Blood, Spit & Luck (Part 1)

Pōmaika'i (Mazel & Bracha): People often ask Abq Jew how he manages to find so many long-lost relatives on his Family Tree.

As Abq Jew first mentioned in his classic blog post Blood, Spit & Years - actually, almost nobody asks. But just in case someone should ask sometime, Abq Jew offers this wonderfully interesting and entertaining addendum to his now famous Not Strictly Genealogy Methodology.

Finding Uncle Davey

A Not Strictly Genealogy Methodology

Blood, Spit & Pōmaika'i

As Abq Jew then wrote: It's a long story that barely anyone knows, but Abq Jew's father, of blessed memory, was semi-adopted.  And it is only through that semi-adoption that Abq Jew's father acquired the current family name.

But we are related - by blood! - to Abq Jew's biological grandfather, whom Abq Jew did, in his blog post, call Robert Beachwood. But his real name was Robert (Isaac/Srul) Buckwald. 

Whether Old Grandad's first name was Robert, Isaac, or Srul (Israel) seems to have depended on who was asking and when. Abq Jew suspects that Robert - as we all "knew" him - was trying out Americanisher names

Similarly, Old Grandad seems to have been the only member to spell his family name (consistently) with a k. Uncle Davey, on the other hand, seems to have switched back and forth.

Uncle Davey's family - and Abq Jew's father's family,
and Abq Jew's family - were and are Buchwalds.

As y'all know, Abq Jew has had his DNA up on 23andMe, MyHeritage, and other websites - for years, with plenty of results. But after attending a webinar with genealogist Jennifer Mendelsohn, Abq Jew decided to spit into the tube for Ancestry, too - Ancestry has by far the largest database. 

 

Abq Jew received his AncestryDNA results in February. And

A whole new world opened up.

The first thing Abq Jew did, of course, was look at his DNA Matches. And there they all were - first cousins, second cousins, second cousins 1x removed, and the mystery guest: Seymour Tachlis (see Suddenly Seymour).

Abq Jew scrolled down the list (past Seymour) and found the next person he didn't recognize. Number 9 on the list. Which turned out to be someone named (not her real name, for privacy's sake) 

Lisa Wallace Waters

Lisa had prudently placed a minimal pedigree chart on Ancestry. A magnificent pedigree chart, which showed Lisa related to Betty Buchwald (grandmother) and MJ Buchwald (great grandfather). Abq Jew's family!

Lisa (Abq Jew's second cousin 1x removed) and Abq Jew sent a bunch of messages back and forth on Ancestry and Facebook, and even spoke on the phone a couple times. Just sharing what we knew about various relatives - where they started out, where they ended up, where they were in between. 

You know - nice.

Anyway, this is (dates added later) about what Abq Jew's father knew about that wing of the Buchwald family.

Moses (MJ) and Bessie (Betty) Buchwald Carlisle were in Lisa's line. Rachael Buchwald, Lisa sadly disclosed, had a tragic and short life. 

And then there was

Uncle Davey

Yes, Lisa's [Great] Uncle Davey - David Charles Buchwald, Abq Jew's father's first cousin - was, indeed, in the Navy. Stationed in Hawaii for a time. Thought to have had a family there. Lived to be 100.

"How interesting," said Abq Jew.

Abq Jew took a look at the 1920 Federal Census - which showed Uncle Davey living in his grandparents Jacob and Mollie Buchwald's house, along with Robert Buchwald, Abq Jew's grandfather. And Boris (Ber), Robert's twin brother.

It seems that Moses (MJ) was ... ahem ... between wives at the time. But by the 1930 Federal Census things were copasetic but different,

with Moses (MJ) and his new wife Anna together, along with Betty and Rachael and David Charles. And Dolores, the new kid on the block. Rose had married Samuel Feldman; Robert had married Abq Jew's grandmother; and Boris was - who knows?

And then Lisa and Abq Jew took a look

at their Shared Matches on AncestryDNA.

That is to say, DNA Matches that were in both Lisa's list and Abq Jew's. Which turned up the usual list of Buchwald suspects - with a couple of new twists. People that neither Lisa nor Abq Jew recognized.

"How interesting," said Abq Jew.

Nothing happened for a few weeks. Then, one day SURPRISE! Lisa's mother,

Lynn Carlisle Wallace

posted her DNA Matches on AncestryDNA. Abq Jew found Lynn (his second cousin) on his refreshed DNA Matches list, right where she should be - three notches higher than Lisa. 

Abq Jew and Lynn sent a bunch of messages back and forth on Ancestry, and even spoke on the phone. Just sharing what we knew about various relatives - where they started out, where they ended up, where they were in between.

You know - nice.

Lynn was and is an expert witness. She attended the famous Buchwald parties! She knew all the players on the Buchwald team! And - she knew something of Uncle Davey's story.

And then Abq Jew was struck by ... pure luck.

See Part 2 ... next week!