I enjoyed reading these books years ago and some of the stories were simply astounding while others had me coming up with explanations.
No doubt I've experienced some research quests that involved serendipity or synchronicity. Let me explain that as a person becomes more experienced with genealogy they know their resources and what might be perceived as block is simply not knowing resources. Generally there is a linear thought process about what to do next and why works. However, while doing everything "right" you sometimes run into the difficulty of knowing what it is you need but not finding it where it should be. (Missing documents along the path; too many "fires" and "floods.") Even then you can sometimes find your way around. Never the less, I think being in the right place at the right time to talk to someone else who is researching can result in acquiring the knowledge that you seek.
One explanation, popular in LDS circles, is that the ancestors are helping you do your genealogy. What else do you make of someone who is new to the process of research showing up at a library and choosing the seat next to another researcher who happens to be related to them and discovering that within hours?
Jones has other books on the Palatine families - generally Germans (one of several groups of people who became Germans as we think of German's today) who left Germany to Ireland and the United States.
C 2019 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot
By Helen Hinchcliff, in PSYCHIC ROOTS - Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy by Henry Z. Jones C 1993published by Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc."In 1983, in honor of my recent discovery of genealogy, my brother, Timothy Hinchcliff, made a yarn painting for me entitled Old Soul. Without really knowing a genealogist's sources or methods, Tim used thousands of colored threads to depict his view that I am a sojourner between the living and the dead. Coincidentally, the picture captured the essence of this book. In the lower left corner, lighting my path with magic crystals is Old Soul, most easily imagined as a friendly white ghost. In the center are my ancestors, ranged in a circle. They are connected by a mysterious umbilical cord to Old Soul and to a second circle composed of my living relatives who reside in the upper right corner. Guided by Old Soul, I trace a path between them, learning from each, communing with each."
If YOU'LL CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE... you'll get to the official Hank Z Jones website. There are only 50 Fellows of the American Society of Genealogists elected and Hank is one of them. I got interested in Hank because of his books, which I'll be quoting some excerpts from in this blog.One of the reasons I appreciate his books is that they include the testimonials of both professional and hobbyist genealogy researchers who believe in dreams, intuition, ancestor spirit research guides, and receiving information on roots quests that comes from extraordinary means, proving that not all genealogists are afraid of this! There are many stereotypes of whose into genealogy that are not true. One of them is that genealogists are mostly members of the Latter Day Saints (formerly known as The Mormons), because they do seem to have a vast amount of archived data.In the diversity of this United States of America (and the world!) genealogist are practitioners of many different faiths or spiritual viewpoints.
"Impulses, hunches, sudden insights and subtle insights have assisted us on our evolutionary path since the origin of our species. That we have not recognized guidance that has come to us in this way is a consequence of seeing reality through only five senses. From the five-sensory point of view, there is no other place from which insights and hunches can come."From the multi sensory point of view, insights, intuitions, hunches, and inspirations are messages from the soul, or from advanced intelligences that assist the soul on its evolutionary journey. The multi sensory personalty, therefore, honors intuition in a way that the five-sensory personality does not. To the five-sensory personality, intuitions are curiosities. To the multi sensory personality, they are promptings from, and links to, a perspective of greater comprehension and compassion that its own."page 147, as in More Psychic Roots, by Henry Z. Jones, Jr.
I think anyone who has spent some earnest time tracing roots knows that sometimes the information you are looking for comes to you in unexpected ways. I'll be talking about some of the stories I've personally heard and sharing with you from Henry Z. Jone's books...Check back in !
