Man Finds Click-Talking Hadzabe in his Family Tree

From The Washington (D.C.) Post:

Swimming in the Gene Pool

Sunday, October 2, 2005; Page P04

WORTH A TRIP: "I woke up one morning last spring to find my life was a lie," Donovan Webster says in the October National Geographic Traveler. Despite his Anglo-Saxon name and a proper New England family tree, DNA testing revealed his roots went much further afield -- to "click-talking Hadzabe in Tanzania . . . Lebanese Arabs, tribal Uzbeks in Central Asia, and Basques in Spain."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

A photo gallery of Webster's travels to meet his distant cousins is available at the National Geographic Traveler website.

Genealogical Curiosity On Trial in Texas

From the Austin (Tex.) American-Statesman:

Kenedy case arrives at Texas Supreme Court

Court to decide if Austin judge had jurisdiction to order body dug up

By Jeremy Schwartz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, September 30, 2005

Past the desolate miles of stunted mesquite, in an ornate and meticulously tended South Texas cemetery that rises out of nothingness, lies a body that may be worth nearly a billion dollars.

[snip]

[John G. Kenedy Jr.], a hard-drinking bon vivant, was long assumed to have died in 1948 without heirs, sterile from a childhood case of the mumps. But the descendants of a maid on the sprawling Kenedy Ranch claim Kenedy fathered an illegitimate child with her, a secret kept for generations.

[snip]

Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman ordered an exhumation in January 2004. Lawyers for the John G. Kenedy Jr. Charitable Trust and John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation argued that Herman lacked the jurisdiction or the authority to make such an order and that even if Ann Fernandez is Kenedy's daughter, she would not be able to reopen Kenedy's long-settled estate because of statutes of limitation.

"We don't dig up bodies simply for someone to satisfy some genealogical curiosity," argued attorney Michael Hatchell.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Genealogue Exclusive: Bill Bennett Now After Genealogists

A Genealogue Exclusive [What's That?]

Former Education Secretary William Bennett, already under fire for blaming the U.S. crime rate on black toddlers, has now offended another demographic: family historians.

Bennett suggested to The Genealogue Friday afternoon that "If you really wanted to stop identity-theft in this country, you could round up all the genealogists and make them drink poisoned Kool-Aid." He went on to call this "a ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but our credit cards would be safe."

Bennett explained that some irresponsible Internet genealogists have posted information online about living persons, making the work of identity thieves much easier.

"This is just a hypothetical," Bennett said. "I'm certainly not advocating that this should be done—only that it could be done, and that I'd be willing to pay for the Kool-Aid."

Confucius Says, That's a Lot of Grandkids

From China View:

Confucius has over 3 mln descendants worldwide

JINAN, Sept. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Confucius, a great Chinese thinker in ancient China, has more than three million descendants around the world, according to recent statistics.

[snip]

Kong Deming, vice director of the Qufu Confucius pedigree research center said that with Qufu as its main concentration region, the descendants of Confucius are now over three million, with 2.5 million on Chinese mainland, 100,000 in Republic of Korea, and many also in the United States and Malaysia and Singapore.

He also noted that the new version of Confucius family tree book will be published in 2007.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Millionth Visitor to National Archives Congratulated, Then Strip-Searched by Overzealous Security Guard

From NARA:

National Archives Welcomes Millionth 2005 Visitor

Washington, DC— The National Archives welcomed its millionth visitor on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 1:15 PM. Visitor Ariya Shah, traveling with her parents from Austin, Texas, was greeted by Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein. The Archivist said: “I am delighted to welcome our millionth visitor this year. This milestone confirms that the National Archives is a “must-see” destination for Washingtonians and tourists alike.” Expressing surprise as the person reaching this milestone, 23-month-old Ariya saw the bunch of balloons, smiled at the Archivist and said “Wow!”

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Guinea-Pig Breeding Leads to Grave Robbery

From the (London, England) Daily Mail:

Four charged over body theft

30th September 2005

Three men will appear in court accused of conspiring to blackmail the owners of a guinea pig breeding farm at the centre of a hate campaign by animal rights activists.

The men, aged 35, 36 and 38, were arrested by officers investigating the theft of a pensioner's body from a graveyard last year.

They face blackmail charges against the owners of Darley Oaks Farm in Newchurch, Staffs, who include the dead pensioner's son-in-law David Hall, when they appear before Burton-upon-Trent magistrates.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Not That There's Anything Wrong with That...

From the (Johannesburg, South Africa) Mail & Guardian Online:

All the king's men ...

Munich, Germany
28 September 2005

An heir to a German aristocrat reached a settlement on Wednesday with an author who said his ancestor was the gay lover of Ludwig II, the "fairy-tale king" who built the legendary Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.

Count Michael Siegfried von Holnstein, whose great-grandfather was the stables manager to the man also known as Mad King Ludwig, had taken the case to the regional superior court in the southern city of Munich, Bavaria's main city.

[snip]

The count had argued that the honour of his family line had been "gravely defamed" by the claim.

"Everyone knows about certain tendencies of Ludwig II, but it is totally unacceptable that my great-grandfather gets dragged into it," he said.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Can Tupperware Be Far Behind?

From Reuters:

Swedes may be freeze-dried for eternal rest

By Sven Nordenstam

STOCKHOLM, Sept 26 (Reuters) - "There's three things we can do with your mum. We can bury her, burn her, or dump her." A fourth alternative -- freeze-drying -- could soon be added to British comedy group Monty Python's catalogue of burial methods.

Next year the Swedish town of Jonkoping hopes to pioneer this novel way of preparing people for their final resting place. The body will be frozen, dipped in liquid nitrogen and pulverised prior to burial.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Enslaver's Descendant Springs for Stone

From the Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald of Sept. 28, 2005:

Slave's grave will be marked

By Karen Dandurant
kdandurant@seacoastonline.com

GREENLAND — Thanks to the tenacity of a Stratham woman and the generosity of a Greenland man, the grave of a slave named Caesar will be marked and remembered.

Vicky Avery came to the Board of Selectmen Monday night, asking for its support to get a grave marker put on the site of the old Brackett Farm on Tide Water Farms Road, to mark the location of the grave, which she proved was there in August.

Selectmen said they were willing to work with Avery to find a way to fund the grave marker, but it was resident John Brackett, whose ancestors owned the slave, who offered to pony up the estimated $500 needed.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Top Ten Banned Family-History Books

In honor of Banned Books Week:

10. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finns: The Finnish Settlers of Huckleberry, Maryland

9. All's Quiet on the Western Frontier: Wyoming's Deaf-Mute Pioneers

8. Sects and the Single Girl: The Religious Lives of 17th-Century Spinsters

7. A Day No Pigs Would Die: A History of the Jewish Sabbath in America

6. The Grapes of Rathbone, Ohio: Moses and Miriam Grape and their Descendants

5. My Brother Sam is Dead, and I'm Looking Forward to the Obituary

4. Lady Chatterley's Lover: DNA Evidence of Illegitimacy in the Chatterley Family

3. What's Happening to My Body?: A Guide for the Recently Deceased and their Relatives

2. Mein Kampf: My Struggle to Track Down German Ancestors

1. Heather Has Two Mommies and Four Grammies

Jefferson-Hemings Controversy Settled in Court

From The Kansas City (Mo.) Star of Sept. 27, 2005:

Judge draws line at naming horse after Sally Hemings

Now politics is getting into horse racing — but in a strange way.

A federal judge in Lexington, Ky., has dismissed a lawsuit by a Thoroughbred owner who sued to name one of his fillies after Sally Hemings, the slave who was reputed to be Thomas Jefferson’s mistress.

[snip]

The mother of [Garrett] Redmond’s 2-year-old filly is Jefferson’s Secret, whose sire is Colonial Affair. Redmond thinks the name “Sally Hemings” would be a natural for a horse of such lineage.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

I'm Looking for Something Closer to Epcot...

From the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel:

Orlando's newest land rush: Plots in cemetery

At Greenwood, 1 of only 2 graveyards in the city, family-size space has been scarce.

Mark Schlueb | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted September 26, 2005

For Sale: Hot property in downtown gated community. Very quiet neighbors. Lot size: 4 feet by 9 feet. (Headstone not included.)

The land rush downtown isn't confined to cramped high-rise condos and pricey bungalows anymore. Orlando's historic Greenwood Cemetery is about to become the hot new property, with the first new section opening since 1989.

[snip]

Simply by word of mouth, callers have learned about the opening and reserved more than 100 of the 220 plots in the first section. Most buyers are reserving four or more plots. At least a half-dozen plan to exhume loved ones from single plots and move them into the new section so they can be together again -- eventually, anyway.

"There's going to be a lot of jockeying going on," cemetery sexton Don Price said.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Criminal Geniuses

From Seattle (Wash.) Post-Intelligencer of Sept. 27, 2005:

Teens arrested in vandalism at pioneer cemetery in Sumner

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SUMNER, Wash. -- Two teenagers have been arrested following two nights of vandalism in which more than 250 pioneer grave markers were toppled and broken, police said.

The boys, 14 and 16, admitted being responsible when police questioned them Monday after municipal cemetery workers saw them pointing at the damaged gravestones and laughing loudly, Lt. Mark Mears said.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Genealogue Obituary: The Cone of Silence Descends for Maxwell Smart

Former CONTROL agent Maxwell Smart died today. He was born in Washington, D. C., in 1930.

Smart served in the U. S. Army during the Korean War, and attained the rank of corporal. Drafted out of college into CONTROL, Smart went on to become the secret agency's top spy—despite several notorious blunders and his marriage to a fellow spy, known to him only as "Agent 99."

The couple's days of undercover snooping were cut short when Agent 99 was "outed" by columnist Robert Novak in 1982.

Smart's death reportedly occurred when he mistakenly dialed 117 on his new "cell-phone gun." Mortally wounded, he then pressed "redial" and killed his former CONTROL supervisor, with whom he was having lunch. His last words, written down by paramedics, were "Sorry about that, Chief."

One Name, 99 Spellings

From the Yorkshire (U.K.) Post of Sept. 26, 2005:

Members of worldwide family meet up in Dales

Brian Dooks

ONE of Yorkshire's biggest families, whose thousands of members have spread world-wide, met in the Dales yesterday to share family histories and meet previously unknown relatives.

The Metcalfe Society, founded 25 years ago, claims to be the biggest one-name organisation in the world in terms of the data it holds on descendants and with 1,500 past and present members. Arguably it keeps the ultimate family tree.

But we are not just thinking Metcalfe, Metcalf, Medcalf, Medcalfe, Mitcalf or Mitcalfe. The society, which had more than 150 members at its reunion at West Burton, near Leyburn, has at least 99 variations.

Former secretary and now assistant archivist Nina Benson, of Spofforth, near Harrogate, explains. "You can find records of 12 children of the same couple and because the parish clerks changed, the surnames got altered. Two or three will have a letter 'e' on the end of their names and the others will not."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

New Addition to Bill of Rights?

From the (Fort Worth, Tex.) Star-Telegram of Sept. 26, 2005:

Lawyers fight over exhuming millionaire's body

Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO - Lawyers are scheduled to argue Thursday before the Texas Supreme Court whether to exhume the body of rancher John G. Kenedy Jr. for DNA tests to determine if the supposedly sterile millionaire fathered a daughter with a maid.

At issue is an inheritance estimated between $500 million and $1 billion - including a 400,000-acre, oil-rich ranch near Kingsville - left to two charities.

In the lawsuit, Dr. Ray Fernandez and his mother Ann Fernandez claim Kenedy had at least one out-of-wedlock child with Maria Rowland Goates, Ann's mother.

"Morally, everyone has the right to pursue their lineage and family history. There is no reason to try and cover that up," said Ray Fernandez, 45, the medical examiner for Nueces County.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

The Math of Khan

You might know how many ancestors you have through five, ten, or even fifteen generations. But how many descendants will you have, say, 900 years from now?

The Genghis Khan Genetic Fitness Test allows you to measure your virility, fertility, or non-sterility against that of the Mongol ruler himself. He's credited with 16 million male descendants—and those are just the ones descended through direct patrilineal lines.

Just answer a few (sometimes personal) questions about yourself and your immediate family, and a system of calibrated algorithms and space-age nanotechnology will compute the number of your descendants through 32 generations. You'll also get a customized "family tree" laying out in graphic detail your genetic legacy, allowing for "sterility, birth rates, death rates, disease, drug abuse, nitwitism, and accidents."

You might want to exaggerate on the questionnaire: I told the truth, and learned that I am "no Mongol warlord," which we all know is untrue.

Genealogued Blogs 6

More proof that I have too much free time on my hands:

Back Home Again delves into Family Nicknames, and finds a Goose, Wobble, and Spick.

Berlindog Blog suffers a bout of [UGLY] Amnesia.

Random Genealogy plugs a blog that highlights our two favorite pastimes: Google Earth and Genealogy.

FamilyTrackers Blog recounts one couple's steps and missteps in researching Genealogy in England – A Hinde Family Adventure.

GenBlogger considers the possible union of Funny Names #2 - DRINKWATER and PASSWATER.

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter tells us to check and recheck our sources, and then publish our family history in The (Online) Annals of Genealogical Research.

OakvilleBlackWalnut celebrates the news: FHL to Digitize Microfilm.

DavidLambertBlog.com gives tips for Locating the place of Burial in statewide Massachusetts VR’s (19th Century).

Legacy News asks the question: Should we really share our findings online? Their answer: "Absolutely!" My answer: "Proceed with caution."

Six Genealogical Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Gary Boyd Roberts' latest installment of Royal Descents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources at NewEnglandAncestors.org includes ancestral lines of Marlon Brando, Robert Redford, Kevin Bacon, and the Baldwin brothers, among others. If you're related to all of these people, then you're probably already in show business.

The folks over at The Onion suggested in 2002 that "If you trace your family back six generations, you should arrive at the great-great-great-great grandfather of Kevin Bacon." In truth, the connection may be more direct: Kevin Bacon may be your brother.

Men in Kilts Not to be Mocked

From The (Glasgow, Scotland) Sunday Herald of Sept. 25, 2005:

‘Twee?’ Perhaps, but Tartan Days should be celebrated

By Senay Boztas, Arts Correspondent

THEY might inspire a hearty round of jeering in Scotland, but Tartan Days around the world should not be mocked, according to the author of a new book on the Scottish diaspora.

James Hunter, director of the centre for history at the prospective University of the Highlands and Islands, has made a plea for Scots to respect the diverse ways in which their distant relatives celebrate their Scottishness.

[snip]

But he believes that many people unfairly pillory Scots descendants in countries such as America for celebrating their ancestry with Tartan Days and Highland Games.

“We think that if these people dress in kilts and go to Tartan Days, they are off their heads, but they are as entitled to their view of identity as we are to ours,” he said. “If you tried to organise a Tartan Day in Scotland, I don’t think many people would turn up.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

". . . how canst thou say to thy brother, 'Brother, let me cast out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the caber that is in thine own.'"

Worst Family Reunion Ever

From the Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Times Leader of Sept. 24, 2005:

Boy struck by lightning discharged from rehab center

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH - An 11-year-old boy who was struck by lightning at a family reunion in July has returned home after a seven-week stay at a rehabilitation center.

David Rogan of New Castle, who had been in a coma, can again speak and walk and has made good progress, a doctor said Friday.

[snip]

Rogan was struck during a July 16 family reunion at a farm in Sugarcreek, Venango County, about 70 miles north of Pittsburgh. The lightning strike left him unconscious and without a pulse for about 20 minutes. Relatives performed CPR.

[Read the whole story]

Shop 'Til You Drop Into an Ohlone Grave

From abc7news.com (of San Francisco, Calif.):

East Bay Shopping Center Sits Atop Burial Ground

Delicate Balance Between Commerce And Culture

KGO By Willie Monroe

Sep. 23 - A Bay Area filmmaker explores an open secret about a popular East Bay shopping center. Emeryville's Bay Street sits on an ancient Ohlone Indian community including a burial ground. It's a delicate balance between commerce and culture.

Bay Street Emeryville is described as a million square foot urban village. It's a center of commerce with upscale stores, restaurants and a movie theater. Nearly 400 apartments and townhouses are being built above the stores.

[snip]

The dead buried here inspired Andres Cediel to make the documentary "Shellmound" for his master's thesis at the University of California at Berkeley's graduate school of journalism.

Andres Cediel: "You know, I grew up in the East Bay my whole life, went to school there, and I never heard of the burials at the Shellmound, never heard of any Native American burial grounds or anything until the shopping center opened."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Strangely, They Spelled 'Tarczewski' Correctly

From NorthJersey.com:

No license for errors when dealing with MVC

Friday, September 23, 2005

By JOHN CICHOWSKI
THE ROAD WARRIOR

If you have a name like Tarczewski, chances are good that some bureaucracy will misspell it and drive you crazy for weeks while you try to figure out why your rebate check is late or why you can't log on to your new e-mail account.

This is the burden Gary Tarczewski has carried for 47 years.

"I'm used to it," said Gary.

Still, the Bergenfield machinist wasn't prepared for the news he received from the state Motor Vehicle Commission when he tried to renew his driver's license under New Jersey's new, ultra-secure digital licensing system. You see, Gary's name was misspelled on his birth certificate.

[snip]

Gary knew this, of course. Although Tarczewski was spelled exactly as his mom and dad had intended, his first name had grown an appendage:

G-A-R-R-Y.

"Nobody ever made a big deal out of it before," Gary insisted. "Even when I got married; even when I got my first New Jersey license."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Salvation and Exaltation After Death? Not Good Enough

From The Boston (Mass.) Globe:

State Supreme Court says adoptee has no right to know parents

September 22, 2005

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --The Rhode Island Supreme Court has rejected a Pennsylvania man's claim that his belief in Mormonism entitles him to have his adoption records opened.

Philip Sabatino, 34, of Erie, Pa., claimed in court records that according to his faith he "may be saved and exalted after death" if he meets certain requirements, including tracing his ancestry and fulfilling certain obligations to his blood relatives.

But the justices said confidentiality is important to the adoption process and the man did not show a need to know his parents' names.

The official court opinion did not say whether religious belief could be used as a justification in other cases. But the justices said in a footnote that they thought they could not open records for Mormons without doing it for others as well.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

God forbid that those damn Lutherans start asking questions. . .

More Movies for Genealogists

Paul "CensusWhacker" Etherington has asked his RootsChat cohorts for additions to my list of Top Ten Movies for Genealogists. Moderator Boongie Pam's "Lost in Transcription," alcrighton's "Census Sensibility," and Paul's own "Look Back in Ancestry" are early favorites.

I would probably amend Pam's "Kill Bill" entry to read "Kill Bill, then Jot Down the Date and Place of His Death."

One-Eyed Mothers-in-Law are Wild

From PRNewsWire:

New Playing Cards 'Six Generations' Are Invented Unexpectedly

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The monarchic structure of standard playing cards with King, Queen and Jack is now breaking apart by an Alaskan game designer who invented a new "democratic" deck with a 64-person family in six generations.

When Ted Soloview, a graphic designer from Alaska was searching his genealogy with the roots of Russian, German, and Ukrainian ancestors, he caught an idea that anybody's triangle-looking family tree could be used to create a new card game.

After a year of research and choosing a universal match for parents and children, husbands and wives, lifestyle and clothing, names and countries for the European family of immigrants to America, his idea has generated an innovative card game, "Six Generations."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

These cards may also be used to play "Strip Genealogy," though this is not advised. Six Generations is available at Amazon.com.

You Too Can Be a Nazi Hunter

From New York (N.Y.) Newsday:

Croatia seeks 92-year-old WWII suspect

SNJEZANA VUKIC
Associated Press Writer

September 22, 2005, 9:52 AM EDT

ZAGREB, Croatia - Croatia has requested that Austria extradite a 92-year-old World War II war crimes suspect who was tracked down by an amateur Nazi hunter, the justice minister said Thursday.

[snip]

Aschner, a former police chief in eastern Croatia, allegedly enforced racist laws in 1941-1942 under Croatia's World War II Nazi puppet regime, which persecuted tens of thousands of Jews, Gypsies and Serbs.

He is suspected of committing crimes against civilians, mainly Jews and Serbs, the minister, Vesna Skare Ozbolt, told The Associated Press.

[snip]

Aschner lived peacefully in Croatia for years before he was discovered two years ago by an amateur researcher, Alen Budaj.

Budaj traced his family history and discovered Aschner's alleged wartime role. He then located him living in central Croatia and alerted authorities, setting in motion a hunt for the elderly suspect - and prompting Aschner to seek shelter in Austria.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Make Room for Daddy's Surname

From Sun.Star Pampanga (Philippines) of Sept. 22, 2005:

Illegitimate kids can now use dad's surname

By Reynaldo G. Navales

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Illegitimate children may now use the surnames of their fathers.

This is provided for under Republic Act (RA) No. 9255 amending Article 176 of Executive Order No. 209, otherwise known as the Family Code of the Philippines.

However, the same law states that a father has to acknowledge the child who wishes to use his parent's name.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

In related news, thousands of U.S. servicemen formerly stationed in the Philippines have suddenly stopped answering their telephones.

Sorry, Not Indian Enough

From the (Little Rock) Arkansas Times:

When is an Indian not an Indian?

Arkansas schools are finding out the hard way.

Leslie Newell Peacock
Updated: 9/22/2005

The federal government is questioning grants totaling $1,089,745 that 24 Arkansas school districts have won based on the number of their American Indian students — a population that’s made a meteoric jump over 2002 census figures, if the documents accompanying the grants are correct.

Officials with the federal Office of Indian Education suspect that the increase is not the result of an influx of American Indians into Arkansas, but of misinformation spread by a group called the Lost Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri. The LCN, as it’s called, began in 2003 to spread the word about the grants, telling schools they could get federal dollars based on the word of students filling out so-called 506 forms. The LCN told schools that their Indian students didn’t have to be enrolled in federally recognized tribes to be counted, but only needed to be able to trace their Indian heritage to an ancestor several generations back.

[snip]

[Read the