Celebrating My Blogiversary!

Published on by Julie Roberts Szczepankiewicz

It’s hard to believe it, but I started this blog six years ago today as a way to share my family history discoveries and my enthusiasm for genealogy with fellow genealogists, distant cousins, research collaborators, and everyone in between. For six years, you’ve celebrated my successes with me and commiserated with my stumbling, offering encouragement for all those “brick walls.” I’ve shared my musings, insights, resources, and strategies, and you’ve shared your own tips, kind remarks, and research challenges. I’ve gotten to know new living cousins, and discovered dozens of “new” ancestors and deceased relatives to add to my family tree.

So what does six years of blogging look like, by the numbers? Like this:

My favorite discoveries from the past six years, in no particular order:

  • The origins of my immigrant Causin/Cossin ancestors from Alsace.
  • The marriage record of my great-grandmother’s brother, Władysław/Walter Grzesiak, who unexpectedly married in Warsaw, 150 miles from his birthplace, which opened the door to additional new discoveries for my Grzesiak family.
  • The marriage record from Buffalo, New York, for my great-great-grandparents, Marianna/Mary Łącka and Andrzej/Andrew Klaus, and the baptismal records of Mary’s first two sons, which finally disproved the family myth that the Klaus family ever lived in Texas.
  • The identification of distant cousins on my Klaus, Słoński, Wilczek, Panek, Dodds, Zarzycki, and Causin lines, made through DNA testing, which led to a clearer understanding of the migrations and dispersions of those families.
  • The discovery of a baptismal record for Ellender Hodgkinson, which spurred further research into her godmother, Mary Hodgkinson, which in turn led to the discovery of the last will and testament of John Hodgkinson, Sr., which identified previously unknown siblings of my 5x-great-grandfather, John Hodgkinson, and offered direct evidence that his father also immigrated to the U.S. from England.
  • The marriage record for my 3x-great-grandmother, Catherine Grentzinger, and her first husband, Victor Dehlinger, which opened doors into further discoveries into the origins of the Dehlinger and Grentzinger families.
  • The death records from Młodzieszyn for the siblings of my great-grandfather, Joseph Zielinski, which allowed me to piece together a timeline that finally explained why my grandfather returned to Poland with his parents in 1921.
  • The grave marker of Joseph and Gertrude (Wagner) Riel from Mt. Elliott Cemetery in Detroit, which identified Joseph’s place of birth in Germany, which allowed me to leverage the FAN principal and definitively identify the the place of origin of my Wagner ancestors.

Time certainly does fly when you’re having fun! I’m looking forward to further adventures in genealogy, and I’m excited to be able to share my discoveries with you. Thanks for all the positive feedback and encouragement over the past six years. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to have your company on this journey.

© Julie Roberts Szczepankiewicz 2022

29 thoughts on “Celebrating My Blogiversary!”

  3. I have enjoyed your blog since the day I found it. Thanks for the many educational genealogical posts you have shared.

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  4. Dear  Julie,Congratulations for all that you  have accomplished and for your enthusiasm for this journey you are leading us on. I am Kathleen Meier Murty, daughter of Car Meier, niece of Anna Meier Boehringer, grandaughter of Anna and Wenzel Meier.  I only have waded up to my ankles into this fascinating ocean of genealogy. I read all your posts, especially as they are pertinent to my family. I have nothing new to share with you unless you are interested as to our grand and great-grand chuldren. I am so happy to be connected. Keep up your good work–very well  done, I will add.SincerelyKathy Murty

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  5. Enjoyed many of your posts. Very informative and helpful. Looking to meet you when you visit the PGSGC in Cleveland. Claude Flandro

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  6. Happy Anniversary , Thank you for sharing your incredible knowledge on searching for our ancestors. Your generosity has not gone unnoticed and is greatly appreciated.

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  7. Julie, we have enjoyed and learned from your many articles over the years and hope that you will continue to surprise us in the future.

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  8. Congratulations!! Being a history detective is one thing. Putting it in writing for clarity and others to learn is another. This takes time, but is rewarding in so many ways! You are an inspiration to me!

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  9. Your blogs originally caught my attention due to your name. One of my childhood friends was named Szczepanic and I wondered if your name was a variation. Turns out I’ve enjoyed your writing and learned a number of valuable things. Keep up the good work!

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  10. The pleasure is all mine. I enjoy reading your getting your emails and your family stories.

    Congratulations on your “blogversary”.

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  11. I’ve recently discovered your blog, and it is very inspiring. For years I have been trying to discover where my maternal grandfather, Michael Nadolny, was born and his parents and siblings. Mu maternal grandmother, Marianna Gracyalny’s father (I think) was John Gracyalny and her mother Frances Pawella (sp?). I know she had a brother Stanley and they were from the Poznam area. I have their wedding picture but other than them, I don’t know who all the people are. So, you have inspired my to delve more deeply into my search! Thjank you.

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  12. Congratulations! Thank you for sharing your experiences which have helped me immensely searching for my Polish relatives. Keep on blooging!

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  13. Hello Julia. I also have Polish immigration in my family tree. I enjoy reading your searches and “finds”. Some of your searches led me to explore further into some avenues I hadn’t thought of. I have also hired a young man from Przemys’l who also lives and researches in that area. He has found relatives for me me back two and 3 generations. This has led me to find my confidence to push ahead to do more searching. My immigrant ancestor was a maternal grandmother named Genovefa Sroka. I now have two granddaughters one is named Julia Katherine Lucier and Alexis Julianna Lucier.

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  14. Julie,

    Congratulations on your anniversary. My wife Linda grew up on Prairie Ave. The neighbor across the street was Herb Dehlinger. Any idea if he would have been a relative of yours?

    Thanks again for including me in your list that gets your posts.

    Bob

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