I'm on the orphan heirloom trail again! If this concept is new to
you, it's when folks write to me
(http://honoringourancestors.com/HiQFM/apply_orphan.html) about items
that have come into their possession, but don't belong to their
family. I do the detective work to track down the family of origin,
they kindly return the item, and then I write about the rescue. If
you're curious, I invite you to browse through these earlier rescues.
The Greening Bible
This time out, we're dealing with a Bible. I received the following
message from Shari Mockensturm:
The mother of a friend of mine somehow acquired another
family's Bible back in the forties. Since Eleanor "GI" (Webb)
Johnson (nicknamed "GI" because she served in the Women's
Army Corps) is now in a nursing home, she turned the Bible
over to her daughter, Carolyn, who then turned it over to me
in the hope that I could locate a descendant.
I have traced the family forward to cousins Hartwell M.
(Melvin?) GREENING, b. 30 Jan 1905 in Toledo, Lucas Co., OH,
d. 14 Nov 1961 in Los Angeles Co., CA, and Alfred P.
GREENING, b. 2 Mar 1898 in MO, d. 21 Apr 1964 in Placer Co.,
CA.
I would greatly appreciate some help in locating a GREENING
descendant of one of these men so that we can give the Bible
to them. (It also has some wonderful family photographs in
it.) I have no connection with the GREENING family, but as a
family history researcher, I know how thrilled I would be if
someone returned a family heirloom to me.
Hmmm . . . this was intriguing. Another family's Bible kept since the
1940s? Better yet, Shari had already done much of the sleuthing. I
just had to find a way to bridge the last half-century or so. The
hunt was on!
A Running Start
One of my favorite search tactics is finding youngsters in the 1930
census, and that's exactly what I did in this case. I located Alfred
Greening in Sacramento, California, with his wife and a daughter.
Equipped with the daughter's name (in the interest of privacy, I'm
leaving some names out) and the fact that she was born in California,
I went to the California Birth Index, 1905-1995 and quickly plucked
her out.
She was born in 1922, so I was hoping she was alive. But after
entering her first name and exact birth date in the Social Security
Death Index (SSDI), I was
disappointed to find that a likely candidate for the daughter had
passed away in 2004.
Losing Steam
At this point, I hit a brick wall. Try as I might, I couldn't get
traction on the family of this recently deceased woman. How could I
find out if she was Alfred Greening's daughter? As I sometimes do in
these situations, I decided to try going backwards to come forward.
The California Birth Index had kindly given me the maiden name of
Alfred's wife, so I tried searching with her name. That's when the
magic of OneWorldTree became apparent. Although there were no relevant hits on the name in
Ancestry World Tree, OneWorldTree helpfully offered up a possibility.
I took a look, and--yes!--her husband and daughter had the names I
was hoping for!
Back on Track
When I clicked on the daughter's name in OneWorldTree, I realized why
I had stumbled earlier. She had married five times, leaving a
somewhat confusing trail.
So now it was time to return to the California Birth Index to see if
she had any children of her own. I methodically searched under the
surnames of each of her husbands and up popped a single candidate--a
daughter born in the 1940s.
At this point, I tried this granddaughter of Alfred's in the U.S.
Public Records Index and U.S. Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002, but with only partial
success. I could find an address but not a phone number. And when it
comes to orphan rescues, it's a good idea to talk to the person in
question to make sure you've located an actual family member (not to
mention, to get a feel for whether they'd appreciate the family
treasure you have to return!).
Shari on the Case
I snooped around a bit more and managed to locate a phone number for
the father of Alfred's granddaughter. He was crowding ninety, but was
a possible source of information for his daughter's phone number, so
I contacted Shari and presented her with the granddaughter's snail
mail and her father's phone number.
Fortunately, Shari's not the timid type. She picked up the phone and
called the father. As sometimes happens, he was cordial, but
attempted to play gatekeeper, asking Shari to send the Bible to him.
In general, it's best to get the item directly to the target
descendant, so Shari wisely declined his offer. Fortunately, during
the course of their discussion, he mentioned that his daughter had
six children of her own--including a few details that Shari was able
to share with me.
Another Round
Now it was back to the California Birth Index for yet another go. It
took some effort, but working with this index and the public record
and phone databases, I was able to surface a daughter of the daughter
of the daughter of Alfred (follow that?).
Shari got on the phone again, and as she informed me in an e-mail--
SUCCESS! Alfred's granddaughter told Shari that her mother was in a
nursing home with a terminal illness and that she would be "thrilled
to see what has been found on the Greenings!" She also thanked Shari
for not sending the Bible elsewhere, as she didn't believe it would
have found its way to them.
Another Rescue Mission Completed
Thanks to Shari's determination and a dash of bravery (admit it,
cold-calling strangers can be intimidating!), the Greening Bible has
traveled home. If you've got any stranger's family treasures, just
share a few details and maybe yours will be next to travel home!
Postscript: This article is dedicated to Eleanor "GI" (Webb) Johnson
who passed away earlier this year shortly after this rescue was
completed.
About the Author
Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, co-author (with Ann Turner) of Trace Your
Roots with DNA: Using Genetic Tests to Explore Your Family Tree (as
well as In Search of Our Ancestors, Honoring Our Ancestors and They
Came to America), can be contacted through
www.genetealogy.com, www.honoringourancestors.com, and
megansrootsworld.blogspot.com. See the list below for upcoming events where Megan will be speaking:
Details and links to upcoming events
> Comment on this article
Ancestry Daily News
