Bare Naked Genealogy

Leland Meitzler spotted this ad for the Australian version of Who Do You Think You Are? Whether it's safe for work may depend on your boss's eyesight.

Belle Letters May Identify Corpse

Belle Gunness was a serial murderess responsible for at least ten, and perhaps as many as forty or fifty deaths. She made a practice of enticing bachelors to her Indiana farm with advertisements in matrimonial columns, and then offing them.

Now Andrea Simmons wants to find out whether Belle is the same woman whose burned, headless body was found in the cellar of her farmhouse following a 1908 fire, or whether she escaped, as many suspect.

Simmons got permission from 63-year-old Suzanne McKay, a great-granddaughter of Nellie Larson, Belle’s older sister who lived in Chicago, to exhume the body. Because of the number of generations that have elapsed and the fact that McKay and her sister are descended from Larson’s son, Simmons said the forensic anthropology team decided not to use their DNA. The best DNA comparisons come from an unbroken line of female ancestors.

However, Belle’s letters to Andrew Helgelien, which once helped entrap him, could now help determine whether his killer got away with the farmhouse deaths, too. Some of the envelopes that Belle sent to Helgelien and his brother will be used to provide hoped-for DNA from dried saliva under the stamps and places where the envelopes are sealed. [Link]

For those who like this sort of thing, gruesome crime-scene photos may be found here.

A Most Mysterious Memorial

BBC History Magazine has named a winner in its Mysterious Memorials contest. Sarah Johnson's epitaph recounts "the 28 times the
deceased was drained of fluid in her abdomen – the treatment for ascites, which is related to liver disease." It's thought that this was an "early example of brazen advertising" by the doctors mentioned on the stone. (If so, this was the worst advertising campaign ever. Sure, it makes me want to have a few hundred gallons of fluid drained from my abdomen, but not by these quacks.)

You can read Sarah's medical memorial and runners-up here (pdf), and all the "Shortlisted Entries" here.

Haunting Found Wanting

The story goes that 6-year-old Inez Clarke was locked out of her house by her parents on the night of Aug. 1, 1880, for being a naughty girl. She was promptly struck by lightning. Her guilt-ridden parents claimed she had died of tuberculosis, and had her buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery beneath a lifelike marble statue. Little Inez has been haunting the cemetery ever since.

A great story, if only Inez Clarke had existed.

"Based on cemetery records there's no such person buried in that grave," Al [Walavich] says.

He's even looked up U.S. Census records from the 1800s and found "no indication that such a child ever existed."

There's even an affidavit from Inez's "supposed mother" issued in 1910 -- 30 years after the child's death -- that claims the Clarkes had two daughters, both of whom were still living at the time. The document also stated neither parent had any other children, Walavich says.

"And the most telling fact was that one of the Clarke family [relatives] had been in touch with cemetery about statue and grave. When asked who Inez was, she said, 'I have no idea, but isn't it a lovely statue,'" he says. "It's kind of hard to have a haunting when the supposed person never really existed." [Link]

An 8-year-old boy, Amos Briggs, is actually buried beneath the statue. Walavich suspects that the intricately carved statue was an advertisement for its maker, Andrew Gage.

[Photo credit: Inez Clark in Her Plexiglass Case by Richie Diesterheft]

Brew-haha

An advertisement for Stella Artois included the phrase, "A family dedicated to brewing for six centuries." This claim is true only when read through beer goggles.

Artois is no longer a family-owned brand. But readers were likely to interpret the claim as 'one family of common ancestry had been involved in the brewing of Stella Artois for six centuries', the [Advertising Standards Authority] ruled.

It told InBev to remove the claim.

InBev said the advert's aim had been to emphasise the 'continuity of tradition and care' found in the Artois family of beers. It had not meant to suggest that one family of 'common ancestry' had brewed the beers for six centuries. [Link]

Little Lots of Land

For just under £30, you can own one square foot of land in the Scottish Highlands and become a Laird, Lord, or Lady.

It's true that these titles have been dismissed as 'meaningless' by the Court of Lord Lyon, the office which deals with heraldic matters and coats-of-arms in Scotland. And it was decided eight years ago that the sales of such miniature plots would not be recorded in the national register of Scotland. But for many of the buyers, it is quite sufficient that 'laird' means 'landowner' in Scots, and they receive a certificate which purports to prove their ownership of a plot of land on a Highland estate. [Link]

These are generous parcels compared to those given away in the Quaker Harvest Oats "Klondike Big Inch" advertising campaign in the 1950s. Deeds for one-square-inch plots of land in the Yukon were given away in cereal boxes. Filmmaker David McDonald was one of the lucky recipients, and made a documentary about his quest to find other small landowners, and to claim his own tiny tract.

Many had high hopes for their tiny plots of land. One Michigan man wanted to establish the world's smallest national park while a group of friends wanted to pool their plots and declare an independent republic.

Eventually, McDonald headed north to locate his land.

He discovered that the company Quaker Oats set up to manage the land never paid property taxes, so the Yukon government reclaimed it all.

"They never told us that perhaps we should have registered the deed." [Link]

The Cream of Wheat Man Has a Name

Frank L. White—thought to have been the model for the "Cream of Wheat man"—finally has a proper marker on his grave in Leslie, Michigan.

On Wednesday, a granite gravestone was placed at his burial site. It bears his name and an etching taken from the man depicted on the Cream of Wheat box.

Researcher Jesse Lasorda started the campaign to secure a marker. He discovered that White was a naturalized citizen, born in Barbados in about 1867.

The chef was photographed about 1900 while working in a Chicago restaurant. His name was not recorded. White was a chef, traveled a lot, was about the right age and told neighbors that he was the Cream of Wheat model, the Jackson Citizen Patriot said. [Link]

Ancestry.commercials

I must admit, I kind of like Ancestry.com's new marketing campaign—including the clever ad in this week's issue of Time that teaches the novice how to jazz up her old family photos using scissors and Scotch tape. You'll find all their print, television and radio ads in the Generations Network press room.

Do You Have Old English Genes?

English Heritage is mounting a search for the rightful heir to the English throne—"rightful" in an alternate universe where the Norman Conquest never happened.

Edgar Aetheling was named heir apparent by his great-uncle King Edward the Confessor but was not crowned when the King died in 1066 because he was too young. Harold II was crowned instead.

William the Conqueror crossed over from Normandy, defeating Harold at the Battle of Hastings. The teenage Aetheling later submitted to William.

English Heritage, which seeks to protect the country's historical environment, asks in its advertisements: "Are you of Edgar the Aetheling's lineage and believe you have a legitimate claim?" [Link]

While I Was Away...

• The Advertising Standards Authority in Britain ruled that Ancestry.co.uk was dishonest for claiming to offer "Everything you'll ever need to research your family tree in one place." The revised ad campaign will promise only "Some of the things you might need to research somebody's family tree in two or more places."
• The National Archives in Washington opened a new exhibit in the basement exploring the historical implications of mildew.
• Hereditary Health Solutions launched a service that will find your lost relatives and extract stool samples from them.
• ITV announced a new celebrity genealogy series called "You Don't Know You're Born." The title is a common British phrase which means "Idea Ripped Off From the BBC."
• Sharon Elliott found more evidence that no one in America has Welsh ancestors.
• Paul Allen revealed that the key to Ancestry.com's rise to power was purely alphabetical.

Yes, Virginia, There is a Chuck Showalter

Those famous Santa illustrations created for Coca-Cola ads were supposedly done by Swedish-American illustrator Haddon Sundblom using the nom de plume "Chuck Showalter." But through a bit of genealogical research, Bob Olsen of Madison, Wisconsin, has found the truth: Chuck Showalter was a real person, and he died just last October (here's his obit).

It started 15 years ago when Olsen was attending a Sundblom Santa exhibition with his wife Carol. He mentioned that he had a relative who served as a model for the Santa images.

"Yeah, sure," Mrs. Olsen said, or words to that effect.

Five years later, Sundblom's Santas were in the news again, and Bob once again mentioned his distant connection. Carol was, shall we say, not persuaded.

"So I decided to look into it," Bob recalled.

He began by writing to his cousins, trying to learn more. Olsen finally found, in Arizona, the photographer who had taken the original "pose photos" for Sundblom's Santa models, and sure enough, Bob's great-uncle was one of them.

Olsen also found evidence that Chuck Showalter really existed.

In 2002, Olsen said, "I stuck an inquiry on a genealogy Web site." He heard nothing for two years. Then, in December 2004, he received an e-mail: "I think you are looking for my uncle."

Not long after, Olsen heard from a Chicago area surgeon, John Showalter, who said he was Chuck Showalter's son. Olsen explained why he was trying to get in touch. The son said, "He will be amused to learn he is a myth." [Link]

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]