Electoral College Ancestors: Their Votes for President
Election Day is a “high holy day” in my home. In presidential election years, I only partake in two activities: voting and watching election returns. What initially spawned my interest […]
Author Archives: billytagg
Uncle Ralph Thompson Martling Loses An Arm at Gettysburg
150 years ago starting today, three days of battle would turn the tide of war against the Confederacy. Two months earlier, General Lee’s Confederates had routed Union troops at Chancellorsville. […]
Generation 8: From the Brushmaker William Tagg to the New Arrival
Now that the newest addition to the Tagg family has arrived, I thought I might look back at two of the first Taggs that came to America. This is the […]
Oliver Langdon: The Largest Man in Queens
From the pages of the Newtown Register in 1886 comes a small gossip blurb about the largest man in Queens, New York. Not large, like Jabba the Hutt large. Not […]
Is That an Œ Ligature? Peter Mead’s Real Name
My third great grandfather Peter Meid (Anglicized to Mead) came to America in 1854 from Hesse-Darmstadt, a German duchy that existed prior to Germany’s unification. Peter settled at Fosters Meadow (now […]
The Provasi Family Scandal: Mabel and Mr. DeMaestri.
A few months ago, I wrote about discovering your Italian roots, focusing on the marriage records of Arturo Bighinatti and his wife, Amabilia “Mabel” Provasi. I have had some success […]
152 Years Ago Today: Harper’s Weekly Chronicles the 13th N.Y.S.M.’s March to War
The date was April 23, 1861. Fort Sumter had fallen to the South nine days earlier. Americans from Maine to California were enlisting to fight for the preservation of the […]
Being John Miszkowiec: Ellis Island Immigrant
Millions of Americans from all walks of life can trace their ancestry back just a few generations to Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation estimates that there are […]
J. Milnor Peck’s Portable Houses of 1880
James Milnor Peck was born into an entrepreneurial family. All Flushing Pecks during the 1800s were involved in a myriad of business ventures. They all had a mind for the capitalist spirit. […]
Merry Christmas from the Northern Kingdom of the New Tagg
Inevitably when searching for your family’s past, it will become apparent what you are ethnically. Even if you don’t see life as colors and creeds, genealogy will amplify these historical […]
Tagg The Past 