A reason to put contact information into Family Tree

A reason to put contact information into Family Tree

It is always frustrating to me when I look at a record of an individual and see that someone has added some information or reserved an ordinance and they have not included any contact information.  They may have more information that you would like to ask them about, or they may have entered data in error or gotten the relationships wrong. 

When I teach people to get an account on Family Tree, I always encourage them to at least enter their e-mail address as contact information.  I enter everything in the contact information so that it will be available.  When there are questions, I want patrons to be able to contact me.

This was more than helpful when about 1 week ago I received a phone call.  It was from the church.  I thought I recognized the voice, so I said hello Dr. J. L. Smith.  It was not Dr. Smith, but a man by the name of George Wood. He explained that he was calling me about some records that had been dropped off at the Family History Center in Annapolis, Maryland by the relatives of a man that had died. His family was not members of the church and was going to destroy the records, but decided to give them to the family history center. If this sounds familiar, it is the way that the records of Lysander Gee came into the possession of the church historians office.  Brother Wood explained that he was the director of the Annapolis Family History Center. He had looked at the records and family group sheets and then went on Family Tree.  He saw my name associated with a record of one of the man’s ancestors.  He called me to ask if I wanted the records. He said that there were a number of the individuals on the family group sheets that were in Family Tree, but there were some that he could not find.  He said that there were some written histories as well. I responded that I collected information like that and would be happy to pay the shipping if he would send them to me.  I had no idea of the extent of the information.  He verified my address as it appears on Family Tree and said that he would send me the records.

When I returned from our trip to Phoenix at 11:00 p.m. last night, I looked at the mail in the box.  There was a large heavy package in the box.  I was tired and decided to open the box in the morning.  Today after I got back from my early morning meeting, I opened the box. It weighed 12 pounds.  Inside were a blue book of remembrance and a bound volume of family group sheets and a stack of loose papers 2 inches high. 

From the book of remembrance I learned that the owner was Robert Wayne Beck and was born 14 January 1930 in Eureka, Juab, Utah.  He was not in Family Tree, but his father, mother and two siblings were.  I knew that he was dead, so I entered his name and information into Family Tree as a son.

Here is a photo of the box.

Here is a photo of the documents.

 I went on the Internet and found an obituary.

Robert Wayne Beck

Bob Beck was born in Eureka, Utah but spent his adult life in Maryland. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1949 and served 4 years most of that on two Navy ships, the U.S.S. Mullany and the U.S.S. Yosemite. He worked for the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. for over 33 years, retiring in 1987.

Bob was at the cutting edge of new broadcast technology, including the creation of microwave systems for radio and television broadcasters. During his early years with C & P he helped set up this new system in the White House. This allowed the President to address the nation from the White House requiring minimal telephone company involvement. He spent a great deal of time at the White House (including Camp David) and local broadcast stations during this period.

Special Navy training brought him to Washington, D.C. where he met and married Joan Cass. Last September they celebrated 62 years of marriage. They raised two sons and traveled extensively across the U. S. and later internationally.

Bob and Joan were always a devoted couple who enjoyed doing things together. Besides travel, they were always boaters on the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. This eventually made them leave Clinton, where they spent 20 years, and brought them to live in Annapolis. They were members of the Annapolis Power Squadron for many years.

Bob is survived by his wife Joan and two sons, Robert Wayne Beck, Jr (wife Susan) and Christopher Cass Beck (wife Karen), and 7 grandchildren – most around him when he passed away on Monday April 14, 2014.

A memorial gathering will be held on Saturday, April 19 from 1-4 PM at Taylor Funeral Home, 147 Duke of Gloucester St., Annapolis. Internment will be in Arlington National Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hospice of the Chesapeake, 90 Ritchie Highway, Pasadena, MD 21122 or the Anne Arundel County Library Foundation, 5 Harry S. Truman Parkway, Annapolis, MD 21401

Accompanying the obituary was a photo.

When I put the information into my Ancestral Quest program, I found that he was my 4^th cousin.  He descended from Sarah Caroline Gee, the sister of Lysander Gee who married first Timothy Botsford and second James Wesley Webb.  He is descended from this second marriage.