24 November 2018

GENEALOGY CHART TUBE ART PROJECT


CUT OUT LOTS OF LETTERS FROM MAGAZINES


USE THEM TO SPELL OUT SURNAMES
TO PERSONALIZE YOUR TUBE


CUT OUT WORDS AND PICTURES FROM OLD 
MAGAZINES THAT WILL
FURTHER PERSONALIZE YOUR PROJECT.  
LOOK FOR FAMILY CRESTS,
FLAGS FROM ETHNIC HERITAGE COUNTRIES, 
OR ANY OTHER THINGS THAT
REMIND YOU OF YOUR FAMILY.



PURCHASE OR REUSE A THICK CARDBOARD
MAILING TUBE THAT HAS PLASTIC CAP ENDS.
USING WHITE GLUE ON A PAINT BRUSH
COVER THE TUBE THINLY WITH GLUE.
WASH YOUR HANDS
AND THEN CAREFULLY COVER THE TUBE
IN THICK ALUMINUM FOIL.


WORK CLEAN, WIPING ANY EXCESS GLUE
AWAY WITH A WET CLOTH.
YOU CAN USE STRIPS OF PATTERNED PAPER
FROM SCRAPBOOKING OR WHATEVER YOU FIND
  IN MAGAZINES TO BEGIN TO FURTHER DESIGN YOUR
GENEALOGY CHART TUBE.

WHEN YOU'VE COMPLETED THE OUTER DESIGN
AND ITS DRY.  ROLL UP YOUR CHART AND PUT IT INSIDE
YOU'LL KNOW WHERE IT IS
AND THE CHART WILL BE PROTECTED
FROM DUST AND FRAYING.

C 2018 Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot


20 November 2018

THE TOY MONKEY THAT REUNITED A FAMILY LOST BECAUSE OF THE HOLOCAUST

NPR: TOY MONKEY REUNITED HOLOCAUST FAMILY

EXCERPT:  After the war, my father moved to the United States.  He left Sweden for New York as a young man of 22.  He was an orphan.  He had no siblings and he was alone.  Again, he picked the toy monkey to come with him. But by now it was something different: the most tangible connection to his childhood, to a fleeting moment of innocence.

15 November 2018

NATIVE AMERICAN?! ARE YOU LIKE ELIZABETH WARREN?

Elizabeth Warren, a candidate for President of the United States, said she was part Native American and the media began to tear her up. Her DNA test said that was so, but the percentage was not impressive. About the same time, I was contacted for some free advice by someone claiming to be related to a famous Native American.  

I'm willing to coach people through a question or two without expecting payment but don't coach through an entire project as a volunteer. If I haven't seen the documentation, what I can tell someone could be minimal. In this case I suspected rumoring of the connection to the famous Native American because the person said to be related is not proofed.

Please, be aware that genealogies posted on the Internet are rarely proofed to show accuracy. For me to accept a genealogy, the person posting would have to show their entire process and all the documents they found. There are too many documents people can easily tweak these days so I suggest a skeptical mind set. (Consider all the composite photos that go undetected, such as often happens in magazines, where editors are putting a movie star's head on someone else's body or using art techniques to slim them down.) Why would a person give away thousands of hours of research which also have meant thousands of dollars invested?) Sometimes you can get wonderful leads on the Internet, but you just can't take a person's word for it even if they're a family member.

I explained to this person who may be connected to the famous Native American that in genealogy we start with the living (though we are sensitive of their privacy) and proof or document in as many ways possible going back generation after generation. After doing this, we'd focus on the branch in which the famous Native American is said to be attached to.

The person got back to me rather quickly and said she saw it all on the Internet. 

So the answer to her next question, how to join the tribe, was simple.  

CONTACT THE TRIBE YOU WISH TO JOIN AND ASK THEM WHAT THEIR REQUIREMENTS ARE FOR TRIBAL MEMBERSHIP.  Generally they expect proof of 1/16th blood.  (In other words, if Elizabeth Warren does not have document proof and must rely solely on the DNA test, she probably cannot get into a tribe.  And since DNA tests are statistical analysis , the identifications of ethnicity might change as more DNA contributors join a site.)

That's not the whole story of being accepted as a Native American by a tribe. There are people who have tribal affiliation and casino rights who would not pass the typical 1/16th blood test.  And when it comes to casino rights, people who have affiliation - "card carrying" Native Americans - probably don't care to split the proceeds further.

How can this happen?  Easy.

Let's say that your ancestor - a White Man - married a Cherokee woman and had children with her and they cooperated with the special census of Native Americans and are on census together.  Maybe the land they farmed is documented too.  That's documentation. That's one scenario.  

Another is that the White Man and his Cherokee wife and children decided to live on the reservation together and/or that the children were born on the reservation. At that point the children are 1/2 Native American. The White Man was probably said to have "gone Native," accepting the culture.  If that family continues with the tribe, they are considered Native American.

Continue forward with the marriage of the children and grandchildren with other people who have done the same.  In several generations (and until recently a "generation" was about every 25 years) you can come up with people who are card carrying and tribal affiliated but who are not 1/16th Native American. There is you, your parents (first generation), your grandparents (second generation), your great grandparents (third generation).  That's about 75 years.  It's 2019.  To your great great grandparents (fourth generation) it's about 100 years.  If you have one great great great grandparent who was recognized as Native American in 1919 you have a chance. (This is a simplistic explanation.)

We live in a time in which people are not born with their identity but relate to whatever race, religion, social class, gender, and so on that they feel an affinity with.

I've met a number of people with blond hair and blue eyes who do have Native American affiliation - be it officially or by affinity. Some of them cherish their long ago heritage and study the culture one of some of their ancestors lived decades ago.

C 2018  Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot This post has been edited and expanded to be a bit more clear.  Every situation is different.  DNA tests are not the whole story.



10 November 2018

ABORTION and DEATH CERTIFICATES - NEW YORK 1970's

No doubt that abortion is a very difficult and controversial subject.

I recently became aware that in New York, in the 1970's, when "late" abortions were performed at about 20 weeks pregnant, women who delivered a dead fetus after a saline abortion had to sign a death certificate. This seems so very invasive of a personal medical issue that I hope these are sealed.

I would like to hear from  you if you know more about this.

03 November 2018

COATS OF ARMS and ROYAL BASTARDY

According to Cecil-Humphery-Smith, in the book ROYAL BASTARDS, the coats of arms of bastards, which first appeared for the children of King Henry I, are different than for children born within the marriage of the royal personage. Some of these children were given land and titles but it wasn't until the Tudors and Stuarts that they were given titles of nobility and peerage.

"Often, the identity of the putative father can be discovered from the names given by the mother at baptism or registration."  Suggested is that if the mother is named Mary Smith and names her child Bill Harrison Smith, then look for a Harrison or Bill Harrison in the records.

Another way that mothers of illegitimate children named them was by the PLACE of BIRTH.

The word Fitz as in FitzJames is an indication that the father himself is recognizing the child but the child will not carry his surname.  His or her surname indicates the father's first or last name is James.

*****
I've noticed in my own research in another country in Europe that over a couple hundred years time it seemed very few children were illegitimate in the church records.  But when a child was, it seemed they were given a name uncommon or exotic for the common, often repetitive, naming patterns of the others in the church.

There was one woman in the church records I read who had very many illegitimate children.  She must have been so poor for her children died early and often. What a terrible life she had and yet she wanted it. I have so wondered about this woman. Was she the one and only town prostitute?  Did one man after another take advantage of her? Was she in love with a married man? Was she an orphan? Was she perhaps slow?  I see that the priest baptized her children.  And I see that when she managed to live past the age of 40 a widowed man married her.  Did he just need someone to cook and clean?  Or was he the father of all those children?

C 2018 Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot