Family Story Finder
The sweep of family history across the generations
1968 Democratic convention
It was a signature moment of the turbulent 1960s. Walter, 18, and Dan, 15, were there in Chicago, working as messengers for the Eugene McCarthy campaign.
Action at a distance
Stan's Mathematica notebooks document his later work and speculations
Adventures in Israel—Walter and Joanne
Two of the Ruby offspring went back to Israel for significant periods.
An afternoon at Lake Merrit
In July 2003, Stan and Helga came to the East Bay for a golden summer outing.
Arson! The Paechter family store is targeted
In 1898, Paechter’s Kaufhaus in Tiegenhof came under repeated anti-Semitic arson attacks.
Family History Machine is reborn in 2020
Machinist Dan Ruby and his team members envision a new future for Family History Machine
Fourth Generation Rubys
Just a bit about Twyla, Gene, Zach and Lani.
Grad-student life in a packet of letters
Stan maintained correspondence with his closest high school and Army buddies, several of whom went on to prominent careers.
Grammy — everyone’s favorite grandmother
She made each of her six grandchildren feel special
Green Valley Drive—our exurban childhood
Our years in Pittsburgh were spent in a tract house in a natural wonderland—backed up against a family farm and an equestrian estate.
Helga in the League of Women Voters
Helga expressed a commitment to liberal values in her lifelong work for the League of Women Voters.
In the Signal Corps in New Guinea
Stan strung transmission wires in the South Pacific during World War II.
Jews in jazz—the big band era
Stan's musical idol was Benny Goodman, the King of Swing.
Just so—how the Rubys got their name
When and why did Walter Rabinowitz take on our abbreviated last name? He may have gotten the idea during intermission at a Bronx nickelodeon
Kindergarten campaigner
In 1955, Helga led a committee of parents to open a preschool in Vestal.
Liberal values in the 1960s
From civil rights to war resistance to arms control, Ruby family members embraced liberal social causes
Long Beach—taking in the Klein family
During the Depression, families helped each other out. The Kleins moved in with the Rubys in Long Beach.
Memories of young Stan
Stan was smart and fresh, with something to say about almost anything
Mössbauer man—Stan makes his mark in physics
Stan's innovations in Mossbauer spectroscopy.
Musical appreciation in the Ruby household
From Mozart to swing to the Grateful Dead.
On Hill Avenue
The Ruby family comes of age in a bedroom suburb west of Chicago
Our Ruby name—sullied in Dallas
Lee Harvey Oswald's killer Jack Ruby was not related to our family. He tarnished our family name in the history books.
Paechter diaspora
Paechter descendants ended up on every continent after World War II.
Paechter roots in West Prussia
Our Paechter family prospered in the Vistula delta town of Tiegenhof. But their roots probably go back further in west Pomerania.
Ringel vs. Ruby in World War I
Herman Ringel and Walter Ruby wore opposing uniforms in the Great War
Sidney Kessler and American Spirits
Walter Ruby's boss in the liquor business became an influential figure in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Split decision on restored German citizenship
Both Dan and Joanne applied for reclaimed citizenship under Article 116 of the German Constitution, but only Joanne’s application was approved
Sputnik in the backyard
Watching Sputnik at night from our back yard in a suburb of Pittsburgh is one of my earliest memories.
Stan at Brant Lake
Stan summered at a Jewish summer camp in the Adirondacks.
Stan finds love outside of a 20-block radius
Home from the war, Stan Ruby was a graduate student in physics at Columbia University. Helga Ringel was a smart, pretty war refugee from Berlin
The corkscrew on eBay—sourcing family artifacts
Out of the files of the U.S. Patent Office and into the peculiar subculture of corkscrew collectors
The early history of the Wohlgemuth family
In 1812 in Preußisch Stargardt, an elderly Jew Moses and his sons Salomon and Herz took the surname Wohlgemuth in exchange for Prussian citizenship rights. Our family, descended from Herz Wohlgemuth, stayed in Stargardt for the next three generations
The family secret behind grandfather's desk calendar
A surprising artifact discovered after a parent's death leads to a series of discoveries and a new pastime in genealogy
The Felensteins of Long Island
Joan Ruby married Milton Felenstein. Their life and family in Rockville Centre.
The Paechters in Berlin
Most of the family from Tiegenhof found their way to Berlin by the early years of the twentieth century. At first they prospered—until the coming devastation
The physics experiment that went wrong
How and why did Stan Ruby's important post-graduate research go wrong, and what impact did it have on his career in physics?
The problem with anti-ballistic missiles
Stanley Ruby entered the public debate over nuclear missile technology in 1968-69.
The Rubys in Israel—1961 sabbatical
Our family’s amazing year of discovery and connection
The Wohlgemuths in Danzig
Before moving his family to Berlin in 1912, Isaak Wohlgemuth prospered as a mover in Danzig. His family roots were in nearby West Prussia.
The Wohlgemuths in Elbing
The Wohlgemuth family settled in Elbing, near to Tiegenhof, during the 1890s, where they owned and operated a water mill.
Third Generation Rubys
First came Walter, then Danny and Joanne. They would carry on the Ruby-Ringel genes.
Tulbowitz in the USSR—an alternative history
If Sholom Tulbowitz had gone to Dvinsk instead of Rostov, as his cousin did, his Ratner descendants might have grown up in Perm instead of Albany.
Twyla's childhood
Outlooks of a pre-millennial
Walter Ruby and the Carioca Cooler
The U.S. liquor industry took off after the repeal of Prohibition. Walter Ruby was the marketing manager for the American Spirits company
Walter's first draft of family history
Cherry picking the best content from our founding document written in 2006: "The Ruby Family Histories — The Early Lives of Stanley and Helga Ruby"
Wild goose chase—an accident in Jersey City
A newspaper clipping placed Walter Ruby on the scene of an automobile wreck in Hudson County, N.J. Not every lead pans out.
Young man on the make in the Roaring Twenties
Walter Ruby hustled his way as a traveling silver salesman, with some career side trips into boxing promotion and medicinal alcohol.