Ancestry PI

01/13/2026

01/12/2026

Hmmm think I’d rather use a dustpan and brush!

A housemaid cleaning a house using one of the first domestic vacuum cleaners in 1906, the Siemens dedusting pump. It was released in 1906 and weighed 150 kg, had an upstream filter, and was mounted on a movable sled.

Credit: color_byangelina on Instagram

01/12/2026

Most nursery rhymes have a story behind them.

“Doctor Foster went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain,
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again.”

The nursery rhyme Doctor Foster is often linked to a curious episode from medieval England. Its story is commonly traced to the 13th century during the reign of Edward I of England.

According to tradition, the king, sometimes identified as “Doctor Foster” travelled to Gloucester and suffered the indignity of tumbling from his horse into a deep, muddy puddle. The mishap was said to have so offended his pride that he vowed never to return to the city.

Edward I, who reigned from 1272 to 1307, was a formidable and imposing figure, standing well over six feet tall. A stature that earned him the enduring nickname Longshanks.

Illustration by Blanche Fisher Wright (1887-1938)

01/10/2026

Only with daytime clock for me!

01/09/2026

Wow. What workmanship. Or workwomanship!?

This is a marvelous and quite rare survivor from about 1610. This sleeveless gown is the sort of thing a lady of wealth and fashion would have chosen as part of a formal day ensemble. She would have accompanied this with a bodice and petticoat of similarly fine work and materials.
The gown is made from an Italian silk brocade with a stylized floral motif. The brocade has been slashed, as was fashionable, between the brocade motifs. The gown has shoulder wings, another widely popular style point for women’s and mens clothes, as well as a small round collar.
The collar has a pair of eyelets meant to hold a supportasse, a wired accessory meant to hold up and out an elaborate lace collar. The gown is pictured here with a reconstruction of a supportasse in position.
According to the V&A which holds this marvelous garment, “Salmon pink corded silk once trimmed the shoulder wings and shoulder seams, with a silver lace or braid applied over top, long since removed.”

01/09/2026

Adding color adds another dimension.

The eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and the only one to live into adulthood, Robert Todd Lincoln, photographed at the age of 22 in 1865.

Robert Todd Lincoln served on Ulysses S. Grant staff in the last weeks of the American Civil War, became a business lawyer and company president, and served as both United States Secretary of War (1881–1885) and the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain (1889–1893). He died in 1926 at the age of 82.

Credit: adding.colours⁠ on Instagram

01/09/2026

German ancestors?

I’m really looking forward to the German Genealogy Lab groups starting this week 😊
Participants have already shared such interesting material—there’s so much to learn and discover together 🔍📜
Registration for the Wednesday group is now closed, but we still have two spots available in the Saturday group! ✨
Link in comments.

01/09/2026

Thought 💭 for the day!

No TV Thursdays: Iceland’s Most Productive Night of the Week 😉