Krista Luttrell
Researching Ancestors. Creating Things.
recent posts
- A Small Update Changed Everything: My mtDNA Genetic Genealogy Journey
- An Honest Day’s Work for an Honest Day’s Pay: Irish supporting Irish in 19th Century Portland, Maine
- Announcement: Major New Brunswick Museum Renovation Underway
- Machias, Margaretta and O’Brien DNA
- America’s 250th and the Maine Irish
Category: Creative Things
Art and Crafts
-
I’ve been involved in DNA testing for genealogical purposes since early 2012, and over the years, I’ve tested both autosomal DNA (aDNA) and Full mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) through a testing company called FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA). Before I share this story, I want to be upfront. I have no affiliation with FTDNA and receive nothing for mentioning…
-
“Surplus People.” A chilling label applied to Ireland’s poor peasantry in the mid-19th century, their numbers in the millions, during the years of the Great Hunger, a.k.a. the Famine, a.k.a. An Gorta Mór. In several centuries past, England colonized Ireland after a hostile takeover. The Anglo-Irish landlords were the recipients of the stolen land, and…
-
In the last story web post, Iron Roads and Irish Labor: Building Maine’s Railroad, I shared information about some of the accidents and deaths of Irish immigrant laborers who built Maine’s growing railroad system. This story adds to it by following the lives of some other men who labored on Maine’s Atlantic and St. Lawrence…
-
Painting on small tile-sized composite boards is fun. A painting project can be done relatively quick, perhaps in less than an hour or two. Once dried, it can be hung, framed, or unframed, in smaller spaces, such as over a desk, beside a kitchen window, or on any narrow wall, making them perfect for adding…
-
Every day on marketplace websites like eBay, Etsy, Craigslist, and Facebook, fragments of family history quietly change hands. Among them are old photographs, personal letters, postcards, diaries, scrapbooks, school yearbooks, and so much more. These items, once much cherished by a deceased relative, are sold off to strangers. How do these family treasures end up…
-
Thirty seconds it was-or maybe a minute-on a pleasant Saturday noon,the blaring horn slicedthrough the pine tree airwhere we kids once swunghigher, higher, and higheras if our feet could touchthe bright blue skybeyond the needle green.My father sat and sippedhis steaming Nescafé,immersed in pages of fading news,as that clockwork blarecut through our dog day,and snow…
-
The East and North Galway Irish were among the first Irish Catholics to settle down in Greater Portland, Maine, arriving as early as the mid-1830s. Their arrival preceded the flood of refugees escaping Ireland’s Great Hunger, a.k.a. An Gorta Mór (1845–1852). Once settled, this group of immigrants sent funds back home to support their family…
-
Welcome to my new site, where I share bite-sized stories about community and family history, along with some creative arts content. Be sure to check out the about, interviews, links and talks pages, too. Please afford me some grace while I learn to create and use the site. The above photo is of my husband…
Krista Luttrell 