Monday, May 20, 2013

Saying “I Do” Again


I was looking for something else when I found it, so I resisted the urge to veer off on that rabbit trail and stuck to the moment’s mission. When I went back to recreate the search, it was gone.

I know I saw it.

Well, at least I thought I saw it.

I had found what I thought was documentation of a second marriage for Samuel W. Bean in Alameda County, California. Of course, I saw it before all the big changes at FamilySearch.org. And, of course, I didn't write anything down.

Now, things are so different. It almost seems like they’ve installed a Google-esque algorithm, anticipating a visitor’s search terms based on previous searches. Now, no matter what I do to create a search on Sam and his mystery companion, all FamilySearch will serve up are results for marriages in Nevada. How did I get that far afield of my stated search request?

Though I’ve reconstructed my path—admittedly in the newly-revised FamilySearch site—I cannot replicate the result that told me that, sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, widower Samuel Bean got married a second time.

The family had never mentioned such an event to me, those many years ago when I knew Sam’s grandchildren, daughter-in-law and even his twin brother and sister. But surprises do pop up occasionally when we pursue family history via documentation. Not to mention, Sam could definitely be a lady’s man, judging from the newspaper article regarding his suave moves on the dance floor—and echoed in his twin’s equally adroit approach to social matters.

Thinking perhaps I had seen the proof of the matter on another website, I desperately scrutinized all the usual haunts: Ancestry.com, NewspaperArchive.com, even Rootsweb.com. Over and over again. I went back to FamilySearch and headed for the geographic listing of resources, thinking I’d find it tucked away in one of the as-yet-un-indexed volumes. No luck.

Bad technology day? Trespass into some time warp? Hallucination?

Perhaps it’s time to take a break from genealogy research (my feverish response: No! No! No!).

Wait…before they call in the nice young men in their clean white coats to take me away…I just need to tell you…

I know she was there. I saw it.

Her name was Hazel.

12 comments:

  1. I believe you. I've heard of cases in which the second marriage was (1) short lived which might explain why later generations didn't hear about it or (2) simply denounced because of regard for the first wife.

    Is anyone interested in starting a pool to guess how soon Jacqi will post "Eureka - Found it"?

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    1. Not to mention...Sam's own dad had priors for such a marriage, too.

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  2. I have not tried this site myself, but it is called The Wayback Machine. It is a digital archive.

    http://archive.org/web/web.php

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    1. Thanks, Claudia. I have heard of it, but had never tried it before. So...since you mentioned it and provided the link, I figured, why not?

      Unfortunately, while the Wayback Machine does a great job of capturing screen shots of websites as they were at any specific point in time, it doesn't have any way to include the actual functionality of the website at that previous stage. I got the look of the old FamilySearch, but not the goods.

      Oh, well...it was worth the try. Thanks for prodding me into doing it now!

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  3. I feel your pain. I have done that myself, where I done a search...something popped up and then later I couldn't for the life of me get back there. You'll find it.

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    1. Thanks, Andrea, for empathizing with my snivel fest! I'm learning to capture links ASAP, but like you mentioned, sometimes in the middle of something, something else pops up. Can't help it. That's life.

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  4. I find the new interfaces at FamilySearch and Ancestry to be off-putting. Of course after spending so much time with the old interface, I was pretty used to their quirks!

    Hazel... where are you? Did you go to work for Mr. B.?

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    1. I think for me, the jury is still out on those big changes. Sometimes I think it is just cosmetic, on-the-surface stuff, and I just need to get used to it. Change is not really my best friend. Then, again, as you said, Iggy, we get comfortable with what we're accustomed to--and sometimes that leads us to ignore the good that we might be missing without upgrades.

      With this last bout of craziness, though, it sort of jaded me on the big spruce up at the major research websites. Think I'll just have to give it some time...

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  5. Hazel where are you..white coats LOL..I am sure you are not nuts:)

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    1. That's what I want to know: where's Hazel?!?! I know I saw her. I know I did!

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  6. You know, I've felt all along that Sam would probably have a second marriage. Just a hunch. So I also feel that you must have seen it. Maybe you could do a search for death certificates for a woman with the last name Bean, or a Mrs. Samuel Bean during a period when she could have died (I know -- a large period).

    I hope you find it again. I'm really curious. Any recent girl friends to search??

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    1. Mariann, sometime when I have lots of time on my hands, I'm going to tackle going through the state records, piece by piece, and see what comes up. Very frustrating that there seems to be no trace of her records!

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