In 1857, the Laborn family crossed the Atlantic aboard the sailing ship Rudolph. A man on board, posing as a doctor, administered poison to the passengers, claiming it was medicine. Many died, including Carl and Sophia Laborn, who were crossing with their four daughters. One of the daughters, Fredericka, told the story to a newspaper reporter in 1923.
The story is transcribed on this web page...
A few years after the Voegele family arrived in America in 1847, three brothers from that family went farther west to join the California Gold Rush.
The story is recounted on this web page...
In 1909, Beatrice Mesker, then about age sixteen, wrote a brief chronicle of her life. Primarily she describes the death of her father in 1906 and the illness and death of her mother the following year.
The story is transcribed on this web page...
In 1896, my great-grandfather, a fireman on a train, injured his spine when his train derailed.
The story is transcribed on this web page...
In 1923, my great-great-grandmother Susan Gragg Pierce was struck by a train, resulting in the loss of her lower legs.
The story is transcribed on this web page...
According to verbal tradition passed down through the generations of the Nuwer family, the immigrant Christine Nuwer wrote a diary describing her 1843 voyage from Alsace to America. Research shows, however, that Christine Nuwer never existed. What about her diary?
Attempting to separate fact from fiction on this web page...
In 1885 a man named Joe Stabell played baseball for the Buffalo Bisons, which at that time was a major league team. How is this Joe Stabell related to our family?
The posibilities are explored on this web page...
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