Today, if for no other reason than to practice what I preach. Often times when things seem unclear it helps to put it in black and white i.e. put pen to paper, or in this case fingers to typewriter.
As the world spins out of control around me, I find solace in immersing myself in the creation of my family tree. Metaphorically, this makes sense; a tree, being that of life and creation being that which brings something to life.
I have been so immersed in the project, that my son keeps kidding me that I am going to have to join ancestry’s anonymous to kick the habit. He often tells me to “step away from the computer”, because I seem so driven. When the little nagging in the back of my brain first began to research my family tree, I sloughed it off. Thinking one, it would be a waste of time, and two, what would be the purpose. The nagging eventually got louder and louder, until I succumbed to it and began the research.
Once I put my mind to it, it was as if I had jumped off a cliff and was gleefully falling to the ground. One minute I was content to live my life without knowing much about my family, except for my immediate family that is; the next minute I was completely obsessed. I deducted that there was something I would discover or learn that was necessary to my existence at this point of my life.
As I researched, these relatives of mine, (the ones that had been gone for a very long time and for some decades), were happily standing over my shoulder nudging me to work on their branch of the tree. I had so many names going through my head that I actually had to make them form a line. I had to explain that I could only concentrate on researching one at a time. I figured, heck, they had nothing but time, a little patience was not too much to ask. Of course, that did not stop the pushier ones from jumping in when they saw an opening. I know hard to believe these people are related to me….LOL.
I openly admit that I have an unfair advantage; not everyone has the help of their dearly departed relatives to help them work on their family tree. Don’t get me wrong, I have put in some really long hours of research, but when I am really stumped, I can count of one of them to jump in and give me a clue.
Let me give you an example: My Grandfather (Dad’s, Dad), being Russian, changed his name when he came of age so that it would sound more American and business like. I really don’t get it personally, but times were different then and I am sure it seemed logical at the time. So logical in fact, that some of his brothers changed their last name as well. Thank goodness they all changed it to the same name or this tree would really be a nightmare. Anyway getting back to my story; because of the name change, finding information on my Grandfather was challenging. Everything from before the name change was pretty much wiped out. I knew what the original last name was and was able to find some information on that side of the family. However, I could not find my GG grandparent’s names because I could not link anyone to my Grandfather because of the name change. As I was pondering this dilemma one day; I hear “find me and you will find him”. Uhhhhh, and who might you be? (Good Lord, with as many dead relatives I had around, it could have been anybody), Uncle Roger is what I hear. Really, so how will that help me? No further information came. So, being the good little investigator I am, I began my research in to my Uncle Roger’s death in 1955. It turns out he was killed on a naval ship on November 11, 1955 in San Diego. Apparently there was a Veteran’s Day celebration and the Air Force was doing maneuvers in celebration of the day and one of the planes spun out of control, crashing in to the area of the ship where my Uncle had been. I found the newspaper article relating to his death. At first glance this told me nothing, so once again I ask, “How does this help me”? Read carefully, was my answer. I re-read the article 4 times, nothing. I read it a 5th time and noticed that though I knew my Grandfather’s first name to be William, the name in the article had his first name as Anton. i.e. the parents of Roger Edwards etc. This is odd I thought, why would they report it as Anton?
Can you hear the bells going off? Ding, Ding, Ding. I realized at that moment that he had not only changed his last name, he changed his first name as well. When I re-researched his name with Anton and the original last name, I found what I had been looking for, evidence of his existence before the name change and bonus, my GG Grandparents name and his sisters and brothers name. I even discovered that my Grandfather was actually born in Russia and immigrated with his parents in 1911. This was something that no one in the family was aware of. So indeed, I found Uncle Roger, which led me to my Grandfather, which led me to my GG Grandparents. Turns out Uncle Roger was spot on, way to go Uncle.
I could give so many examples of the help like I received above while working on this family tree, it could fill a book, but I will spare you each and every detail. Or maybe I will devote a whole blog to it, as I am sure there are many more to come. I will wait and see what kind of feed back on this blog I get.
I found relatives in Michigan that I vaguely remember having; these would be my Italian Grandmother’s family. I connected with them and quickly set up a visit. It was a great visit; my 84 year old Aunt (my Grandmothers youngest sister) filled our bellies with homemade Italian food (seriously, was full for three days), stories, pictures and a wealth of information. We (me, my sister and my husband) visited with three of our Aunts in all that weekend. I wrote feverishly as they talked. Much to my sister’s surprise, all the departed male relatives went home with her and insist on serenading her as she cooks. Personally I am okay with that. You see my sister likes to tell people that “we” are working on our family tree, which in reality means “me”, I say it is only fair she get visited by some dead relatives.
Of course my house is full of all my dearly departed female relatives from all branches, (Italian, Russian, and German, which is nice because my husband’s yia yia (Greek) hangs out at our house, so now she has friends). They insist on telling me how to clean and do my laundry. You would be surprised at how many accents I hear in my head, it is like having the friggin united nations rolling around in my melon all day……but that is story for another day.
I have also connected with cousins and aunts from my mom’s side of the family in New Jersey (yes live ones). I can feel a weekend trip to New Jersey in my future. My family tree is far from complete; there is still a lot to discover. And my relatives alive and not so alive are anxious for me to discover it. I keep waiting for the one piece of information that uncovers the mystery as why this is so important to me. I figure when that happens my obsession will stop. Each time I find a new piece of information, I think, is this it? I assume it has not been discovered yet, as here I sit writing and pondering what information I should research next.
Of course there always is the possibility that with all the chaos going on in the world I feel the need to connect. My friend Diana pointed out that the research part of this feeds the logical part of me. I live my life so immersed in what I can’t see, touch, feel or smell, maybe this is just a way to allow the logical side and the spiritual side to connect and work together on the same level. Maybe I will never discover why the need is so strong to do this. Maybe I just have really pushy relatives who want to be heard. Believe me that is not a stretch. Or maybe I just enjoy discovering where I come from in this life time. For all I know one of the relatives I have found might have been me. Can you imagine discovering that you are your own GG Grandparent? Think of the possibilities. But then again, that would be a story for another day.
Love, Light and Angel Blessings
Theri
