war broke out in 1941 he joined the war effort in the 82nd Airborne division. He met my grandmother in Germany and they were married when they returned to the states. He's been a Washington D.C. Police Detective and for all of my life he was a baseball coach and umpire.

I was so excited to find several articles about my Pap, mostly about his baseball coaching career. Here was an article about him being given the head coaching position at Mount St. Mary's College, another article talking about his position as Assistant Coach at the Naval Academy, even an interview where he talks of learning the game from his uncle "Red" Ruffing who played for the Yankees (as a side note I've yet been able to prove our relationship the famed pitcher with any kind of substantial evidence) and also an article where he talks about catching fly balls for the Homestead Grays. These articles have helped me flesh out the story of my Pap and add a bit of interesting history outside of his basic statistics.

I strongly recommend getting yourself a subscription and checking it out! If you do and find something useful to you I'd love to hear about it, just leave a comment below.

Been A Long Time...

2009-04-05T09:48:00.002-05:00

Yes I know I have let this blog fall by the wayside. Truth be told I've hardly had time to work on my genealogy at all.

From now on though I am going to set aside some time to do some research. I've also been studying to become a Certified Genealogist! I'm very excited about it, hopefully I will be able to turn it into a career! Now wouldn't that be something? Look for more frequent updates here on my family research, my journey to become a genealogist and other genealogy related posts!

Easter Memories of Memaw

2007-04-06T19:13:00.001-05:00

As Easter approaches I am reminded of my Grandmother. We all called her Memaw because the first born grandchild couldn't pronounce Grandma and she had been Memaw all of her life. Every year we would have a huge Easter Egg Hunt in her backyard. She would hide eggs with change and candy. And about 10 large golden eggs with 50.00 bills in them. My cousins and I would tear through the yard looking for them. When we came back in we would have a huge meal and each get a very big Easter basket from the Easter Bunny.

She passed away almost two years ago and some parts of her life are still a mystery. I found her on the 1930 census in Detroit, MI as Emily June Bernardo. After she died my father and aunt found a birth registration card with her birthdate on it and a name of Arratie Flores. I've heard she was born in the Phillipines and not in Detroit. AND that she was adopted by her stepfather Macario Bernardo. *(See the previous post for info on him) I've checked birth records in Detroit, MI for both names with no results. So either she wasn't born there or she was really born in the Phillipines. Her Mother died in a car wreck when she was young and her stepfather placed her in a conveant. Her mother's family from Macon, GA came and got her. From there she entered the service and served as a WAC in WWII. She met my grandfather in Germany and they were married when they came back to the states either in 1948 or 1949. My grandfather says it was in Tocooaa, GA. But...you guessed it...no records. They moved to Pennsylvania where they lived on my great grandfathers farm till 1956 and moved to Maryland. My grandfather was hired on with the D.C. Homicide division and my grandmother worked at the Smithsonian for years. That's where she and my grandfather lived until she passed away.

There is so much I wish I knew about her early years. Hopefully I will be able to find that information and find that missing part of my family. Until then there are always the memories of the times I shared with her and those great Easter Egg Hunts.

Macario Bernardo

2006-12-10T19:43:00.000-06:00

I came across a breakthrough on my Ruffing line. I was searching Ancestry's ships lists and came upon a ship record for the RMS Empress of Russia. A Canadian ship that sailed from Manila, Philippine Islands to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The ship left Manila on April 30th 1920 and arrived in Vancouver on May 24th 1920. It is a List of United States Citizens. Macario Bernardo and I'm assuming his brother Ricardo Bernardo (since there birth dates on the list are just a few years apart) are listed. Thier residence is listed as 37 Broadway New York, NY. But the age match my Macario Bernardo who is my grandmother's step father. (At least that is what she told us. They have the same last name however she told us that she had been adopted by him when he married my great grandmother.) He is listed as Single on the list which means he had not met my great-grandmother yet. I wonder how he got to Detroit from either New York or Canada. And he is listed on a US Citizen passenger list so I'm assuming he may have gone back to visit some family in the Philippine's. Maybe driven cross country and stopped in Detroit to work at an Auto Factory. (The 1930 census states he worked as a Laborer in an Auto Factory). That also explains why I can't find him on a 1920 U.S. Census. Maybe he is on a Canadian Census. Hmmm...the plot thickens!! I've scanned the Passenger List here. Enjoy! (Click on the image below for the enlarged document!!)

My Boston Coleman's

2006-11-28T22:36:00.000-06:00

Sometimes research can uncover an old family secret. I came upon such a secret while researching the family of my maternal grandmother, Patricia Marion Coleman. The people I thought were my great-grandparents (John Coleman and Mary V. Burke) were actually my great aunt and uncle. The picture of the distinguished man bottom left is my maternal great-grandfather. He was born about 1873 in Ireland. I have not found out yet when he immigrated here from Ireland. As you can imagine there are several Patrick Coleman's in that time period!! On my grandmother's birth certificate he is listed as a Tonic Salesman and on his death certificate just listed as Retired. There is an article that describes the dispute over his estate after he died (The article is transcribed further down in this post. You see, Patrick was married to another woman and had a son with that woman when my grandmother was born to Margaret Coleman. (No relation). Patrick died on July 2, 1944. According to his death certificate he was buried in Holyhood Cemetary in Brookline, MA.

Margaret Coleman was born on November 16Th 1897 in Boston, MA. She died July 17Th 1959. She is listed as Head of household on both the 1920 and 1930 census with no occupation listed. On the 1930 census she is listed as living alone. My grandmother is already living with John Coleman and Mary Burke at that time. According to John Coleman Jr. she and her two brothers and parents are all buried in New Calvary Cemetery in Boston. The only picture I have of Margaret is the picture posted above. I have also posted pictures of John Coleman and Mary Burke, as well as a picture of my grandmother with John Coleman Jr and Marguerite Coleman. I would like to thank my mother for copying the originals and sending them to me. Also to my Aunt Irene who provided me with the records of my grandmother' s birth parents.

(The first picture is from left to right John Coleman Jr, Marguerite Coleman, Patricia Marion Coleman. The second picture is John Coleman and Mary V Burke my grandmothers aunt and uncle that raised her. The Fourth picture is Margaret Coleman, Patricia's Mother. The fifth picture is Patrick Coleman, Patricia's Father)

The following is a transcription of an article in my mother's possession that is in reference to Patrick Coleman's estate. The lines with question marks (_____?) are areas on the article that were torn or illegible due to the age and condition of the newspaper clipping.

Coleman Estate is Left to Daughter

Attorney Frank Wilson appointed special administrator of Mr. Colemans' estate by Judge Fredrick J. Dillion, Suffolk Probate Court on July 14 said he had no information as to the value of the estate. As special administrator, Attorney Wilson filed a bond for $40,000.

The will, dated Nov 16, 1941, Handwritten on a single sheet of paper left his estate in trust to his daughter, Patricia, who is to receive the di_______? when she reaches the age of 30. Richard Harkins and Dr Louis N. S________? are named Trustees. Dr. Sc(n/h)________? who is serving in the armed forces is named Executor.

More than $35,000 in cash and securities was seized in a series of raids in November, 1943 in connection with the arrest of Coleman and 17 others on charges of registering horse bets and had been retained by the attorney-general pending documentation of the owner since part of it was claimed by Dr. Harkins one of the trustees named on the will and by others.

Dated Dec (20Th??) 1944 on back.

Update

2006-11-24T21:59:00.000-06:00

I'm still at a standstill on my Bernardo/Flores line. It seems it may be that way for a while until I can smash my way through my brick wall. It seems like every time I go to update here it has been several months since the last post!! I am going to make a huge effort to update at least once a week. I did get some great pictures of the Coleman line from my Mother today. She was kind enough to also get Walgreens to put them on disk so I can upload them! I am in the process of sending out info to as many Garland relatives that I can in an effort to collect info/stories/pictures for my book I hope to publish. I will be back this weekend with the pictures I received today posted here and on the family website.

Slow Going

2006-08-31T15:49:00.000-05:00

Recently I have been attempting to trace my Grandmother's family. It has proven to be very difficult. Emily June Bernardo was, from family lore, adopted by her StepFather Macario Bernardo soon after she was born. Her mother was Ruby Bernardo (Maiden name either Adams or Davis). I have them all living together in Detroit, Michigan on the 1930 census. When she passed away last year my father found a birth registration card with her birthday of January 13th, 1923 with the name Arratie Flores. I believe this was her birth name before she was adopted by her Stepfather. The census states she was born in Michigan but I have not been able to locate a birth certificate in either her birth name or adopted name. I have also not been able to locate a marriage certificate for Ruby and Macario Bernardo. I am hoping a search for Ruby Bernardo's death certificate will reveal her real madien name and I can proceed from there. Everyone keep their fingers crossed I will be sending off the paper work for the death certificate in a few weeks.

Welcome!

2006-05-20T22:48:00.000-05:00

Hello there cousin! Welcome to my blog. I hope to use this as a supplement to my family history website Family Reflections. I will be posting my research adventures, family photos and stories. Please sit back and enjoy!