The Storyline
Real families. Real discoveries. Real stories.
“Cutting Straight”- A Commemorative Poem
He fell from a scaffold and saw two of everything after. But a carpenter learns to cut straight anyway—to trust the hand when the eye betrays. A commemorative poem for Miles Murtha O'Brien (1904–1984).
Part of the Storyline Genealogy series: When resilience becomes poetry.
What He Built: A Granddaughter’s Reflection
I have my grandfather's silver. It still sits in the purple Woodruff Jewelers bag. But what I really have is his story—and the lessons of a man who saw double but never lost his way.
Part of the Storyline Genealogy series: When what we remember becomes what we inherit.
Legacy Keepsake: Evangeliste Guilbault Letter
You descend from a man the records call journalier. Day laborer. Four times the documents say it. Not voyageur—though that word clings to the family story, borrowed perhaps from his father, who earned it. Gabriel Guilbault was a voyageur. His son Evangeliste was five years old in 1851, too young to understand that the world his father knew was already disappearing. By the time he was old enough to work, there was nothing left to paddle.
Part of the Storyline Genealogy series: Legacy Keepsakes From Research to Story
Legacy Letter: The Orphan’s Promise
A letter from Lillian Josephine Robertson O'Brien to her descendants — written in her voice, sharing what she wants them to know about surviving tragedy, building from loss, and the promise she made in January 1924 that she kept for sixty-seven years.
Part of the Storyline Genealogy series: Legacy Keepsakes From Research to Story