NOTE: I wrote and published this article last year (2021) and doubt that I can improve upon it. Only a few details have been changed. It was twenty-one years ago today -- 27 August 2001 -- that my mother passed away following a lengthy illness and problems with her medication. She died at home in … Continue reading Mom: 21 Years Gone
family history
R.I.P., Mom
It was twenty years ago today -- 27 August 2001 -- that my mother passed away following a lengthy illness and problems with her medication. She died at home in Shawnee, Kansas, with her faithful husband of 42 years -- my father -- at her side. Even after the passage of one-fifth of a century, … Continue reading R.I.P., Mom
My Family, My Life: The Marstellers (Part 3)
I'm sure that all families have at least one notable person whom everyone talks about, whether they are famous outside of the family or memorable for another reason. Amongst my mother's side of our family, my "cousin seven times removed" — Philip Marsteller — is the major notable, having been a personal friend of George Washington and … Continue reading My Family, My Life: The Marstellers (Part 3)
My Family, My Life: The Marstellers (Part Two)
Much of a family's history is tied up in places as much as in people. Both sides of my own family reach back to locations in Germany. My father's side left the home country only in the early part of the twentieth century (and there is family lore that puts portions of it in the midst of the … Continue reading My Family, My Life: The Marstellers (Part Two)
My Family, My Life: The Marstellers (Part One)
When one begins to delve into family history, many interesting stories begin to emerge. My own family is no different. In this first entry in a planned series of genealogically-inspired articles, I will introduce one branch of my family tree which I can currently trace back seven generations and ultimately has a connection to the first … Continue reading My Family, My Life: The Marstellers (Part One)
What About Mark? #1: Birth (Part 1)
NOTE: This new series -- "What About Mark?" -- is inspired by a series I used on a previous blog -- "101 Things You Didn't Know About Me." That, in turn, came about from a lesson I taught during my first year or so in Thailand and was basically a list of tidbits about myself … Continue reading What About Mark? #1: Birth (Part 1)
Identity Crisis and Family History
Lately, I've been experiencing somewhat of an identity crisis. You see, I was adopted within a month of my birth in December 1965. I no longer have copies of the adoption papers or my birth certificate (and the latter is turning out to be as difficult to obtain as the former). I have never made … Continue reading Identity Crisis and Family History
Mark Joseph Jochim 