In part 4, I talked about some general categories of conspirators both intentional and unintentional, internal and external. With care and feeding the conspiracy gains a life of its own. Fear maintains it across time and allows it to continue well beyond its usefulness. By its nature, it can manipulate otherwise nice enough people, into …
In part 3 I talked a little about how a genealogist can get sucked into the conspiracy and find that their environment and priorities have suddenly changed. The addition of barriers transforms the journey and things can become very serious and very personal. These barriers to summary information, unintentionally create a dogged pursuer. At this point, …
In Part 2 I wrote about the unintended consequences of attempts to hide information. Abnormal behavior surrounding mundane information gets more attention than a simple answer would have. I talked a little about how DNA exposed another layer of deception in our family. A repeated pattern, like ripples in a pond, the stone that started it …
Again, a bit of a warning on content, these posts are kind of dark. I’m writing about the people, events and circumstances that conspire to hide information. In part one, using my aunt as an example, I talked a bit about how a little fudgery goes a long way and can have unintended consequences. A …
I’ve touched on this before, but I wanted to devote some real time to it. I want to come up with something a little more thoughtful than my usual angry rants (which I usually delete when thinking more clearly). Here is the forewarning then, I’m going to talk about things that are hidden, dark, mysterious …
Everybody’s existence depends on the actions, interactions and decision trees of the people who came before them. That isn’t unique. What I think is unique is the perspective on existence available to the family historian. My aunt Cheryl died at the end of August. Her visitation (she didn’t want a funeral) was on the 8th …
Everyone has two family trees. One is a paper trail tree. That tree lives in documentation, court records, land ownership, family bibles and the almighty census. The other tree is a genetic tree, built from the DNA of your ancestors that lives on in you. The two trees may or may not coincide for …
In Ancestry DNA and the Awful Feeling of Awfulness I found that I had a fairly close genetic relative with Elmore in their username. Since our Y DNA is Elmer and I’ve targeted the Peoria Elmores as our likely family, finding an Elmore was pretty exciting…until the whole “hidden tree” thing came up. That led …