World War II

Many families follow a tradition of passing on the mother’s maiden name to a child, and that’s the reason for Frederick Hausam Hobdell’s middle name. Both parents, Dorothea Hausam and…

When Peter was born he was the baby of the family, having two older sisters and one older brother. His parents, William Grindrod and Lucy Richardson, were married in 1892.…

Bill’s parents both came from Ireland, then met and married in Philadelphia in 1908. They lived at 6056 Reinhard Street, a block east of Mount Moriah Cemetery, and it was…

Bill’s name was the same as his father’s except for the middle initial, and what that stood for is unknown. His father had changed his last name from McFields because…

Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Harry started life just as the decade known as the Roaring Twenties was getting started. All that is known of his childhood is that his…

Details of Harold’s youth are scarce. The records only show that he was born on March 19, 1907 in Courtland, Virginia, about ten miles north of the North Carolina state…

Philadelphia’s Chief Fire Marshal, George Warren Elliott, married Laura Thiess in 1916 and George Jr. arrived a year later. They lived in the Cedar Park section of West Philly and…

George’s parents were two immigrants from Slovakia named Stephen Barna (1887-1957) and Mary Dancsyk (1888-1958). They married in 1907 and raised nine children in a Slovak neighborhood centered around their…

Millions of mothers faithfully wrote to their sons who were overseas in World War II. Sadly, much of that mail was backlogged, piling up in warehouses in England. And when…

“Jimmy” was the youngest in a blended family. His mother, Sarah, had been married before but was granted a divorce and married Reuben Henry Miller in 1919. She brought her…