ROBERT THE BRUCE OR GERONIMO : GENEALOGY FAMILY MYTHOLOGIES

In the past I've stated that I don't believe we are responsible for what family in the past did or didn't do, good or bad, that we are our own person and responsible as adults here and now for ourselves and our behaviors.  And one of the stereotypes of people interested in genealogy is that they're snobs, seeking only to brag about the accomplishments of their ancestors, particularly if these ancestors are still famous for their deeds. That's not me.  If I found nobility in my family it would prove one thing; that if you have nobility in your family you can usually go further back into your research. Though some of the people in the current generation have noteworthy accomplishments to their credit, no one I know of is famous.

I admit to wondering who of my ancestors, if anyone, I'm like as a personalty and character, and in particular if I look like anyone, since I feel I do not.  I'm also from a family that seems to have no photographs of ancestors and I doubt I will ever see any.  Years ago my snail mail letters to people in old age who I had reason to believe were related were not responded to. I even heard certain members of my family thought my interest in genealogy and family history was "weird."

This brings me to the fact that I have met MANY people who claim to have ROBERT THE BRUCE or GERONIMO as an ancestor. One person claimed she'd actually traced her family back to Robert.  

Much is known historically about both men.  

Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, left one surviving son named David II when he died in 1329. 

Geronimo, Bedonkohe "Apache" leader of the Chiricahua had many wives - at least five - and died in 1909. Living descendants seem to know who was who if you think you may be related it would seem there are websites where these people have posted that you might be able to join on. 

The last person who told me he was related to the Robert the Bruce was a beginning amateur genealogist who I caught in a number of questionable statements and was probably repeating a family rumor.

The last person who told me she was related to Geronimo had the name of a wife.

I don't want to discourage anyone from loving and learning to research and proof your ancestry, including the oral histories that people have repeated to you. It is usually time consuming and requires fortitude and patience. You have to evaluate other people's work if you link on to it and it is all too easy to believe whatever you see posted.

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SEARCH FOR HERITAGE - ORPHANAGE - ADOPTION - LOVING HOME Research Path Heritage Search 1 - Seven

Just as I was filling out forms and typing up a letter to the Catholic archdiocese, the man I'm helping to find the parentage of his birth mother, who spent her life in an orphanage, met me with a treasure trove of photos that his mother had given him before she died.  He had also photographed her address book. We sat there looking at the clothing, the cars, and the decorative frames from a photographer some of these black and white photos were in, guessing when they were taken - a case of forensic genealogy. The automobile looks to be late 1930's early 1940's. I mention it could already be an older, used car.  The women in one photo have dresses to the ground - I suspect a turn of the century grandparent. It was clear to me that his mother did have some contact with some family in her adult life - though it does not seem anyone had a caring relationship with her.

One of the photos is of her with her First Communion class, a priest, and a building behind them.  A copy of that photo that had a priest's name written on it was sent into the archives with our request. I also learned that the records for the orphanage she entered as a baby are available - whatever it is they contain - but not the orphanage she went to to be a schoolgirl and make that First Communion. Oddly, it turns out that all her Sacraments would have been done in the orphanages. So, we don't have to identify what church or parish but why were the orphans so isolated? I cross my fingers that the archivist will be as helpful to us as she can be - and then some. She reminds me that civil records are available for that city and state. I don't tell her that the people we seek are not coming up on the indexes.

One of the photos has written on its back, "Dad, mom's sister, and my niece."  Though this convinces me that Dad really did visit her for some time - and the man does look to be an older man - I'm still not sure who this person is who is called "Dad."  I still feel this man may actually be an uncle or even a grandparent.

On some of the photos this woman wrote the names of two boys, called "older brothers," who did not continue contact, the oral history goes, when their mother died. Using their names, we go to the U.S. Census, and we find a family group.  I begin to wonder if perhaps someone in the family did take the infant in, did an informal adoption, but then found it all too much to handle.

There are two men in photos, men who came from the same family rooted in Germany, They are of of different generations - in that place and time - with the same given and surname.  At least between the address book and the notes written on some photos we have identified WHO VISITED her in the orphanage - the family she had enough connection with to have the names and addresses of them as adult married men. 

I find them in the Social Security Death Index and so we have birth and death dates and know we cannot contact them to identify photos or to get their version of the story. (I may next check on their wives, maybe someone is alive to id the photos or tell more of the story?)  As well, I suggest to him that these photos might be submitted to the local historical society for help with identification of the persons in them, but then that might bring him unwanted contact.

He says he's been thinking about it and he is going to pray about this.

Fearing we will go back (forward on the census) to the previously mentioned mental hospital for a potential birth mother, I mildly mention to him that I will review previous work and why I thought the parent's mentioned were not actually the birth parents. Possibly, a DNA test will have to be done, and that too could bring him into unwanted contact, but for now, let's wait on the archives!

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To read this adoption search from the beginning, click through the posts or click on the words Research Path Heritage Search 1 on the tags below.

NEW MEXICO GENEALOGY - NATIVE AMERICAN - SPANISH - MEXICAN

A friend's son in law comes from New Mexico and says he has heritage that is in part Apache.  He is not a card carrying member of a tribe.  So I watched some videos from the New Mexico genealogy society and I learned that DNA is proving Native Americans strongly on the maternal (mother's side) of New Mexico's people.  It's estimated that 40% of those whose roots are in New Mexico have Native American ancestry.

NEW MEXICO GENEALOGY SOCIETY

You can find their educational videos on YouTube.

I have yet been asked to do any research considered to be "Hispanic" but I understand records in Spanish go way back into Spanish America and that some people are traveling to Mexico City to do research.  I don't speak Spanish, but then I don't speak German or Latin or any other language, but I find that it's not so difficult to translate, especially not with all the Internet translators available.

As for his particular Apache tribe, there's more than one possibility. 

MESCALERO APACHE TRIBE   South Central New Mexico

KRQE : FOX : THREE APACHE TRIBES OF NEW MEXICO  This article focuses on where they lived, what they are famous for and  where they live now - it's brief.  EXCERPT: "There are three Native American Apache tribes in New Mexico: the JICARILLA APACHE, located in northern N.M near the Colorado Border; the MESCALERO APACHE, located near Ruidoso, and the FORT SILL APACHE near Deming.

If I remember correctly, the NAVAJO are also an Apache nation.

STILL STANDING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

GENEALOGY SHOW YOUTUBE VIDEOS BECOME PAY FOR SERIES - THE VALUE OF PRINT LIBRARIES

I want to respect other people's copyrights but I do listen to and watch YouTube videos.  I know that what started as a volunteer and free service, which made listening to artists who were not getting paid or asked permission, falls into an area of copyright that says for personal use and research or to illustrate a point, a person doesn't have to go through a permissions process.  YouTube has departed into pay for play films and videos and this is a reason I fail to post many here at ANCESTRY WORSHIP - Genealogy BlogSpot. If I find an ad attached to a video, I tend to skip the ad immediately or do not watch it, searching for someone who posted not expecting financial return.

But sometimes when I'm resting, I like to listen to reruns of Who Do You Think You Are, or Louis Henry Gates Jr's series, Finding Your Roots.  Not long ago I spent a Sunday morning in bed watching these videos on my cell phone.  Sometimes I learn from them.  Sometimes I'm compelled to watch a particular video because I like the celebrity.  

I saw a blurb about Carly Simon, the singer/songwriter who is known for her own creative musical work as well as her marriage-with-children to singer/songwriter James Taylor. I've listened to her albums.  I listened to her memoir on audio book. I also read a Vanity Fair magazine article long ago that suggested that there was a mystery attached to her mother's parentage. She had been told that her mother's mother was an orphan, perhaps an illegitimate member of the Spanish royal family.  Simon's mother was Catholic and her father was Jewish.  The not so religious family was raised in The Ethical Cultural Society (if I remember correctly).  The Gates blurb suggested that the truth was her grandmother was of Cuban-African origin and the Spanish royal family connection was probably a myth.  Louis Henry Gates Jr. was there telling Carly Simon that of all the white people he had tested, she had the most African DNA of all, 10%. So of course I wanted to see that show.

I learned that few of the videos are still available without paying - about $1.99 per - and was disappointed.

Yet I know I can go to my public library and find these on CD (if not electronic books) and watch them for free.  What, if anything, libraries pay for these items to offer to the patron/citizens/library card holders, I do not know.  I love libraries and have cards for two local cities, a county, and a state library card.  These days due to all the books available as electronic books and the use of cell phones as personal computers, there is some question about the value of libraries with print/paper offerings or even the value of offering public computer use in them.  At one time the libraries were full of students using these public computers to do their assignments but now children have computers at their schools or are given laptops to do their work on.

I know that librarians themselves as well as library systems with lots of property and locations are asking themselves what value they will have in the future and it seems to be working in education, in particular in reading. Hand in hand with educational programs, local libraries offer classes to help immigrants become citizens and adults learn to read.  But will they really need as much staff?

In my area it seems retired librarians are working part time in the system and this is slowing the number of new librarians being hired.

At some point it's possible that a library card will entitle direct payment by the library for a patron's use of YouTube videos and other electronic offerings not available from the library.

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LOVERS OF MODINA SKELETONS BOTH MEN : ARCHEOLOGY

THE GUARDIAN : LOVERS OF MODINA SKELETONS ARE BOTH MEN by Lorenzo Tondo

EXCERPT: ...a group of researchers from the University of Bologna who developed a new technique using the protein found in tooth enamel have announced that the skeletons belonged to two men.  The study, which is believed to have profound implications for understanding funeral practices, was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

SEARCH FOR HERITAGE - ORPHANAGE - ADOPTION - LOVING HOME Research Path Heritage Search 1 - Six

I sit down with the man who asked me to search for his mother's side of the family because he wants to visit the heritage towns now in Europe that are the source of his immigrant ancestors.  Our search has become one focused on the real identity of his mother's birth parents. The story goes that she was put into an orphanage as an infant after her mother died in childbirth of soon after.

I've reached the point where reliance on free genealogy databases and internet web sites are not going to get us where we need to be.  I strongly advise my client to ask the Catholic Diocese for the information of birth of his birth mother, which is not on the state or county birth Indexes but may have been submitted to the diocese by the priest who baptized her, ASAP.  There is likely to be a wait due to under-staffing. It could take weeks or months for a response. Luckily the archive doesn't charge too much.  

The county of her birth may have a birth certificate for her even if her name does not appear on indexes for the year of her birth. I run her name again in this database just in case knowing I tried several spelling variations, just her given name, and so on. + feel SOMEONE once had this birth certificate. The Baptismal record from the Diocese Archive seems to be the best bet.

I've been wondering why he first said he had that information and then said he didn't.  At first I thought he had it but could not find it. Is it possible that his mother spun a story and he perpetrated it?  Out of ignorance?  Love?  And he is withholding that from me?  I even wonder if I'm being tested.

Until we have this information, I must tell him that I suspect that his birth mother's father died before she was born and that her birth mother died the same year she was born - maybe the day she was born - so it would have been some other relative that took her and put her in an orphanage as an infant, someone else who visited her for a while, someone else's sons who didn't bother with her. Not the people that are listed on FIND A GRAVE as her parents.

I have not stated this as fact because I cannot, not yet, but when I mentioned I had some suspicions he blurted "just the facts."

The truth is that genealogists sometimes have to go with their guts, have to know to evaluate all the facts they have and determine what is "most likely." I'm also open to synchronicity. My gut says that there has to be some other reason why a relative did not take the child. 

I lay awake at night wondering how I can say what I suspect so that I can have his cooperation to go after archive held documents.  I want the death certificate of the man I suspect to be his mother's birth father, the one who died before she was born. I imagine it coming in the mail, my heart pounding as I force myself to open it.  What if he died so early in the year before she was born that he COULD NOT BE THE FATHER?  What if he committed suicide?  What if the woman who was his mother's birth mother had an affair?  If a woman had an affair and got pregnant and then died in childbirth or soon after, or she was perceived as the cause of a suicide, then maybe that would count for the rejection of an innocent baby by the family which, if not wealthy, had farmland and could probably feed one more.

I hear in my mind the voice of an old friend who liked to pride himself in total transparency and would wise crack about white lies: "Oh what a web we weave!"   This one sure does need untangled.

The man asked me "Will a DNA test help?" There are all sorts of options with DNA but since he wants NO CONTACT with all the blood relatives he has, one of them has the big family tree on FAMILY SEARCH and we are not making contact (and I could find several members just using the phone book) well, it's likely DNA would lead to these same people, who may have never heard of his existence. In other words, we don't need it to find people he's related to.

I ask him if he knows if he has any half siblings? Did his mother have any other children?  If he had a sister (who we could perhaps locate using genealogy) we could ask her to take a test as well which would help confirm they are are half siblings and lead us possibly to the  correct matriarchal line.  

He alludes to having a half-sister.  The only problem is that he never had a reunion with her.  And that this revelation begins to further erode the original stories he told me of a very naive and innocent woman. Youthful ignorance is one thing.  A mature woman who has already experienced a baby being taken from her, perhaps another.

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To follow along on this genealogy research path click on the label below that says Research Path Heritage Search 1

IS QUEEN ELIZABETH IN PROPHET MOHAMMED'S BLOOD LINE ?

DAILY MAIL : QUEEN ELIZABETH IN PROPHET MOHAMMED BLOOD LINE

This story seems to have kept resurfacing over the last couple years.  This Daily Mail article is one of many articles that have appeared in print media and on the internet.  Archives of Spain, Burke's Peerage (the British authority on royal and aristocratic genealogy), and other countries with large Muslim populations are interested in the connection.  Would it help relationships between Christians and Muslims?  Diplomatically, maybe.  Religiously, I doubt it.

There is an impressive genealogy chart to look at: the connection would be through the Prophet's daughter Fatima.

Excerpt: They claimed the3 Queen descends from a Muslim princess called Zaida, who fled her home town of Seville in the 11th century before converting to Christianity.  Zaida was the fourth wife of King Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad of Seville.  She bore him a son Sancho, whose descendant later married the Earl of Cambridge in the 11th century.

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