Why am I here?

Here I am photographing the gravestone of my paternal great great grandparents, Markus and Sara Mühlrad, at the old Jewish Cemetery in Humpolec, Czech Republic (May, 2025).

My name is Paul Muhlrad. If you’re reading this, it means (I hope!) that I invited you here, because you are my family member or a close friend. So, you probably know me, but if not…

I spent my working years as a molecular geneticist and a science communicator. It’s not so surprising then, that in retirement I’ve gotten into genealogy and blogging. At the lab bench I discovered that I love the thrill of the hunt for new knowledge; for assembling each tiny clue into a coherent story. And the story doesn’t matter unless you tell it. So here I am. Like biological research, genealogy can be excruciatingly slow. Fortunately, I’m persistent, and now that I’m retired, I have a lot more time on my hands to chase elusive clues.

Besides genealogy, I have several other pastimes, some of which also require persistence, patience, and tolerance to failure: nature photography, playing old-time fiddle and mandolin, birding, traveling, and, most recently, learning German, the language of at least half of my ancestors.