By Anthony R. Thompson: I miss that Bronxville Memorial Parade, watching Chief McNichols drive by the crowds in that old fire engine which was stored in the Cedar Street Garage, after having been replaced by the big shiny, state-of-the art, American La France hose truck. I would be waiting for my Dad, dressed in his […]
Intriguing Band Set to Play Low-Brow Venue
It’s hard not to pay attention to a band that professes to “play songs you’ve probably heard in ways you never imagined.” But that’s just one of myriad mysteries surrounding the enigmatic Greyhounds Touched by X-Ray, a promising new band on the St. Louis music scene. There’s also the question of where the band got […]
Not Even German Bombs Could Interfere With Peggy Schulze’s Royal Marriage
Polish Prince Alexander Hohenlohe “knew it was serious” when he first met the 18-year-old Peggy Boyce Schulze (1921-1964). The couple married, he told the New York Times, after only a “four-month courtship which began like many another courtship before it — on a Summer day.” The courtship became anything but typical after military hostilities interceded. […]
Boner House Still Stands Tall in Milan, Missouri
John Quincy Boner (1830-1908) and his wife Sarah Ann Clark had already lost three children to illness by 1876, when they built this home in Milan, Mo. Thankfully, the stately home with its inviting, wraparound porch, is still standing, as I discovered on a visit there last summer. Two children — Minnie (12) and Charles […]
Thompson Family History: The First Chapter
The project started out innocently enough. I merely wanted to confirm some of the often bizarre stories my parents and grandparents had told me at family events, typically after a few drinks.
Earliest North American Relative Jailed for Assaulting Tailor
Genealogical research often turns up more than you really want to know. I got a rude reminder of this truism before the Christmas holidays, when a genealogist working in Cobourg, Ontario discovered that my earliest North American ancestor, William Thompson (1806-1849), assaulted a tailor, didn’t pay the fine, and spent time in the lock-up. The […]