How often do we fail to find our ancestors in the census because they simply are not there?
Author Archive for Tammy Hepps
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When Henry Silverstein Got Cold: Fraud in the 1920 Census
How one man’s illegal scheme led to an awful enumeration of one Homestead neighborhood.
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“Where are they all kept?”: Undercounted Immigrants in the 1900 Census
Hidden in miles of Homestead newspaper microfilm is the forgotten story of why many of us cannot find our families in the 1900 census.
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The Chinese Laundrymen of Homestead
The Chinese residents of Homestead were never permitted to form a community in the way other immigrants took for granted. Here’s what their lives were like.
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The Friedlander Envelope: And Then There Were Two
A second Friedlander envelope turned up! What story does this one tell?
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The Influenza “Vaccine” that “Saved” Homestead’s Steelworkers
A 1918 public health effort that you haven’t heard about (here’s why)
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A Homestead Poem Takes an Unexpected Journey
The story of a memorial poem for a Jewish soldier that was forgotten for a century.
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The Homestead Hebrew With a Statue and a Hollywood Star
One kid who grew up in Homestead’s Jewish community became a major Hollywood star. You knew I would have to write about him eventually!
The Stories in Data
Introducing Homestead Hebrew Data, where you can share in all the wonderful discoveries I’ve made about your families.
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The Friedlander Envelope
An envelope addressed to M. M. Friedlander and postmarked 1901 found its way to Greece — and that is the least exciting leg of its journey.
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What We Commemorate and Why It Matters
Some thoughts on Gettysburg vs. Homestead, written on the anniversary of both.
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April 1917: Bloody April
A hundred years ago Homesteaders rallied around the country’s entry into a war going worse than they knew.