Back From . . . .

Well, I return and find . . . . my mailbox is full of Facebook "Friend" requests! That's kinda nice! Thanks, y'all!

And I also found in the snail mail two boxes of photos from a relative in the Midwest--six more are coming! I can't wait. There's a lot to tell this weekend on GeneaBlogie . . . so stay tuned!

Genealogist, Heal Thyself

Family historians and genealogists spend their time looking for folks who have long since passed away. Often, the lack of records or knowledge about where to find them creates frustration (or excitement for those who love the thrill of the chase!). But have we each asked ourselves whether future generations will be able to find us? More importantly, have we made the right plans so that those in the present can handle our passing without unnecessary complications?

Take some time today to ask yourself these questions:

• Do I have a will?
• Where is my will?
• When was my will last updated?
• Is there someone I trust who knows where my will is?
• Is there someone I trust who has access to my will?
• Have I preplanned (and prepaid) my final disposition?
• Do my loved ones know what my wishes are for my final disposition? [IMPORTANT: Don't put these instructions in your will and do not keep them in a safe deposit box!].
• Have I made adequate financial plans for my survivors?

These are simple questions that can save your surviving loved ones from many complications at your death. Seek legal advice or financial planning advice if necessary. It will be well worth it.

Rotating Profile Pics

Last month's profile photo from 1972.
This month's profile photo from 1977.

Old Photo Solves Mystery Drowning After 15 Years

A treasured old photograph, a police investigator's long-shot appeal to the public and a retiree's sharp memory have combined to solve a 15-year-old drowning mystery.

State police in Somers, N.Y., tried for years to identify a body found in the Titicus Reservoir on June 13, 1993, carrying 38 pounds of rocks in a backpack. The man left no clues to his name and matched no local missing-persons reports.

The only lead was a black-and-white snapshot found on the body that showed a grandfatherly man holding a small boy in the crook of his arm, both wearing attire from the 1950s or early 1960s.

Read the rest of the Associated Press story here.

Family Linguistics

From the Sacramento Bee this morning (February 8, 2008):

If you're looking for distinctive lingo with a heart, tune into the conversations that take place around the house. That's where families come up with colorful words and terms as individual as Suzy's untamable cowlicks and Joe's double-jointed thumbs. . . . Ask people about the special words or expressions their family uses, and it won't take long before you'll get quite a list. Maybe even a book's worth. . . . In the mid-'70s, the Family Folklore Project of the Smithsonian Institution encouraged Americans to save and share family folklore, including expressions and words. Such expressions got the scholarly treatment as part of an emerging study of the culture of families, and were parsed to determine the ways they reinforce family identity and bonds. Using them can serve as shorthand among family members for old jokes and precious memories.

Read the rest of the story here [irritating but free registration may be required]. What unique family expressions did your family have? How many generations back can you trace a particular expression? (More on this to come).

Ancient Recordings Now Available In Digital Form

Thanks to Sally Jacobs for pointing this out [actually late last year]: The Donald C. Davidson Library at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has a "Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project" going in its Department of Special Collections. Here's what the librarians say about this fascinating project:

Cylinder recordings, the first commercially produced sound recordings, are a snapshot of musical and popular culture in the decades around the turn of the 20th century. They have long held the fascination of collectors and have presented challenges for playback and preservation by archives and collectors alike.

With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the UCSB Libraries have created a digital collection of nearly 7,000 cylinder recordings held by the Department of Special Collections. In an effort to bring these recordings to a wider audience, they can be freely downloaded or streamed online.

This is a fun site! The recordings range from about 1902 to about 1919. You can listen to speeches by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft or hear a rare recording by Edison himself (he didn't like to have his voice recorded!). Musically, there are pieces from just about every genre you can think of. There are national anthems of various countries and there is a section called "ethnic humor" [this section contains bits by humorists of various ethnicities--here's a sample of Scottish humor from 1908].

And, if you're interested, check out the copyright situation.

A Missed Bus

He had gotten out the wicker-straw suitcase and had it open on the bed. In it, he had already placed the Brownie camera his grandmother had given him as a birthday present some time ago. Now he was looking through the closet for the most important stuff.

The invitation said he needed a soldier's uniform this time. And he had a lot of soldier's uniforms--some from the present, some from the past (whatever that meant) and some from the apparent future. That was a bit of a problem--which one could he take this time that he had not taken before? And which of those might be very eye-catching?

Through the metal blinds he could see that the sun was getting lower in the sky. Why did he always wait until the last minute to pack?

The soldier's uniform he picked had an Army Air Forces patch on the shoulder of the jacket. He laid it carefully in the suitcase. There was a hat, an officer's hat with the eagle on it. And the hat had that "25 mission" crush in its middle. He put it in the suitcase on top of the jacket. There were brown shoes, too, which he placed under the jacket.

On the bedside table, there was a copy of the Stars and Stripes of London--the U.S. forces newspaper--dated February 5, 1944. He hadn't read it all, but he'd read the important news about the mission launched from East Anglia two days earlier. There was also a copy of the Vidette-Messenger of Valparaiso, Indiana, dated Thursday, January 31, 1946. He hadn't finished reading it either. But he'd get caught up on the trip.

He closed the suitcase, put on his coat and his hat, and rushed out of the flat and down the stairs. He hurried along the street and made it the short block to the bus station just as the clock struck the hour and a big green and white bus pulled out. It turned the corner and disappeared down the hill.

"Oh, beans and rice!" he exclaimed, "I've missed the bus!" The clerk behind the counter said, "No need to worry, pal. There's another bus to Chicago in about two hours."

He sighed and dropped the suitcase to the floor. He sat down on top of the suitcase and put his head between his hands.

"I wasn't going to Chicago," he said, "I was going to the Carnival."

Bank Uses Genealogy to "Shake Money from Family Trees"

These days, you can find genealogy articles just about anywhere.

A friend sent me a recent article from the Wall Street Journal which describes how Wells Fargo & Co. uses genealogy to court wealthy potential clients for its "private banking" business. Private banking is wealth management services for clients with at least $1 million in balances at Wells Fargo.

The article describes how the bank's chief historian has been researching the family histories of wealthy prospective and current clients as a way of opening the door to their further investment with Wells Fargo. He discovered for example that one wealthy woman had a grandfather who had been a Wells Fargo stage driver in the 1880's. After a genealogical presentation, the woman transferred funds to Wells Fargo.

The article is full of poignant stories and some rather surprising discoveries. The title is "A Bank's Historian Shakes Money from Family Trees." It appeared in the May 19, 2007, edition of the Wall Street Journal. It's available free to subscribers at wsj.com, and after May 27, will be available to nonsubscribers for $4.95.