Author: Dan

28 Jul

Posted at 10:40h in Newsletter

ANCESTRY TREE! THE FIRST BIG CASE FOR THE SECRET SERVICE INVOLVED THE GERMAN NAVY LANDING 85,000 TROOPS IN NEW JERSEY TO SURROUND NEW YORK CITY During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson directed the Secretary of the Treasury to have the Secret Service investigate possible espionage inside the United States. He wanted the Service to uncover and disrupt a German sabotage network that was believed to be plotting against France, England, and the United States. As a result, an 11-man counter-espionage unit was established in New York City. Their most publicized investigation concerned the activities of Dr. Heinrich Albert and his...

13 Jul

Posted at 22:02h in Newsletter

WHY GENEALOGISTS WERE IMPORTANT TO CHRISTIANITY IN EARLY EUROPE Consanguinity is the characteristic of kinship with another person (being descended from a common ancestor). Many jurisdictions prohibit people who are related by blood from marrying or having sexual relations with each other. The degree of consanguinity that gives rise to this prohibition varies from place to place. Such rules are also used to determine the heirs of an estate according to statutes that govern intestate succession. In some places and periods, cousin marriage is allowed or even encouraged; in others, it is taboo and considered incest. The degree of relative consanguinity can be...

30 Jun

Posted at 12:47h in Newsletter

  GENEALOGISTS KNOW THAT AMERICA ONCE INVADED RUSSIA? The United States Invasion of Russia Was a Yearlong Freezing Hell for the Troops Fighting a war in Russia during the winter is never a good idea, and yet time and again, people keep trying. The United States is as guilty of it as Napoleon was. In November of 1918, much of the world was jubilantly celebrating the end of World War I, the "war to end all wars." As those celebrations caught the attention of newspapers and newsreels all over the United States, there was one group of Americans whose war hadn't yet ended. Around 5,000...

16 Jun

Posted at 11:00h in Newsletter

FINDING YOUR FAMILY TREE- NOW HERE IS HOW YOU DECORATE! I came across this Sultan Family Tree with Osman I- Abdulhamid I (27 Ottoman emperors) at Gripsholms Castle in Mariefred, Sweden. Not where you expect to discover such an item necessarily. And speaking of family trees, I came across the story below FINDING YOUR FAMILY TREE - DAD, QUIT STARING AT MY FIANCE! Herman Wrangel came to Sweden around 1608. In 1612, he participated in the Kalmar War against Denmark. In 1619, Wrangel was commander of the Älvsborg fortress. He was appointed Field Marshal in 1621, Privy Councillor in 1630, and Governor-General of...

01 Jun

Posted at 18:13h in Ancestry Explained

ANCESTORS THAT DON'T LOOK A DAY OVER 112! World's Oldest Living Man Is Nearly 113, Has 41 Grandchildren and Enjoys a Popular Drink 'Every Day' This Venezuelan man is almost 113 years young! Juan Vicente Pérez Mora, who is 112 years and 355 days old as of Tuesday, was just named the oldest living man by Guinness World Records. "My dad is in very good health," daughter Nelyda Perez, one of his 11 children, told the record-keeping organization. "He does not suffer from any disease that requires medical treatment." "The whole family is very grateful," she added. The supercentenarian, who is the ninth of 10 children,...

20 May

Posted at 09:52h in Newsletter

OBSERVATIONS ON ABORTION FROM THE 1700'S With the recent controversy surrounding Roe vs. Wade, I thought I would see what our ancestors debated in earlier newspaper articles (remember, back then, “s” was written as “f”) in regard to abortion. Instead, I found the article above that argued that requiring a marriage license with a 30-day parish residency requirement would result in more abortions. I also found an article that earlier in the story mentions “the people west of Hudson’s Bay” (that also says the same custom in Formosa, which is present-day Taiwan). The article discusses their traditions related to induced abortion, but...

05 May

Posted at 21:56h in Newsletter

IT'S NOT EASY TO BE HUGH! While searching for ancestors, I discovered that HUGH V of Lusignan my 33rd Great Grandfather married Almodis (her tomb at right) who was born about 1020 and was famous for her marriage career. They married about 1038 and they divorced due to consanguinity (meaning that they were close cousins of some sort). She later, with HUGH V's assistance, married Count Pons of Toulouse in 1040. Almodis was still Pons' wife in April 1053, when she was abducted by Count Ramon Berenguer I of Barcelona. Ramon kidnapped her from Narbonne with the aid of a fleet sent north...

23 Apr

Posted at 16:20h in Newsletter

  RIGHTING A WRONG AFTER 600 YEARS Most people have heard of the expression "the Spanish Inquisition". There was also a Portuguese Inquisition. The major target of the Inquisition were those who had converted from Judaism to Catholicism, the Conversos (also known as New Christians or Marranos), who were suspected of secretly practicing Judaism. Many of these were originally Spanish Jews who had left Spain for Portugal when Spain forced Jews to convert to Christianity or leave. The number of victims is estimated at around 40,000. I was made aware that Portugal will now let those that can prove their descent from those...

09 Apr

Posted at 11:15h in Newsletter

WOW, 109 BILLION PEOPLE HAVE LIVED AND DIED! Dancestors Genealogy has discovered and preserved 131,000 people in our research over the last seven years, so we still have a lot of work to get them all into a family tree! DANCESTORS IS DOING ITS PART TO TRAIN THE NEXT GENERATION OF GENEALOGISTS AND SPECIFICALLY FORENSIC GENEALOGISTS Christy Walton and I recently had the opportunity to present to Career Day in the local school district, where 30 Forensics students asked excellent questions about our work. Will these future Crime Scene Investigators solve future big cases using a bit of what they learned from Dancestors? The Forensic...

26 Mar

Posted at 11:14h in Newsletter

THE NELSON STATUES, from left we have a statute of Lord Admiral Viscount Horatio Nelson, hero of Trafalgar in London, next in Dublin before and after the bombing, and the Spire that replaced the statue. I am sorry for skipping last week, but we were traveling to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day and we were really busy. My brother told me that before I headed to Ireland for the St Patrick's Day Parade to not use my surname in Dublin as people there hated Nelson, the hero of the English. I said, "but we're Swedish Nelson's, not English." He said it...

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