Steve’s Genealogy Blog

With a one-two punch, Albany, New York received about a foot of snow this morning and is expecting another 6 inches on tomorrow. I’m not worried about tomorrow - I’ll be in California.

Snow in the Morning - Albany, New York
SOURCE: Snow in the Morning - Albany, New York. Photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 31 […]

As I try to squeeze as many family treasures as possible into my suitcases, the snow has begun to fall again in upstate New York. This snowstorm started on 30 December and will last until about mid-day on New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Eve Snow in Upstate New York
SOURCE: New Year’s Eve Snow in Upstate New […]

Another family treasure I found while cleaning out the attic at the family home was a Brownie Hawkeye camera.

The Brownie Hawkeye with Flash Attachment
SOURCE: The Brownie Hawkeye with Flash Attachment. Photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 30 Dec 2007.
The Brownie Hawkeye was introduced by the Kodak Company in September 1950 and was discontinued in July 1961. My family used […]

My sister, my brother-in-law, and I spent quite a bit of time this past week cleaning out the family home. The latest news is that the sale of the property should be completed next week.

The Front of the Family Home
SOURCE: The Front of the Family Home in Albany, New York. Photographed by Stephen J. Danko […]

While cleaning out the attic at the family home in Albany, New York, I found this copy of Playbill.

The Playbill is dated March 1971 (Volume 8, Issue 3) and includes the program for the musical 1776 which played at the St. James Theater at 246 West 44th Street (between 7th & 8th Avenue) in New York […]

While cleaning out the attic of the house in which my sisters and I grew up, we found these two towels.

SOURCE: Embroidered Towels. Photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 27 December 2007.
I believe these are linen. They are hand embroidered with the names of my parents.
I’ll have to ask my father if he remembers these […]

My sister is preparing to close the sale of the house in which we grew up. Selling the house has certainly been an event full of mixed emotions. Despite the fact that our family has owned the house since 1961, nobody in the family wants the responsibility of owning the property any longer.
The attic and […]

This year, my sisters and I agreed to limit our Christmas gifts to each other to $25.
Not a problem. Christmas shopping would be a bit more selective, that’s all, I thought.
My younger sister certainly outdid herself, though. When she asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I suggested that she select one of the “Images […]

My grandmother’s half-brother, Joseph Meleski was listed in the Worcester, Massachusetts Directory in 1924.

I asked my father and sisters what we did for Christmas Eve when we were young but, oddly enough, none of us remembered the same things.
While my family can’t really agree how we spent Christmas Eve when we were young, I remember that we did have a few Christmas Eve rituals.

We almost always spent the day at home.
There were […]