Adoption and DNA featured at Genealogy Exposition in Oct.

Last week we made a quick trip out to Colorado and I got to spend time with my aunt and uncle, Stan and Erna Martin. We had a grand time, laughed a lot and reminisced about when my uncle moved to McCook from Oxford, working for the C B & Q Railroad. He and my aunt got married (they had dated since he was 14 and she 13) and she joined him in McCook. I asked where the houses and apartments were located that they lived in and Uncle Butch (our family name for him) could name them all and who their landlords were at the time. The best part of seeing these two are the hugs you get ….hugs when you arrive, hugs when you leave, big smiles the whole time you are with them. I left Tuesday afternoon encased by the love that I have always felt when I am around them.

My uncle had gotten some rather bad health news shortly before my visit but you would have never known that spending time with him. I had put off making the trip several times because as we all know, life seems to just keep getting busier every year or whatever excuse we all seem to find for not keeping in touch. Lesson learned dear readers. My cousin messaged me late that next night to let me know that my Uncle Butch had passed away. I am so blessed that I got that last hug and big smile from a man that was a huge influence in my life.

Now for some genealogy notes! We are already working on our Oct. 14, 2018 Genealogy Exposition and I am really excited about the format for this year: Adoptions and DNA. The morning session will cover Nebraska and surrounding states adoption laws; searching for adoptees or birth parents; records and information available. The afternoon session will cover Autosomal DNA in reference to adoptees searching for birth parents and what DNA can and cannot help them discover.

I know this isn’t a new website but it’s new to me and I think I might find it handy if I ever have time to complete all the steps necessary to make this site useful to my searches. Go to www.lostcousins.com and take a look at what they offer on this free site. This actually seems to be a site you should work on when you have snow falling so tuck it away in your memory bank for that kind of day. Once you register, you go to the census sites listed and find your relatives then go back to the site and enter their names, census date, film number, age, etc. I got exactly two direct ancestors registered and then did a search for “cousins,” working on the same person’s history. This took about 45 minutes so you can understand how long it might be to get everyone you want to connect with into your family history on that site!

Here’s a bit of railroading history from the Omaha Daily Bee, March 1, 1888: “Strikers arrested at McCook. By the assistance of some fifty Pinkerton officials who arrive this morning in charge of Captain Foley of Omaha, the company succeeded in getting out three passenger trains-one west and two east. All day these men have patrolled the yard, watching everyone venturing near the depot. District Attorney Pritchard of Omaha, Deputy U.S. Marshall Stewart of Omaha, and Commissioner Tanner, of Hastings, came in this morning to arrest several strikers on the charge of interfering with the U. S. mail. They were taken to Hastings this afternoon for examination. Everything is quiet among the strikers. No interfering with the company men, but as yet the company has no competent engineers running trains.”

Wednesday is open library day, 110 West C, Suite M-3, from 1-4 PM. Join us for help with your research!