The thrill of a new document found by happenstance – that act sets off tremors through the body of a genuine genealogist. Faith found several. ”Oh, boy – look I’ve got two new cousins!”
Sure enough, there they are: and look – as they are tracked through recent history, they lived in some of the same areas where Faith lived. More research: ”Oh my God – one lived 10 blocks away from me in 1986.” ”Jim, see if you can google and find an e-mail address for them”
Well, as some of you can surmise, further research led to the SSDI: both cousins had died in the last few years. And now they must remain unmet, un-talked with, un-hugged. There would be no sharing of stories, no questions answered, no offspring introduced to each other.
Genealogists all know this facet of our endeavor: where we are literally beside ourselves one minute and crushed with disappointment in the next. And we recognize that it is our very nature to feel the joy of discovery and the tears over the what-could-have-been. The moral of the story: don’t lose touch and keep searching…
- In Memoriam: Joyce Elaine Schaefer Adams, 1933 – 2010
- Robert E Schaefer, 1926 – 2010
Further reading: the books of Boyd Magers on westerns, serials, and Gene Autry give insight into the life of Armand Schaefer, father and uncle to the cousins above. Armand was the number two man in the Flying A Productions, and was a minority owner in the Angels baseball team.
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