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The Cool Grandpa Podcast


Feb 26, 2021

In this episode, I talk with Heather, Kim, and Amy about the research and their drive to document and write about their grandfather, Major General William Rupertus, USMC.

This is part one of a two-part series. With this episode, the four of us dig into the methodology and research of their grandfather. In part two, we spend time going through the General's life before joining the military and his time serving in the Marines. (William H. Rupertus on Wikipedia)

This is a great episode where we dive into the General's life but focus on how the sisters came together to build out his life's documented history. The sister's discovered many interesting facts about his life, including finding out about a strong German community in the Washington D.C. area before the 20th Century.

You will enjoy this episode by learning about why family history is important and how the living family can grow closer to their grandparents and other ancestors who have passed away.

We also talk about how after their mother and father passed, there was a gap in knowing their own family history. Well, after you hear this episode, you will know that these sisters were not going to let that gap in their family history remain empty or misunderstood.

Below are the links that Heather, Kim, and Amy have provided as part of this episode. Many of these links will help with your own family history research.

Resources for researching and writing about your relatives:

Self Publishing School - On writing/publishing (tons of free advice and guides).

Hemingway Editor: The Hemingway App makes your writing bold and clear 

Dropbox: A great application that allows you to store and share documents, photos, media, etc. and share them with other people.

National Archives Request Military Service Records

National Archives Catalog

The U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958

The U.S., Navy and Marine Corps Registries, 1814-1992

Speecify - Excellent application! Free! Turns any text into audio. A great way to process your research.

Fold Three - Browse military records by Ancestry.

Oral History Resources and Guidelines

How to make an oral history - from the Smithsonian

Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.

USMC Archives and History Division

Naval History and Heritage Command

Amy's Facebook group - Discovering My Grandfather MajorGen. William H. Rupertus, USMC

@MajGenRupertus - Twitter