Hard to keep head in the game

With the complexity of the day, it is really hard to keep my head in the game and do any research at all.    News from the Middle East and Missouri keep creeping into my 'need to know' and I find myself diverting.   The Middle East is just scary.   Missouri reports remind me of Detroit in 1967 -- I was there.   It is very sad.   I can only hope that when things settle down, they take a good hard look at what were the true underlying causes and address them with all the effort possible.   This was not done in Detroit; bandaids were applied.   And the rest is history.   Forty-seven years later and still trying to come back.

DNA -- Test Results

I really need to take the time to figure out what they mean.   I have paid for the big 3 and now I am getting matches, but have no idea of what to do next.    This is a bigger project than I anticipated.   I should have done a LOT more research before I jumped in with both feet and my checkbook!   Stay tuned as I try to make heads of tails of these results.  #DNAresults #GenealogyResearch

It will never happen to me ....

Just got back from my parents' house in #Downriver #Detroit.   This was the first day I could get there after the #RainCausedFloodsOf2014 hit Detroit and flooded all of the roadways.   A number of freeways were under 14 to 15 feet of water.   I kept reading on FaceBook about the streets and homes in my old home town being flooded and I was really concerned about my parents' home.  I have been cleaning the house out after my father's death, so there were no records or photos or other critical heirloom objects down in the basement - but, there were a couple of months ago.   We really need to think about what kind of media we store and how and were we store it.    My parents' have had that house for 65 years and the basement has never flooded.   But, there could have been a first time.   This was supposed to have been the largest storm to hit the are in recorded weather keeping.  

So, think about all your stuff and where it is kept.   I know I intend to rethink a lot of what I have and what I will be bringing in from my parents' home.

Time, Time, Time -- I want to find more time

Why can't I find time to go back in time to find my ancestors?   It seems that both life and death are getting in the way.   I never really understood the demands placed on the poor Executor of an estate until I had to become one as my father didn't quite pack everything up into the family trust and now I get to go around the Probate pole.   I am fortunate that I have a lawyer that moves things along and there is not a lot of wait time -- but then I could use some time.   Creating an inventory of possessions that need to be divided among family members and trying to identify where each of the treasures originated is really time consuming.

So, if you have a number of family #heirlooms be sure that there is a record of their origin that someone (your next of kin) can find when you are gone.   Otherwise, it is anyone's guess and your children just might toss out great grandma's rocker that if they had only known.    And if you think sharing this information with your children though they years as they are growing up is all that is needed, WRONG.  You might get lucky and one of them remember what each of the items are, but there is no guarantee that is the one that is going to sort though your stuff.   #WRITE IT DOWN! #MAKE IT FINDABLE!

Just a side note.   Make sure you store the SIGNED copy of your will with in a bank safe deposit box that your executor has access to enter. Do not get fancy and stash it where no one can find it.   A copy of the will that says signature on file is worthless.

#end of rant Tuesday

So, it is VJ day and it has meaning in the family.

It is VJ day, in 1945 horns were blaring, church bells were pealing, and my great grandmother, Effie Clarissa Lee Weaver was being laid to rest.  But, that is just the beginning of the story.   Effie had purchased a six grave plot in the near by cemetery - one spot for her husband, Lemuel, one for herself, one for her beloved son, Lee, one for his wife, and one each for Lee's two daughters.   As the family lore goes, on the way home from the cemetery on that noisy day, my grandmother turned to my grandfather and said, "Lee, tomorrow we go out and buy our own cemetery plot somewhere else because I am not spending all eternity at that woman's feet".   Now, to understand, Grandma never raised her voice or really spoke harshly.   So, without a doubt, they did go out the next day and purchase their own plot in a different cemetery.  

Apparently, my father had a better relationship with his mother-in-law than my grandmother did.   My parents purchased a plot and have been interred head to head with my mother's parents.


#Odd Family Stories #VJ Day

OK, Get a copy of the Will and other documents WHILE THEY ARE ALIVE

For everyone dealing with trying to figure out a deceased relative's affairs, I feel your pain.   My parents created a joint trust to protect their assets.   When asked they swore everything was in the trust less the cars.   They had moved the house and all their stock holdings and everything was ready to avoid a long drawn out probate.   Well, they failed to keep the signed copies of any of the wills created in the Trust.   So, luckily, I found wills create 11 years prior.   At least we are entering Probate with a will.   But, they sort of forgot to file the quit claim on the house to move it into the trust.   Hence, we are going into probate instead of filing a simple small estate form to cover a 14 year old car.

No matter how disrespectful, it may seem, ask to see the signed documents, make copies, and then ask exactly where they are going to keep them (what bank's safe deposit box that you are a signer to access).  

At least my father will leave a paper trail in the probate system for future generations.....

DNA Is Back

OK, the results of my first attempt at a spit in the vial DNA test came back.  Did it through ancestry.com.  Found out Grandma was spoofin about being part American Indian.  The rest was no big surprise.  Until I got an email from the husband of a woman who is supposed to be my first or second cousin.   She does not know who her biological father is.  Sunames for her mother do not match.  I have no known male uncles.  I smell a family scoundrel!   A genealogist dream.