I was born in 1940 in Grand Forks, North Dakota. My parents were Wilford Hollarn and Bernice Kosmatka. My father was a railroad engineer and my mother was mostly a stay at home Mom who in part of her life worked at the Country Club and then opened her own cafe. That during a time when my father was off work due to some health issues. My paternal grandfather James Hollarn died when my father was 10 years old. My grandmother Clara Bjorgen then raised the children in the Grand Forks area and she did not remarry. My maternal grandparents Joseph Kosmatka and Mary Dauksavage farmed in the Warsaw, North Dakota area. I grew up in Grand Forks where I attended Saint Mary's Elementary School and Saint James High School.
I attended the University of North Dakota and earned a B.S. degree in Geology. After college, with the prospect of military service, I joined the Navy as a officer candidate and was commissioned in 1965. I retired from the Navy in 1985.
Post graduate education includes Oceanography, Intelligence, Systems Management, and Business Administration. I consider myself an avowed conservative.
I first remember becoming interested in genealogy about 1976. Up until that time, my knowledge of family was entirely within my direct and closest relatives. In the early '80s, I began looking for the ship that my Great Grandfather and family were passengers. That and some Census records in the National Archives began a paper rather than a digital chase. My father's family was a mix of Hollarn's and Halloran's and O'Halloran's. And we both wondered what name did he use or was recorded when he came to the U.S. from Ireland in 1858. And, what name we should use. (We decided to keep the wrong spelling.) Along with a cousin, we shared our research and she wrote a family history for our family identifying through correspondence a better understanding of where our Irish roots started and their descendants. Later research especially with the advent of more digital records started the recording of my family tree and others on line. And, expanding my mother's side of my family history. I now have about 40 different family trees on Ancestry.com. I use a wide variety of genealogy resources to establish records and increase a better understanding of family history. Starting in 2012, I started using DNA for research with my own DNA testing. I have now tested with Ancestry.com, 23andme, and Family Tree DNA. These are contributing to better understanding both living relatives as well as ancient origins. Occasionally able to fill in blanks from different cemetery records. These are often unique and not otherwise easily found in digital records on the internet. That is, until someone contributes that data to Find A Grave and more.