Mightier Acorns

Journeys through Genealogy and Family History

A parody of a family coat of arms designed with acorns as elements, with the motto "ex gladnis potentioribus" Latin for "from Mighty Acorns"
From Mighty Acorns

Category: Teachers

  • A simple system upgrade leads to a meditation on technological disruption, and consideration of ancestors who farmed, invented, and “improved” their way to our modern world.

  • The Morgan Raid – from War Poems

    John H. Callin, a Union artillery soldier, left behind a book of poems “written in the Army” when he died in 1913. One hundred years later, his words were transcribed and published online for the world to see!

  • The downfall of one turn-of-the-century American family Martin L Callin (1853 – 1889) was born in Weller Township, in Richland County, Ohio, and grew up working on farms near Olivesburgh. His father was a shoemaker, Thomas Jefferson Callin, a respected businessman well-known in the town of Mansfield. Martin was this Callin family’s oldest son, though…

  • A lifetime of caring for the community Vicki Lee Callin was born on 21 April 1943 to Bob and Nancy (Witter) Callin. Bob was an airman in the Army Air Corps (note the “Hap Arnold” star on his shoulder) serving at Luke Field near Glendale, and Nancy and Vicki probably spent a lot of time…

  • posted Friday, October 28, 2016 Note: if you care to revisit the original version of this post from 2016, you will note a few major changes: If you happen to be one of Prof’s Progeny, drop me a note, or leave a comment! Prof’s Progeny In our earlier post, 20th Century Callin Clan, we recounted…

  • Originally Published on 2/26/2015 I found it difficult to compose a story about Grandma Nancy. She was probably the most present of my grandparents but I haven’t quite isolated a narrative thread for her, yet. This is the patchwork story I chose to tell a decade ago, in actual snapshots. (Lightly edited to update links…

  • Musing about an inflection point In my defense, there is just so much to know! Let me back up: a few weeks ago, Substacker Kevin Ferguson asked, …and you can go see what I said, of course, and take a look at Kevin’s newsletter about family history and winemaking. But ever since, I’ve been thinking…