HOW THIS ALL STARTED FOR ME
written by our Chief Researcher
It was back in 1981 just after I had returned from my second tour in Europe when during a discussion with my mom about our heritage, my dad piped up and asked why I wasn't researching his bloodline. I explained to him that I knew nothing about his life and that he had never offered anything about his heritage. He promptly told me stories of growing up in Ohio then gave me an address of a relative of his, Louise, in Florida who could probably tell me more about the Mahaney family. He wanted me to find out all I could and share it with our family (my siblings). Interestingly, he almost sounded as though he would like to know more, too.
In '82 I was assigned to Maryland and finally wrote Louise and was quite surprised to receive a letter from her. At that time she was 82 years old, but her memory was sharp as a tack and verified much of what I had already found. She answered all my questions, added more info of her own, and I soon sat out on a trek through time...in the basement of the National Archives in Washington D.C. At that time I was assigned duty in D.C. which also gained me access to all the Federal Buildings in the nation.
Soon it happened that I somehow stumbled on some information that totally threw me. I immediately contacted my dad and told him that I had found records that showed that he had been adopted. To my amazement, he was actually glad I had found out and proceeded to tell me all he knew about it. The stories were quickly followed by a letter with photo copies of his adoption papers and original birth certificate. Wow, talk about a shock.
Due to longer and longer trips out of the state, I finally told my dad that I no longer had the time to continue pursuing my genealogy quest and explained that I didn't feel right about telling my brothers and sister about his past. He wanted me to tell everyone what I had found, and in his typical Irish way he was utterly delighted that all my information was right on the mark. But I didn't like being put on the hot spot because I had been there several times growing up and didn't care for the animosity it created in my siblings. But Dad pleaded with me to tell them. He felt it would be better if I did.
Well...I finally did tell my siblings which did exactly what I thought it would do...it sent them into orbit! My dad was wrong and I was right...they didn't take it well at all. One brother contacted my dad and was quite put out that my dad had been adopted and never told anyone. Long story short, that brother copped a really terrible attitude about it and forever held it against my dad. That's the dark side of discovery. The light side is that my dad felt glad that the truth was finally out.
The other dark side of discovery is that the person doing the discovery is the one who will be nailed to the cross. Oh well, as far as I am concerned, it is the family's loss that they had such a negative attitude toward my dad's past. He had a good reason for not telling anyone and that's all I know and care about. Who am I to judge his reasoning? Who are any of us to judge?
Because of all the family drama, I droped any further investigation into our heritage. That was back in 1984. Sadly, my dad died in 1997 so his past instantly became another blank. Sadder still, my mother didn't seem to know or care about knowing anyone in her own family, which added another blank to the family tree. By now the family tree looked more like a family sprig and with only a sparse few leaves on it...and there seemed no hope of ever finding out more. Then, I did probably the most stupid thing I've ever done in my life and I gave up on our heritage and sent the box of family photos, the ONLY family photos, to my sister, not realizing I'd never see them again. There are very descriptive words to describe just how stupid I was, but I'll spare you the insult. It's hard enough for me to face it as it is.
Then in the summer of this year, 2008, my second cousin and I were talking (email) about her putting her dad's side of her tree on a web site (Ginkins), and the subject once again came up, "Who was Mack and Fonnie Clauson? and what happened to them?" It seems those were very common questions in my family when growing up. I had a bit of spare time on my hands and decided to dabble on the internet to see if any Clauson families had the answers. Sadly, no one did.
But I knew what I knew, and tried desperately to remember the photos that I sent off, and my grandma Chai's (Kai) explanation of who they were...not that a kid would remember. But I do remember that one of the photos were of Fonnie and his sisters Jennie and Katie. It had been taken back in the 20's I believe. And I had scanned it, thank heavens. I had wanted to scan all the photos but only did 5 before sending them off. By the way, my grandma Chai had once told me that I looked just like Katie and Jennie...that I definitely had the Clauson look. That always stuck with me.
With my cousin's prodding, I decided to pursue researching my/our families, and for some odd reason I was obsessed with finding out who Fonnie was and what happened to Mack as well. I started searching and after countless hours and days I finally came across Ancestry.com and found a "Civil War" record for Samuel L Clauson. Ironically, that was another photo I had, of Samuel L and Nancy Clauson (with their names on it no less). After searching, using several spellings of Clauson I found a census for them. That photo and that one precious census proved that Sam and Nancy were my great-grandparents. SHOCK!!!! I suddenly had family beside the Flygstad's (my maternal grandmother, Chai Lena's family). And on that same Clauson census was McClellan (Mack) and Fonrse (Fon Rose or Fonnie). Fon Rose was of course misspelled, but it got me on the scent and that's all I needed.
Now I was fired up and set free. My tail was wagging from my new found exhilaration, my nose glued to the ground and my ears were wafting the scent into my nostrils and straight through to my genetically tuned brain cells. The tiny sparks of my DNA had instantly been fanned into a prairie fire and I was ready for the walk on bare, hot coals. It would be a giant leap instead! That's how it all started.
The next phase of this Crazy Trip Through Time will be picked up in the Preparation for Research article.
ARTICLES INDEX | ORPHAN TRAINS
