For the second time this week Yuma Conservatives have spread false rumors on national TV claiming the Democrats are committing voter fraud in Yuma County. It is not true. This is Sally Sheridan speaking. I am telling you that it is not happening.
I care about America. I have worked for BOTH parties. I have been a Republican and I have been a Democrat. I care more about America than I ever cared for either party. We vote. That’s how we do it here.
I resent being intimidated politically and I take it personally. Let me tell you a true story. Six years ago, 2004. I was doing phoning and other volunteer tasks for the Democratic Party. I have done it for Republicans in the past, too. I was raised to be interested in politics. Also in 2004, I was caring for a father whose mind was slowly, slowly failing. It was my duty to help my father fill out what turned out to be his last ballot for the Presidency of the United States. I guess I knew that at the time. He cared a lot about the Republican Party and had held elective office for eight years.
The year 2004 was a year when I did not favor the incumbent administration and was actively working to unseat them. I felt terrible, terrible, when I, myself, had to mark his mail-in ballot in exactly the opposite way as I had marked my own. It was tempting. I could have marked it my way. I had the power. But I didn’t do it. I marked every single choice exactly as my Dad said. I hated doing it. I felt like I was going to be sick. But I did not fail him and I did not betray him. I am an American. We vote and then we count the votes and that’s what I believe is the best political system on earth. I believe in it even if it means I know my side is going to lose. I would rather lose the election than lose my country.
I was so repulsed by the experience that I actually carried my Dad’s mail-in ballot in my purse for two days and just played with the idea of “forgetting” to mail it. But I always knew in my heart that I would mark his ballot the way he wanted it and I would mail it in plenty of time for it to be counted. I am an American.
I have not been political on my Facebook page purposely. I set it up as my genealogy and family tree page and I want to keep it that way. Today and in this one Note I am political. I am asking my Conservative friends to ask themselves one question and I do not particularly want to know the answer. Do you share my picture of what it is to be an American? Specifically, if the 2012 election were to be held today and your elderly parent wanted to vote for Barack Obama or whomever the Democratic candidate would be, would you believe in America enough to faithfully fill out their ballot and mail it in or would you not? Do you believe in the American political system of government that much? Would you do the ballot the correct way or would you subvert the political system? Don’t tell me, just play out my situation in your mind and think of what you would do if you were in my place.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
My Six Degrees of Separation from Marilyn Monroe
I learned last night that I may share a 5th great (5 greats) with Rev. Billy Graham. Someone at Ancestry.com says Billy Graham is the 4th great grandson of my Hans Casper Culp. I posted a message saying, “Where did you get this information?” I did a quick search on the Internet and I couldn’t find the nexus. In genealogy, if they can’t show the connection then it is just speculation.
On the other hand, I do have the documentation that shows that I do share a 2nd great grandfather (Christian Bowman/Bohrmann) with a woman named Eleanor Silliman Goddard. That makes her my third cousin or first cousin twice removed.
Apparently, she was a close friend of Norma Jean Baker, having been raised in the same foster home as Norma Jean.
Here is the information I have beginning with her connection to my great great grandfather Christian Bowman. The information comes from my cousin Linda Culbertson Pound. The first sentence shows the connection.
Genealogy of Linda Culbertson Pound(and Sally Sheridan)
39. ELEANOR BARBARA4 ROECK (NETTIE LAWRENCE3 WILSON, SARAH (SALLY) FRANCES2 BOWMAN, CHRISTIAN (BOHRMAN)1) was born 18 Oct 1907, and died May 1983 in Los Angeles County, Glendale, California. She married ERVIN SILLIMAN GODDARD 13 Jun 1925, son of CHARLES GODDARD and MARY BOYD. He was born 30 Jan 1904 in Holland, Bell County, Texas, and died Dec 1972 in Los Angeles County, Malibu, CA.
Notes for ELEANOR BARBARA ROECK:
Menard Messenger
Vol. IX No. 46
Thursday, September 7, 1916
(page 1)
Mrs. Ferd Wilson and son Douglas of Sanderson and daughter Mrs. Jerry Monroe of Sheffield came in Wednesday of last week in their Ford for a visit at the Roeck home. Little Miss Nellie Roeck who has been visiting in Sanderson returned with them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Middle name, birth and death dates from Terry Rasberry from Travis County, Texas records.
Notes for ERVIN SILLIMAN GODDARD:
Chapter 3 of the book "Marilyn Monroe, the Biography" by Donald Spoto states that Marilyn Monroe was taken into the Goddard home after the marriage of Doc Goddard and Grace McKee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1930 Census, Tarrant County, Texas:
1216 Pennsylvania Avenue (apparently an apartment house)
Goddard, Irvin S. Head R (rented) M W 26 Texas Arkansas Tennessee
Eleanor W F W 23 Texas Texas Texas
Eleanor D F W 3 Texas Texas Texas
Irvin S M W 2 Texas Texas Texas
"Irvin"s occupation is listed as "Sanitation Inspector"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ervin's SS application, dated 4/22/1937, gives his address as 3107 Barbara Court, Hollywood, Calif, and his place of employment as Unusual Pictures, 6823 Santa Monica Blve., Hollywood.
SS application copy is in my files. lcp
Children of ELEANOR ROECK and ERVIN GODDARD are:
i. ELEANOR SILLIMAN5 GODDARD, b. 17 Dec 1926, Travis County, Texas; d. 17 Feb 2000, Santa Monica, CA.
Notes for ELEANOR SILLIMAN GODDARD:
Reference to comments made by Eleanor (Bebe) concerning Marilyn Monroe are found throughout the book "Marilyn Monroe, the Biography.", by Spotos Foster sister of Marilyn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Birth
GODDARD ELEANOR THOMPSON 12-17-1926 f TRAVIS ELEANOR ROECK ERVIN S. GODDARD
Obit
GODDARD, Eleanor "Bebe"; 73; Santa Monica CA; Los Angeles T; 2000-2-17
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obituaries; Eleanor Goddard; Monroe Companion
The Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif.; Feb 17, 2000; MYRNA OLIVER;
Abstract:
Eleanor "Bebe" Goddard, a foster sister and teenage friend of Norma Jean Baker, better known as Marilyn Monroe, has died. Goddard was 73.
Six months her junior, Goddard long outlived Monroe, who died Aug. 5, 1962, at age 36 of a drug overdose that was ruled a suicide. Described in recent years as "a grandmotherly woman in a tight perm," Goddard spoke at observances of the 25th, 30th, 35th and other anniversaries of Monroe's death conducted at the star's crypt in Westwood Village Memorial Park.
Goddard and Monroe met and became close friends when, after each had been in a series of foster homes, they spent several teenage years in the Van Nuys home of Goddard's father, Ervin S. "Doc" Goddard and his new wife, Grace McGee Goddard, a close friend of Monroe's institutionalized mother, Gladys Baker.
Full Text:
(Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times 2000 all Rights reserved)
Eleanor "Bebe" Goddard, a foster sister and teenage friend of Norma Jean Baker, better known as Marilyn Monroe, has died. Goddard was 73.
Frequently a spokeswoman at gatherings of Monroe fans, Goddard died Friday at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica. Her friend Steve Campbell said the heavy smoker and activist for smokers' rights, who attributed her health problems to air pollution surrounding her Burbank home, died of emphysema.
Six months her junior, Goddard long outlived Monroe, who died Aug. 5, 1962, at age 36 of a drug overdose that was ruled a suicide. Described in recent years as "a grandmotherly woman in a tight perm," Goddard spoke at observances of the 25th, 30th, 35th and other anniversaries of Monroe's death conducted at the star's crypt in Westwood Village Memorial Park.
Goddard and Monroe met and became close friends when, after each had been in a series of foster homes, they spent several teenage years in the Van Nuys home of Goddard's father, Ervin S. "Doc" Goddard and his new wife, Grace McGee Goddard, a close friend of Monroe's institutionalized mother, Gladys Baker.
Campbell said this week that many of Monroe's anecdotes about hardships growing up--beatings, hunger and the string of foster homes- -were actually borrowed by the star from Goddard's early experiences.
Goddard told fans about the happy days she and Norma Jean spent going to movie theaters and dreaming of becoming film stars. She said the two girls shared clothes and makeup and talked for hours about whether they would achieve fame.
In 1991, when Goddard revisited their old Van Nuys High School for presentation of a picture of Monroe, she described her famous foster sister: "She was just a really average girl, except she was so much more beautiful than average."
Disputing an anecdote that the young Marilyn was so skinny she was nicknamed "Norma Jean the Human Bean," Goddard told the students that Monroe at 15 already had a figure dangerous for any teenager.
"We were the same height, same weight, same everything--except the distribution," Goddard said.
Goddard told The Times in 1991 that she had last shared a birthday celebration with Monroe in 1953, the year the actress starred in the hit film "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." She said Monroe invited her foster family to her Doheny Drive apartment for dinner and birthday cake.
"It was not-well-cooked liver and kind-of-tough baked potatoes," Goddard related. "It was the first time I had seen her with a glass of wine and a cigarette, and I was having a fit laughing because she didn't drink or smoke."
The foster sister contributed a lock of Monroe's hair and baby pictures to a time capsule buried at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and scheduled to be opened Aug. 5, 2062, the 100th anniversary of Monroe's death. Goddard also sold personal items of Monroe to collectors and dealers in celebrity memorabilia.
Goddard relished the rise of Monroe's stature as an actress in the decades after the star's death.
"She was so put down by her studio and other people who really didn't know her well when she was alive," Goddard told The Times. "To me it is just a glorious experience that the interest in her keeps increasing and that she is up there thumbing her nose at them."
Credit: TIMES STAFF WRITER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SS application on June 12, 1944, gives middle name as Silliman. Eleanor's application states that she is 17 years old, living at 1020 Lawrence Avenue., Chicago, Ill. and employed by Wilding Pictures Corp., 1345 Argyle Avenue, Chicago, Ill. .
SS Application copy is in my files. LCP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Per Terry Rasberry, from Travis County files, Eleanor's middle name was Thompson.
More About ELEANOR SILLIMAN GODDARD:
Burial: Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, Ca.
__________________________
[Final note from Sally]
I was delighted to learn about the connection to Marilyn Monroe but Billy Graham? Not so much.
On the other hand, I do have the documentation that shows that I do share a 2nd great grandfather (Christian Bowman/Bohrmann) with a woman named Eleanor Silliman Goddard. That makes her my third cousin or first cousin twice removed.
Apparently, she was a close friend of Norma Jean Baker, having been raised in the same foster home as Norma Jean.
Here is the information I have beginning with her connection to my great great grandfather Christian Bowman. The information comes from my cousin Linda Culbertson Pound. The first sentence shows the connection.
Genealogy of Linda Culbertson Pound(and Sally Sheridan)
39. ELEANOR BARBARA4 ROECK (NETTIE LAWRENCE3 WILSON, SARAH (SALLY) FRANCES2 BOWMAN, CHRISTIAN (BOHRMAN)1) was born 18 Oct 1907, and died May 1983 in Los Angeles County, Glendale, California. She married ERVIN SILLIMAN GODDARD 13 Jun 1925, son of CHARLES GODDARD and MARY BOYD. He was born 30 Jan 1904 in Holland, Bell County, Texas, and died Dec 1972 in Los Angeles County, Malibu, CA.
Notes for ELEANOR BARBARA ROECK:
Menard Messenger
Vol. IX No. 46
Thursday, September 7, 1916
(page 1)
Mrs. Ferd Wilson and son Douglas of Sanderson and daughter Mrs. Jerry Monroe of Sheffield came in Wednesday of last week in their Ford for a visit at the Roeck home. Little Miss Nellie Roeck who has been visiting in Sanderson returned with them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Middle name, birth and death dates from Terry Rasberry from Travis County, Texas records.
Notes for ERVIN SILLIMAN GODDARD:
Chapter 3 of the book "Marilyn Monroe, the Biography" by Donald Spoto states that Marilyn Monroe was taken into the Goddard home after the marriage of Doc Goddard and Grace McKee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1930 Census, Tarrant County, Texas:
1216 Pennsylvania Avenue (apparently an apartment house)
Goddard, Irvin S. Head R (rented) M W 26 Texas Arkansas Tennessee
Eleanor W F W 23 Texas Texas Texas
Eleanor D F W 3 Texas Texas Texas
Irvin S M W 2 Texas Texas Texas
"Irvin"s occupation is listed as "Sanitation Inspector"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ervin's SS application, dated 4/22/1937, gives his address as 3107 Barbara Court, Hollywood, Calif, and his place of employment as Unusual Pictures, 6823 Santa Monica Blve., Hollywood.
SS application copy is in my files. lcp
Children of ELEANOR ROECK and ERVIN GODDARD are:
i. ELEANOR SILLIMAN5 GODDARD, b. 17 Dec 1926, Travis County, Texas; d. 17 Feb 2000, Santa Monica, CA.
Notes for ELEANOR SILLIMAN GODDARD:
Reference to comments made by Eleanor (Bebe) concerning Marilyn Monroe are found throughout the book "Marilyn Monroe, the Biography.", by Spotos Foster sister of Marilyn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Birth
GODDARD ELEANOR THOMPSON 12-17-1926 f TRAVIS ELEANOR ROECK ERVIN S. GODDARD
Obit
GODDARD, Eleanor "Bebe"; 73; Santa Monica CA; Los Angeles T; 2000-2-17
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obituaries; Eleanor Goddard; Monroe Companion
The Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif.; Feb 17, 2000; MYRNA OLIVER;
Abstract:
Eleanor "Bebe" Goddard, a foster sister and teenage friend of Norma Jean Baker, better known as Marilyn Monroe, has died. Goddard was 73.
Six months her junior, Goddard long outlived Monroe, who died Aug. 5, 1962, at age 36 of a drug overdose that was ruled a suicide. Described in recent years as "a grandmotherly woman in a tight perm," Goddard spoke at observances of the 25th, 30th, 35th and other anniversaries of Monroe's death conducted at the star's crypt in Westwood Village Memorial Park.
Goddard and Monroe met and became close friends when, after each had been in a series of foster homes, they spent several teenage years in the Van Nuys home of Goddard's father, Ervin S. "Doc" Goddard and his new wife, Grace McGee Goddard, a close friend of Monroe's institutionalized mother, Gladys Baker.
Full Text:
(Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times 2000 all Rights reserved)
Eleanor "Bebe" Goddard, a foster sister and teenage friend of Norma Jean Baker, better known as Marilyn Monroe, has died. Goddard was 73.
Frequently a spokeswoman at gatherings of Monroe fans, Goddard died Friday at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica. Her friend Steve Campbell said the heavy smoker and activist for smokers' rights, who attributed her health problems to air pollution surrounding her Burbank home, died of emphysema.
Six months her junior, Goddard long outlived Monroe, who died Aug. 5, 1962, at age 36 of a drug overdose that was ruled a suicide. Described in recent years as "a grandmotherly woman in a tight perm," Goddard spoke at observances of the 25th, 30th, 35th and other anniversaries of Monroe's death conducted at the star's crypt in Westwood Village Memorial Park.
Goddard and Monroe met and became close friends when, after each had been in a series of foster homes, they spent several teenage years in the Van Nuys home of Goddard's father, Ervin S. "Doc" Goddard and his new wife, Grace McGee Goddard, a close friend of Monroe's institutionalized mother, Gladys Baker.
Campbell said this week that many of Monroe's anecdotes about hardships growing up--beatings, hunger and the string of foster homes- -were actually borrowed by the star from Goddard's early experiences.
Goddard told fans about the happy days she and Norma Jean spent going to movie theaters and dreaming of becoming film stars. She said the two girls shared clothes and makeup and talked for hours about whether they would achieve fame.
In 1991, when Goddard revisited their old Van Nuys High School for presentation of a picture of Monroe, she described her famous foster sister: "She was just a really average girl, except she was so much more beautiful than average."
Disputing an anecdote that the young Marilyn was so skinny she was nicknamed "Norma Jean the Human Bean," Goddard told the students that Monroe at 15 already had a figure dangerous for any teenager.
"We were the same height, same weight, same everything--except the distribution," Goddard said.
Goddard told The Times in 1991 that she had last shared a birthday celebration with Monroe in 1953, the year the actress starred in the hit film "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." She said Monroe invited her foster family to her Doheny Drive apartment for dinner and birthday cake.
"It was not-well-cooked liver and kind-of-tough baked potatoes," Goddard related. "It was the first time I had seen her with a glass of wine and a cigarette, and I was having a fit laughing because she didn't drink or smoke."
The foster sister contributed a lock of Monroe's hair and baby pictures to a time capsule buried at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and scheduled to be opened Aug. 5, 2062, the 100th anniversary of Monroe's death. Goddard also sold personal items of Monroe to collectors and dealers in celebrity memorabilia.
Goddard relished the rise of Monroe's stature as an actress in the decades after the star's death.
"She was so put down by her studio and other people who really didn't know her well when she was alive," Goddard told The Times. "To me it is just a glorious experience that the interest in her keeps increasing and that she is up there thumbing her nose at them."
Credit: TIMES STAFF WRITER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SS application on June 12, 1944, gives middle name as Silliman. Eleanor's application states that she is 17 years old, living at 1020 Lawrence Avenue., Chicago, Ill. and employed by Wilding Pictures Corp., 1345 Argyle Avenue, Chicago, Ill. .
SS Application copy is in my files. LCP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Per Terry Rasberry, from Travis County files, Eleanor's middle name was Thompson.
More About ELEANOR SILLIMAN GODDARD:
Burial: Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, Ca.
__________________________
[Final note from Sally]
I was delighted to learn about the connection to Marilyn Monroe but Billy Graham? Not so much.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Where have we Mitchells been for the last 5,000 years?
Where have we Mitchells been for the last 5,000 years?
I have been trying to understand our history as an ancient family. It isn't easy, because I didn't major in science and I don't understand the languages of science. I am a word-person not a number person. I recently asked a question on the RL-21 DNA Project website. I asked them to explain it to me in words since, even though I have been following the discussion on the website, I don’t understand the spreadsheets and scientific jargon that I read there. I said to those experts, “I need words.”
My Question: My closest (Mitchell) match on FTDNA (25/37) is a Basque gentleman. We have been trying to figure out when we last were sitting around the same campfire. I guess it was before L 21 and before there were Basques. Can you explain our history to me?
This is the answer I received and it is a good one:
Answer: [A couple of notes: First, the Bell Beaker culture may have built Stonehenge. That is the prevailing view at this time. Second, the term MRCA means Most Recent Common Ancestor.” Sally]
"Suppose the Bell Beaker Folk were derived from a population that expanded out of the Caucasus with the knowledge of mining and working copper. They might keep this secret to themselves since an advanced technology might give them an advantage over any other populations they might encounter. They might also just be unreceptive to different cultural practices and thus keep to themselves and intermarry. If they found themselves in northern France about 2,200 B.C. they might form a homogeneous population where most of the members shared a restricted pool of autosomal [DNA] values. As the population grew, a segment might choose to branch off in search of new land to farm or sources of copper ore to work. Suppose such a segment moved south into southeastern France and then to the area of the Pyrenees. Groups living in mountain valleys would have geography to assist them in the social isolation they practiced with respect to surrounding populations. Suppose that the L21 mutation occurred in the original Beaker population located in northern France right about the time a group moved south, so that the southern group did not include any L21 members. Or suppose L21 evolved in a group that was socially isolated from the population that moved south, in which case it may have existed for many generations and already have started to spread east and west when the ancestors of the Basques began migrating. If the original populations, or elements of these populations, continued to exercise social isolation from other populations they would retain roughly similar pools of autosomal [DNA] marker values. This might result in people whose ancestry has lived in the British Isles for the last 3,000 years showing autosomal [DNA], and perhaps yDNA, results similar to Basque populations, or some Roma populations, or some Ashkenazi populations, or some ethnic groups from Pakistan, or India, etc. etc. Or maybe not. Based on our current knowledge it could have happened like that, but just because something could have happened doesn't mean that it did." by Ralph Porter.
I have been trying to understand our history as an ancient family. It isn't easy, because I didn't major in science and I don't understand the languages of science. I am a word-person not a number person. I recently asked a question on the RL-21 DNA Project website. I asked them to explain it to me in words since, even though I have been following the discussion on the website, I don’t understand the spreadsheets and scientific jargon that I read there. I said to those experts, “I need words.”
My Question: My closest (Mitchell) match on FTDNA (25/37) is a Basque gentleman. We have been trying to figure out when we last were sitting around the same campfire. I guess it was before L 21 and before there were Basques. Can you explain our history to me?
This is the answer I received and it is a good one:
Answer: [A couple of notes: First, the Bell Beaker culture may have built Stonehenge. That is the prevailing view at this time. Second, the term MRCA means Most Recent Common Ancestor.” Sally]
"Suppose the Bell Beaker Folk were derived from a population that expanded out of the Caucasus with the knowledge of mining and working copper. They might keep this secret to themselves since an advanced technology might give them an advantage over any other populations they might encounter. They might also just be unreceptive to different cultural practices and thus keep to themselves and intermarry. If they found themselves in northern France about 2,200 B.C. they might form a homogeneous population where most of the members shared a restricted pool of autosomal [DNA] values. As the population grew, a segment might choose to branch off in search of new land to farm or sources of copper ore to work. Suppose such a segment moved south into southeastern France and then to the area of the Pyrenees. Groups living in mountain valleys would have geography to assist them in the social isolation they practiced with respect to surrounding populations. Suppose that the L21 mutation occurred in the original Beaker population located in northern France right about the time a group moved south, so that the southern group did not include any L21 members. Or suppose L21 evolved in a group that was socially isolated from the population that moved south, in which case it may have existed for many generations and already have started to spread east and west when the ancestors of the Basques began migrating. If the original populations, or elements of these populations, continued to exercise social isolation from other populations they would retain roughly similar pools of autosomal [DNA] marker values. This might result in people whose ancestry has lived in the British Isles for the last 3,000 years showing autosomal [DNA], and perhaps yDNA, results similar to Basque populations, or some Roma populations, or some Ashkenazi populations, or some ethnic groups from Pakistan, or India, etc. etc. Or maybe not. Based on our current knowledge it could have happened like that, but just because something could have happened doesn't mean that it did." by Ralph Porter.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
We, white family genealogists, must make good faith efforts to search our own records for slave names
By Sally Sheridan
My friend and cousin Derry sent this to me this morning and it fits in with what I have been thinking. This is what she wrote:
Hi Sally,
Glad to hear the article led you to create a blog. What a good idea.
We lived in Germany for several years during the 1960s. I was very
interested in the way the Germans went about educating their people
about the horrible events of WWII. Their newsreels and documentaries
spared no one's sensibilities. Not much room for denial.
It seems to me that admitting what the consequences of legalized
slavery might be to later generations is difficult but necessary if we
are ever to get our heads straight about what it is to be American.
It is really hard for me to admit that slavery is part of our
heritage. And the too common attitude that Aw shucks it wasn't so bad
is really shabby. So good for you girl . You are facing it with
facts. And most important they are facts that will be valuable to
other people.
Love,
Derry
On Oct 15, 2009, at 3:25 PM, Sally7143@aol.com answered saying:
____________
The reference to Germany is relevant and we Americans are in need of a national conversation about our greatest shame. The Gates article is a good start. But after the summer of screaming, gun-toting, Obama hating protesters, and a "You lie" yelling Congressman, in a climate like this who could possibly imagine a group of people who could talk to each other about gently, lovingly, kindly, compassionately, peacefully doing something positive and useful toward healing our wounds?
____________________
We can. Genealogists: amateurs, professionals, corporate, religious, academic, local, international, etc.
We, you and I and all of us can lead this as a significant gift of good will and respect to the cause of human rights and respect for everyone's right to know their own family. Genealogists can lead a gentle revolution of love and care and respect by demanding more from our own professional community and more from ourselves to offer our services and find new ways to make this information far more accessible than it has ever been.
There is no excuse for us to have to dig so hard for what is hidden and ignored in big archives such as Ancestry and the LDS and many other storehouses.
Genealogists lets open up and locate those slave names. Those names are not buried under sands of Ethiopia waiting for archaeologists to find them like the skeletons of Lucy or Ardi. They are there if we force the big data bases to go back and look for them.
And most important of all, we white family genealogists, must make good faith efforts to search our own records for slave names. We must do this for our own sakes and for the soul of our country. It is that important
The reference to Germany is relevant and we Americans are in need of a national conversation about our greatest shame. The Gates article is a good start. But after the summer of screaming, gun-toting, Obama hating protesters, and a "You lie" yelling Congressman, in a climate like this who could possibly imagine a group of people go about gently, kindly, compassionately, peacefully doing something positive and useful toward healing our wounds?
We can. Genealogists: amateurs, professionals, corporate, religious, academic, local, international, etc.
We, you and I and all of us can lead this as a significant gift of good will and respect to the cause of human rights and respect for everyone's right to know their own family. Genealogists can lead a gentle act of reconciliation by demanding more from ourselves to offer our services and find new ways to make this information far more accessible than it has ever been.
There is no excuse for us to have to have to dig so hard for what is hidden and ignored in big archives such as Ancestry and the LDS and many other storehouses. Those names are not buried under sands of Ethiopia waiting for archaeologists to find them like the skeletons of Lucy or Ardi. They are there if we force the big data bases to go back and look for them.
And, most important of all, we, white family genealogists, especially those of us with Southern roots, must make good faith efforts to search our own records for slave names. We must do this for our own sakes and for the soul of our country. It is THAT important.
By Sally Sheridan
My friend and cousin Derry sent this to me this morning and it fits in with what I have been thinking. This is what she wrote:
Hi Sally,
Glad to hear the article led you to create a blog. What a good idea.
We lived in Germany for several years during the 1960s. I was very
interested in the way the Germans went about educating their people
about the horrible events of WWII. Their newsreels and documentaries
spared no one's sensibilities. Not much room for denial.
It seems to me that admitting what the consequences of legalized
slavery might be to later generations is difficult but necessary if we
are ever to get our heads straight about what it is to be American.
It is really hard for me to admit that slavery is part of our
heritage. And the too common attitude that Aw shucks it wasn't so bad
is really shabby. So good for you girl . You are facing it with
facts. And most important they are facts that will be valuable to
other people.
Love,
Derry
On Oct 15, 2009, at 3:25 PM, Sally7143@aol.com answered saying:
____________
The reference to Germany is relevant and we Americans are in need of a national conversation about our greatest shame. The Gates article is a good start. But after the summer of screaming, gun-toting, Obama hating protesters, and a "You lie" yelling Congressman, in a climate like this who could possibly imagine a group of people who could talk to each other about gently, lovingly, kindly, compassionately, peacefully doing something positive and useful toward healing our wounds?
____________________
We can. Genealogists: amateurs, professionals, corporate, religious, academic, local, international, etc.
We, you and I and all of us can lead this as a significant gift of good will and respect to the cause of human rights and respect for everyone's right to know their own family. Genealogists can lead a gentle revolution of love and care and respect by demanding more from our own professional community and more from ourselves to offer our services and find new ways to make this information far more accessible than it has ever been.
There is no excuse for us to have to dig so hard for what is hidden and ignored in big archives such as Ancestry and the LDS and many other storehouses.
Genealogists lets open up and locate those slave names. Those names are not buried under sands of Ethiopia waiting for archaeologists to find them like the skeletons of Lucy or Ardi. They are there if we force the big data bases to go back and look for them.
And most important of all, we white family genealogists, must make good faith efforts to search our own records for slave names. We must do this for our own sakes and for the soul of our country. It is that important
The reference to Germany is relevant and we Americans are in need of a national conversation about our greatest shame. The Gates article is a good start. But after the summer of screaming, gun-toting, Obama hating protesters, and a "You lie" yelling Congressman, in a climate like this who could possibly imagine a group of people go about gently, kindly, compassionately, peacefully doing something positive and useful toward healing our wounds?
We can. Genealogists: amateurs, professionals, corporate, religious, academic, local, international, etc.
We, you and I and all of us can lead this as a significant gift of good will and respect to the cause of human rights and respect for everyone's right to know their own family. Genealogists can lead a gentle act of reconciliation by demanding more from ourselves to offer our services and find new ways to make this information far more accessible than it has ever been.
There is no excuse for us to have to have to dig so hard for what is hidden and ignored in big archives such as Ancestry and the LDS and many other storehouses. Those names are not buried under sands of Ethiopia waiting for archaeologists to find them like the skeletons of Lucy or Ardi. They are there if we force the big data bases to go back and look for them.
And, most important of all, we, white family genealogists, especially those of us with Southern roots, must make good faith efforts to search our own records for slave names. We must do this for our own sakes and for the soul of our country. It is THAT important.
A Genealogist’s Most Powerful Tools: Luck and Karma
By Sally Sheridan
[First posted on GenealogyWise.com October 19, 2009]
I have had many recent breakthroughs, one truly bizarre one.
I have known for a long time that my 5th great grandmother, Barbara Culp, was scalped by Indians in South Carolina in 1761. She lived to have the child she was pregnant with and two more, including my 4th great grandmother.
My husband and I have been married for 36 years. He was raised in Illinois and Wisconsin. I grew up in the Southwest. We met when we were both in our late twenties. He came to my home town as a stranger who happened to land a job here when he finished graduate school in another city. He had been here a year and a half before I moved back to this town. We met on a blind date and he asked me to marry him two weeks later.
When my father-in-law died in northern Wisconsin this June (2009), the question came up about their family’s genealogy materials. My husband’s 90 year- old father, Ed, had collected a great deal of information but my husband’s sister wasn’t interested in it. So, even though I am drowning in my own family history, I said, "I'll take it." (The true test of a natural born genealogist.)
Two weeks after Ed died, his 80 year-old cousin, Jim, whom I have never met, called me and was very excited that someone in Ed's family was interested in Ed's genealogy materials. He had talked recently to my sister-in-law, and she made it clear that she was clearing out Ed's house and sending Ed's stuff to me, the daughter-in-law. Jim was ecstatic that I was interested in keeping all of the stuff. So Jim and I are now bosom buddies.
Now get this picture:
I am trying to write a book about my own Culp and related ancestors who owned slaves.
I have found 48 slave names and I am working with a university project (LowCountry Africana) to get that information online. Some of those enslaved people were the daughter and grandchildren of my 3rd Great Grandfather, Peter Culp. They are my family and I am trying to find them, as well.
Then my father-in-law dies and I get all of this totally different family's stuff. I don't need this. I don't want this. I don't want to "do" my husband's family. I don't have time for this! But this Cousin Jim told me in his first phone call that he was coming up on the first anniversary of the death of his dear wife of 57 years. It is just a matter of a few days. And he is so happy to talk to me for two and a half hours about Ed’s mother's Thomas family and I don't have the heart to cut him off.
He has tons of materials that he is itching to send me immediately and what am I going to say? (Shall I say, "I'm really busy with my own family right now, Jim."?) He is genuinely elated as he talks of getting this package together to send to me.
So instead I say something like, "I'd be thrilled to have that hundred pound package of new genealogical materials."
This is when the Universe decides to teach me a lesson in Karma. You can't avoid it if you are sending out the signals to bring things to you.
This is THE REST OF THE STORY. This is where it gets strange.
You must trust me on this. My husband and I met on a blind date and he asked me to marry him two weeks later. We had just celebrated 36 years of marriage when I received this package of materials on his father’s mother’s Thomas line.
I still cannot report this without getting chills. What I found in the Thomas family records:
• The man responsible for protecting the settlers, the Commander of the British Militia at the tiny settlement of Fishing Creek, South Carolina, at the time my 5th great grandmother was attacked and scalped, was my husband’s 5th great grandfather, Colonel John Thomas.
Two hundred forty eight years ago, my husband’s ancestor failed to protect my ancestor from being scalped.
My husband always said he “recognized” me as soon as he met me and that’s why he asked me to marry him so soon after we met. He was looking for me and he knew I was the one he was looking for. He has always said that, and now we know why. KARMA. He has spent this lifetime making me feel safe and cherished.
The second part of THE REST OF THE STORY.
• When I looked at Colonel John Thomas’ will, I found the names of eleven more enslaved persons in South Carolina: men, women and children, who I can document on LowCountry Africana.
So, my husband’s family documents that I didn’t want, that I considered to be a distraction from my own work, turned out to be impossibly interwoven with my family and to my work finding and saving slave names.
One thing I know, if I had not been looking for slave names in Col. John Thomas’s will, I wouldn’t have found them. This was in my mind when I wrote my previous blog (We, White Family Genealogists, Must Make Good Faith Efforts To Search Our Own Records). I have found the names of 59 enslaved persons while sitting right here in my own bedroom in the last 10 months using a book I've had on my shelf for 25 years and materials I received unsolicited from my father-in-law's 80 year old cousin.
Have you missed any names in the documents you already have? Look again. Please.
By Sally Sheridan
[First posted on GenealogyWise.com October 19, 2009]
I have had many recent breakthroughs, one truly bizarre one.
I have known for a long time that my 5th great grandmother, Barbara Culp, was scalped by Indians in South Carolina in 1761. She lived to have the child she was pregnant with and two more, including my 4th great grandmother.
My husband and I have been married for 36 years. He was raised in Illinois and Wisconsin. I grew up in the Southwest. We met when we were both in our late twenties. He came to my home town as a stranger who happened to land a job here when he finished graduate school in another city. He had been here a year and a half before I moved back to this town. We met on a blind date and he asked me to marry him two weeks later.
When my father-in-law died in northern Wisconsin this June (2009), the question came up about their family’s genealogy materials. My husband’s 90 year- old father, Ed, had collected a great deal of information but my husband’s sister wasn’t interested in it. So, even though I am drowning in my own family history, I said, "I'll take it." (The true test of a natural born genealogist.)
Two weeks after Ed died, his 80 year-old cousin, Jim, whom I have never met, called me and was very excited that someone in Ed's family was interested in Ed's genealogy materials. He had talked recently to my sister-in-law, and she made it clear that she was clearing out Ed's house and sending Ed's stuff to me, the daughter-in-law. Jim was ecstatic that I was interested in keeping all of the stuff. So Jim and I are now bosom buddies.
Now get this picture:
I am trying to write a book about my own Culp and related ancestors who owned slaves.
I have found 48 slave names and I am working with a university project (LowCountry Africana) to get that information online. Some of those enslaved people were the daughter and grandchildren of my 3rd Great Grandfather, Peter Culp. They are my family and I am trying to find them, as well.
Then my father-in-law dies and I get all of this totally different family's stuff. I don't need this. I don't want this. I don't want to "do" my husband's family. I don't have time for this! But this Cousin Jim told me in his first phone call that he was coming up on the first anniversary of the death of his dear wife of 57 years. It is just a matter of a few days. And he is so happy to talk to me for two and a half hours about Ed’s mother's Thomas family and I don't have the heart to cut him off.
He has tons of materials that he is itching to send me immediately and what am I going to say? (Shall I say, "I'm really busy with my own family right now, Jim."?) He is genuinely elated as he talks of getting this package together to send to me.
So instead I say something like, "I'd be thrilled to have that hundred pound package of new genealogical materials."
This is when the Universe decides to teach me a lesson in Karma. You can't avoid it if you are sending out the signals to bring things to you.
This is THE REST OF THE STORY. This is where it gets strange.
You must trust me on this. My husband and I met on a blind date and he asked me to marry him two weeks later. We had just celebrated 36 years of marriage when I received this package of materials on his father’s mother’s Thomas line.
I still cannot report this without getting chills. What I found in the Thomas family records:
• The man responsible for protecting the settlers, the Commander of the British Militia at the tiny settlement of Fishing Creek, South Carolina, at the time my 5th great grandmother was attacked and scalped, was my husband’s 5th great grandfather, Colonel John Thomas.
Two hundred forty eight years ago, my husband’s ancestor failed to protect my ancestor from being scalped.
My husband always said he “recognized” me as soon as he met me and that’s why he asked me to marry him so soon after we met. He was looking for me and he knew I was the one he was looking for. He has always said that, and now we know why. KARMA. He has spent this lifetime making me feel safe and cherished.
The second part of THE REST OF THE STORY.
• When I looked at Colonel John Thomas’ will, I found the names of eleven more enslaved persons in South Carolina: men, women and children, who I can document on LowCountry Africana.
So, my husband’s family documents that I didn’t want, that I considered to be a distraction from my own work, turned out to be impossibly interwoven with my family and to my work finding and saving slave names.
One thing I know, if I had not been looking for slave names in Col. John Thomas’s will, I wouldn’t have found them. This was in my mind when I wrote my previous blog (We, White Family Genealogists, Must Make Good Faith Efforts To Search Our Own Records). I have found the names of 59 enslaved persons while sitting right here in my own bedroom in the last 10 months using a book I've had on my shelf for 25 years and materials I received unsolicited from my father-in-law's 80 year old cousin.
Have you missed any names in the documents you already have? Look again. Please.
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