As a genealogist, I come across some really odd news items and head-scratching stuff. You never know where someone's line will take you.
And as any genealogist, professional or avocational, you really hope that you uncover something meaty, something really interesting. I have in the past.
But reader, let me tell you, the line that plopped in my lap three weeks ago is beyond anything I ever imagined. Methodism. Intrigue. Adultery. Money. The Gershwin Brothers!
This tree has taken me from Ohio to Nebraska, to Los Angeles, around the world in a boat, Spokane Washington, Cleveland, London, New York, Florida, and Mount Kisco! Multiple marriages! Multiple Divorces!
And a stolen child.
Yes, you heard me - a stolen child.
But the most amazing part of all of this is that two sisters in the middle of all of this, both marry well, and one becomes the husband of one of the most powerful men behind the American Songbook era. So now they are involved with both Gershwins, Lerner & Lowe, Rogers and Hart, Rogers and Hammerstein, etc., and so on.
Things finally normalize, after 1940, but a wow.
Unfortunately, I can't tell much more than that. And my brain is so full that I cannot see to organize any of this. I have taken to writing everything in snippets trying to put my professional hat on. But the hat is way too small at the moment and my head is so full of facts.
AND I don't have a release from my client.
So now I start looking for the stuff that wants to really remain hidden. I can't get my hands on the hearings regarding the stolen child. Even though it happened in the 1920s, it's still a sealed juvenile record. But the other stuff is out there - I just have to figure out where to look.
But wow. Wow indeed.
Oh. My. Lord.
ReplyDeleteCookie's related to... Gloria Vanderbilt! Jx
Not Gloria, darling, but Wallis Warfield Simpson. Tis true. Wallis is a fifth cousin, four times removed.
DeleteSix degrees of separation from the House of Windsor! I'm impressed... Jx
DeleteHow exciting. I had no idea you were a detective. (Cue: The Thompson Twins). This story, so intriguing. I do hope you'll get to share a lot more. Thanks for sharing what you have. Kizzes.
ReplyDeleteI don't do genealogy, but do lots of historical research, and am constantly amazed at how often the most routine inquiry uncovers the most bizarre situations and scandals. Since you mentioned the Rodgers, I do have a kind of fascination for Dorothy Rodgers; she seemed slightly ahead of her time and paid the price for it.
ReplyDelete--Jim
When I lead people through this process, one of the thing I tell them is that the past is far from perfect, and that family stories are swell, and they may be true. But they also only the *truths* that people wanted remembered, true or not.
DeleteAs for historical research - you do find some strange intersections and interactions. Its the tangents that I love.
I would find that fascinating! Just uncovering little gems/nuggets here and there would keep me going. I have always been a curious person. I would assume that back in the time period you are researching one could really hide family things. One could move and reinvent themselves. Just look at Don Draper on Mad Men. He was not the man he portrayed. He assumed the identity of his best friend during the war when he was killed. He even brought his window in on the rouse. Then has the show went on the true life was revealed layer by layer. I wonder if one could do that much subterfuge today with the internet and folks like you.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting, but the twists and turns are exhausting.
DeleteHonestly, it's the Methodist that must be haunting you. It would me....I mean, if I knew what one actually was. I now wish I hadn't gone on vaca two years ago and taken that class w you in Shaker. As it is, I have found stuff out on my side as well.........but not sure I'll discuss in public.
ReplyDeleteOne of my family lines is so wrapped up in the church, it isn't funny.
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