A Genealogist's nightmare

I can't imagine this - to discover you have TWIN out there and no one told you. And to find her serendipitously through social media? What are the chances?

Anais Bordier was raised in France as an only child. When a friend shared a photo on Facebook of an American girl with similar looks, the adopted 25-year-old thought she might have found a long-lost relative. But then she discovered that the girl, Samantha Futerman, had also been adopted from South Korea—and shared the same birthday. “She had my laugh, my freckles,” Bordier said of their first Skype conversation. DNA tests soon confirmed the connection the pair suspected, and the twin sisters were recently reunited. “We’ve resumed our life together,” Futerman said, “with no fear of ever being separated again.”

I found this in The Week Magazine's October 31st, 2014 edition.

Disappointment

I suppose my readers already suspected Herb did not make it in to the Reserve Corps, given we originally found him in the Ambulance Corps. I am glad 'horribly disappointed' was not suicidal as for this other broker, Walter Scheftel. What was this guy thinking in late May 1917?

I wrote Syracuse University and look what they kindly provided:

This is Harold Kimber, from East Syracuse, NY. He was a very active guy, being associated with several Greek organizations, the Assistant Manager of Track, Chemical Club, Manager of Freshman Baseball, Manager of Varsity Track, Member of the Athletic Governing Board, Treasurer Class, Executive Committee, President Senior Council, and Senior Ball Committee.

And here we find Oliver Wolcott Morris:

Ole Phike was also associated with several Greek organizations, Senior Dinner Club, Corpse and Coffin, Baseball Squad, and the Athletic Dinner Committee. He hails from Long Beach, NJ.

What is Corpse and Coffin, I wonder. It's not Yale, so not the Skull and Crossbones.... Hmmm.

Paul Tracy Crosby, from Seneca Falls, NY, is associated with the Skull and Serpent.... as well as Baseball and Class Team.

The kind folks at Syracuse tell me Steve Lee is Stephen M. Lee, but they could find no photos of him, (Herb was also very camera shy.... maybe because of those front teeth!)


Wednesday evening – date unknown, May 1917

Dear Mother,

Well I wasn’t elected. I feel horribly disappointed. I did so want to get out and do something worthwhile. There doesn’t seem much else left to do. The term of enlistment in the navy + marines is four years – that’s too long. The National Guard – well I don’t like to guard bridges. So I guess I’ll have to sit tight for a couple of weeks.

Phike Morris + Steve Lee were lucky. They leave for Plattsburgh this week. And by a rather remarkable chance both are listed for the same company. They both felt bad because I wasn’t going along – almost as bad as I felt myself. So all there are left of the Phi Delts are Doc Crosby who will be a regular navy doctor in a couple of weeks and Kimber, who seems to be the conscientious objector. I think rather that he is yellow.

I have three nice new front teeth now. They look better than the others but I have not quite become accustomed to them yet. Guess what the bill was. Two dollars. I accused the dentist of cooking up a deal on me with Fred Judson but he stood pat. I don’t know whether to accuse Fred of it or not. It was a very generous offer, made freely, and perhaps I should not say anything.

Charley, Grace, Jane and I were to the movies last night. The wedding is more or less in the air, awaiting developments.

Love to all,
Herbert

Tattoos

Dan Brooks in the New York Times (and recapped in The Week Magazine) indicated:

My generation got tattoos. We were not the first Americans to do so, but we were the first to do it en masse. Now, two decades later, we are becoming the first to carry them into middle age. It turns out tattoos are permanent, even when little else is.  When we all got them together, they became a symbol of youth, which is a substantially less fun symbol to have around when you are old.  How will our tattoos look to the generation that cares for us? Perhaps they will see the flames and skulls on our withered forearms and remember us as the generation that couldn’t imagine getting old, that was foolish enough to make the enthusiasms of its youth a permanent mark.

It has always struck me as a little crazy, these young people getting tattoos.  What is fun as a young person is decidedly not as fun on an older person, when the skin has gone crepey and thin.  I remember a Saturday Night Live sketch many years ago illustrating a tramp stamp saying 'Juicy' on a young back which, when the formerly taught skin starts sagging changes to 'Just Sad'.  That remained with me and that is all I can think of when I see all the ink.

On the other hand, the a huge group is in the same boat, getting older together.  They will be in the workforce together, as parents together, as cadavers together.  Many cultures have skin decoration, so I guess it is not as strange as I believe it to be.  But, for some reason, I can't get my brain around 'old' people and tattoos.  (And how about the large ear lobes?)