[Informational] Dave's Quest for History

Dave

Staff member
Found another person that might fit!

I was going through my matches and one name popped up on several of them - John Sylvester Flageolle. I started down the rabbit hole and actually found one Doris A. French, born 1938. Perfect. Now all I have to do is FIND her somehow. I have the name and address of a nephew, and have sent some Facebook messages to her brother's grandchild. Now I wait.
 

Dave

Staff member
Well, could Dave's search be coming to an end? Enter the next possibility - Doris French, who unfortunately died in 2015. But her description matches the booklet thing that I have and she was born in the correct year. Additionally, she was apparently left at the alter in about 1965. The year of my birth. Coincidental, no?

She's got a brother who is still alive. I left him a voice mail message earlier tonight. Now I wait. (I get to say that a lot...)
 

Dave

Staff member
Well shit. Seems like Doris may not be the answer, either. I spoke with her brother and he's fairly certain she did not ever live in Iowa, nor did she have any kids. She was married for a short time - like a couple of weeks - and then he left her, which just SCREAMS Richard Johnson. It is really something he would have done. But I'm marking her as a dead end unless the family sees something or remembers something pertinent.

Back to square 1.
 

Dave

Staff member
Been an interesting week/weekend already. Found a pretty weak link to a woman that was born in the right year but didn't live anywhere around where she would have needed to. I still followed up and had a pretty long conversation with a woman who was very, VERY nice but let me know I was chasing shadows.

Then just this morning I found a woman who was born in the right year and in the same county from where I was adopted. I've started researching and reaching out to relatives I can find. I think this one might be the one. The last name is Walrod. Every name that's fit so far has been some sort of penis pun, which fits well with Dave DeLong. Karma, I tell ya.
 

Dave

Staff member
I have a joke in my set that goes something like, "My last name is DeLong. My biological father's name is Dick Johnson. When I finally find my mom her name is going to be something like Agnes ObviousPenisMetaphor."
 

Dave

Staff member
Okay so question.

How long should I wait to call the lady directly that might be my mother? I've messaged other people that might have more information, but I don't just want to cold-call her from left field unless it's a last-ditch effort. So how long do I wait on the others to take the next step?
 
Okay so question.

How long should I wait to call the lady directly that might be my mother? I've messaged other people that might have more information, but I don't just want to cold-call her from left field unless it's a last-ditch effort. So how long do I wait on the others to take the next step?
A week after you run out of ideas/options?
 
What will time change? If there's something that will change between now and later then I guess waiting makes sense, otherwise why torture yourself?
 

Dave

Staff member
What will time change? If there's something that will change between now and later then I guess waiting makes sense, otherwise why torture yourself?
It's not me I worry about. I don't want to cold call someone and spring this crap on them unawares. Which is why I reach out to ancillary people first. If I can remove the person from my lists without upsetting them then that's a good thing. Such as the lady who was childless or the one who was born at the right time but was never around the area.
 

Dave

Staff member
So the lady I'm currently reaching out to has not answered any of my calls, letters, emails...nothing. I'm starting to think I might be on to something here and that she's not interested in knowing me. Of course, she (and her daughters) could just think I'm some weirdo and that's why, but in every other case I've at least gotten a "who are you again and why are you contacting me?" note of some sort. I'm going to keep trying, but the more they deflect the more i think I might be on the right track.
 

Dave

Staff member
Well crap. The lady in California is not my mother. She's 5'8" tall and my mom was only 5'3". So back to the drawing board.

What's bad is that I have gone completely through the family tree and found what I thought was every viable candidate. Now I have to figure out what I missed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Dave

Staff member
I have a baby book with limited information like age, height, education, and stuff like that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

fade

Staff member
Great now I have this image of you chasing tiny Jedi out of your house with a straw broom. Also you're an old lady in this image for some reason.
 
I still shudder when I think of the day I got that call from the school. So gross. So god damn gross.

I now truly understand the phrase nit picker. Bleh.
 

Dave

Staff member
So the lady in California who I thought was on the right track because they were stonewalling? Yeah...I jumped to all sorts of conclusions.

Turns out she passed away in April. And since she owned her own business and apparently might have had some money, they were perfectly right to be suspicious of this guy who just came out of nowhere and was asking about genealogy. I don't blame them for acting the way they did. It was the right thing to do.
 
Robert Burns said:
Now haud you there, ye’re out o’ sight,
Below the fatt’rels, snug and tight,
Na faith ye yet! ye’ll no be right,
Till ye’ve got on it,
The vera topmost, towrin height
O’ Miss’s bonnet.
 

Dave

Staff member
Got a new player in the family tree thing, and it goes back to the Flageolle line again. That name and the name of John Homer keeps coming back to me in several lines. It can't be a coincidence. It's got to be the right branch. I just have to find the right one. Delores French is still in my sights, I just need to have more information before I reach out again.
 

Dave

Staff member
Okay, you guys want to help me out a bit here? I need to find information on one Evelyn (Homer) Warner from Nebraska. I'm coming up blank.

Here's what I know:
  • Has 3 siblings:
  • Harold Homer (from Tacoma, WA)
  • Jack Homer (from Sioux City, IA)
  • Florence P. (Homer) Franklin (from Reno, NV)
  • Florence died 1985 (the above info is from her obit and all info is from 1985)
  • https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/...all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=155065502&df=all&
  • Was married to Ernest K. Franklin.
  • Florence had 4 kids:
  • Kenneth Franklin
  • Ronald Franklin
  • Tammy (Franklin) Byrne (from Sun Valley)
  • Dorothy (Franklin) Dunson (from Pittsburgh, CA)

I need to know Evelyn's birth year if nothing else. I have no idea if any of these people are alive or dead (other than Florence and her husband, Ernest.)[DOUBLEPOST=1497756557,1497756173][/DOUBLEPOST]Additional:

Florence's 4 kids should be about my age or so (give or take a decade) while Evelyn should be in her late 70's - hopefully 78 or 79.
 

Dave

Staff member
Okay I'm off the phone. Here's the rundown. Her name is Julia Homer. Well, Homer is her maiden name. She's been married SEVERAL times and I am the youngest of 7 kids. So my adopted family I was the youngest of three. My biological father I'm the youngest of five. Now I'm the youngest of 7. That means I went from a brother and a sister to a mix of brothers & sisters equaling 12!! I have 12 brothers and sisters! Holy shit!

If you look at my post from Saturday you'll see that I was looking for kids including Jack. But Jack's REAL name is John - a fact that completely escaped me. Once I started looking for John Homer instead of Jack shit just fell into place. I contacted a few people and *BAM* confirmation. No, we haven't taken a DNA test to confirm yet, but she gave up a boy in 1965, she's the right age, height, and lives in the city I was adopted from.

I go into this one with caution. She was a pretty screwed up person. She had her kids taken away several times, she'd been forced to give me up and have her tubes tied by the state (or social services?), and many of her kids don't want anything to do with her.

But I found her.
 
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