Social media often has posts from genealogists that say “how do I turn off hints” or “why do we keep getting hints.” They are referring to emails and online hints on various genealogy websites. Me? Sometimes the hints bug me when they are off the mark. Yet, I do look at them. I wouldn’t want to miss the one that ties me to one of my missing ancestors or a distant cousin.

On Sunday, 19 October 2025, I was on Ancestry.com and checked out recent leaf hints. It’s a perfect example of something I may never have taken the time to locate.

It was a hint for my maternal Grandmother Gertrude (Cook) Hanley. She was born in 1901 here in Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota. My online trees are pretty basic. The hint was to a high school yearbook. Her high school did not have yearbooks for almost 20 years AFTER she graduated, and the hint was for her high school with a bit of a twist. I checked it out and then sat and stared at the image on Ancestry for several minutes.

It noted Gertrude Cook Hanley as a ’20 graduate and she was in a photo at a mother and daughter tea celebrating the graduating class of 1949. She was standing next to her daughter, Jeanine, my beloved aunt. The both attended St. Joseph’s Academy, an all girls highs school in Saint Paul as did my Mom, Patricia (Hanley} Stuart, a 1944 graduate. The Cook family home was across the street from St. Joe’s at 358 Marshall Ave. (formerly Nelson Ave.)

 This tale will be added to my school records talk as another example of what can be found in old yearbooks. It’s not just your graduate that appears! Grandma is standing 4th from the right and Aunt Jeanie is 5th from the right.

Grandma’s hat in the photo reminds me of another photo of her from around that same time period. Now to find that in my boxes of photos that are waiting to be scanned.

 
 

© 2025, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.