Three Hours to Leave: A Heinz Family Story

Bohemia, where the Heinz family lived, is now part of the modern-day Czech Republic. In the 1800s, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and after World War I, it became part of the new country of Czechoslovakia. In villages like Lang-Lammitz, people of different backgrounds lived side by side, including German-speaking families like the…

From the canals of Utrecht to the lumber mills of the upper Hudson Valley

The Block Wall of Evans Van Lew’s origins has been broken through! The Van Lews of Glens Falls, New York, always knew they were Dutch. They thought the family originally came from New Jersey. But for over two hundred years, no one could prove it. Two published genealogies documented the Van Lew family in meticulous…

LEE WILLIAM BARNEY

Lee comes from a long line of Barneys in the United States.  The Barney’s originally were Quakers living in England and came to America in the late 1600’s.  They originally settled in Massachusetts.  Later generations moved to Rhode Island and New York. Lee was born 3 March 1903 in the Town of Johnsburg, New York To Lewis and…

Bella Ruozzo Leardi

On November 30, 1907 Bellonia Ruozzo left the port of Naples aboard the steamer the S. S. Roma with her husband, Vitoliano Leardi and their four year old son, Luigi, to embark on a new life in America.  On their ships manifest they stated that their birthplace was in the Province of Caserta, Campania, Italy.  When Vitoliano…

Ivan Walter Holm – Trains

My grandfather, Ivan, was born in 1899 in Aspen, Colorado.  His father was a miner and had moved from Leadville, CO to Aspen about 1890.  The family lived in Oklahoma Flats, along the Roaring Fork River. The family consisted of Charley, Ivan’s father, Anna, Ivan’s mother and his siblings: Oscar, Alfred, Eileen, Carl, Edwin, Richard, twins Ruth…