Welcome to my journey
Frank E. Petersen by Lynnette LaPlace
Lynette LaPlace is a young dedicated genealogist who is consumed with her family history (my kind of gene-buddy). She is from the Virgin Islands and traces her maternal and paternal roots to the Danish West Indies and Dominica. It is a pleasure to have connected with her while researching my Danish West Indian family. As…
Honoring My Ancestral Mothers
Looking at my genealogy research today, I felt very humbled by the number of mothers who came before me. It inspired me to post a reflection of my ancestral mothers some free, some enslaved – in the Danish West Indies/US Virgin Islands and Barbados. I began with my mother, Joyce Bough. Today I remembered and…
A Crucian who paved the way.
Levi Bough was a trailblazing Terrier as he broke the color barrier at St. Francis, becoming the first black student-athlete on the men’s basketball team in 1947. This year, the St. Francis Athletics department will honor Terriers men’s basketball Hall of Famer Jerome Williams (class of ’76) with the Levi Bough Trailblazer Award. St. Francis…
52 Ancestors- week 21 Cemetery
February 15, 1897, Amelia Elizabeth Petersen-Marcus was buried in the New Danish Church Cemetery in Christiansted Town. Amelia E. Petersen was born on St. Croix in April 1834 died in February 1897 during the Danish Period. A family member in St. Thomas, USVI explained that Amelia’s son (August Bough) had a tombstone design and placed…
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 14 – “Great.”
The new prompt in the 52-ancestor series for 2021 suggests that we write about ancestors associated with the word- “great”. I found it daunting to navigate around this word. Going through my folders, I realized that in almost every family tree, one could see great deeds, outstanding accomplishments, and of course, several degrees of great-grandparents.…
52 Ancestors in 52 weeks Week -9 Multiples
This post is a prompt in the 52 ancestor series 2021. For this prompt, a family tree search resulted in multiple spouses/partners and births on my family tree. I decided to search for multiple births. I found the earliest multiple deliveries was a set of male twins Aaron (1846-1884) and Esram Bough (1846-1900) born on…
52 Ancestors, week 5-in the kitchen
Memories of childhood, at times, center in the kitchen. For this prompt, I thought I would visualize my Great-Aunt Essie Houston Kitchen. She lived in a two-bedroom tenement on 140th Street up in Harlem, New York. We would visit her once a month after attending church services at the Transfiguration Lutheran Church on West 126th…
Week 4: Favorite Photo
Among the many events during the festive holiday season on St. Croix is that once the year ends. On the first day of the New Year, it is a Virgin Island family tradition to get together to take that long scenic drive to the far east of the island to watch the first sunrise. This…
A Family Legend
Does Anna Heegard belong in the Bough Family Tree The Woman behind the emancipation of the slaves in the Danish West Indies. Growing up in New York City did not isolate me from Virgin Islands History/lifestyle. My grandmother and family were always engaged in a discussion about life on St. Croix and the generations. Their…
52 Ancestors in 52 weeks: Week #1 – Beginnings
52 Ancestors in 52 weeks: Week #1 – Beginnings Genealogy is not just a compilation of dates, not a listing of surnames, it is simply His-Story/Her-Story. As Amy Cross says no story is too small. This year, I will make every effort to tell the ancestor’s story using genealogical data, pictures, family lore, oral…
My Genealogical Journey: 
