Just doing some development work here, this being my first website since back in the early FrontPage days. There’s a much steeper learning curve now, but I’m gradually figuring it out. I hope you’ll be patient as the growing pains continue. Meanwhile, here’s a not-so-brief overview of what prompted the launch of this site.

Why the “blue box”? The inspiration originally came from one of my favorite television shows, “Doctor Who,” in which the Doctor’s ship is a blue police call box (it’s a British show) much like a phone booth, only it transports the Doctor through space and time and is, as the running joke goes, “bigger on the inside.” MUCH bigger on the inside, actually. But then I realized too, that my family tree is comprised entirely of more or less relatively recent immigrants, who not only traveled through space and time, but were leaving much of their old lives behind and often never saw their stay-behind families again. For them, writing letters were the only real method of communication they had with their past lives. For many years now, the United States Post Office has had blue mailboxes out on the streets for dropping off letters. Another blue box that connects us to our history. Lastly, I happen to like the color blue, and when I realized the above and that most of the storage containers I have used at present to hold my genealogy research materials are blue or have blue on them, it made my choice of name very simple. So while it might be a box, it’s bigger on the inside (as is all history once it begins to unfold the more closely you look at it) – and it doesn’t hurt to consider thinking outside the box in fresh, creative ways. This is where my pervasive personal philosophy of “practical whimsy” comes into play. I am a firm believer in having fun while learning, and this is most definitely a great deal of fun!

This website is intended to be a single-source repository of information for information I’m uncovering as I research my family heritage. It will include text articles as well as images including photos, maps, and even some documents at some point. I am not limiting myself to my direct lineage, although that is my main focus. For those who have more than a passing knowledge of genealogy, it is widely-recognized that sometimes the biggest discoveries are made not through direct ancestor searches, but rather through FANs of the focus person. “FAN” stands for “Friends, Associates, and Neighbors.” Many times where you see these FAN names show up, your focus person may also be mentioned or referenced. In earlier times, these are also often the pool of people from whom spouses were selected, journeys undertaken, land purchased, and much more. Community then was extremely important, and to a lesser degree, remains so today.

What’s next?

With that said, I hope you will find the information provided here interesting and/or useful. There are no current plans to post on anything resembling a set schedule, but only when I have something of significance to share. At the beginning, this might mean more posts as I try to populate the site with quality content, but after a while it should taper off a bit. I have set up a contact form accessible at the bottom of the page (I think) where you can send me any additional information you may have, its of family history I might be missing, specific questions about individuals you would like to have looked into, and the like. I created the form this morning, but have not yet tested it out. For those of you who are linked with me on Ancestry or other means, you can contact me that way in the meantime.

Surnames being researched

The list of surnames from myself back to my great-grandparents that are my current focal points include:

• Rothman/Rotman
• Husmann
• Milgrom/Milgrim
• Busch
• Hoff
• Hanson
• Ross
• Hofteig
• Gudmundson