If you’ve followed this series from the beginning, you already know this wasn’t really about war. It was about what came after. The quiet years. The long drives to work. The nights spent filling out pension forms by lamplight. The new marriages, new names, new babies, and sometimes, the distance — emotional or physical — that never fully closed.

I’ve spent years digging through military records, just like you. But I’ve come to realize that a veteran’s service file is only half the story. It might tell you where someone was stationed or what battles they were in, but it doesn’t tell you who they became when they came home. And that’s the part their descendants — you and me — need to know to truly understand our family.

We call them veterans, but they were also sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, neighbors, laborers, wanderers, storytellers, and in some cases… ghosts. Not in the supernatural sense, but in that soft way a person fades out of memory when no one speaks their name anymore.

This series was for them...

Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/veteran-second-lives-genealogy-conclusion/

Ancestral Findings Podcast:

https://ancestralfindings.com/podcast

This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups:

https://ancestralfindings.com/lookups

Genealogy Giveaway:

https://ancestralfindings.com/giveaway

Genealogy eBooks:

https://ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Follow Along:

https://www.facebook.com/AncestralFindings

https://www.instagram.com/ancestralfindings

https://www.youtube.com/ancestralfindings

Support Ancestral Findings:

https://ancestralfindings.com/support

https://ancestralfindings.com/paypal 

#Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips

“Many thanks, Will. You have rekindled my 40-year quest to find my family origins. Your weekly letters are greatly appreciated.” – Bryan

When Bryan wrote those words to me, they carried more than gratitude. They spoke of a lifetime spent searching, hoping, sometimes pausing, and then returning again. A forty-year quest is no small thing. It’s the better part of a life, and it reminds me of why we keep at this work. Family history isn’t only about names and dates; it’s about our connection to those who lived before us, and it’s about the journey we ourselves take while searching for them.

Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/rekindling-forty-year-family-history-quest/

Ancestral Findings Podcast:

https://ancestralfindings.com/podcast

This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups:

https://ancestralfindings.com/lookups

Genealogy Giveaway:

https://ancestralfindings.com/giveaway

Genealogy eBooks:

https://ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Follow Along:

https://www.facebook.com/AncestralFindings

https://www.instagram.com/ancestralfindings

https://www.youtube.com/ancestralfindings

Support Ancestral Findings:

https://ancestralfindings.com/support

https://ancestralfindings.com/paypal 

#Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips

Some postcards capture landscapes or landmarks; others capture a moment of pride. This one from Morgantown, West Virginia, does both. On the front, a yellow Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) car glides along its elevated guideway, the Appalachian hills forming a textured backdrop. On the back, a handwritten date—October 3, 1994—sits alongside the publisher’s mark from Paige Creations and a credit to photographer Janet Paige Bonsall. For me, those small touches are what make postcards feel like secret storytellers.

Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/morgantown-prt-postcard/

Ancestral Findings Podcast:

https://ancestralfindings.com/podcast

This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups:

https://ancestralfindings.com/lookups

Genealogy Giveaway:

https://ancestralfindings.com/giveaway

Genealogy eBooks:

https://ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Follow Along:

https://www.facebook.com/AncestralFindings

https://www.instagram.com/ancestralfindings

https://www.youtube.com/ancestralfindings

Support Ancestral Findings:

https://ancestralfindings.com/support

https://ancestralfindings.com/paypal 

#Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips

The air is crisp, the leaves are beginning to turn, and children have returned to their classrooms. It’s September, and what better time to reconnect with your family history? Genealogy isn’t just a summer vacation activity; each season offers its own unique opportunities to explore your past and build your family tree. As you swap out your summer decor for autumnal wreaths and pumpkins, consider diving into these ten genealogy projects tailored for September. Each one offers the chance to learn something new about your ancestors and make meaningful progress in your research...

Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/10-must-do-genealogy-projects-for-september/ 

Ancestral Findings Podcast:

https://ancestralfindings.com/podcast

This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups:

https://ancestralfindings.com/lookups

Genealogy Giveaway:

https://ancestralfindings.com/giveaway

Genealogy eBooks:

https://ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Follow Along:

https://www.facebook.com/AncestralFindings

https://www.instagram.com/ancestralfindings

https://www.youtube.com/ancestralfindings

Support Ancestral Findings:

https://ancestralfindings.com/support

https://ancestralfindings.com/paypal 

#Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips

You find them in a draft card, a pension file, or a service roster—and then nothing. No census record. No marriage. No obituary. No trace.

Every family historian has run into a veteran ancestor who seems to disappear after the war. These are the quiet mysteries of the family tree. They served their country, came home (if at all), and then vanished. And while they may not have left behind a full paper trail, the clues are often still there… just scattered in places we don’t always think to look.

Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/veterans-who-disappeared-after-war/ 

Ancestral Findings Podcast:

https://ancestralfindings.com/podcast

This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups:

https://ancestralfindings.com/lookups

Genealogy Giveaway:

https://ancestralfindings.com/giveaway

Genealogy eBooks:

https://ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Follow Along:

https://www.facebook.com/AncestralFindings

https://www.instagram.com/ancestralfindings

https://www.youtube.com/ancestralfindings

Support Ancestral Findings:

https://ancestralfindings.com/support

https://ancestralfindings.com/paypal 

#Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips

Labor Day arrives each September, signaling the close of summer and the approach of autumn. Many people see it as a three-day weekend for rest, cookouts, or back-to-school shopping. Yet beneath the sales and celebrations lies a deeper meaning—one that connects directly to the lives of our ancestors. It is a holiday born of struggle, built on sacrifice, and sustained by the ongoing dignity of work.

Last year, I looked back at the history of how Labor Day began and why it was created. This year, I want to look at it in a more personal way—through the eyes of our ancestors, through the forgotten jobs they once held, through the local parades and traditions they passed down, through the transformation of the holiday itself, through family stories of work, and through the immigrant experience that shaped the American workforce. Taken together, these perspectives show us why Labor Day is more than just a long weekend. It is a remembrance of the labor that shaped our families, our communities, and our nation...

Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/labor-day-work-family-immigration/

Ancestral Findings Podcast:

https://ancestralfindings.com/podcast

This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups:

https://ancestralfindings.com/lookups

Genealogy Giveaway:

https://ancestralfindings.com/giveaway

Genealogy eBooks:

https://ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Follow Along:

https://www.facebook.com/AncestralFindings

https://www.instagram.com/ancestralfindings

https://www.youtube.com/ancestralfindings

Support Ancestral Findings:

https://ancestralfindings.com/support

https://ancestralfindings.com/paypal 

#Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips

Some families have stories that begin with war but continue through decades of work that followed. A man who served in a supply battalion later owned a hardware store. A woman who drove an ambulance in Europe spent her post-war years as a nurse. A quiet grandfather who never spoke about the war was known around town as the best electrician anyone had ever seen.

These are more than coincidences. They’re professional paths shaped directly by military service — by what veterans learned, endured, and adapted.

This part of the Second Lives series explores how veterans took what they knew in uniform and made it into a trade, a business, or a second life they never expected...

Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/veteran-careers-after-military-service/

Ancestral Findings Podcast:

https://ancestralfindings.com/podcast

This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups:

https://ancestralfindings.com/lookups

Genealogy Giveaway:

https://ancestralfindings.com/giveaway

Genealogy eBooks:

https://ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Follow Along:

https://www.facebook.com/AncestralFindings

https://www.instagram.com/ancestralfindings

https://www.youtube.com/ancestralfindings

Support Ancestral Findings:

https://ancestralfindings.com/support

https://ancestralfindings.com/paypal 

#Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips

War has a way of pausing life. Plans are put on hold. Relationships are delayed. Young people grow older quickly. And when the fighting ends, the urge to settle down often comes fast — sometimes with someone they wrote to during the war, met while deployed, or reunited with after years apart.

That’s why so many families — maybe even yours — began with a marriage that happened after the war.

For family historians, these post-war marriages can unlock stories that explain late-in-life first children, sudden name changes, cross-country moves, or entire branches of the family tree that appear unexpectedly. These unions were often the beginning of second lives — built in peacetime, but forged in the shadow of war...

Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/marriage-after-military-service/

Ancestral Findings Podcast:

https://ancestralfindings.com/podcast

This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups:

https://ancestralfindings.com/lookups

Genealogy Giveaway:

https://ancestralfindings.com/giveaway

Genealogy eBooks:

https://ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Follow Along:

https://www.facebook.com/AncestralFindings

https://www.instagram.com/ancestralfindings

https://www.youtube.com/ancestralfindings

Support Ancestral Findings:

https://ancestralfindings.com/support

https://ancestralfindings.com/paypal 

#Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips

The guns fell silent on November 11, 1918. But for millions of American “Doughboys” — the nickname given to U.S. infantrymen in World War I — the story didn’t end there. They returned home changed, stepping into a country that barely resembled the one they’d left. As the 1920s roared into life, veterans tried to rejoin a world moving faster than ever before.

Some blended in. Others struggled. A few stood out. And their second lives often left behind records that are waiting for you to discover...

Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/wwi-veterans-after-the-war-1920s/

Ancestral Findings Podcast:

https://ancestralfindings.com/podcast

This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups:

https://ancestralfindings.com/lookups

Genealogy Giveaway:

https://ancestralfindings.com/giveaway

Genealogy eBooks:

https://ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Follow Along:

https://www.facebook.com/AncestralFindings

https://www.instagram.com/ancestralfindings

https://www.youtube.com/ancestralfindings

Support Ancestral Findings:

https://ancestralfindings.com/support

https://ancestralfindings.com/paypal 

#Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips

For generations, families quietly wondered why a veteran ancestor drank too much, kept to themselves, startled at loud noises, or refused to talk about the war. Some were labeled “nervous,” “moody,” or “difficult.” Others disappeared from family life altogether — emotionally, or sometimes physically.

But we now understand what they couldn’t name: post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

Though the term didn’t exist until decades later, the effects were already showing. And for family historians, this hidden aftermath of war can explain behaviors, disappearances, and long-standing family rifts...

Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/ptsd-in-war-veterans-family-history/

Ancestral Findings Podcast:

https://ancestralfindings.com/podcast

This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups:

https://ancestralfindings.com/lookups

Genealogy Giveaway:

https://ancestralfindings.com/giveaway

Genealogy eBooks:

https://ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Follow Along:

https://www.facebook.com/AncestralFindings

https://www.instagram.com/ancestralfindings

https://www.youtube.com/ancestralfindings

Support Ancestral Findings:

https://ancestralfindings.com/support

https://ancestralfindings.com/paypal 

#Genealogy #AncestralFindings #GenealogyClips