Family Story Finder

The sweep of family history across the generations

Janis Brenner—a Ratner in motion
  • -

An innovator in modern dance and choreography since breaking in with the Murray Lewis Dance Company in the 1980s. The Ratners moved geographically. Janis moves artistically.

Seymour Rabinowitz and Harriet Berkowitz
  • -

Seymour, also called Samuel, was partly estranged from the family. He worked as a truant officer in the New York City schools. His daughter Harriet Berkowitz discovered our blog and contributed a trove of precious documents.

The family secret behind grandfather's desk calendar
  • July 22 1939 -

A surprising artifact discovered after a parent's death leads to a series of discoveries and a new pastime in genealogy

The Klein family in the 1940s
  • -

Leon Klein continued to work for American Spirits as its upstate New York sales representative

The physics experiment that went wrong
  • 1951 - 1958

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 Rabinowitz girls
  • -

Meta, Blossom and Sadie

The Ringels in Berlin—time of prosperity
  • 1881 - 1931

From 1880s to the 1930s, the Ringel family prospered in the garment trade in the German capital. Herman made men's outerwear.

Turning over rocks to find long-lost relatives
  • -

During the course of my genealogy work, I have discovered and connected with cousins from all my family branches. Here are some lessons learned.