Jeffrey P. Moriarty

PO Box 1637

Benicia, CA  94510

veblenfamily@gmail.com

Great-great-great-grandson of Thomas & Kari Veblen

I was looking in my mother’s bookshelf in the early 1990’s, and I came across Veblen Genealogy written in 1925 by my great-great-grandfather, Andrew Veblen.  I decided to bring his work to the present day.  So the adventure began.

I visited the San Francisco Public Library and looked in the Minneapolis phone book for any Veblens.  That lead to contacts of cousins, and I started to expand the family tree.  William Melton was restoring the Veblen farm house, and I provided him with an original photo that greatly assisted the restoration efforts.  I organized the Veblen Family Reunion at the farmstead on August 13, 1994.  It was renamed Veblen Woodstock after it coincidentally fell on the same weekend as the Woodstock 25th anniversary.  I also organized Veblen Woodstock II on August 14, 1999.  A big thrill along this journey was that I held an Einstein typed letter in my hand (Albert Einstein letter in the Veblen Family link) - one with historical significance at that.

Thorstein Veblen is my great-great-granduncle, and I have a special connection to him.  My first cousin, twice removed, is Colette Sims Van Fleet.  It was such a pleasure to meet her before she passed away in 1994.  In August of 1929, Colette was 13 years old and her family was visiting Thorstein and his step daughter at his home on Sand Hill Road near Stanford University.  Thorstein was ill, and Colette told me she was in his bedroom when he passed away.

Thorstein looked into Colette’s eyes, and so did I.

Jeff Moriarty