Combining Blogs

Hey everyone! I'm combining both of my blogs into one to make it easier on me...

If you want to follow me in my combined new home, go to my main blog: Help, I Married A Socialist.

EHJ

The Search For Johnston Copelin

Now that I'm married, happy and settled down, I'm back on the Flora hunt, tracking through her kids...

I'm currently on the hunt for her daughter, who is "off the grid" except for her husband.

This is what I know about Johnston Copelin:

• His parents are named Eudolphus and Ida (Johnston) Copelin. They were quite wealthy and did a ton of international traveling.
• He had a brother named Phillip.
• He went to Yale and was a journalist.
• He died under mysterious circumstances in a hotel room in Lorain, Ohio. His death certificate is next to illegible, so I'm not completely sure of the circumstances.

That's about it.

I don't know if they had kids.

I don't know anything about her.

I'm so confused.

I missed genealogy.

Writing Journey

Yes, I'm still doing genealogy! I've just been very quiet about it thanks to big life changes.

I've also written a book and published it on Kindle. :)

For more information and to read my main blog, go here!

Butch Cassidy

My first blog from my new home is all about something that is hitting the Wyoming (where I now live) papers big - someone in Washington is claiming that Butch Cassidy survived Bolivia.

They're basing this on an old book, called Bandit Invincible, by William T. Phillips, is an autobiography, not a biography and that Phillips was actually the famous criminal living in disguise.

The reasoning is that a) Phillips knew "too much" not to be the famous outlaw and b) William T. Phillips didn't exist until 1908, according to records.

I think it's crap.

He knew alot because he was a friend of the outlaw. That's a "documented" fact.

He didn't exist in records? Alot of other people didn't exist in records. As a genealogist, I know that's not the most documented time period. Also, what if he had a different name at birth? He knew Butch Cassidy, maybe he "worked" with him and then after he retired from the game he changed his name and settled down. It makes perfect sense to me.

I see a story that has been blown up, nothing more.

Excuse My Absence

• I'm having surgery. (Minor!)
• I'm getting married.
• I'm moving.
• I'm going crazy.

I'll be returning in two weeks. :)

FGS 2011

I'm going to FGS 2011 in September! :)

I'm so excited! I intend to register when I have a chance next week and do hotel reservations and all that.

Yay!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Date to Remember

May 29 is the anniversary of my biological maternal grandfather's death. I hesitated to write this post because I don't want to sound bitter. I'm not. I'm over it.

He wasn't a nice man.

My family remembers the better parts of his - his dog and his rose garden and all the damn Barbies he gave me.

They tend to forget the abuse, the knives, the police records with his name on it. The multiple wives, the army of young girlfriends (while he was married to the wives).

There was one wife in particular that stayed and put her life on the line for me once when I was 8. It's a bond she and I shared until Alzheimer's made her forget it; now I'm just another woman who sends her cards in the nursing home. I won't tell her exactly how I know her, ever. Dredging up though memories would hurt her more than enlighten her.

I found out about his death while I was at school. My mom came and told me. I was sad - for her, mostly. At his funeral, I sat like a rock. I wanted to stay and make sure dirt went over his casket, but a relative sort of led me away. Ive seen his headstone once - when we buried his brother, a WWII decorated veteran who kicked ass and took names.

I never called him Grandpa. It just didn't fit.

I'm sure he loved me. The best that kind of man can love anyone. He was an alcoholic and a gambler, which doesn't make him a bad person. He was just really messed up.