Mike Flanagan, probably in his late teens while living in upstate New York, surrounded by his foster nieces and nephew. Today would have been my grandfather’s 87th birthday if he were still living. Michael “Mike” John Flanagan died in 1997, a few months shy of his 70th birthday. Mike was born in Buffalo, New York

My 13th week in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge. The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor. I’m no longer a