Welcome (Back) to Unsolved Histories!

Welcome to Unsolved Histories!  I’m Liesa Healy-Miller, and this is my forensic genealogy practice.  I specialize in cases with legal implications – lost or missing heir search, quiet title research, adoption search, and more.

The name is new, but the business is not.  I’ve worked as a professional genealogist for several years now – tracing people throughout Southern New England and beyond. 

I’ve skittered along the East Coast, plunged into the depths of the Deep South, and traversed the pond to Dublin.  There I searched for names in record books shredded by bullets during the Irish Civil War.  How cool is that?  Love what I do!

Ironically, though, it was the depth and breadth of my searches – both real and virtual – that helped me to narrow my career focus.   While I love tracing the past, I wanted to do more than just reconstruct a family’s history.

Don’t get me wrong – tracing family history is painstaking, important work.  And it definitely affects living descendants – hopefully in positive ways. 

But I crave impact.  As a former TV reporter, I guess I haven’t overcome the need to see and feel the results of my work.  In my former calling, the payoff from the work could be swift and dramatic.  And I produced something tangible every day – my story, airing each night on the six o’clock news.

Impact?  Drama?  If that’s what I want, why choose genealogy?  There’s no nightly deadline, and the world is definitely not watching.  By its nature, the work is often ploddingly slow, meticulous, and filled with attention to minute detail.  It can also be maddeningly frustrating.  And solitary.

So why am I doing this?  And why forensic genealogy, specifically?

In this business, the payoff is not usually swift.  But with age comes patience, and the willingness to wait for those twin payoffs of impact and drama. 

And, with patience, I still get those payoffs - the thrill of the chase, the challenge of tackling an unsolved mystery, and – most importantly – that feeling of passion for my work that comes straight from the soul.

In this context, “drama” means finding that elusive heir.  Or telling that adoptee: “I’ve found your birthmother, and she’s dying to meet you.”   Talk about having an impact on someone’s life.

In my spare time, it’s helping to identify unclaimed remains, or

offering advice on how to solve the seemingly unsolvable historical mystery.

I like “Unsolved Mysteries” as a business name – but that phrase will forever conjure images of Robert Stack in a trench coat.  That show will live on in reruns for the rest of our natural lives – and beyond.  It’s safe to say that name is taken.

Instead, I’ve chosen a different new name for my same old venture: Unsolved Histories.  “History” is often used as a collective term.  But we all have our own histories.  They are unique to us, and only us.  

The plural form of that word honors that sense of singularity, the intricate twists and turns that each life takes.   And my passionate quest to untangle those threads - to solve the family mysteries that cross my life’s path.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

"Rolling in the Deep"

Wow.  Just spotted a fascinating article in today's Boston Globe:  DNA testing is helping archaeologists gain clues about ancient civilizations!

http://b.globe.com/yU4KiP

I find it amazing that sea water acts as a preservative for DNA.  One would think the detritus in these ancient jugs would have washed away underwater - not so.  According to the article, the DNA more likely would have been corrupted if it had been exposed to contaminants in the open air.

One researcher quoted in the article "pooh poohs" the importance of these finds, stating that researchers already had an idea about the contents of these jugs prior to DNA testing.

Even so, I believe this is a critical development.  Who knows what else may be uncovered by these tests - not just in these vessels, but at myriad ancient sites?

Still, this development is, in my opinion, extremely important - if for no other reason than it opens our minds about the myriad applications of DNA technology for historians, archaeologists, and yes, genealogists.

Can you think of new applications of DNA testing that would develop a fuller picture of your ancestors' lives?  Feel free to share them below!

2012 Not-So-Serious Gen Resolutions

Happy New Year to you all!

I know that lots of folks are crafting their gen-resolutions for the coming year...making their lists, and checkin' 'em twice.

Actually, many have actually posted them already....ahem, on TIME, on New Year's Day.  And here I am, a day later...doesn't bode well for that resolution to organize, huh?!

Withut further ado, here's my Letterman-style list of Top Ten Gen Resolutions (in no particular order):

10)  If a long lost cousin should contact me, and the caller ID reads "state prison",  I will not accept the charges (no matter how many family pictures he might claim to have).

9)  I will gather DNA samples to see if the Kardashians are distantly related to Paris Hilton's pocket dog.  

8)  I will recognize - by the glazed look in their eyes - that some of my own family members are no longer interested in hearing about their own family history.  Then I'll talk about it anyway.

7)  I will never, ever wear a T-shirt that says "I Heart Microfiche" (OK, maybe just not out of the house).

6)  I will not attempt to make a profit at genealogy (duh, that's easy)!

5)  I will not get annoyed at the relative who keeps asking, "So, how's the geology going?"

4)  If attending a seance, I will make any spirits who come forward prove their relation to me.

3)  I will not attend cocktail parties where people have lively discussions about the proper use of footnotes.

2)  When attending a gen conference, I will never tote a suitcase full of records large enough to hold a dead ancestor (or two).

And the Number One Gen Resolution for 2012 is....(drum roll)...

1)  To prove that Ryan Seacrest is capable of replicating himself.

PLEASE...if you're true friends, I expect you to keep after me, and make sure I stick with this.  I need to accomplish things that give my life meaning on this planet.  Thanx!

Conclusion: Case of the Found Cremains

During our last installment, I told you about a box containing old photos and cremains, which had washed ashore on Pavilion Beach in Gloucester, MA.  I had eagerly called the man who had written up the story for the web site of CAPS - Cape Ann Paranormal Society.

Within an hour or two, he called me back.  I was on fire, ready to delve into solving this case.

Imagine my disappointment when I learned that the mystery had been solved - about three years ago!

Actually, it was a bit of a no-brainer.  The name of the decedent, a man from Vermont, was right on the box - as well as the name of the funeral home which had cremated him.  Gloucester Police called the establishment, which returned the box to the family.

Apparently, they had decided to cast his ashes onto the ocean - from a boat, I'm assuming.  However, they left the cremains inside the box - probably because they wanted those pictures to stay with him.  (I wonder if the infant depicted him as a child - or perhaps it was his child, lost too young?)

The ending to the story had already been written, but that doesn't mean there's not a punch line here.

After telling me the story, the CAPS member said to me, "It's so weird that you should call today.  I haven't thought of that box in a while.  Just last night, I was walking along that beach with my daughter, and she said, 'Dad, isn't that where you found that box with the ashes inside'?"

As far as I know, this macabre package has not washed up again.  This time, hopefully, the family took the ashes out of the box before casting them into the sea - and saved the precious pictures for themselves.

The Case of the Found Cremains

When I learned of this story, I was still wearing shorts, lathering up with sunscreen, and wading in the waters of Good Harbor Beach.  Now, the leaves have fallen, and the water's turned cold (or, I should say, colder, since it never really gets warm here in New England).

But intriguing stories have little or no shelf life; when I worked in TV news, these are the stories we would call "evergreens" - good for any occassion, they were stacked on the shelf and ready to roll at a moment's notice.  So, as we used to say back then, "roll tape"...

No matter where I go, I usually do a bit of research - just for fun - to see where the local haunts are near my vacation spot.  Yes, "haunts" - as in, places where ghostly spectres are rumored to roam.

Last August, while sipping coffee on the back deck of our Gloucester rental, I came across the web page for the "Cape Ann Paranormal Society" (CAPS).  One story in particular caught my eye.  A CAPS member had been strolling by another beach in town when he made a bizarre discovery.

He happened to glance down at the shoreline, and there was a battered black box.  Curious, he clambered down for a look.  On the cover was an address in faded ink.  Yards of clear packing tape had been wound around the box, over and over again, in an attempt to secure it from the elements.

Yet the box had broken open; two soggy photos peered out.  Inside was still another container - and it held human cremains.

My chair crashed forward.  I spit out my coffee.  A case!  Maybe I could trace these remains and help return them to the owner!  I Googled the CAPS member and eagerly dialed his number...

Remember how I mentioned I was in the TV business?  Tradition dictates that you let the interest of the audience reach a crescendo - then break for commercials.

To Be Continued....

(Photo taken by CAPS)

Committing "Blogicide"

Have you considered committing "blogicide"?  Many genealogists have, at one point or another.  Just yesterday, I contemplated just that.  My blog had lain dormant for over (egad!) three months.  I almost decided to end it all (virtually, that is), but then I felt a weak pulse returning.  It's alive!  A quick infusion of words and witticisms, and it's up and running again.

Then today, I see an article on just this topic.  It details when to revive a blog, and when to put it out of its (and your) misery.

I'll jump the gun a bit here.  The article states that if your blog doesn't generate business, you should dump it.  I disagree with that.  You may never get a call that says, "Hey, I saw your blog.  Now I want to hire you."  Life seldom works that way.

Yet if you advertise (on your biz card, across s.m. platforms) that you are active in social media, current or past clients may well check you out.  When they have a chance to refer someone, who do you think they'll refer?

That's right - the person who can be considered a "thought leader", because he or she is out there, day in/day out, commenting, learning, and engaging with the world.

But I'll let you read and decide:  http://bit.ly/vvMUqw
Any thoughts on this?  Please post.
PS - The term "committing blogicide" was coined by Kathleen Pierce, the article's author.
PPS - The suicide analogy in the first paragraph is by no means meant to disrespect the notion of actual suicide, a very serious topic indeed.

No Excuses!

Not I, said I, as I clacked away on my keyboard.  I will not be one of those people who starts a blog, then abandons it.  Or posts only once every couple of months.  Why do people DO that?  Why do they even start blogs if they don't keep them current?

Now I know why people do that.  Travel. Work. Family. Life!  That's why they - and I - don't always keep up with their blogs.  Life happens.

And before you know it, you're staring at your blog, and it's staring back at you.  Actually, I feel that it's glaring back at you - or, at least, the date is.  The date of the last post, over three months ago.  Sigh.

Okay, fellow bloggers, clue me in here.  How do you all find the time and motivation to keep up with your blogs?  I really do love to write, but I hate the pressure of coming up with fresh, intriguing material three or so times per week. 

But I'm back, and I'll do my best to check in far more often from now on.  Promise.

Did you hear that life?  Now don't stand in my way.  Right.  I'm just as likely to see ___________ (fill in your absurdity of choice here).