Hand Me Down

A statue and windows in our parish church make a connection to ancestors on both sides of my family.

My great-grandfather migrates from Nebraska to Colorado and on to California during the 1920s, leaving a great deal behind in his wake.

I thought it would be worth remembering my great-grandfather on this 100th anniversary of his passing. More at oconnor.home.blog.

In 1898, my 2X great-grandfather Baldwin Gardiner was shot and killed after a botched robbery and a daring chase over San Francisco rooftops. More at oconnor.home.blog.

Episode Notes In this episode, I take a look at my family’s relationship to one of the major industries that employed several of my ancestors – the railroads. More at http://oconnor.home.blog. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes As I record this episode, I’m still sheltered-in-place during the coronavirus epidemic. And while I’m listening to the current occupant of the White House suggest possible wild treatments or cures for COVID-19 or the novel coronavirus that causes it, I thought I’d look back into my family tree where a not-so-reliable treatment scam figured into the life of one of my third great-grandfathers in 1830s Jacksonian America.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, as I shelter-in-place under the coronavirus epidemic, I look into how some of my ancestors endured the Influenza Epidemic of 1918. My thanks to the Nebraska History Museum, the National Archives, the Sacramento Public Library and the Centers for Disease Control. If you would like to see the images, documents, and links related to this episode, be sure to visit the website at oconnor.home.blog. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes Hand Me Down Podcast Ep 18 – Fred Burry In this episode, I tell the story of one of my 2nd great-uncles, a South Dakota farmer at the turn of the last century who survived drought and hardship, but who also settled on land that had been part of the tribal territory of the Lakota Sioux and that was broken up and sold under the Dawes Act of 1887.Notes go hereThis podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this post, I continue the story of Baldwin Gardiner, who over the course of his life appears to have been a name borrower, a home-wrecker, and a financial absconder in 19th-century San Francisco.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, I pick up the saga of the O’Connor family after settling in Nebraska, particularly the story of my great-grandparents Thomas O’Connor and Rose Burry.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, I introduce my 2x great-grandfather on my mother’s side who, among other things, was a Confederate POW during the Civil War. After recording this episode, I found his obituary which included a photograph. You can see all the images and notes with the blog post at http://oconnor.home.blog.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, we continue Michael O'Connor's journey from Ireland in 1884 (Podcast Episode 8) to a homestead outside of Grand Island, Nebraska.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, I take a look at the long public service career of my great-grandfather, Michael Desmond, who held municipal offices during the Progressive Era of the early 20th century.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, my second great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Ward, gets divorced, then marries, and dies – all on the same day. Visit the website at http://oconnor.home.blogThis podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, I take a look at a non-Irish branch of my family tree and explore what brought them from a little village in Switzerland into the heartland of America. The theme music is by Andy Slatter at Audio Jungle with additional music by David Fesliyan, and Chris Zabriskie and Kevin MacLeod under a Creative Commons Attribution license. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes This episode started out as an attempt to find out more about a duplex that I own in East Sacramento, but I ended up learning more about the people who built it.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, we take a closer look at the first Baldwin Gardiner from New York. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, my great-great grandfather Michael O'Connor participates in the very first boycott, and in a way, initiates his own. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, my great-grandmother writes some words during the worst of the Great Depression.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, my great-grandfather and his brother go looking for trouble, and hope to prove the truth of that old adage “it’s not who starts the fight that matters, it’s who finishes it.”This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, I look into members of the family who were of age 100 years ago during The Great War – World War I – and tell the story of my great-uncle James Flanagan who served in World War I.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, I begin the story of my great-great grandfather Baldwin Gardiner of San Francisco. It will take multiple posts to tell his story. Trust me. I think. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes At first it appeared to be just an innocuous lapel pin on an image of my great-grandfather, Thomas O'Connor. But wait... is that a hatchet?This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode Notes In this episode, we’ll look at my 2nd great uncle, John Desmond. I don’t know why I chose to feature him first. Maybe it’s because I recently found an image of him – a drawing that appeared in the Sacramento Bee in 1892. Something about an image that draws me to its story.

In this episode, I’ll be setting up the background to this series and introduce the four branches of my family tree that serve as the structure for the program.