Another Look at a Family Puzzle

 

Incredibly, it's December again. With that, we move on to the last of our Twelve Most Wanted for 2023.

This month's research project is a bit different than the usual quest to delve deeply into the lines in my family's ancestry. We'll move much closer to a time period still in most people's memory when I explore a family puzzle I've heard mentioned since my childhood—but never knew what the answer was. 

In the process, we'll be looking at entertainment magazines and newspapers from the twentieth century, in hopes of finding a clue to resolve that puzzle, for the story I want to examine deals with an unknown member of my near ancestry who was in the entertainment business somewhere in New York City.

You know the genealogy routine: start with yourself, then move back through the generations, step by step. In this case, that means taking a look at one member of my own generation—my brother—then, moving from that point to my father, before stepping into the unknown.

I'll be drawing from some photographs family members have shared with me, and others I've already found online. The key, though, is to identify someone in the third generation who also was involved in the entertainment industry, fulfilling oral reports I've heard for decades—but never knew the name or identity of the member of that third generation. For this month, we'll spend some time exploring the possibilities.