THE 69TH CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY: "WHAT IF...?"

((Image by footnoteMaven))

Welcome to the 69th Edition of the Carnival of Geneaology. In honor of April Fool's Day, the theme for this edition was "What if...?" :

"This is your chance to rewrite history! Have you ever imagined your ancestor
playing a major roll in history? Perhaps you've envisioned them singlehandedly
winning the American Revolution, going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, or
inventing the flutaphone. This is your chance to write a bit of fiction about your
ancestor to delight and entertain us. It is the April Fools edition after all!"

We have some great articles for you to read, some of which take a different tack on
the "What if...?" theme but all well worth the reading. Please be sure to leave a
comment when you visit these blogs!

First off, E Bradt presents "COG#69- What if... the British had won the Revolutionary War"at her "Ancestral Notes" log. If the British commander at Trenton had heeded the warning of Moses Doan, we might very well have remained a British colony!

Next, Ruth Stephens of "Bluebonnet Country Genealogy"shares a newspaper clipping detailing an assassination attempt by an actor named John Wilkes Booth on President Lincoln that was thwarted by a young Union soldier named Isaac Turner. Read all about it at "What if....President Lincoln Wounded!"

Kris P. writes about her grandmother Florence Laughlin. You can read about this incredible woman in "Carnival of Genealogy: The Story of a Woman" at Kris' blog "From the seed to the branches" .

We return to Ford's Theater for another "What If " involving that fateful April night and a certain rocking chair occupied by President Lincoln. Linda Hughes Hiser spins her tale on "Flipside" in "Carnival of Genealogy--What if... A Whopper of a Tale of the VanGilder chair"

Distant cousin Chris Dunham shares another interesting newspaper headline about a certain Supreme Court nomination made by Calvin Coolidge. It's entitled "He Wore Overalls Under His Robes" and you can read it over at Chris' always entertaining blog, "The Genealogue"

Kiril Kundurazieff has sent along two posts for our consideration. On the first one, Ancestor of Mine Dug Up by Greek Archaeologists! He writes: “My Father, who died in 1988, used to always claim that he was descended from Alexander the Great,but I had my doubts, and my research, in the last decade, bore out my suspicions.This story confirms what I thought: My ancient ancestor was not Ol' Alex, but a close associate.”

Kiril then turns to his mother’s side of the family for a bit of family lore:“I wish to share with you a secret, passed down thru the generations from a Colonial Ancestor of mine, a printer by trade: There were THREE, linguistic, versions of the Declaration of Independence printed that week, long ago.” Read about them in the post “Maternal Colonial Ancestor Claimed Three, Linquistic, Versions of Declaration of Independence Printed”. You can read both posts at Kiril’s Musings of a Mad Macedonian !

Jasia, creator of the Carnival of Genealogy shares a hitherto unknown photo from World War II that might shed some light into the story of the legendary and long lost AmberRoom. See it and judge for yourself over at Jasia’s Creative Gene in her article, “Who Owns the Missing Amber Room?” .

We’ve all had that dream of finding a box full of things that will answer all our family genealogy mysteries. Becky Wiseman tells us of “A mysterious phone call from a friend leads to the best gift I've ever received!” Read how it turned out in “The Best Gift -Ever!” over on Becky’s blog kinexions.

Janet Hovorka, The Chart Chick, takes us further back in time on her familytree: “Sheva the Fair, my 19th great grandmother born 34AD Alexandria, Egypt set the world on fire. Lots to emulate as her granddaughter. Here is my tribute.” Travel back to the siege of Masada in Israel in Janet’s “Sheva the Fair, my most famous Great-Grandmother”.

footnoteMaven shares a different and heartwarming "What If... "story in “What If... Santa Could” As she puts it it’s “The "What If" for every genealogist. I have so many of them.”

Over at Genea-Musings, Randy Seaver says “There are things that happen in a moment.” See how his might have been different in a “What if” moment involving his father.

My own “What If” story here on “West in New England” tells of what might have been one of the earliest tech support calls if my ancestor Jonathan Phelps West happened to pay a visit to Boston. I wrote about it in “Mr. West Goes To Boston (What If?)”

Finally, Craig Manson of GeneaBlogie tells about “My Great-Grandmother Moves to Texas”: “I suppose I may have taken some liberties with this month’s Carnival theme of “What if . . . ” I don’t know exactly what happened when my great-great- grandmotherand the son of a former slave owner who lived next door absconded to Texas from Georgia in 1884. But what if it happened like this:...” . You’ll enjoy how Craig envisions it may have happened!

That concludes the CoG this time around. I want to thank the participants and I had fun reading all your posts!

Now it's time for a Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: Uncle, Uncle! This edition is all about our uncles. Have you got a favorite or interesting uncle? Tell us about him! Maybe you had a older cousin, neighbor, or friend you called "uncle"... that works too! No uncles in your life? No problem. Write about any gentleman on your family tree who was an uncle to somebody :-) The deadline for submissions is April 15th (get your tax return done early so you don't miss out!).

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Thank you!