VINTAGE GLASS CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

 

These look like the ones that my parents put on their tree, along with a few that they had from their own families that were hung during World War II.  As a child I spent hours looking at the ornaments on our tree, as well as the glistening silvery tincil and big fat primary colored bulbs. 

HO HO HO and a BOTTLE OF RUM

Isn't it funny that we associate the term HO HO HO with Santa Claus, a gifter, and pirates - thieves?

I was thinking about this irony today, as I prepare for an iffy Holiday Season.  

I got into the holiday spirit a couple weeks ago.  I began to think of holiday songs and ran them in my head as I cooked and cleaned.  "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."  

I watched some Christmas shows meant for children with some wonderful animation but not holy or traditional messages; there was cartoon violence, compilated plots that are hard to accommodate.  I eliminated these as possibilities for a senior friend - her grandchildren.  Instead I chose "A Snowy Day." (Which is multicultural and about inclusion and neighborhood sharing.)

I wrapped some presents bought on an extremely low budget.

And then something went haywire with a bill I've faithfully paid for three years.  If I had sent too small an amount by error or the company had increased rates and a notice hadn't arrived, they had waited a month to tell me I owed more. They called a friend I had on as an emergency contact a couple years ago - who I'd instructed them to take off the account a year ago - a month after this.  I was startled to see her at my door after not hearing from her since before the Covid-shut downs. I'd sent a card and letter wondering if she was well and there had been no response. So, when I saw her at my door, at first I was happy. I had just purchased a Christmas card for her. But she tore into me about the phone calls she was getting from this place. I apologized and activated by putting a business letter in the mail - took it all the way into the post office - asking for an accounting and explanation.  I mentioned she was not to be called.  But they called her AGAIN.  End of friendship for sure.  Still, I feel bad.  

As I attempted to rescue the situation before ruin set in, I felt stressed out beyond reason. I felt fragile and scared. I didn't want to involve anyone or anger anyone. Whatever happened, short staffs and closures had hurt many businesses.  I didn't want to see or talk to anyone. 

I so wanted my life back.  And felt helpless to do that.

So I got up, got my dog, and took a slow three hour walk around streets that were mostly deserted, past businesses that were mostly closed.  I was careful.  Mask, Hand Spray, Doggie Bags, Social Distancing.  I did stop in here and there - standing in a doorway to say Merry Christmas to an old friend - running in to a store to see about catnip and having a key made.

I mentioned this long walk to another friend I went to visit. This morning she said if I did not agree not to talk to anyone (she meant strangers) or go into buildings, she did not want to associate with me anymore!  She is a long time antivaxxer and has regaled me in recent weeks with fears that non-organic food will give me cancer.

I'm reading everything I can about the vaccine. I'm just as likely to catch Covid as she is. It's just that when she and her husband see their children and grandchildren, some of whom are going out into the workplace, and her friends, she thinks they are all safe. She doesn't trust mine as safe.

My contacts are actually fewer. But she trusts the people she knows.

I agreed with her.  I said I would not.

But I was mad.  I knew I was going to have to do some things I don't believe in, if I wanted to maintain that relationship.  I would have to sneak, lie, or not tell her where I go and who I associate with.  Point being, I have a life and business to take care of and think she has become controlling and frankly, paranoid.  I wonder if she needs an evaluation for mental decline.

I have barely seen my friends in months. Covid-19 is stressful and I have to wonder what relationships won't be effected. My friend who got phone calls over a payment error shouldn't have but not for a moment did she consider the error was their fault.

And so it goes, on and on, this whole horrid situation we find ourselves in.

But the statistics are not fully stated.  

There are millions of people in my county.

Five percent of them have tested positive for Covid.

A small percentage of that five percent are sick enough to be hospitalized or die.  Yes the hospitals are overwrought.

I do not want to get sick or die (or make anyone else sick) either.  So I'm considering that by this spring I will take the vaccine and if I get sick (from Covid-19 or the vaccine) I will go to a motel to isolate rather than come in contact with anyone I know.  (I have a stack of unread books to eat through.)

It feels good to complain.

Psychologically, it is good for us to get out of the house and take those walks. Many of those people, who told me at the start of this plague how good they were being alone, how much they had to do alone, are now going a little crazy.  Some, a lot crazy.  

If you feel that way, you are not alone.

Seasons Greetings!

C 2020

Note: January 3, 2021

I've edited this rather miserable post for clarity. I thought maybe I should take it down but then I'm like you- part of this historic plague experience. Polls taken state that most people alive think 2020 was the worst year they've lived through.

ETHICAL USE OF DNA DATABASES BEHIND CAPTURE OF GOLDEN STATE KILLER - EXCELLENT ARTICLE FROM LA TIMES (UPDATED APRIL 2021)

The article by Paige St John which begins on the front page of the Los Angeles Times,  paper edition, dated December 10th, is detailed and excellent but at this moment I haven't found a link for it.  In my labels below I've listed the companies that figure in the process in which the killer's DNA matched others.  The Golden State Killer mystery was one that many a professional and citizen sleuth tried to solve. No doubt he needed to be caught.  But we all wonder if our DNA that we so willfully submit for the purposes of meeting long lost relatives and solving genealogy research problems, is really as private and secure as we desire.

I may have mentioned that I've never taken a DNA test myself.  My own research is off and on.  There are things that took many years for me to find, again not looking every day for twenty years but still.  

I remember the day I sat next to a new researcher at a Family History Center who got one spool of film and went back six generations in her German heritage family in that afternoon.  Because I was working on ancestors in a Central - Eastern European country and the records were sloppy and didn't have details of the German records it has taken me many years to get back close to 1800. I'm forever interested but not obsessed.

And so you must ask yourself what you are giving up about yourself in hopes of gaining in research.

I will search for this article again in the near future, hoping it's considered important enough to have a link.  If not, search out the paper edition.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE.

Here is the link LA TIMES UNTOLD STORY OF HOW THE GOLDEN STATE KILLER WAS FOUND

PEAR TREE

 

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PATRIOTIC THANKSGIVING

TIS THE COVID SEASON TO COLLECT HERITAGE RECIPES INTO A BOOK TO GIFT YOUR FAMILY

It seems that time off due to Covid-19 crisis has resulted in many of us gaining a few pounds as we try the recipes that we bookmarked in cookbooks, ripped out of magazines, and begged friends for after tasting them at parties. All well and good.

Several of my friends are attempting to make the free food they have picked up at giveaways into interesting meals.  A little this - a little that.

May I suggest that this is an excellent time to collect heritage recipes for your family history book or a special genealogy supplement.

I suggest that you ask each of your relatives for a recipe they are famous for or love and put it in a collection for distribution just among the family.  Add a photo of the person and any comments they might make such as memories of a meal that included that dish, when they first made it, or who best loves the meal.  Perhaps a traditional recipe from one's native country has been adapted to be vegetarian?

C 2020 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

VOTING IS A RIGHT and A RESPONSIBILITY

Remember to get your voice heard by voting!

ALL SOULS - CEMETERY VISITS VERSUS CREMATION

So many people are being cremated now. I think it's about affordability and mobility.  So many people have moved from what was once the family home town that visiting cemeteries also seems to be passe. No more going to clean the grave.  A cemetery might notice that no one visits and decide they can recycle your ancestor, dig up or move or destroy the grave. And sell it again. Thought it was permanent.  Find out it's temporary.  Or they might want to hit you or your family up for more money. It happens.

I currently live near a cemetery where it would seem most people are not forgotten.  You see whole Christmas trees on some graves. Flowers in the little holders in the crypt. 

Is this all for the LIVING?

Very occasionally I walk around a cemetery just looking at the carved tomb stones.  I know obits lie.  This week I looked at a couple that belong to people who were horrible in life but the obit mentions all the loving they gave and got.

Cremation does away with the bed board - his and her - married persons tombstone. That gives the impression they are resting together in eternity when in real life they had terrible fights and probably should never been married before. And despite belief systems that marriage ends upon death and they have separate heavenly rests.

I haven't made up my own mind about the disposal of my earthly body.  I'm still attached to it.  I know I don't want to be dropped into the sea.

C 2020 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy 

ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT

THE HAUNTED HOUSE

 

I THREW IN MY BALLOT - ASK YOUR FEMALE RELATIVES WHAT THEY KNOW ABOUT THE WOMEN IN YOUR FAMILY and THE RIGHT TO VOTE

I threw my ballot into a box near our library here in California.

This is a good time to work on the women's history in your family.  Did grandma or great-grandma vote? Where and when? Why or why not?

What did the husbands and brothers think of this?

Did the women ask their husbands how to vote?

Did they actually follow that lead when they got into the ballot box?

Who doesn't vote now and why not?

All these things should be included in any American family history.

C 2020 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

SEEING THE UNSEEN : RAYMOND MOODY and THE PSYCHOMANTEUM

SEEING THE UNSEEN : THE HISTORY OF USING CLEAR DEPTH GAZING FOR AFTER DEATH COMMUNICATION

Dr. Raymond Moody is famous for his lifes' work on the dying and the dead.  He focused as a psychiatrist on those who could not let go of grief and who wish to communicate with a loved one who has passed on.

I once attended a grief support group and found myself to be one of the least grief-stricken among the others. Perhaps it was because I had accepted that the person who died would die, though I didn't think so young. Several in the group had lost the person they had long been married to and were having a difficult time adjusting, though no one there wanted that person to be in any more physical pain. There was one woman though who had a father who had commit suicide.  He had long been troubled and she was an adult who had never been close with her father.  Soon enough I learned that this woman would show up late, though she'd call to say she was on her way, and as soon as she walked in, she got everyone attention.  Though she might appear with a smile, she would seemingly go into a deep depression in front of us.  I'll admit that I began to suspect that she needed to be in psychiatric care and that this support group was just not enough for her. It was run by a well meaning woman who was very religious and who said she'd had some training.  I felt that this woman showing up late was an attention grab.  Perhaps she would not let go her grief, and depression was something she had inherited. I thought of that experience as I watched this film/

A psychomanteum is a special room, pitch black and fitted with mirrors and a comfortable chair, where people can go to see their dead loved ones.  It sounds spooky.  It comes from the ancient Greeks who had a pilgrimage site where they went through a ritual to prepare them for the experience.  Moody takes you to the archaeological site and explains what happens.

It is helpful psychologically to have the experience, which is not guaranteed.  Still, some people report what I'll call a manifestation.  Clouds, mist, images, sometimes a sound.  (No one reports having an actual conversation.)  Moody does not explain in this film how or why this works for some,only that it can be healing.

I found this all quite interesting and think you will too.

I understand there is a book with the same title that tells you how to build your own psychomanteum.

C 2020  Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

THE LIGHT BEYOND - RAYMOND MOODY on NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES and SHARED DEATH EXPERIENCES

 

THE LIGHT BEYOND (DOCUMENTARY FILM)

At this time of year, the fall, we traditionally have festivals, rituals, religious events, and private prayers for the dead. So many people wish they had just a little more time with someone who was dying, so they could communicate more.  The work of Raymond Moody, a psychiatrist, on death and dying made him famous beginning back in the 1970's and opened the investigation.  From THE LIGHT BEYOND, we learn NOT TO BE AFRAID OF DEATH.

I think it's human nature to be afraid but Moody says even his own two failed suicide attempts became blessings in his life. And no, he did not make these attempts as a scientific experiment.

Whatever the culture or religious tradition, a person who almost died, or who was declared dead but revived, reports the same things of NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE.

1) Looking down from above at one's own physical body and understanding by hearing the doctor or nurse say that they have died.

2) Experiencing a tunnel or passageway and coming into a warm and loving light. To feel almost absorbed in peace and love and being welcomed by those who have previously died.

3) An increase in light.  Then, being surrounded by what could best be described by a holographic or 3D experience of every action they have done in your life.  The person feels the experience that they gave others.  The happiness or the pain.

4) What happens next I'll call "the reason for returning to earthly life."

There are four possible experiences reported.

You find yourself instantly back in your body. OR

Someone in that place tells you that you have to go back.  It is not your time. There is more for you to do. OR

You are given a choice. Some people say they did not want to come back but they knew they had to, for the sake of raising their children or some other important task.  OR

You beg and plead to come back.  Moody says this is rare.  They told God they had to come back.

Therefore, I would say that we do have Free Will or Choice, most of the time.

When people come back, they often change their values.  They know they must learn to love. They report no longer fearing death.  They say it's just another state of reality. 

But perhaps what is most exceptionally interesting is that there are people who were there at the death bed who are not ill, not dying, but report A SHARED DEATH EXPERIENCE.  People report experiences such as seeing the room filled with light.  They see apparitions of death relatives - perhaps the welcome committee. Some people say that the room itself seemed to change as if they were instead in some sort of altered or different geometry.  Some of those who are there at the death bed report co-living the life review experience.  Now, this is important, they may experience these things even if they don't personally know the dying person.  Some doctors and nurses report having such an experience!

You have to see this video to see the image of a ball of light that appeared and was photographed when a person died.

You'll want to watch this DVD at this time when death is so much on our minds.

C 2020 Ancestry Worship -Genealogy

ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR AMERICANS OF ITALIAN ANCESTRY / DUAL CITIZENSHIP #7 ARCHIVES MONEY

But...

DO YOU SEND MONEY?  HOW MUCH?

So, truthfully, I have tried to get a straight consistent answer on this question. And there is none. That;s because there is no central place for the Country of Italy.  Rather records are in REGIONAL ARCHIVES or DIOCESE. Basically, all the stereotypes you've seen in films that include Italians - police - investigators - and hotel personnel - seem to be, well, based in reality.  Italy is not America.  It doesn't want to be.  That's why you want to live there, at least some of the time or for a while.  You want the joy of life, the stores closed just because, the slower pace which just might be what you might consider a less professional take on work - different priorities.

I suggest you write to the archive and send a fresh $20 bill which you will never see again.  It is easy for American money to be turned into Italian money in Italy.  I can't say if this is a tip, a bribe, or an archival fee.  That and a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope. Let's say we want you to get a RESPONSE, which might be - all the documents you asked for - or a request for more money and a strong suggestion on how you send it.  I've heard that some records are free. 

I don't e-mail.  I figure people get more e-mails than they can deal with.  I like to stand out with a letter - a stamp - the cash. I hear the fees are reasonable.

A NOTE ON CIVIL RECORDS:

Depending on when and where your qualifying ancestor was born, married, or died, they may be noted on CIVIL RECORDS in addition to or instead of BAPTISMAL/ BIRTH RECORDS. Civil records can certainly work for you and if you can get them, you don't need the Baptismal/Birth records.

For my client that these posts are based on, that is not the case.  I used my personal databases extensively to try and pull up anything on this family and it seemed the story which was the basis for beginning research had some gaps or errors.  Like you, I try many spelling variations and so on in databases but no - nothing. And at some point you have to realize that you're wasting your time. That the best way is the Old Fashioned way - to write.

But let's just say that YOU DO FIND YOUR ANCESTORS on DATABASES, in CIVIL RECORDS and so on.  YOU WILL STILL NEED TO WRITE TO ITALY TO GET THE APOSTILLE COPIES that are needed as official documents in order to process your request for Italian or Dual citizenship.

We sent our first request into a DIOCESE ARCHIVE September 21st...

C 2021 Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot

Update mid March 2021. We have received no response from the archive in Italy and no call back from the consulate. An article on line in The Daily Mail suggests Italy mat be facing a third wave if Covid-19.

ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR AMERICANS OF ITALIAN ANCESTRY / DUAL CITIZENSHIP #6 DOCUMENTS FROM ITALY

Now you must prepare to get your documents from Italy.  This is the part that has most Americans going belly up on their quest. It is confusing.  And you're dealing with - Italy.

Based on the location of birth, and  your history and map work, and hopefully supported by documents such as Naturalization, you have the name of a village, town, or city.

That year, what REGION was the place in?

So many people in Italy were baptized in the Catholic church.  Catholic church records can stand in or or be supplemental to CIVIL REGISTRATIONS, especially because of changes due to war.  You will want to LOCATE THE DIOCESE that likely included that place in their archival records. You will want to write to that archive.

Write to ITALY.  In ITALIAN.  If you do not write Italian, write your letter in ENGLISH, then translate it.  Google Translate can work.  I advise you keep your sentences small and your words simple.  Introduce yourself.  Explain that you are going to seek Italian Citizenship.  Say that you need official copies.  For each baptismal/birth for instance, you will say what your relationship to that person is.  I.e. My grandfather, my mother... Thank Them.

But...

C 2020  Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR AMERICANS OF ITALIAN ANCESTRY / DUAL CITIZENSHIP #5 YOUR ITALIAN DESCENT

You should do whatever genealogy and obtain whatever documents you can that show you are clearly descended from an Italian person.  So far these are all documents located in the United States of America. 

Let's go over them once more.

Your birth certificate.

Your parents marriage certificate - if in the U.S.

Their death certificates - if in the U.S.

Their birth certificate - if in the U.S.

Naturalization Papers

Ship Records/ Immigration

Census Records - if at this point 1930 or before.  

In your final quest to obtain Italian Citizenship you may not need to submit an entire genealogy, but the more you have the better at this point.  You may encounter some "missing" pieces.  

C 2020 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

GIRL QUEEN OF PATRIOTISM

ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR AMERICANS OF ITALIAN ANCESTRY / DUAL CITIZENSHIP #4 UNITED STATES DOCUMENTS

You may know, because you already have some documents, where the ancestor you wish to claim as qualifying you for Italian citizenship was born.  However, sometimes family stories or genealogy quests are confused by not reading the fine print, so to speak.

For instance, a ship record may ask where the person was LAST LIVING or WHERE THEY LEFT, which could be a seaport.  That does not mean that they were BORN at this same location.  Some immigrants got to the seaport and lived and worked there a while to earn their tickets for the ship.  And as many Italian men were seasonal workers in America before deciding to remain and claim citizenship, you  might find the same person going back and forth and information differing from one ship record to the next. Of course these records can be valuable.  They may be consistent.  One might mention a large city.  Another a village near that large city.  So get your maps out and look.

There may be a mention of relatives such as a cousin on the ship or a wife left behind.

Once the decision was made to become a citizen, a DECLARATION OF INTENT will have been filed.  For naturalization, to become an American, the clock starts ticking with these "first papers."

Perhaps  you have their NATURALIZATION / American Citizenship papers which give more details.  With the realization that these are official and governmental papers, immigrants are more likely to record accurately where they were born.  The naturalization papers might say that they renounce Austria - which could mean they were born in what is now Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, or Italy. But they should still give the name of a village, town, or city.

Do some research on that region.  What is it's history?  When did it become part of Italy?  Were there any changes in borders and when?  At the time that your qualifying ancestor was born, was that place Italy?

Even if it was not, you may still qualify for Italian Citizenship.  You'll just have to keep doing your research. 

C 2020 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

***

As a side, years ago while doing some Italian genealogy for a client, I came across an odd situation.  Knowing that Italian men sometimes came and went as seasonal workers in the United States, I felt pretty sure that the ancestor had come over three times before settling in Brooklyn.  The man, with same name, first and last, the same height, left the same town, left the same port, on the same ship line.  On trip one and two, about a year apart, I felt sure this was the same man.  On trip three, another year later, it seemed to be the same man but for one detail.  This man was noted to have a massive scar on his forehead.  The client said there was no way that man was from their family.  But before it was all over, they admitted their family had been in organized crime in Italy and in America. 

ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR AMERICANS OF ITALIAN ANCESTRY / DUAL CITIZENSHIP #3 APPLICATION FORMS

Read over the online applications for Italian citizenship for American citizens due to ancestry - the most popular.  Print them out. 

Reading them, you'll see that you need to dentify who in your lineage is going to qualify you, if you can qualify at all. It will also tell you what information and documents you will need to apply.  For the rest of these posts, I'll call that person your QUALIFYING ANCESTOR. 

You will notice that you need official copies.  These are usually called certified copies, International Copies, or Apostilles. An apostille is a certificate that the signature of a public official (or an archivist) is authentic, in other words,  that it is not a forgery.  In your letters to archives and governmental agencies, you should mention that you are using the documents to apply for citizenship or dual citizenship.  These people are usually trained to provide what  you need, whatever term is being used.  Expect to pay extra for this.

C 2020 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT

ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR AMERICANS OF ITALIAN ANCESTRY / DUAL CITIZENSHIP #2 YOUR EMBASSY OR CONSULATE

Research for the address and phone numbers for the closest Italian Embassy or Consulate in your town.  The employees there will not do research for you but you may find meeting with them and going over your application process worthwhile.  They should give you guidance. Though they are busy, make some attempt to develop a bit of a relationship with them. Make an appointment and go in just to state your intention. They may become your advocates.  Again, this may very much depend on your closest Embassy or Consulate.  If you're far from either, call around.  You want to know if people in your location are advised to deal with a particular Embassy or Consulate or you may choose which one you might work with.

C 2020 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

SEPTEMBER SEEMS TO SLIP AWAY - DUAL CITIZENSHIP - ITALY # 1

I can't believe this month has gone so quickly, especially because I actually feel disorganized and burdened.  Yes, the Coronavirus-10 shut downs have finally gotten the best of me.  You may feel the same way.  I have plenty to do but I just am not getting it done.  I'm exhausted emotionally.  And maybe it was my imagination, but I thought I could feel my bones aching.  I knew I needed to get out of the house.

Although I knew there would be unmasked people at the beach, I went to the beach.  Just me and my dog.  We found a place under a tree several feet from families to the left and families to the right.  These families seemed to have brought everything from home with them - furniture - grills.  They were having a good time.  They danced and laughed and put their toes in the ocean water.

Their smoke hit my nose - and my lungs.

I got home. The humidity was high. I was covered in sweat.  I was coughing from barbecue smoke.  Like the typical American I feared this was a sign that I caught the virus.  But I didn't.

***

Recently, I unexpectedly got a small assignment.  I'm helping a person to get their duel citizenship.  Their favored country is Italy.  And so soon I will post a little bit about that.

This person is a world traveler and I know that Italy is not their favorite place on earth. But they do feel they could love living there and living in a country is much different than being a tourist.  Such a lovely person, I can't imagine Italy not wanting to have him. 

But the mess the United States of America is in, is certainly one of the reasons many Americans are trying for Dual Citizenship in European countries of their heritage and to free to live, travel, work, and be part of the European Union.  Luckily, though Italy requires correspondence in Italian, you don't have to learn the language, as in Hungary, or prove that your ancestors actually lived in Poland rather than Austria when they left.

C 2020 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

THE VILLAGE STREET

THE LONG WEEKEND - ENJOY IT PLEASE!

No, our lives with Coronavirus-19 are not normal and I don't even want to think about "New Normal."  I've got my mask on.  I've just gotten a new client who I'm helping so that she can get her citizenship in Italy, and I plan to respect that wee bit of fall in the air - even though we are also going to experience a "heat dome" by making a soup with navy beans and lots and lots of new harvest tomatoes.

I will be back - and so will YOU!

ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT

HOW TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MONTH

https://www.womensvote100.org/WOMENS VOTE ORG: NATIONAL WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE CENTENNIAL COMMISSION

An opportunity to learn about the right to vote - during a year in which civics and using that right is more important than ever!

First Lady Melania Trump will honor this anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution which allowed women to vote in the United States for the first time with an exhibit called BUILDING THE MOVEMENT" AMERICA's YOUTH CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF WOMEN's SUFFRAGE.  The exhibit will show the art of young Americans.

INFLUENZA 1918 - WATCH THE PBS VIDEO and DECIDE ABOUT WEARING A MASK

INFLUENZA 1918 - LINK TO WATCH VIDEO

Catching up on documentary films these days (as well as working on my own personal genealogy research).  Been wearing a mask.  Some are bandanas wrapped around and knotted, some are hand sewn, and a friend made me one too.


GOT TO ADMIT I HOPE THE DAY WILL COME WHEN I CAN HAVE A MASK BURNING PARTY!

THE GHOST INSIDE MY CHILD : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT FILM REVIEW

  The title is bad.  Wrong. These are not ghost stories.  These are stories of children who have had spontaneous past life recall.  The editing is overly sensational.  I hate the close ups that reveal every pore.  I hate the glowing red eyeballs.  Really, the editing and production that was inclinded to raise the hair on our heads cheapened this series.  I wasn't scared.  Nor should you be.

Ignore all that.  Reincarnation is natural.  It's human nature.

And it's a message all of us who fear death need to hear.

This series features one interesting story after another, most of which include the parents or some other person doing research to verify that such a person existed.  And no, for you skeptics, the girls don't all remember being Cleopatra and the boys don't all remember being Harry Houdini.  Hey, some of these children are a different race, ethnicity, or gender this time around.

Remembrances in Season One and Two include, the memory of being a fighter pilot shot down during World War II, the memory of being a girl whose family was killed by Indians - later she was traded to a more peaceable tribe, the memory of a girl who died in Hollywood during the Silent Film era at age 14, an actress who probably died after an abortion - so many others!

In many cases, the children go to the place they remember living or dying, or at least a museum - which often helps them let go and get on with this life.

So, despite my recommendation - should anyone producing this series be reading - that you cut the silly boo-hooey - I suggest that watching this is worth your time and if you aren't familiar with reincarnation will be a wonderful introduction. 


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A DRINK OF WATER

Do you have ancestors who came to the United States

 in need of work who build bridges, as I do?

ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES - GENEALOGY UPDATES

NARA ARCHIVES GOV RESEARCH GENEALOGY

While stuck at home, citizens have been adding to the National Archives, which is an excellent way to pass the time.

Has it been a while since you looked to our NATIONAL ARCHIVES in the United States to do research?  There's lots to do!

A BIT OF THE EAST RIVER

Seeing this print by artist Otto H. Bacher, reminded me of

how important rivers were to transportation back in the day.

HERITAGE RECIPE MAKING - A GREAT ACTIVITY FOR HOME SCHOOLING

Over the last few months I've tried so many new recipes.

Not finding all the ingredients I want at the closest store has caused me to search for ways around or recipes that don't use what I'm used to.

Then I found some cook books that had been gifted to me by relatives who have passed on. Some of these had been shelf-sitting for a while. These are ethnic cookbooks from the 1950's mostly.  Looking through them, I decided I would begin to try some of the soup recipes in particular.  A good soup is always satisfying, be it 1850 or 2020.

If you are stuck at home or maybe home schooling, I suggest that making the recipes that your parents or your ancestors made can be an enjoyable and educational opportunity.  This may be the only time you'll ever have to teach your children - or maybe your girlfriend - to cook.

CHILDREN's PAST LIVES by CAROL BOWMAN on NIGHTMARES

CHILDREN'S PAST LIVES
How Past Life Memories Affect Your Child
by Carol Bowman
C 1997 by Carol and Steve Bowman
A Bantam Book

page 257 by Carol Bowman

Some Children have NIGHT TERRORS... a series of sleep disturbance that is not in the same category as regular nightmares. "In a typical night terror episode, the child screams, thrashes about, and may even walk or run around and get violent, all while appearing to be awake. But afterwards, unlike a nightmare, the child has absolutely no memory of the incident and no dream story that might explain the bizarre behavior. This alone makes night terrors extremely difficult to treat. Scientists have no satisfactory explanation for what causes night terrors and no reliable remedy. But they do know that they occur during the deepest sleep cycle, and that they commonly begin between the ages of three and four, and fade by thee ages of five or six.

Since we know know that some nightmares have a past life cause, it makes sense that some night terrors would too. Perhaps during deepest sleep, a state furthest from waking consciousness, these children are being terrorized by vivid memories of a past life trauma. I think it's significant that night terrors occur at the same ages when children are most likely to have spontaneous past life memories...

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REVISITING CAROL BOWMAN and CHILDREN'S PAST LIVES

After starting the rerun of Louis Henry Gates, I decided to check on YouTube for fairly recent talks that CAROL BOWMAN, perhaps the most respected researcher in Children and their Past Lives in America, might have given. 

As of December 2024 there are several videos featuring Carol.

Now I have to convince a friend of mine to consider past life experience as the reason for her grand-daughters overly dramatic fear of the loving family dogs. Her two year old sister shows no such fear but this one seems unable to get over being afraid of them.

LINK TO https://www.carolbowman.com/reincarnation-forum  December 2024

An appearance on Oprah got her a book contract.

Innocent children have no reason to recreate their last life traumas through spontaneous memory, through the art they make, and the way they indulge in play.

I admire Carol for all she's done to open our minds to this natural phenomena.

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REVISITING HENRY LOUIS GATES JR. and FINDING YOUR ROOTS

PBS HENRY LOUIS GATES JR. FINDING YOUR ROOTS

I'm rewatching beginning with Season One.  LOUIS HENRY GATES Jr., who I respect, says that about ten percent of contemporary Black Americans have ancestors who were Free Persons of Color - not slaves.

I had one client whose New Orleans heritage took us to Free Persons of Color ancestors.  The reaction was a subtle disbelief at my research, as I showed them that their people had been part of a thriving crafts and tradesman community in which people lived in beautiful houses - some on tours today.

Who is or is not Black?

What is the difference between the White actress who most relates to her most recent Jewish heritage though she's got White Anglo Saxon heritage that goes back to King Henry the First of England, basically "feeling" herself Jewish" and someone whose appearance would not lead the average person to guess they have Black Heritage or someone whose DNA proves they are just a little bit African, but who most relates to contemporary Black culture?

In genealogy we search for documents.

But people often feel themselves to be most comfortable with one culture - including religion and spirituality - over another.  I sometimes think this has to do with past life memories, which I realize is controversial.  But through reincarnation we can experience what it is to live in different cultures, to be Japanese in the 14th century, or to have fought in the Civil War in this country for the Confederates.

As a result of reading hundreds if not thousands of documents as well as reading around American history,  and my belief that reincarnation is real, I may have a different feeling about my own life and that of others.

We must ask ourselves WHY are we here in this life?  What have we brought forward from the past, what have we learned, where do we want to go?


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All Rights Reserved

WHO GETS TO BE PRESIDENT IF : THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL LINE OF SUCCESSION

DONALD WHO? THE NAMES OF THE UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS!

Who'd have thunk it?

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BUILD A LITTLE MODEL OF THE MAYFLOWER

Thanks to Dover Publications, here is the project.  You'll probably want to enlarge before you cut out and you still might need some tweezers, but hey, this is at no cost to you!  Celebrate the 400th anniversary of the landing of the pilgrims on the Mayflower and indulge yourself in some Colonial American history!


  I've copied these in the same size so all parts should fit.  I would try to enlarge X2 or X3.  Have fun!

400 YEARS AGO THE PILGRIMS LANDED IN AMERICA - THE MAYFLOWER SOCIETY

MAYFLOWER SOCIETY and 400th ANNIVERSARY in 2020

A friend of mine got a message regarding a DNA test she'd taken a couple years ago.  She hadn't checked her account in some time.  A man wrote that she might be related to a passenger on the Mayflower as he is related to her and he tested that he's a descendent of one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact,  Richard Warren who was married to Elizabeth Walker.

Uncanny!

Preliminary reading on the Internet:  this man and woman had the largest family and there may be thousands related to them at this point.  Genealogical there is some controversy and revisions.

There will be celebrations and do so hope that these can go on since we are in a plague time.

Here's the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC on CELEBRATIONS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE OCEANS

WHAT's NEW WITH FAMILY SEARCH? FACIAL RECOGNITION

FamilySearch has come up with a new feature that I suggest you ignore, the invitation to upload not only the photos of your ancestors for the world to see, but photos of your own face. Of course this will be coordinated with your account and the research you're doing which is supposed to begin with you and your own family. Perhaps you would like to totally give away your privacy and that of those connected to you by also willingly linking your DNA results.

It looks like fun - a game - and is promoted as such -  aren't we all warm and fuzzy? - but what really is happening here?  You do know that the company owns the rights to your research and all else you post right?  Read the fine print.  It will become part of "Intellectual Preserve."  Do they or will they sell your information.  Currently they say they won't but in the future?

As intentions besides the research of and preservation of genealogy and family history research become more common, I see the dark side.

One of the many reasons people used to hire a genealogist was for the preservation of their privacy.  Family History and genealogy books and charts a professional composed were just for family, people you knew, a few copies.  Many published books eliminated the latest generation, so only if you could prove the links to those - deceased - listed - was it valuable to you.

Perhaps in some parts of the country people still leave their doors unlocked and welcome neighbors to come on in.  There is absolutely no way for FamilySearch to know the reasons why certain criminally minded people - stalkers - Identity thieves - and rapists -  and the all too common people who want to get to know you without you knowing it - use their databases. To be fair, no genealogy database offers privacy once you post, so I suggest you print out or save your research elsewhere, whatever you use.

Take it from someone who has been stalked by someone who had a fantasy that he was dating me, someone who went up to people he saw talking to me, claiming to be my "friend" and asking personal questions, including where I worked.  Come now - when someone is your friend then you told them - not some gossip.

Or perhaps consider my neighbor down the street whose parents lost their entire life savings when they wired it to Mexico.  The person who called them know their names, the name of their grand-son, where he went to college and that he was on break.  They said he had gone to Mexico to a friend's wedding, mentioning a name that also sounded familiar to them, it had gotten too wild, and he was sitting in a prison, which was going to cost them legal fees, ruin his education, and his reputation.  All lies. For $40,000 he could be let out.  So they sent the money. Talking about this, it is likely the thieves used genealogy databases as part of their research about this elderly couple. They lived in fear when they learned the truth that the criminals would come to their house.

Think three times about uploading your photos and if someone else in your family does this without your permission, well, I'd dump them.  That's totally disrespectful.

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HER DNA SUGGESTS RACE AND ETHNICITY - WAS IT MARRIAGE OR RAPE?

Question for Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

(Please note that this person showed me her results and asked me to interpret them.)

My genealogy research takes me back to Southern Poland and parts of what is now Slovakia, Hungary, and Ukraine.  I know this was the Austrian Empire, but my ancestors always had their "ethnic I'm" as these ethnicities.  I'm showing Asian ancestry on one side and Near Eastern ancestry on the other.  Percentages would l be about one sixteenth of each - so that would be great great grandparents - right?  Is this the end of my standard paper trail research?  Please comment.  Thanks.

G.


Answer from Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

Not necessarily.

First remember that all results are statistically based and dependent on all the people who have chosen to contribute their personal data to that particular company's resultsw and that stats are reworked based on an ever-growing number of considerations.  Also, as more understanding of genetics and DNA comes forth, it can get more specific - such as what tribe (be that Native American or Native European - so to speak). Sometimes this information can lead us past a block.

One sixteenth could be a great great grandparents.  We each have two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, and sixteen great-great grandparents.  However, it could be some other combination such as four of the thirty two great great great grandparents. Or some small strain in many ancestors that adds up.

Today many people simply feel American or Canadian or British - or whatever - though only one of their lines show that.  Other people relate to an ethnicity or way of life - including attitudes and lifestyle - that they may be criticized for adopting because there is no biological evidence for it.  (This is one of the reasons I think sometimes that a past life experience is why.)

As for the paper trail - standard genealogy - it is always worth pursing even if it is at odds with the DNA or genetic results.  However, the notions that genealogy will prove generations of marriages - chosen and happy marriages - or unite a fractured family are myths. People may have lives that were more controlled or regimented or limited than we have come to expect as Americans, but there were still affairs and there was rape.  Rape is so common that I doubt there is anyone alive who doesn't have some DNA as a result of rape.

Some areas of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine, experienced invasions and occupations that included murder and rape.  I suspect you will not likely find church  or temple records going into the 19th or 18th century that reveal that.  You might want to read about the Tatars, Mongols, and Ottoman Turks.

In my years as a genealogist, I've rarely found notations in records that expand on the explanation of illegitimacy, for instance.  (Once in a while an understanding priest wrote in "father in America" or something about a death before marriage - alluding to a romance or plan to be married when the unfortunate happened.)  It's so sad to me when I find a woman who has one child after another without a father and see how soon those children die.  I always wonder if she was a woman repeatedly taken advantage of by men in the village - perhaps an orphan or someone born without average intelligence - someone who might have been forced into prostitution.

A W G

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GREEN BOOK GUIDES REVEALED PLACES WHERE AFRICAN-AMERICAN WERE WELCOME

New York Public Library provides the GREEN BOOKS.  These were like local travel guides to help African-Americans find out where they were welcome when they traveled. 

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY - GREEN BOOKS - AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

EXCERPT: From 1936 to 1966, Victor Green, a postal worker who worked in New Jersey but lived in Harlem, published the directories known today as the Green Book. (The Actual titles were variously" The Negro Motorist Green Book; The Negro Traveler's Green Book; the Travelers' Green Book.) These listed hotels, restaurants, beauty salons, night clubs, bars, gas stations, etc. where Black travelers would be welcome.  In an age of sundown towns, segregation, and lynching, the Green Book became an indispensable tool for safe navigation.

A valuable aspect of African American History. 

You may find that some of the locations appear on the 1940 census and have residents.

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FASCINATING STUDY OF ANCIENT ROME DNA PROVES ETHNIC DIVERSITY

STANFORD : GENETIC HISTORY OF ROME

Excerpt:  An analysis of some of the earliest samples more or less comports with what has been found around Europe - they represent an influx of farmers primarily descended from early agriculturalists from Turkey and Iran around 8,000 years ago, followed by a shift toward ancestry from the Ukrainian steppe somewhere between 5000 and 3000 years ago.  By the founding of Rome, traditionally dated to 753 BCE, the city's population had grown and diversity and resembled modern European and Mediterranean peoples.

WHAT'S UP at the FAMILYSEARCH - LDS FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY IN SALT LAKE DURING CORONAVIRUS-19 LOCKDOWN

The Family History Library owned and operated by the Latter Day Saints Church (ie. The Mormons) in Salt Lake City, Utah, is genealogy central in the United States.  The outside of the physical library now has the FAMILYSEARCH title on it.

So many generations of researchers and historians - since before there was Internet or on-line databases - have depended upon it.  The library currently holds more data than the Library of Congress.  Television series that focus on genealogy such as Who Do You Think You Are, depend on professionals and research assistants who spend about 1000 hours of research for one 40-minute program.

If you have a FamilySearch account, which is easy enough to sign up for, you can log in and watch live stream videos or find past live stream videos done on Zoon now archived on YouTube.  Some of these are instructional, others update you on what's happening there, and there are some question-and-answer opportunities.

I suspect that a lot of people are using their time indoors to do their genealogy research because every time I log in to FamilySearch and start a search the whirling icon keeps on whirling.

I know my browser needs updated but I cannot at this time do it.  It's annoying that the message comes up EACH AND EVERY TIME a new page shows up on my screen.  What a pain in the butt.

The library was affected by the recent earthquake that occurred in Salt Lake just shortly after it all closed down due to the virus.  The shelves are sturdy and bolted so none of them fell but some ceiling panels and books did land on the floor.  This is good news.  Should it reopen and you be researching there, you're not likely to be hurt in an earthquake of the 5.7 or less category.

5.7 is a good shake but nothing compared to the Northridge quake of 1994 which was 6.7.  (The earth experience earthquakes all over every single day, this we know due to the latest technology.  However, it does seem to me that earthquakes are occurring in more places that don't expect them and where housing might not be built or fortified for them.)

Enjoy your research.  Try to take good notes you can read in the future, so you know where you stopped, what your goals are, and so on.


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ERASING YOUR DNA : HEATHER DEWEY-HAGBORG

A BLOOMING ROW OF TREES

REVISITING THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS

I was quite excited to find a handwritten testimonial from a relative about his experience in the CCC's recently.  I posted about the CCC's several years ago and wanted to revisit the web site.

CCC LEGACY ORG

Now that I have the names of two different camps he worked in, I will check the states for the camps by name.  There are photos of some of the camps... and an opportunity to share.

Of the many links there is this one: THE LIVING NEW DEAL which has interactive maps where you can find ART /PUBLIC WORKS made by New Deal craftsmen and artists.

Using the Dollar Times Inflation Calendar that I have on my side posts, I learned that $30 in 1940 is equal to $550.66.

Just a note October 2022 : Click on the label CCC's or Civilian Conservation Corps to bring up other informative posts on this subject.

YOU CAN GET CENSUS INFORMATION 1950 -2010 with HEIR PROVISION

CENSUS - UNITED STATES OFFICIAL SITE

72 years of privacy guard most of us from having our private information displayed to the world - at least from this agency.

You may have reason not to want that information out - now or forever.

Maybe you were in a hospital or shelter or orphanage. 

Maybe you don't want your family to know where you are.

Maybe you want to die without anyone else knowing it.

But so many people are living beyond 72 years of age these days.

The 72 years was originally based on the idea that most people would not be alive when this information about them would be made available.

As a researcher you can occasionally bypass the 72 year wait.

Read the forms at the official U.S. Census site and see if you are eligible to have them do a search for an individual.  The reason will be to confirm an age for a delayed birth certificate or locating someone due to an inheritance, some implied legal reason.

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NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AMSTERDAM - NOT JUST FOR "DUTCH" : JEWISH GENEALOGY post #3

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AMSTERDAM

The story of the Portuguese Sephardic Jews being converted or being expelled is that they went wherever they were welcomed and Holland and Amsterdam was one of those places. (Greece and Italy were also popular and generally you will find that some Sephardic Jews also lived in Germany, Poland, and Russia.) Sephardic means Spanish speaking.  Over decades of marrying within their own people, Sephardic Jews sometimes feel they are distinct genetically and culturally from German Jews or Jews of Slavic lands. They may have changed their surnames or used one name as a kind of civic name and another among their brethren.

For genealogists the search is for IMMIGRATION RECORDS.

Within the National Archives of Amsterdam site, you may find the following that will be helpful to that quest.

NAME CHANGES as a means of assimilation to a new culture.

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION or SPONSORSHIP.  Not so different from the requirements of immigrants in the United States during the 19th and early 20th century, you had to know someone who would write that you had a good character or that they would support you financially.  Find one of these letters and you may verify where the people came from.

Also within this archives are a huge collection of SURNAME oriented collections.  So use the surname, be it Belmonte or Schonenberg, to see what others have given over.

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HUNTINGTON LIBRARY DOCUMENTS : SALT WORKERS IN WEST VIRGINIA and SLAVERY

LA TIMES LEGACY OF INDUSTRY FUELED BY SLAVERY : SALT WORKERS WEST VIRGINIA by Makeda Easter - an excellent article.


Excerpt:  Inside the cramped and dusty attic overlooking the pale green Kanawha River in the Appalachian Mountains, stacks of 100 year old business records - deposit books, letters from customers, employee records - balanced precariously on cabinets, lined shelves and sat scattered across the wooden floor.

***

The Huntington has acquired at auction documents of the slave trade and Underground Rail Road.  This acquisition is exciting to me as a genealogist.

HUNTINGTON ORG:   This link tells more about the salt works acquisition as well as another important slavery acquisition.


Excerpt: The first group of materials includes the papers of Zachariah Taylor Shugart... a Quaker abolitionist who operated an Underground Railroad stop at his farm in Cass County, Michigan. The centerpiece of the collection is an account ledger which contains the names of 137 men and women who passed through Shugart's farm while trying to reach freedom in Canada...

...

The second collection is the archive of some 2,000 letters and accounts documenting the history of the Dickinson and Shrewsbury saltworks, a major operation founded in 1808 in what is now Kanawha County, West Virginia...

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THE BRITANNIC WAS THE LARGEST SHIP SUNK IN WORLD WAR I ; PHOTOS OF LIFE ABOARD THE HOSPITAL SHIP

DAILY MAIL PHOTOS ABOARD BRITANNIC SHIP SISTER OF TITANIC

Exciting history!

Excerpt: Nurses rushing across decks, crammed wards and steaming engine rooms have been captured in the images, offering a tantalising glimpse into conditions on board before the vessel sunk on 21 November 1916.

His Majesty's Hospital Ship (HMHS) Britannic set sail in February 1914, but was requisitioned by the military before she could begin her first commercial voyage, and drafted into battling against Germany and the Ottoman Empire.
The vessel completed six voyages and transported thousands of wounded soldiers back to Southampton and Liverpool from the frontlines near Lemnos, Greece, before hitting a land mine in the aegean and disappearing beneath the waves in 55 minutes, two hours faster than the Titanic.

TWO MORE YEARS FROM TODAY'S DATE : THE 1950 CENSUS

STEVE MORSE and JOEL WEINTRAUB on the 1950 CENSUS - YOU WON'T FIND NAMES!

72 years of privacy for census was determined long ago when 72 years was one long life.  I sometimes wonder if this will be changed as our lifespans increase.

You can read the entire paper put out by these two gentlemen who have helped genealogists get through databases such as ship records and past census.

When the 1950 is first released you'll have to search page by page through Enumeration Districts until the massive undertaking of listing by name - indexing - happens.

The U.S. population after World War II was BOOMING (as in Baby Boomer) so while I have no doubt it eventually will be done, you may not want to wait another two to four years.

I remember when the 1940 came out.  I headed for my nearest Family History Center of the Latter Day Saints and I sat there for hours searching certain records in New Jersey... And what I proved weeks into it was that the first-generation immigrants and their children were no longer living where they had been in 1930, no longer in ethnic ghettos but out to the suburbs, even to other counties and states, some in old age homes.

I imagine the 1950 will show this movement into suburbs and other counties and states even more so. So many GI's got houses on the GI bill which afforded them small homes in the burbs!

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Click on the tab  Genealogy Help - 1950 Census to bring up the series!