A series of strange coincidences

[altivo]

Most libraries in the US no longer have card catalogs. We use computer databases instead, and mine is no exception. We do, however, still maintain what is called a shelf list, a series of catalog drawers that contain one 3x5 card for each book we own, arranged in the same order in which the books would be on the shelf if they were all here. Various incidental bits of information may be recorded on those cards, such as the date a book was sent to be rebound (yes, we still do that occasionally) or the name of a donor, etc. We no longer type those cards up manually, but instead have them generated by our computerized cataloging system as we catalog each new book. The cards are actually printed in Dublin, Ohio on a specialized printer that does only catalog cards, and are mailed to us daily.

I do check to make sure all of them arrive. As it happens, the shipments for December 21 and December 23 have been missing, and I'm on the point of ordering them to be reprinted. I figured they got lost somewhere in the holiday mail, because they are just small envelopes. Today the December 23 packet arrived. We didn't notice the cancellation on the envelope (they are mailed using a postage meter, so typically have no cancellation.)

When I took the cards from the envelope, a small handwritten note fell out:

1/8/06
Hello, Harvard Diggins Library,
Just thought you would like to know that these cards arrived in Juneau, Alaska on Jan. 7, in a package of gifts from Norway. The Norway package had been damaged & repaired, & somehow your envelope ended up included--imagine our puzzlement when opening our Norwegian treasures!
Best Wishes for 2006;
Your friends in Juneau

On re-examining the envelope, sure enough, it was cancelled on the back in Juneau, Alaska, on January 8. I wonder where the other packet from December 21 got to...

Comments

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, but when that happens it is usually with a great deal of fuss and fanfare. Mail sack found slipped down behind a cabinet or in a wall of the post office, for instance. I believe the rule in that case is that every single piece in the batch must be treated as registered mail, which forces an attempt to track down the addressee in every way possible. (A case like that made the news a few years ago, mail that had been delayed by accidentally hiding a mail sack from 1959 until some time in the 90s. They were able to still deliver about a fourth of it, 40 years late.

[deffox]

My parents actually got a long delayed letter once in the 80's. It was for a deceased great uncle. The postmark was 18 years old. Not sure why my parents got it, since they weren't next of kin.

My parents gave it to an aunt. From what was in it she was able to figure out 1/16 of my generation's ancestry.

I still have about 1/8 that is unknown.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Completely unknown? Was someone an orphan or adoptee? Genealogy is one of my interests.

My paternal grandfather ran away from home when he was in his early teens, and was never on good terms with his birth family. My father said I'd never be able to track that line down, but after about 22 years, I found it. I instantly acquired dozens of cousins and a chunk of ancestry that runs all the way back to colonial times. Unfortunately, my Dad passed away just months before I made the discovery (or more properly, I was discovered by a fourth cousin living in Minnesota.)

[deffox]

My grandfather was ashamed of his heritage. He took the details to his grave.

My aunt tried to hunt it down for the longest time, but it was impossible to completely figure out. I did no better using the internet.

The letter allowed her to figure out one of my grandfather's grandparents, and back a few generations of germans.

Some parts of that line are unclear. They were non-germans living in what became Germany at the wrong time of history. The records were lost, and to our knowledge no relatives made it through the wars. My surname is unknown.

My grandfather's mother is also uncertain. There are records for four people with the same name, and we don't know which is the right one. They vary from full indian to half indian half polish. The only clue was a funeral in Stuart Neb, which is a Sioux area.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Sounds much like the situation I was in for 20 years. If you or your living relatives are interested, don't give up the hunt. What solved the riddle for me was a query I had posted. It was spotted by a fourth cousin who had been working downward from our common ancestors. She said, essentially, "We've been trying for almost 30 years to figure out what happened to James." And indeed, by matching my father's shaky memories from his own early childhood to the information she had, it was clinched without any remaining doubt.

Of course, when one "wall" is removed, you always find another. James son of Abraham, son of Nicholas... Nicholas was born in New York in 1783 or thereabouts, and ended up in Canada among the Loyalists. He was married twice and had numerous descendants, so a lot of people have worked on his ancestry for a long time. We're now pretty sure he was son of Nicholas Jr. who was son of Nicholas Sr. (Yes, 3 Nicholai) both of whom fought with the Loyalist Butler's Rangers in the Revolutionary War. But the ancestry of Nicholas Sr. has never been established to anyone's satisfaction. He was apparently of German descent, but how many generations had been in America is not clear. Records are poor and conflicting, mostly depending on wills and land sale records which are never really specific.