PHILOMENA : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW (IRISH CATHOLIC UNWED MOTHERS AND THE SISTERS OF THE GOOD SHEPERD

This film got 4 Academy Award nominations

and is based on a book by Martin Sixsmith.

 

Obviously well regarded, the true story based on the book by Sixsmith, that was up for Academy Awards such as Best Picture and Best Actress (Judi Dench), is a heartbreaker.

Philomena Lee was an Irish girl sent away to a Catholic charity run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd to have her illegitimate baby.  Many of these girls were from very poor families and very underage.  Some did not survive childbirth.  Let me be clear that as portrayed some of these nuns have a punishing attitude towards women who got pregnant without marriage, in Philomena's case a first love, but it goes without saying in the film that some of them were probably pregnant by rape and incest.  That Philomenia had been searching for the son she gave up and her son, also for her, and that these sisters LIED to both of them, keeping the separation between them, and that by the time Philomenia and Sixsmith did identify her son, it was too late because he had died young of AIDS is especially horrifying.

 

Yet, I need to tell my readers that this experience is not ALWAYS the experience with Catholic Archives and nuns or members of Holy Orders, even as I have waited many years for a branch of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd's to respond to a request.  I've also asked the Catholic Archives to intervene with them for me without success. Simply, their numbers have dwindled down and they do not have the time to look up old records for me, and I frankly do not think I could speed anyone up with the promise of unasked for pay, not even if it was a significant donation. The attitude that the nun in the film has was not just her own, but often the attitude of the culture at the time. Perhaps Irish Catholicism was especially punishing.  Certainly you would not find our present Pope Francis with such an attitude.

 

But as a genealogist I was watching the film hoping for more clues as to how exactly Philomenia's son was found by Sixsmith, and I think I'm going to read the book in case there are some research lessons to be gained by reading it. All films tend to cut through a lot of information in order to get the essence of the story down. I watched a special feature about the real Philomena Lee. and I realized how courageous she was to let her story be told in a journalistic article written by Sixsmith. I take it that funding the travel that he did with this woman may have been funded by a news business and that he was under pressure to reveal what happened, even as Philomenia had mixed feelings about doing so. She also has forgiveness, which for her is healing.

 

For those of you who are Birth Parents or Adopted Children looking to find one another, the various REGISTRIES where you sign up to be matched are probably the first thing to do, and can be quickly successful.Philomenia as portrayed had her mind made up and her head on straight during the search, even as she encountered terrible disappointment; many of you need to be in therapy to deal with the search. I say that because it is not a genealogists place to be leaned on to the point of having to play therapist or be a persons great support through this process and I've had searchers waver and cancel on me unable to handle the process.

 

Depending on where you live, what COUNTY and STATE you were given up for adoption, various rules may apply. In some cases getting identifying information on a parent after a Closed adoption is near impossible BUT the registries cut through all that. A Closed adoption was sometimes how ALL adoptions were done and does not necessarily imply that the situation in which a child was born was especially bad.There are even families who simply gave children they knew they could not support up for adoption because they already had so very many!

 

C2016-2025   Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights.

 

 

QUESTION FROM READER : HOW CAN I DO GENEALOGY WHEN I COME FROM A SCREWED UP FAMILY? : QUESTIONS FROM READERS of ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY

Question for Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

I would like to do family history research and genealogy, but I'm getting nowhere with my screwed up family. There is no cooperation and I don't even think they're much interested. When I go to research at my local Family History Center I'm surrounded by people who have decent families that are happy, helpful, and excited to learn more about their people. I say not a word, since I don't want to lie, but I also don't want to tell the truth, that in my family no one says I love you, there's no sharing at the dinner table, and the only thing that can be counted on are crazy scenes.  It's lonely.

Should I just forget it?

Elizabeth

Answer from Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

Elizabeth, you're not the only person who's embarked on the exciting adventure of learning more about your family history and ancestry without cooperation. Seems to me the one thing you cannot count on is that your research work will heal your family. But since there are so very many reasons why people do get into their research work, I urge you to stick with it, just for YOU!  Maybe you'll achieve a greater understanding of your people, which will be interesting for you, if not healing. 

At Family History Centers and other research libraries, though many people do share about their families and their research, and you can learn a lot from each other on how to, it's best to keep to a professional attitude. Pretend the family you are researching isn't yours!

Also take heart in knowing that almost every family has some stinkers. While researching aside other people I've heard many stories about what got dug up... in particular domestic violence. One researcher learned that her great grandfather had been killed when his granddaughter finally retaliated and he went rolling down the stairs. There were news articles about it and interestingly, the granddaughter was never arrested or prosecuted because everyone in town knew this man was a monster.

Researching history and genealogies has actually made me more of a feminist than ever. I'm so glad women have more choices about their lives and don't have to marry or stay married to have a place in this world.

I've also met people who were so not politically correct, they didn't even mind being known as bigots. I had networked for one family because of a dead end, and learned that a dozen researchers were working on the same issue, which brother, living in a Carolina compound, had which father. To know would have meant proofing the link to a well known historical family in Scotland.  DNA had just become available, and this person had reached out to me to locate someone who would be willing to take the test, and I knew exactly where the only candidate lived. But before I could write to this man and plea the case of the very many researchers who needed to know, it was suggested to me that the family had been Jewish. I put that out there for comment.

I got a railing, seething e-mail that made my heart pound as someone suggested to me this could not be because, to paraphrase, "The family is Christian and loves Jesus Christ and everybody knows Jews are "Christ Killers" so it is impossible!"

So, Elizabeth, get ye down to your local Family History Center and learn to be a genealogist.  It will preserve your intellect far better than doing crossword puzzles, and someday you too will meet others with screwy families!

C 2016-2025 Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot

FROM ONE BOOKWORM TO ANOTHER - HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

This one I like and can relate to.

But is it a Valentine?

SEXIST AND RACIST - OFFENSIVE VALENTINES THAT WE HAVE TO PUT INTO HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Today I've been looking for a VALENTINE to post on this blog, sorting through the offerings that come up in Google Images when I add the words "public domain" and "Vintage" or "Old." 

I've seen Valentines that, using the usual cartoonish or highly romantic art, depict, supposedly with humor, the beating of a woman so that she will finally be the Valentine of the man who gifted her with it.  Not funny.  Not loving.

But the idea that a card giver might batter or insult a woman to get her to like him rests in sexism and attitudes towards women that have not entirely changed, very sad to say. 

I, as a writer, reader, literature major, and dogged researcher,

found this one deeply personally offensive.

The idea was that a boy giving this Valentine to a girl

didn't really want an intelligent or educated woman.

 

(MANY OF US HAVE GRANDPARENTS WHO NEVER LEARNED TO READ AND WRITE, who made their mark of an X on legal documents with a witness there as a result and many of us have parents who dropped out of high school and had to get their G.E.D. or equivalent after they served in the armed forces or got through working at anything during the Great Depression.)

This one was probably considered rather risqué back in the day

but these days with the Kardashian sisters showing off

their booties on a regular basis, we've grown numb.

I also found a few Valentines - very few - that depicted cartoonish or romantic BLACK people.  Since most of these were pretty much in line with the Valentines that depicted cartoonish or romantic WHITE people, I decided that they were not offensive.

But these two, below, did seem to be.  I had to wonder if BLACK people had found it difficult to purchase Valentines and other cards that showed people who looked like them in the stores. 



Of course, the handmade Valentine, especially the ones made by children for their parents and siblings, grandparents, cousins, and friends, are probably most endearing and a way around the offensive.  Right now kids are making Valentines in their school classrooms and at special programs staged at libraries and I'm sure that many handmade Valentines have remained cherished with all those drawings, and all the glitter glue.

This morning I was talking to a stranger about Valentines.  I told her that a couple years ago, because Valentines used to be given to friends from friends, I gave a dozen people who were perhaps more acquaintances than friends, small fun cards with a piece of good chocolate each when we had lunch together about that time.  One of the men, though he was at the table when I distributed these to one and all, unexpectedly took this small offering as a come on by me.  Just what I didn't need.

But I do remember, even if perhaps a parent or a teacher thought that every child in class should receive a Valentine from every other child in the class, the excitement of being seven years old, having a kid crush on one particular boy, and how wonderful and special it felt when his Valentine was delivered to my desk.  I recall the fun of a decorated classroom and a specially wrapped Valentine box that served as a mail box and how it was considered an honor to be picked to be the mail carrier!

C 2016  Ancestry Worship - Genealogy  All Rights Reserved.
Images are from Google Images - search for Public Domain and Vintage Valentines

MEMORIES OF HEAVEN ; CHILDREN's ASTOUNDING RECOLLECTIONS OF THE TIME BEFORE THEY CAME TO EARTH : Ancestry Worship Geneaology Book Review

MEMORIES OF HEAVEN ; CHILDREN's ASTOUNDING RECOLLECTIONS OF THE TIME BEFORE THEY CAME TO EARTH

by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer and Dee Garnes

(note: Dr. Dyer died a while back but this book was something that he and Dee Garnes were working on before that.  It is a collection of stories sent by parents with some personal introductions by Dyer.)

This book is a lot about angels, of the Christianity type, and there is barely any negativity in it, which means that there is no mention of hell, purgatory, or ghosts who are earthbound, but a lot about ancestors who have passed away who are watching over the child or the family, who the child thinks of as an angel. 

As the subtitle suggests these accounts are about children who remember before they came to earth, and so there is mention of previous lives. Researchers working on pre-life memories, past life memories, and reincarnation like the testimonials of children, because they are far less likely to be tainted with exposure to informative education via school or exposure to media.  It is understood that their level of child development means they are more innocent, and have no reason to lie. (Though we've all met children who tell one made up story after another.)  So these accounts read simply, and have some parental interpretation involved.  For instance some of these parents are astounded that their child is taking about angels, heaven, the spirit, etc. because they have little to no exposure to religion.  Generally by the age of five most children do not seem to remember the spirit world, heaven, their pre-earthly life, other lives, or their once well known reasons for picking their parents/family, reason for coming to earth, or that they have angels.

What this means is that adjustment to this life comes gradually... and I suspect transition to the next may also come gradually as well.

Among the accounts there are children reporting that their mother's previous miscarriages (one child said he tried to come to her three times before), Children alive who know their mother is pregnant with another child before she does,  children whose invisible playmates are actually relatives and friends who have passed over, children who report having been their mother's mother, and Jesus asking a child to pick parents among many couples.

Interesting and an easy read, you'll only feel challenged if you're sure this life is it.

C 2016  Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot   All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights.

ARTIST MAUREEN NOONAN GIFTS PARENTS OF DYING NEWBORNS PORTRAITS TO REMEMBER THEM BY

LINK TO "THE CATHOLIC KEY BLOG" here and read this wonderful, heartwarming article about the artist who gifts parents of dying newborns a portrait of their child.

CATHOLICKY.BLOGSPOT PORTRAITS OF NEWBORNS WHO ARE SICKLY  by Marty Denzer

EXCERPT: She has created about 60 portraits of infants over the past years, working from photographs forwarded to her from Alexandra’s House. The perinatal hospice provides emotional, spiritual and logistical support services for families facing a pregnancy of a child that won’t survive.

“My sister in New Jersey has a niece who lost her baby at birth,” Noonan recalled. “She wanted a portrait of the baby, and my sister sent me a photograph. That first one was very hard — a dead baby, oh, that was hard. But after a while, I got past the photo and the artist in me took over.

FOLKER HEINECKE DISCOVERS HIS ROOTS AFTER HITLER'S LEBENSBORN PROGRAMME - MULTINATIONAL ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS FOUND

DAILY MAIL - THE TRAGIC TALE OF 12,000 BLUE EYED BLOND CHILDREN STOLEN BY THE NAZI's  by Andrew Malone   long article and very important story

EXCERPT:

Folker, then just four, did not know it, but he had been chosen to be part of the new 'breed' of supposedly genetically-superior German beings, who would replace millions of the 'impure'  -  Jews, gipsies, homosexuals, blacks  -  after they had been exterminated in Hitler's death camps.

Having being ripped from the arms of his parents when German tanks rolled into the Crimea in 1942, Folker was first taken by SS officers to a German medical institute, where doctors measured every part of his body, checking for any 'Jewish aspects'  -  for example, dark hair, pointed noses, circumcision  -  before he was declared suitable.

He had been selected to be a member of the 'Lebensborn'  -  The Fount of Life  -  Himmler's breeding programme to safeguard the future of the Thousand-Year Reich by providing 'pure' future generations to replace those lost by war.

...Folker Heinecke:

'So I was an orphan. I could live with that. It was only some years later, as I tried to get more and more information, that it looked increasingly likely that I was part of the Lebensborn programme.'
Folker collected 20 boxes of documents from the American authorities, the German Red Cross, the Polish Red Cross, the International Tracing Service, the British Army of Occupation and at least 30 other agencies and church offices  -  all pieces in the gigantic jigsaw of his past.

Then, last year, he made a crucial breakthrough. With the opening up of the biggest Holocaust archive in the world at the Red Cross Tracing Centre in Bad Arolsen, Germany, Folker finally discovered the truth.

He found a document dated November 12, 1948, which stated: 'The childless couple Heinecke applied to the Hamburg youth office for adoption of a child.
They were given permission to have a child and went to a Lebensborn home to choose one. The child was fetched on 20.5.1943.'  Other documents were found on which the name, birthdate and place of the boy adopted by the family Heinecke are given as: 'Aleksander Litau, born 17.10.40 in Alnowa, Crimea, USSR.'

WHITE HERITAGE IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH? DNA MAY PROVE YOU'RE MORE BLACK THAN YOU KNOW!

THE GRIO : SOUTHERN WHITES and BLACK DNA   by Blue Telmusa  full article and map

EXCERPT: The findings published this month in the American Journal of Human Genetics found that whites in the South were far more likely to have black ancestry than any other part of the country.

Researchers examined 145,000 DNA samples provided to genetic testing company 23andme for ancestry analysis. They have now determined that at least six million Americans who called themselves white had at least 1 percent African ancestry.

South Carolina and Louisiana ranked highest on the list. Researchers found that one in 20 people who called themselves white in those states had at least 2 percent African ancestry. And in a lot of the South, about 10 percent of people who identified as white turned out to have African DNA as well.

EUROPEAN DNA - THREE DISTINCT TRIBES MIXED including THE NORTHERN EURASIANS

BBC-SCIENCE - EUROPEANS DRAWN FROM THREE ANCIENT TRIBES by Paul Rincon

EXCERPT:

Blue-eyed, swarthy hunters mingled with brown-eyed, pale skinned farmers as the latter swept into Europe from the Near East.

But another, mysterious population with Siberian affinities also contributed to the genetic landscape of the continent.

The findings are based on analysis of genomes from nine ancient Europeans.
Agriculture originated in the Near East - in modern Syria, Iraq and Israel - before expanding into Europe around 7,500 years ago.

      

Multiple lines of evidence suggested this new way of life was spread by a wave of migrants, who interbred with the indigenous European hunter-gatherers they encountered on the way.
....

When the researchers looked at DNA from 2,345 present day people, they found that a third population was needed to capture the genetic complexity of modern Europeans.

This additional "tribe" is the most enigmatic and, surprisingly, is related to Native Americans.
Hints of this group surfaced in an analysis of European genomes two years ago. Dubbed Ancient North Eurasians, this group remained a "ghost population" until 2013, when scientists published the genome of a 24,000-year-old boy buried near Lake Baikal in Siberia.

C 2016-2025 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

DNA and GENEALOGY and PAST LIFE REGRESSION

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting links to some of the fascinating news articles about the discoveries with DNA testing or ancient burials and other archeology finds.

Genealogy research depends on evidence on paper; census records, archival documents, sometimes handwritten information in family Bibles.  Depending on what ethnicity/country you're ancestors lived in, you can go back several to very many generations.  At some point, though it might be the 1600's, or possibly earlier - though rarely, you reach the end.  Your excitement and interest hasn't ended, but you know that it's unlikely you'll ever find more documentation that you've already got. 

Now your personal family research also connects with the FAMILY OF MAN.  You just have to know more!

You get your DNA tested to see which of the Seven Daughters of Eve you spring from.  Or you decide to see if the rumors of Native American or Jewish ancestry have some truth to them.

Although there are many reasons people research their ancestors, self discovery can be one of them.

Consider one woman I met who felt so much that she was such a bad fit with her family, that she expected to find out she was adopted, maybe even find out she'd been switched at the hospital with another infant. None of these things played out.

Genetically she was the child of the parents who gave birth to her and raised her.

She felt she was not only not part of her family BUT NOT A PART OF THE CULTURE SHE WAS RAISED IN.

This is where past life regression (hypnosis with a specialist) can be illuminating!