About

Old Photos - Gateway Drug to Genealogy


Photo of five young men, three wearing jerseys that say "Bayonne," and a young woman. They are posing together on a field with what might be the Singer Sewing Machine factory in the background. Possibly a sporting event, early 20th century.
Do you know who these people are?
It all started, as these things often do, with a box (or two or five) of old photographs. Inherited from my mother's side of the family, the boxes were a mix of pictures from both the Dixon and the Karvoius families. Some of the people in the pictures were familiar to me, but there were so many of them that I knew nothing about.

I thought that if I at least knew the names of the people that they might possibly be, I'd have a better chance of identifying all those mysterious characters in all those photos.

That way, my friend, lies Genealogy.


You've heard that siren song: "Go ahead, sign up for that 7-day free trial to the genealogy database of your choice. You just want to look up a name or two. You can quit any time. "

Of course you can. Unless you're me.

So now I'm thoroughly hooked on this family history thing. Census records, vital statistics, old newspapers, oh my!

What I Hope to do Here


Are you a cousin? If you are, I hope you'll join in on the fun. Even if you're not a cousin, join in anyway!

Rooted in Elizabeth will feature
  • Photos of my ancestors
  • Photos of Other Peoples Ancestors
  • Discoveries
  • Research process and resources
  • Stories about people, places, and things
  • Cool family history stuff that I find on the web


A Little Bit About Me


I was born in St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Elizabeth, NJ on what my mother claimed was "the hottest day of the year."  She may have exaggerated, but there was no air conditioning in the hospital and it was the middle of the summer.

Road trips to various historic sites were a part of my childhood. Exploring how people lived in the past was so interesting to me that I majored in History in college. After that, I worked at Colonial Williamsburg for several years. I learned to spin yarn, honed my weaving skills, and talked to lots and lots of people.

Then I did a stint with a company that did contract archaeology. Being useless with a shovel, I spent most of my days cataloging artifacts held by the National Park Service at Yorktown and Jamestown. Not only was that really fun (no, really!), but I met my husband working at that job. Bonus!

After ten years in the swamps we headed for high ground, ending up in beautiful southwest Virgina. We both did a stint in a university archive, working with great people and lots of interesting things.

Now, for something completely different, I work for a company that makes tools for people who play with yarn and process their own wool for spinning. I also work at our local yarn shop a few afternoons a week.

Starting in 2018 I began a new career as a Personal Photo Organizer. Yup, that's a thing! I'm helping other people in my area make sense of their photo collections, preserve them for future generations, and share them with the people they love.

In my spare time I play with wool and yarn, weave tapestries, and stick seeds in the ground and hope they grow. Oh, and you know, that whole genealogy thing.












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