23 September 2018
THE MISSING PERSON - GENEALOGY versus THE DETECTIVE
I recently met someone who is related to a MISSING PERSON. The missing person went on a vacation to see relatives and rented a car, deciding to go to another city that is a tourist trap before returning home. Who hasn't used an extra day or so when near some attractions to go see them, a once in a lifetime opportunity, when far from home? Months ago he was last heard from by cell phone. All seemed to be well. He was a loving father and family man. They didn't actually think of him as missing until about a week later when he didn't use his return ticket. Until then a lot of rationalizing was going on. The cell phone was never found but went dead. Later the rental car was found with no evidence of him in it. The family feels they did all they could do including making appeals for information on television, posting on Facebook, and so on. Now they have faith in God and see him in their dreams.
MISSING PERSONS! The mystery of what happened to them and when, not knowing if and when they were a victim of criminals or an accident, or if they went missing deliberately for some unknown reason, challenge loving family in every way possible. I personally feel this person is not on this earth, but it is too soon too soon to give up hope.
I find that the work of David Paulides
CANADIAN AMERICAN MISSING - DAVID PAULIDES is quite fascinating.
Paulides is broadcasting via interviews and YouTube almost weekly, focusing on some of the most mysterious disappearances in National Parks, in a very open minded way that might include BigFoot or UFO's, which I realize turns some people off. Yet, he remains on the side of true detective work and skepticism and is probably the person most responsible in North American for working on the problem of ineptitude in investigations, unaccountably of and bureaucratic messes in governmental agencies when it comes to missing persons.
Listen to him and you'll begin to wonder how so very many people could be simply gone.
He says that one should never go hiking without a partner, am electronic device that would help locate you (not just a cell phone), and a weapon.
So, is there a way to use genealogy instead of a detective to work on this missing person case?
The answer is NO. The situation is too new. Possibly if the situation is old enough, there might be some evidence that the person just went away and settled somewhere else.
I consider birth parents gone missing to be traceable using some genealogy methods. I was able to locate one father within hours of being asked to. He had not changed his name.
A person may not actually be "missing" if they did not go out of their way to change their identity, such as changing their name. Because of electronic databases and informational services, to go missing on purpose is more difficult by the minute. But once in a while you hear of someone who just went away, found employment, someone who never divorced but remarried. Their neighbors are astounded to find out that they were actually a WANTED PERSON all those years when they'd been considered to be pillars of their community.
Police detectives have access to databases that may help track a person's movements and expenditures. Making missing persons reports with police is a first step. It's often not enough. A person who wants to disappear is probably not going to use their credit cards or the same phone. They are probably going to leave with a lot of cash on hand and have made plans to go from here to there - such as another country - in advance. It's not impossible but generally difficult to have that much cash in hand if you're an ordinary individual. Off to another country we might consider how well did they speak Spanish or Polish when they left? Yet, I reason, everyone has a secret life, a self they keep private. It's possible that the missing person had some associations his wife and children knew nothing about.
Sometimes it's just that an agency budgets only so much time and money to a case. Then it goes COLD.
If there is a person who is missing that you want to find, try to avoid certain assumptions such as that they are missing because their Facebook page is static or taken down. Maybe they're just taking a time out from social networking. Additionally, maybe they are taking a break from YOU. Maybe the relationship was not as good as you imagined it. (Are you a stalker with an imaginary romance?)
One person asked me, "What if they went into a Witness Protection Program?" Well, I don't know exactly how that works. From reading around it, the person being protected has to check in frequently with law enforcement. To start a new life elsewhere the FBI may have helped with name changes and ID's and so on. And the person or family has to be ready to be moved again - and again. I doubt that an individual with a loving family would go and leave them behind without telling them but in the Witness Protection Program, it can be no-contact. Usually people in this program are in it because they are considered to be on hit lists or in deep trouble because of their testimonies against criminals. Witness Protection Program people live very controlled lives.
So, Blessings to those who are missing someone they love, as they cope with the changes in their lives because of the mystery of what happened.
C 2018 Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot
Update July 2019.
The missing man's remains were found, in a field not far from where the rental car had been found. Foul play is suspected.
MISSING PERSONS! The mystery of what happened to them and when, not knowing if and when they were a victim of criminals or an accident, or if they went missing deliberately for some unknown reason, challenge loving family in every way possible. I personally feel this person is not on this earth, but it is too soon too soon to give up hope.
I find that the work of David Paulides
CANADIAN AMERICAN MISSING - DAVID PAULIDES is quite fascinating.
Paulides is broadcasting via interviews and YouTube almost weekly, focusing on some of the most mysterious disappearances in National Parks, in a very open minded way that might include BigFoot or UFO's, which I realize turns some people off. Yet, he remains on the side of true detective work and skepticism and is probably the person most responsible in North American for working on the problem of ineptitude in investigations, unaccountably of and bureaucratic messes in governmental agencies when it comes to missing persons.
Listen to him and you'll begin to wonder how so very many people could be simply gone.
He says that one should never go hiking without a partner, am electronic device that would help locate you (not just a cell phone), and a weapon.
So, is there a way to use genealogy instead of a detective to work on this missing person case?
The answer is NO. The situation is too new. Possibly if the situation is old enough, there might be some evidence that the person just went away and settled somewhere else.
I consider birth parents gone missing to be traceable using some genealogy methods. I was able to locate one father within hours of being asked to. He had not changed his name.
A person may not actually be "missing" if they did not go out of their way to change their identity, such as changing their name. Because of electronic databases and informational services, to go missing on purpose is more difficult by the minute. But once in a while you hear of someone who just went away, found employment, someone who never divorced but remarried. Their neighbors are astounded to find out that they were actually a WANTED PERSON all those years when they'd been considered to be pillars of their community.
Police detectives have access to databases that may help track a person's movements and expenditures. Making missing persons reports with police is a first step. It's often not enough. A person who wants to disappear is probably not going to use their credit cards or the same phone. They are probably going to leave with a lot of cash on hand and have made plans to go from here to there - such as another country - in advance. It's not impossible but generally difficult to have that much cash in hand if you're an ordinary individual. Off to another country we might consider how well did they speak Spanish or Polish when they left? Yet, I reason, everyone has a secret life, a self they keep private. It's possible that the missing person had some associations his wife and children knew nothing about.
Sometimes it's just that an agency budgets only so much time and money to a case. Then it goes COLD.
If there is a person who is missing that you want to find, try to avoid certain assumptions such as that they are missing because their Facebook page is static or taken down. Maybe they're just taking a time out from social networking. Additionally, maybe they are taking a break from YOU. Maybe the relationship was not as good as you imagined it. (Are you a stalker with an imaginary romance?)
One person asked me, "What if they went into a Witness Protection Program?" Well, I don't know exactly how that works. From reading around it, the person being protected has to check in frequently with law enforcement. To start a new life elsewhere the FBI may have helped with name changes and ID's and so on. And the person or family has to be ready to be moved again - and again. I doubt that an individual with a loving family would go and leave them behind without telling them but in the Witness Protection Program, it can be no-contact. Usually people in this program are in it because they are considered to be on hit lists or in deep trouble because of their testimonies against criminals. Witness Protection Program people live very controlled lives.
So, Blessings to those who are missing someone they love, as they cope with the changes in their lives because of the mystery of what happened.
C 2018 Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot
Update July 2019.
The missing man's remains were found, in a field not far from where the rental car had been found. Foul play is suspected.
14 September 2018
05 September 2018
LAST VOYAGE OF THE LUSITANIA : NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DVD
The luxury Liner, the Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine - a maritime disaster. Of the 1959 people aboard, 2/3rds died because it sank in 15 minutes - much faster than the Titanic.
Dr. Robert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic and the Bismarck beneath the sea, wanted to find the ship and through scientific means discover if perhaps it had been carrying secret arms or ammunition which could have blown up, making the damage so much worse.
I'm eager to find the ship manifests or a list of those who went down with the ship.
Dr. Robert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic and the Bismarck beneath the sea, wanted to find the ship and through scientific means discover if perhaps it had been carrying secret arms or ammunition which could have blown up, making the damage so much worse.
I'm eager to find the ship manifests or a list of those who went down with the ship.
The National Geographic Society - the magazine - the exploration they fund - to me has always seemed like one of the best investments. They fund quality exploration, films, and articles, time and time again...
02 September 2018
AMERICAN WOMEN HAVING FIRST BABIES LATER IN LIFE
NEW YORK TIMES : AGE AT FIRST MOTHERHOOD RISES
Take a look at the charts - college women seem to be completing their educations first. And the average age of first motherhood in the United States is 26 plus.
31 August 2018
ANGEL GOWNS - BEAUTIFUL GARMENTS MADE FROM WEDDING DRESSES FOR THE LITTLE ANGELS
At one time, when I was just starting to understand heaven and hell and knew that babies were to be baptized, I asked my mother what happened to babies that hadn't been baptized yet. She said they went right to heaven.
I went to a Christian Music festival held in a park in Southern California recently and, as I went around the booths, I came to one that had a wedding dress hanging and little outfits on the table. I didn't make the connection right away and when I asked what ANGEL GOWNS was all about, tears sprung from my eyes. What a beautiful idea.
ANGEL GOWNS is an effort that goes on all over the nation, and so rather than give you a specific link, I encourage you to put those words in a search engine and find the closest location to you or go to the national link here : https://www.nicuhelpinghands.org/programs/angel-gown-program/. Volunteers get together to sew ANGEL GOWNS at various locations. There is an art to it, such as deciding how to cut a wedding dress just right to make it most useful. I'm told that women come in with their boxed wedding dresses and love that the dress will be re-purposed for such a good cause.
Basically, many of the little angels who will wear the garments made from DONATED WEDDING DRESSES, are newborns and infants who have died. They were preemies or too ill to make it. The parents appreciate the gift of one of these beautiful garments to dress their baby.
C Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot
I went to a Christian Music festival held in a park in Southern California recently and, as I went around the booths, I came to one that had a wedding dress hanging and little outfits on the table. I didn't make the connection right away and when I asked what ANGEL GOWNS was all about, tears sprung from my eyes. What a beautiful idea.
ANGEL GOWNS is an effort that goes on all over the nation, and so rather than give you a specific link, I encourage you to put those words in a search engine and find the closest location to you or go to the national link here : https://www.nicuhelpinghands.org/programs/angel-gown-program/. Volunteers get together to sew ANGEL GOWNS at various locations. There is an art to it, such as deciding how to cut a wedding dress just right to make it most useful. I'm told that women come in with their boxed wedding dresses and love that the dress will be re-purposed for such a good cause.
Basically, many of the little angels who will wear the garments made from DONATED WEDDING DRESSES, are newborns and infants who have died. They were preemies or too ill to make it. The parents appreciate the gift of one of these beautiful garments to dress their baby.
C Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot
26 August 2018
22 August 2018
SHIP MANIFESTS and THE ELUSIVE POOR ANCESTOR
There is so much romance attached to ancestors coming through Ellis Island in steerage, that you may be surprised to know that the 1st and 2nd class passengers could skip the whole Ellis Island scene and were left off first in New York.
It may surprise you to learn that your ancestor actually didn't make just one trip, but several back and forth before having taken care of all their business in the old country, such as selling property, settling old mom - too old to immigrate - with relatives.
It may also surprise you to learn that there were other, busy ports, including Canadian ports, or that your ancestor may have taken a trip to Argentina first, checked it out, and then decided to come to the United States. Your ancestor may have also come on a ship that wasn't one of the big-line steamships. There were people coming in as crew. There were still sail ships operating coming into smaller and unofficial ports. You may have checked all the available databases out, straining through near unreadable handwriting, missing manifests, and so on; all you know is that they are suddenly on a census.
If you find their naturalization papers, you will probably learn that they declare the date they arrived and the name of the ship. For some, obtaining evidence of this voyage, if they didn't still have a ticket /paperwork still on them, was a step towards naturalization. Even if those ship manifests or passenger lists no longer exist they will name the date and ship and often place.
During the pre-aviation era, ships were the way to go. The romance of immigrants coming in by ship sort of negates what else was going on. Such as people who were traveling back and forth to Europe on business, such as spending sprees for fashionable clothing, banking and investments, and visiting relatives or taking long vacations for pleasure. People walking across borders. People who skipped Ellis and questions about disease and mental health. If an immigrant wanted to bring a sibling along who probably wouldn't pass through Ellis, say because they were "slow," they might suggest the person was a shy twelve year old rather than a budding fifteen.
What reminded me of all this was a relations question about our great-grandmother. By using oral history about the age of the first child, said to be in her mother's arms when they arrived to meet up with our great-grandfather, I had not found her on my first efforts with microfilms of ships coming into New York. I assumed New York. The assumption turned out to be right. But I calculated after finding the first child's birth date on the Social Security Death Index to another date. This time the first microfilm I rolled had them there. Previously I had found great-grandfather's immigration. Yes he was there before she was. My relations questioned the parentage of this first child. Without knowing if she was possibly born premature or late, and based on her strong resemblance to him, I had not doubt she was the child of our great-grandparents. Yet, this made me go back into the ship manifests to check out other men with the same name.
As it turned out I was able to verify that indeed great-grandfather had made two trips. On one ship manifest it says WHERE DID YOU LEAVE? Since this village was near the larger town that both referred to as having come from, well.... on the first trip it says WHERE WERE YOU BORN? In this case the man with the same name gives a different answer. He refers to a larger region that contains the village that he left, and this lead me to realize that he was probably not BORN exactly where he left. This actually has opened up the place I can look for records of his birth and possibly their marriage.
In any case, though two trips makes sense, I won't consider this proofed until I can prove that two men of the same age, name, and region, did not exist at the same time.
C 2018 Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot
It may surprise you to learn that your ancestor actually didn't make just one trip, but several back and forth before having taken care of all their business in the old country, such as selling property, settling old mom - too old to immigrate - with relatives.
It may also surprise you to learn that there were other, busy ports, including Canadian ports, or that your ancestor may have taken a trip to Argentina first, checked it out, and then decided to come to the United States. Your ancestor may have also come on a ship that wasn't one of the big-line steamships. There were people coming in as crew. There were still sail ships operating coming into smaller and unofficial ports. You may have checked all the available databases out, straining through near unreadable handwriting, missing manifests, and so on; all you know is that they are suddenly on a census.
If you find their naturalization papers, you will probably learn that they declare the date they arrived and the name of the ship. For some, obtaining evidence of this voyage, if they didn't still have a ticket /paperwork still on them, was a step towards naturalization. Even if those ship manifests or passenger lists no longer exist they will name the date and ship and often place.
During the pre-aviation era, ships were the way to go. The romance of immigrants coming in by ship sort of negates what else was going on. Such as people who were traveling back and forth to Europe on business, such as spending sprees for fashionable clothing, banking and investments, and visiting relatives or taking long vacations for pleasure. People walking across borders. People who skipped Ellis and questions about disease and mental health. If an immigrant wanted to bring a sibling along who probably wouldn't pass through Ellis, say because they were "slow," they might suggest the person was a shy twelve year old rather than a budding fifteen.
What reminded me of all this was a relations question about our great-grandmother. By using oral history about the age of the first child, said to be in her mother's arms when they arrived to meet up with our great-grandfather, I had not found her on my first efforts with microfilms of ships coming into New York. I assumed New York. The assumption turned out to be right. But I calculated after finding the first child's birth date on the Social Security Death Index to another date. This time the first microfilm I rolled had them there. Previously I had found great-grandfather's immigration. Yes he was there before she was. My relations questioned the parentage of this first child. Without knowing if she was possibly born premature or late, and based on her strong resemblance to him, I had not doubt she was the child of our great-grandparents. Yet, this made me go back into the ship manifests to check out other men with the same name.
As it turned out I was able to verify that indeed great-grandfather had made two trips. On one ship manifest it says WHERE DID YOU LEAVE? Since this village was near the larger town that both referred to as having come from, well.... on the first trip it says WHERE WERE YOU BORN? In this case the man with the same name gives a different answer. He refers to a larger region that contains the village that he left, and this lead me to realize that he was probably not BORN exactly where he left. This actually has opened up the place I can look for records of his birth and possibly their marriage.
In any case, though two trips makes sense, I won't consider this proofed until I can prove that two men of the same age, name, and region, did not exist at the same time.
C 2018 Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot
18 August 2018
JEFFERSON DAVIS - AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT : DVD FILM REVIEW
JEFFERSON DAVIS - AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT The Life Story of the First and Only President of the Confederacy a Kultur DVD
ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW:
This 3 DVD set was so enlightening! I promise I will watch the film in its entirety one more time! I realized just how ignorant I was of the Confederacy. In this portrait of the man, I learned that until the Civil War Davis first and foremost considered himself an AMERICAN. He was an Army officer, a congressman, the Secretary of War, and a two term Mississippi senator, and one of the greats who found the Smithsonian Institute, and "largely responsible" for the current design on the U.S. Capitol. As things turned out Davis was on the wrong side of the Civil War and lead years of life afterwards in which he struggled to support his family or again live to his potential. Jefferson Davis also had a profoundly tragic personal life, like his old colleague Abraham Lincoln. His life spanned that of the 19th century.
_____
Personally, I dislike that various confederacy statues and historical displays are being taken down. Just because the South lost? Or because there is an assumption that the South, and all who were on that side, were all about racism - rather than economics. I realize this is not a politically correct opinion, but I think that if this continues, all the California Missions will be taken down too. Off the go to "graveyards," but some day they will be refound and unveiled; this has happened in other countries.
Leave them up and learn history! A tour guide can always make such things part of a discussion. For instance one tour of a California Mission I took was guided by a fake Franciscan Friar in his brown garb with the rope belt and sandals whose personal opinion was against the Catholic Church. Believe it or not. Yet I've met a couple Native American ancestry people who think that they are better off because they became Catholics - this is Arizona.
GENEALOGY DOCUMENTS sometimes prove that things taught in classrooms are not true. For instance, I was taught Mexicans and Native Americans were always friends.
Some Americans believe all Native Americans were peaceful and unified when it fact some of them warred with each other. Some Native Americans owned slaves, some married them, and I've seen that on census records. The Civil War issues split up some families.
So I like to say that history is "niche specific."
ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW:
This 3 DVD set was so enlightening! I promise I will watch the film in its entirety one more time! I realized just how ignorant I was of the Confederacy. In this portrait of the man, I learned that until the Civil War Davis first and foremost considered himself an AMERICAN. He was an Army officer, a congressman, the Secretary of War, and a two term Mississippi senator, and one of the greats who found the Smithsonian Institute, and "largely responsible" for the current design on the U.S. Capitol. As things turned out Davis was on the wrong side of the Civil War and lead years of life afterwards in which he struggled to support his family or again live to his potential. Jefferson Davis also had a profoundly tragic personal life, like his old colleague Abraham Lincoln. His life spanned that of the 19th century.
_____
Personally, I dislike that various confederacy statues and historical displays are being taken down. Just because the South lost? Or because there is an assumption that the South, and all who were on that side, were all about racism - rather than economics. I realize this is not a politically correct opinion, but I think that if this continues, all the California Missions will be taken down too. Off the go to "graveyards," but some day they will be refound and unveiled; this has happened in other countries.
Leave them up and learn history! A tour guide can always make such things part of a discussion. For instance one tour of a California Mission I took was guided by a fake Franciscan Friar in his brown garb with the rope belt and sandals whose personal opinion was against the Catholic Church. Believe it or not. Yet I've met a couple Native American ancestry people who think that they are better off because they became Catholics - this is Arizona.
GENEALOGY DOCUMENTS sometimes prove that things taught in classrooms are not true. For instance, I was taught Mexicans and Native Americans were always friends.
Some Americans believe all Native Americans were peaceful and unified when it fact some of them warred with each other. Some Native Americans owned slaves, some married them, and I've seen that on census records. The Civil War issues split up some families.
So I like to say that history is "niche specific."
C 2018 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot
15 August 2018
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