Random Genealogy

Mary Penner has another helpful article in The Albuquerque Tribune, Why was loving Romeo taboo? about a problem that just about all genealogists encounter at some point in their genealogy research – name changes, name swaps, nicknames, you name it (pun intended, of course). In this case she talks about American Indian names.

Ever work in a place where you might come across old documents, and you wonder what to do with them? The Lebanon Daily News (Lebanon, PA) has an article by Chris Sholly about a bunch of old records found at a high school. They donated them to the Lebanon County Historical Society. More people/organizations should do this when they come across old documents that may show what people were doing, etc. (except they should of course probably donate to their local historical/genealogy societies, I doubt the Lebanon County Historical Society wants a bunch of stuff from all over the place). There’s no telling how many valuable records have been lost because somebody threw them away, thinking nobody would be interested.

Ed Grisamore writes about a Suitcase [that] ‘tells an amazing story’ in the Macon Telegraph (Georgia). The suitcase was “discovered” by one Jennifer O’Kelley, and when I say “discovered”, I really mean she finally got around to opening it after it had been passed down through seven generations of her husband’s family and then ended up in the top of her closet (by way of the basement). What she found was pretty amazing alright.