Family History Uncovered - a Genealogy Service

06/06/2022

In celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee, I thought I'd tell you a little story. There are a lot of things I like about Her Majesty, but this has to be my favorite:

Then-Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret partied in the streets and yelled at the palace on Victory in Europe (VE) Day on May 8, 1945! It may have been the only time she did this, but Elizabeth (19) and her sister (15) had been watching all the fun outside of Buckingham Palace all day! The Germans had surrendered, so the war was over and EVERYONE was partying! That is, everyone but Lillibet (Elizabeth) and Margaret.

After several appearances on the balcony that day, Lillibet and Margaret were getting antsy and wanted to celebrate with the crowd. They begged their parents to let them sneak out and after a while their parents conceded... as long as they had a 16-person entourage with them.

A about 10pm, Elizabeth got into her Auxilliary Service uniform to avoid being recognized and the girls went out! They blended into the crowd and celebrated, locking arms with the citizens, seeing a member of their entourage get grabbed by a soldier and kissed, and they even cheered at the palace when everyone was yelling "WE WANT THE KING! WE WANT THE KING!"

It was a rare night for the girls. They were never able to be with the commoners like that again. What a great time!

06/03/2022

Fidel Castro was a ruthless dictator, causing atrocities on his people and sending the United States into a near-nuclear war, but what was his weakness? Milk.
The man LOVED milk! He loved all dairy products, especially a cold glass of milk or Ice Cream. He was known to eat up to 28 scoops in one sitting. The problem for Fidel was that cows in Cuba didn't produce a lot of milk and the quality wasn't that great because of the heat. So to avoid buying exported milk from America, Fidel started experimenting.
Fidel bought a lot of Holstein milk cows from Canada to produce milk, but nearly a third of them died in the first year. Fidel got the idea to breed some of the Holsteins with some of his local cuban cows to get a Supercow that would be able to tolerate the heat and produce good quality milk. He accomplished this in 1972 with the birth of "Lady" Ubre Blanca, or White Udder.
This cow was Fidel's pet project and with all the TLC she could want ended up producing 110 Liters of milk in one day. That's four times normal milk production of a single cow! Lady Ubre's production was entered into the Guiness World record and remains hers to this day, even though she died in 1985!
Fidel's mission had been accomplished: not world domination, but a cow that can give him as much milk as he wanted.
A special thanks to Enzo Bonomo for this story!

05/19/2022

Family History Uncovered has a Tik Tok channel! On the channel I put videos of stories I tell here, and have some other encounters too! Tune in, Follow, and Like!

19 Followers, 23 Following, 93 Likes - Watch awesome short videos created by Family History Uncovered

05/18/2022

In 1880, the Roosevelt Household had more servants than family members under its roof, but why?
Teddy Roosevelt's mother Martha had hired six servants to assist her with her work at home. All of them were Irish immigrants looking for work and facing severe discrimination. Martha brought in any immigrant who needed help and gave them jobs to do. The jobs were things like a Man of All Work for heating and repairs around the house, Governness to help with her four children, a Cook to prepare the meals, a Parlor Maid to help receive guests and organize parties, and other jobs like Chambermaid and Lady's Maid.
The Roosevelt family was known for their activism and work toward Social Justice, so it is no surprise that Martha took in those who had the hardest time in her city.

05/18/2022

I love animating photos and seeing the results! This fella was a looker! His daughter sent me his photo and we were both shocked at how good the results were - He's even got a little bit of a twinkle in his eye!
Send me photos you want animated and/or restored and see your relatives in a new way!

05/12/2022

Ladies and gentlemen... the award for the shortest Oscar speech goes to: Rita Moreno!
In 1962, Rita Moreno had come a long way. It's a typical immigration story: She was born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano in Puerto Rico in 1931 to Rosa Maria Marcano and "Paco" Alverio. Rosa had a brother, Francisco, who was younger than her and when her parents divorced in 1935, he went to live with his father.
Rosa and moved to New York with her mother in 1936. Her memory as a 5 year-old of the Statue of Liberty is great: a giant green lady holding an ice cream cone who she thought must have been the President of the United States.
Rosa LOVED dancing and greatly admired Rita Hayworth, who was a latina as well though she changed her looks to be more caucasian. Rosa learned to dance and quickly got on to stage and made it to broadway by the time she was 13 as the role of Angelina in Skylift.
Hollywood scouts quickly sought after her and she ended up signing a contract with MGM. She was in many movies, being depicted as stereotypical latina roles. In 1961 she was cast as Maria for West Side Story. She was nominated for and won Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars for that role. A little girl living in poverty whose family was broken apart was suddenly standing on stage in 1962 as one of the top actresses and performers, and what did she say as her acceptance speech? 11 words came from a shocked and nervous Moreno:

"I can’t believe it! Good Lord! I leave you with that."

Rita said she has been trying to make it up with long acceptance speeches ever since, and she's had a LOT of chances! Moreno has gone on to win or be awarded: EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Tony, Oscar), Presidential Medal of Freedom, Presidential Medal of the Arts, Kennedy Honor, Peabody, Golden Globe, and numerous others!

Rita still performs today at 90 years old, having a role in the new West Side Story and working on a movie with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin called "Brady's 80's". An icon, indeed!

05/10/2022

Who knocked The Beatles "I Want To Hold Your Hand" off their throne? Louis Armstrong himself with his single "Hello Dolly"! Many were shocked when this happened, but a hit is a hit, right Louis?
Louis was a sensation by 1964, but he had a rough start, being abandoned by his father just after he was born. He was raised by his grandmother and then his Aunt in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a kid, he worked for a Jewish family, the Karmofskys, who nurtured and cared for Louis. They loved singing and taught young Louis to "sing from the heart" and helped pay for his first Coronet horn.

Many people in Louis' childhood saw his curiosity and passion for music, which he used to escape trouble he could have gotten into. Louis worked his way up to become a sensation by the 1930's, traveling the world. His passion for music continued and he grew into such a legend, that he was able to single-handedly knock The Beatles themselves off the music throne for a little while!

Good ol' Satch!

05/06/2022

Want a great gift for Mother's day? Get an old family member animated! Send me a photo and I'll animate it and send it back to you. Then, when you give Mom the image of her mother or other family relative, she will love the feeling of "Seeing" them again! This is one of my favorite technologies and I have seen that companies are developing VR Interactive models that we may see in the near future. This means you can talk to a long lost relative again!
Send me a pic and I'll work my magic! Here's my own Mom, what a beauty!

05/05/2022

Today's mother is Sarah Bush (1788 - 1869). She was raised on the old Bush settlement in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. She had married a man and had three children with him, but he died of Cholera in 1816. She met her second husband, Thomas Lincoln, in 1818 and he had two young children, Sarah and Abraham.
Sarah adored his children like they were her own, and they immediately took to her, with 10 year-old Abraham calling her "Mama". Sarah felt badly for Abraham, since he seemed so intelligent and his dad had confined him to working on farms for others. Sarah brought home books and writing tablets for the kids, encouraging them, especially Abraham, to write their thoughts and stories.
In 1831, the family moved to Illinois where Abraham began to excel in his education and career. He would come back and visit Sarah and Thomas. When Thomas died in 1851 Abraham chose to fully support Sarah.
The stories of Abraham Lincoln include the famous image of him reading by candlelight as a boy. This is what Sarah started for him and it is fully attributed to his success as a Lawyer, Politician, and President.
Sarah loved these children like most mothers: being supportive and harnessing the potential she saw in the children. We all owe gratitude to Sarah!

05/04/2022

For the rest of the week, we are celebrating MOM! Today's Mom risked her life to save her baby! Cora Bailey was living in Kansas City in 1904. A wife and mother of three, she and her family were riding in a wagon when their horse slipped, causing the wagon to violently tip forward. Cora, who had her one year old daughter, Georgia, in her lap, immediately clung onto the baby, protecting it with her body as she landed under the horse who was kicking at the time. She attempted to roll out from the horse, extending Georgia out to the side where people on the sidewalk grabbed the baby and helped her out from under the horse.

Cora had broken her leg in the ordeal, but saved young Georgia. Because of this, Georgia was able to have a long life, getting married and having four children before her death in 1989.

Mothers are amazing!

05/03/2022

Wouldn't it be great to give Mom or Nana a framed newspaper article or collage of pictures from High School for Mother's day? Contact me to see what I can find for her on Mother's day! I only charge by item I find, not for the actual search, so contact me today to see what we can find for Mom!

05/02/2022

John Depp becomes center of controversy... in 1969.
Johnny Depp was named after his father, John Christopher Depp Sr. John Depp was a second-generation Engineer whose family had run a farm in Slick Rock, Kentucky since 1792 before his father decided to go into Engineering instead of the family business: Agriculture.
in 1968, John Sr. was nominated to be the City Manager of Frankfort, Kentucky, quite an honor for a citizen who had gained a good reputation in his city. However, he was nominated because the City Manager before him, Dean Hunter, had become disillusioned by the City Commission. Before Dean Hunter, the first City Manager, S. Russell Marshall, had been fired after 8 years on the job.
After John Sr. had been replaced, Donald V. Smith was nominated to replace him and was fired 8 months later by the City Commission.
After the controversy, John Sr. moved his family to Florida, where he was able to continue work as a Civil Engineer. He got in trouble again with mistreatment of employees, being fired in 1979. He sued the city for 900 hours of overtime after that. There was no more controversy for John Sr, he was able to work through 1999, contributing to Bridge Load projects and major building construction.
A very tumulus career which I'm sure contributed to Johnny's unstable upbringing.