The 1889 Johnstown Flood: Elizabeth and Idella Reynolds
Elizabeth (Donmyer) Reynolds — my 4th great-grandaunt On the afternoon of May 31, 1889, the borough of Woodvale, Pennsylvania, simply stopped existing. It took less than ten minutes. South Fork Dam, fourteen miles upstream from Johnstown, had been holding back Lake Conemaugh — a private mountain reservoir built for a fishing and hunting club used […]
PVT. JOHN R. VARNER (1836-1861) — The Brother Who Didn’t Return
Born November 24, 1836 in Richland Township, John was the son of Samuel S. Varner and Mary Ann Giffin. He was 24 years old, unmarried, and living with his family when the war broke out. Just three months into the war — before the North had even fought at Bull Run — John was already […]
250 Years of Freedom — And My Family Was Part of It From the Start
As America celebrates 250 years of independence, I wanted to proudly share that I recently found out one of my ancestral grandfathers, Christopher Werner, served as a Private in the Pennsylvania Militia — Captain Jacob Heller’s Company, Second Battalion, Northampton County — during the Revolutionary War in 1780-1781. He was born around 1742 and lived […]
163 Years Ago Today — My Family Was There
On July 3, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg came to its close after three brutal days of fighting — the turning point of the Civil War. I recently dove deep into my family history research and confirmed that my own ancestors were part of it. Franklin S. Horner (1836–1918), my 3rd great-granduncle, was First Sergeant […]
Looking Back with AI: The Salix Log Cabin at 100
Someone recently reached out to me about putting together information — or perhaps a presentation — for the upcoming 100th anniversary celebration of the Salix Log Cabin in Salix, Pennsylvania. I grew up near Salix and have spent years collecting information about the village and the cabin, so I agreed to try to put together […]
How SPF Burned Me
While working for an MSP for over the last decade, I’ve setup countless SPF records for different businesses. It’s important to have an SPF record, which is a DNS record that helps validate email is being sent from your domain. This is done in order to protect against SPAM and fraudulent/spoofed emails. Many email providers […]
Dunlo & Llanfair Pennsylvania – Scary Stories, Folklore, Legends and Other Strange Tales
Throughout my whole life I’ve been fascinated by tales of the supernatural, scary stories, legends and the paranormal. I’ve enjoyed hearing a good scary story and being too scared to go to bed without a light on. Back when I was in my 20’s, I began writing down all the scary stories I heard over […]
NFT Midge How-To
I took a dive into learning about NFTs recently. They’ve been all the rage this past year and I wanted to get involved to get a better understanding of how they worked. For those of you who don’t know, an NFT (non-fungible token) is a digital asset that has it’s ownership tracked in a blockchain. […]
Becky’s Gave – Tribune-Democrat Mention
The following article appeared in the January 19th, 2021 edition of the Tribune-Democrat, in which my historical information on Becky’s Grave was featured. It’s great to see that the cemetery is getting taken care of and preserved with the help of new technology and dedicated individuals.
(ISC)2 Penn Highlands – Treasurer
On March 4th, I was honored to be elected as Treasurer of the (ISC)2 Penn Highlands Chapter. For those of you not familiar with it, The (ISC)2 Penn Highlands Chapter serves as a professional IT organization in the Pennsylvania Highlands. The Chapter provides a forum in which members are able to network, exchange ideas, and […]
