"Good cause" is a very broad term.  In order to have my father's adoption record unsealed, we would have to show "good cause."  An example we were given is "you will face imminent death due to medical concerns if the file is not unsealed."  Well.....that wasn't exactly our issue.  We do have our share of health issues, as well as physical and intellectual disabilities in our family, but that was not the reason we wanted the file.  Obtaining that file would acknowledge that my father had an ident

My grandfather was from Plymouth, Indiana.  It said so on his death certificate and on Iowa census records.  My dad's brothers said their father was from Indiana and had a sister that had stayed there.  The adoption file office in Des Moines stated that my grandfather was from Plymouth, Indiana.  When we searched, we searched in Indiana.  We found nothing.  This didn't surprise us, after all, Charles Brown is a very common name.  We contacted a woman at the Marshall County Indiana genealogical s

NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300

Arlington, VA 22204-4370

Phone 703-525-0050 or 800-473-0060

Fax 703-525-0052

Contact: Charles S. Mason, Jr., CG

Phone: 703-569-3469                                                                                                                                 

awards@ngsgenealogy.org                                                                                                                   

For Release: 24 December 2014

Dead

When I decided to start hard core research, I was lucky enough that my dad's half sister had quite a bit of information on their mom's side of the family.  Within just several weeks, I was able to trace my grandmother's maternal side back to the late 1600's - Van Houten and Duselder.  Everything was well documented and pretty much just laid out in front of us.  Her paternal side posed a bit of a problem.  Her father died when she was 14 and his mother had married several times and had children w

PBS’ “GENEALOGY ROADSHOW” SEASON TWO

UNCOVERS FAMILY SECRETS ACROSS THE U.S.

Premieres January 13 at 8 p.m. ET on PBS

ARLINGTON, VA;DECEMBER 9, 2014– From descendants of the infamous pirate Blackbeard to heroes of the Holocaust, PBS’GENEALOGY ROADSHOWuncovers family secrets in the series’ second season, which premieresTuesday, January 13, 2015, at 8:00 p.m. ET and airs every Tuesdaythrough February 24(check local listings). Part detective stor

Unlock the Past Cruises schedule 2015–16

 

Celebrity Eclipse

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Adelaide, South Australia, 1 December 2014 – Unlock the Past Cruises announces its 2015-16 program of seven history and genealogy cruises – all now booking. Discover more about your family history in great company while visiting great destinations. All who book a cruise during the remainder of 2014 and 2015 are in a draw for $6000 worth of prizes. In addition there are more great prize opportunities on each cruise!

From F

What's on my mind? So much...ancestry DNA led some search angels and I to my biological father...pure elbow grease and dogged determination led to the identity of my birthmother. I now know where my genetic roots lay. A lovely search angel spoke with my birthmother a little while ago, apparently she's kept up with medical info for me , and asked for my name and number. I'm hoping she does reach out to my little family at some point, if for no other reason than to share that info...to everyone se

This  morning I got a post from Audrey Stetson from InDepth.  Linkedin.com area for responding.

Audrey posted about Free On line Courses offered by  BYU Independent Study.

Where has this information been?  At least it has been found and exposed.  So I am saying to you all

Free Online Courses - BYU Independent Study

Check this out and take advantage of it.  Some very interesting topics are being presented.

facebook.com/BYUIS

Audrey Stetson Thanks.

NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300

Arlington, VA 22204-4370

Phone 703-525-0050 or 800-473-0060

Fax 703-525-0052 

Phone: 703-525-0050 ext. 221                                                                                                                   

cholmes@ngsgenealogy.org                                                                                                                 

For Release: 1 December 2014

Registration Open fo

 Going to try a different approach, this time.  I have three siblings all younger than I am. 

  One sorta interested in genealogy, the rest, I am not sure about. 

  I did learn that they all are somewhat interested in the medical side of our history for themselves or

 for their children.  Why people are not excited to learn about our medical background leaves me dumbfounded.

 Any time we can prevent or forestall having a disease, we owe it to ourselves and family to do it. Is my feelings so

strongl

My great-great-grandmother was Elizabeth Szilagyi, she was born 11 Feb 1853 (according to the obituary found in a Michigan newspaper).  Her parents were listed on her death certificate as Teme Szilagyi and Ersebet Cauka.  Elizabeth married Sgimond or Zsigmond Bertalan between 1872 and 1874 (census gives her age of first marriage as 20)  in Hungary.  Zsigmond died before 1910 because on the ship record for their son Imre, he lists his mother, the widow Zsigmond Bertalan.

Elizabeth and Zsigmond hav

 The Holiday is here, though our world does not show it.

  Wishing you all the best that we can make it.

  Hoping your Thanksgiving is thankful and rewarding for all that we have.

  Thanks for dropping by, do come by again.

The next few years were spent getting to know people.  There was the day my dad's older sister came to the house.  She was the first one we connected with.  She lived only two hours away.  She didn't tell us her last name or any personal information.  Everyone was scared.  What will they think of us?  Will they want something from us?  And then she walked in the door and 45 years of separation started to melt away - awkwardly at first, but then in front of me I saw a 14 year old girls who had ra

  Today, Shirley Becker gave a small presentation on phishing. Telling members what damage it can do and what to look for in your emails or phone calls.  Remember a bank will never email you data a Phishing person asks, if in doubt, first always call the bank and ask. I myself have never found the bank to do this and they say it is not their policy  to email you for the types of information Phishing people ask.

  1. You can call your bank and verify if they sent it.  

  2. You can contact what e

After my dad said "Is it you," there was silence.  I don't think it was probably more than a couple of seconds, but it felt like days.  And then I heard something amazing.  "Oh my God, Terry, how the hell are ya?"  Guess what?  Terry had been in contact with everyone?  For twenty years!  I spoke with Terry that night, which, by the way, was a feeling I can't put into words.  He told me he heard dad say "My name is Jerry," and he didn't hear anything else.  He knew it was his brother.  By the end

  What did I collect as a youth?, is more like what did  I  not collect.  First it was Butterflies. I had 7 boards of butterflies.'

  Then I have always collected rocks, ie gems, minerals and those types of things. I even when an adult learned to cut, 

  polish and mount some of my collection.  Did you know you can once in a long while find a rough diamond at the 

  beach?  My Uncle found on on Stinson Beach in the 1950's.  Therefore I also collected sea shells, until I went to Hawaii

and they lost

My dad's next trip was to the Annie Wittenmyer Home.  It had not been an orphanage for many years and had been turned into a library.  Dad walked the grounds and pointed out which dormitory was his and which was his brother's and sisters'.  He reminisced, not fondly, about the house mothers.  They went inside and asked if there was anything left from the orphanage days.  There was one, small file with a notebook in it.  Every year, the home held a reunion for former kids and employees.  In the n

I have to start by saying I understand the premise of adoption law.  It protects birth parents, adoptive parents and children.  It has, however, become the bane of my existence.  A very nice lady named Kim, who worked in the adoption office verified that she was looking at my dad's file.  She verified there was information on all seven children.  She read some basic, descriptive information - my grandfather was a tall, angular man -  just enough to leave us wanting more before adoption law shut

Fast forward to 2001.  I have graduated from college and moved back home.  I was working full-time.  All of the sudden my dad ends up in emergency heart surgery.  Always a fast healer, he bounced back fairly quickly.  I've always heard that being faced with your own mortality can change your life, but I was hoping he'd quite smoking, eat healthier, etc.  I had no idea his surgery would change his MIND.  One day, out of the blue and very matter of factly, he says "I'm going to find my brothers an

New information has been shared about this lovely family. If you have seen his home in Rhode Island you would be amazed with it's size and quality. He even imprinted his initials in the chimney of the house. You can still see it today.

A distant cousin shared some great information on the JONES lineage from Christopher Jones Jr down and we are looking for other descendants to help fill in the blanks.  

In case you think  you may be related do not hesitate to leave an email address. SusiCO@cox.net