Steve, Author at Nomadic Research Labs

Pomander Walk February 27, 1931 The gorgeous photo below is from Swarthmore High School… and I was fortunate enough to find the program as well in my father’s old papers (he was one of the stage managers). The photographer was Lewis Studios, and the 7×16-inch photo is remarkably well-preserved. I have scanned it and placed…

Just a snapshot of a time long ago. This was my father’s learner’s permit, and the photo above is his first car (a 1910 Hupmobile).

Just to help people doing ancestry and Worcester historical research, here is a bit of data… Stoneville Grammar School graduation exercises in 1927. This includes the credits and list of graduates (of which my mother was one). The principal was Grace M. Buckley. She went on to the Worcester High School of Commerce, and the…

Gyroscopic Action - A Menace to Aviation

I was adopted, and my biological grandfather was an absolutely fascinating fellow named Ralph M. Pearson. Of particular note is that in 1909, Ralph may have been the first person in history to accomplish the Great Loop… though others say that distinction goes to three boys in a sailboat in the 1890s. In any case,…

I was adopted, and when I was 28 I was lucky enough to track down my birth parents after many months of research. My bio-dad, Ronald Hayes Pearson, was an artist and sculptor of considerable renown… based in Deer Isle, Maine. As I got to know the family, I heard about his father, Ralph M.…

by Ralph M. Pearson May 15, 1909 Chapter 3 of the Great Loop adventure aboard Catherine M, beginning on May 3, 1909 When we ran into Peoria we had seen two or three men in long, flat-bottomed boats with what appeared to be long poles or hand rails supported on notched uprights, running the length…

by Ralph M. Pearson May 13, 1909 (chapter 1 is here) At last I was free. For the first time in seven years I was free from the chains of business, free from the stern, monotonous call of duty, free as a bird on the wing, with my home under me throbbing to the steady…

This marvelous text is by Ralph Pearson, my biological grandfather, who embarked from Chicago on an epic Great Loop voyage on May 3, 1909. There is a newspaper article from a couple of weeks later that gives a bit of an overview, but his unpublished book about the adventure begins here: Retrospect by Ralph M.…

Circa 1890… some Roberts family history I have never understood my own genealogy very well, yet I am the last of a line on my father’s side, in possession of precious photos and papers relating the history of this distinguished Quaker family from West Chester, Pennsylvania. I’ll gradually post a few things here, just to…

I wish I could provide more context for this letter, which was in an envelope of Civil War papers in my father’s estate. I don’t know the family connection, but am placing it here on my server to preserve its contents. If you have additional perspective on the drama discussed herein, or genealogical context (like this)…

Posts by Steve

Swarthmore High School Senior Play – 1931

1929 Pennsylvania Learner’s Permit

Stoneville Grammar Graduation – 1927

Gyroscopic Action – A Menace to Aviation

Catherine M on the Great Loop – 1909

1909 Great Loop – 3 – Pearl Fishers

1909 Great Loop – 2 – Leaving Chicago

1909 Great Loop Adventure – 1 – Retrospect

Hall Family Photos, Matlack and Biddle Street, West Chester PA

Civil War Soldier Letter to Ebenezer Hafford re Lieutenant Courvoisier