Roots Television | Og Blog

When RootsTelevision.com launched Unclaimed Persons a week ago, the hope was to bring attention to a virtually unknown epidemic, but also offer a potential solution. The epidemic? Literally unclaimed persons. Many of us are familiar with John and Jane Does, but very few are aware of the struggles of coroners' offices across the country to find the next of kin for the ever-growing number of people who are identified, but have no one to claim them. The solution? An unlikely teaming of coroners and genealogists working together to find the families of the unclaimed.

Tripping across a newspaper article about this little known problem, genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak realized that she and fellow family history sleuths were perfectly equipped to help. Offering her assistance to coroners' offices in Scranton, Pennsylvania and San Bernardino, California, she quickly located next of kin for cases that had remained unresolved for months or even years. Two such cases are highlighted in Unclaimed Persons. A supplemental video, Unclaimed Persons Research: Joseph Higgs, allows the viewer to watch over Megan's shoulder as she surfs her way to a solution in one of the cases.

From the day the show launched, sympathetic and skilled genealogists started to tackle the unsolved case of John Finch that ended the Unclaimed Persons episode. One of them was well-known professional genealogist and author, Kimberly Powell. Eagle-eyed Kimberly spotted a particularly important clue – a brief snippet in the St. Joseph News-Press about a likely niece of the deceased. Apparently, her car had been broken into just a week earlier. Piggy-backing off of information provided, several possible addresses for the niece were found and passed on to the Lackawanna Coroner's Office, which then wrote to each of them. Yesterday, the coroner's office received a call from John Finch's brother. Thanks to Kimberly's genealogical detective skills, a case that had been open since 1999 was solved in just six days. John Finch is no longer an unclaimed person.

"We realized that almost everything about this was experimental," said Marcy Brown, co-founder of RootsTelevision.com. "Not only the pairing of coroners and genealogists, but also the use of online video to bring attention to a serious, but hidden problem of national scope. We hope that this is just the beginning and are trying to figure out the best way to facilitate the resolution of additional cases. As a first step, we invite people to join the Unclaimed Persons group we've just launched on Facebook" (those who are new to Facebook will need to register).

This Tuesday we're featuring a new short film called The Bootmaker's Footprints. It's a story of reclaimed Irish ancestry, giving hope to those who may have given up tracing the Irish roots of family who migrated to England.

We're also pleased to share two public service announcements from the Allen County Public Library, highlighting their Military Symposium to be held this September.

Og from RootsTelevision.com

Looking for an excuse to take a Southern California vacation? Maybe you should watch how you can solve your family history puzzle at the 2008 SoCal Jamboree. The 39th Annual Southern California Genealogical Jamboree is coming Friday through Sunday, June 27-29 to Burbank, California.

From DNA to Southern roots to German genealogy and even witchcraft, there's something for everybody at this year's Jamboree. Our very own Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak will give a "Welcome to Roots Television" presentation, along with lectures on Annie Moore, DNA, and Eastern European research.

No one was more excited than Og when Unclaimed Persons cracked the Joseph Higgs case. But now it seems, the project has not only helped a lost brother come home, it's broken down a brick wall in one of our viewer's research.

This is amazing! I received an email invite to join Megan's Unclaimed Persons group an hour ago and after I signed up, I watched her research video on Joseph Higgs on Roots TV. My husband's grandmother was Melvira Higgs. To our amazement, we found out Alpha Higgs, Joseph's father, was Melvira's first cousin. We had no information on Alpha's descendants, but now thanks to Megan and Roots TV, we can fill in the gaps. Thank you so much for the work you're doing! We'll be sure to share this video with the rest of the family.

Her story just highlights why this project is so important. Bringing these unclaimed persons homes reunites families in more ways than we may ever know. If you'd like to help solve more Unclaimed Persons mysteries, join the Unclaimed Persons group and check the discussion board to see our active cases.

Og from RootsTelevision.com

The response to the Unclaimed Persons project has been extraordinary. In the first two days of being an active group on Facebook, group members have solved two cases that had been sitting unsolved for years. If you'd like to participate, you can check out the Unclaimed Person's group for more information. We post our new cases on the Discussion Board in Facebook, where volunteers are free to collaborate with one another as they research these mysteries.

To make sure the process flows as smoothly as possible, our group members have helped us brainstorm a few guidelines for working with the project:

1. We'll create a separate discussion board topic for each case, titled with the case number and the name of the deceased. Please post all research findings here and not as comments on the case-related photos or The Wall. Hopefully, this will help us avoid duplicating efforts.

2. If you'd like to email Megan or other Unclaimed Persons administrators about a case, please use the email address at unclaimedpersons@rootstelevision.com This will help us make sure your questions and/or tips don't get buried in our inboxes.

3. Please do not post contact details and other private information about living persons, such as likely next of kin, in the public forum. Once you have those details, email them to unclaimedpersons@rootstelevision.com

4. Please do NOT contact coroner's offices directly, unless it's specified in a case that they have requested this. We're not trying to be control freaks here, but several coroner's offices have requested that we act as a point of contact and forward them the compiled information. We want to make sure that we don't overwhelm them with our enthusiasm!

5. NEVER contact possible relatives. Instead, provide the information to the relevant coroner's office via this Facebook site and/or unclaimedpersons@rootstelevision.com

All researchers are welcome. Even if you're new to genealogy, this might be a perfect place for you to see top researchers at work and learn a few tips and tricks.

Og from RootsTelevision.com

This Tuesday, we have two new videos from this year's Who Do You Think You Are? Live! event in London.

First, Dick Eastman interviews Paul Blake, Event Coordinator for the Federation of Family History Societies. The FFHS "The Federation of family History Societies (FFHS) is an educational charity which exists to represent, advise and support its membership of family history societies and other genealogical organisations world-wide."

And if you've ever wondered what life was like for an RAF pilot during WWI, don't miss Ravell's First Flight, a comedy re-enactment performed at the conference.

Og from RootsTelevision.com

Okay, Og's a bit behind posting his New Roots Tuesday lineup this week. To be honest, he's been caught up in Unclaimed Persons land. But as promised, here are this week's New and Featured Videos.

First, we have a short snippet about Alfred/Albert Crazy Buffalo, an Unclaimed Persons case that has puzzled coroner Joe Brennan since 1994. It was the first unclaimed persons case he encountered after being elected Coroner. Every coroner we've talked to has a case (or two or three!) that stands out, for various reasons. This is the one Joe Brennan keeps coming back to. It's a John Doe/Unclaimed Persons combo, but maybe someone out there will have a fresh approach!

We're also running a video featuring Miriam Midkiff, a teacher and writer of genealogy who uses Google Book Search in her personal research to put more context into the lives of her ancestors - including one relative who once trained a roller-skating bear.

And if you're wondering when Roots Central will be updated, just give Og another hour or two and he'll have that ready, too!

Og from RootsTelevision.com