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 4th
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.
.JPG)
