Acceptance Is Needed, If You Want to Find Your Ancestry

Religion can make finding ancestors both easier and harder. Especially if we don’t keep an open mind. I once heard a genealogist say that the hardest point to get across to people searching their family trees, was that the spelling of their family names had changed. She said people refuse to accept that their surname was originally spelled differently. “No, no, that’s not them. They spelled it Smith, not Smythe.” I’ve run across that too. And it’s like that with religion. Some folks just refuse to accept that their ancestor’s spiritual beliefs were different in the old country. But no matter what we believe today, we cannot change the spiritual beliefs of our ancestors. Please don’t be disappointed. Be heartened. There is so much we can learn about ourselves and our ancestors by studying the religions of the ancients. It is a life-changing event and one you do not want to miss.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy – A How-to for Tracing Ancient Jewish Ancestry. Available here: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-Volume-Suellen-Ocean/dp/0965114082

Did Your Ancestors Live in Indian Country? Perhaps They Were Indian

I’m glancing down at a map from 1763. The whole east coast of the United States is shaded in and designated as “British territory.” The province of Louisiana is shaded in as “Spanish territory.” Sandwiched in-between these two shaded areas is a vast area that extends north of Florida and west of the east coast and goes up and around the Great Lakes. It is shaded and called “Indian Country.” In this vast section of forests, meadows, swamps and mountain regions, lived the Native People of North America. They were driven from the areas marked “Spanish” and “British.” Not only was their culture endangered, their existence was threatened. We know how the story ends. But what were the myriad of stories within the “Indian Country?” Were any of our ancestors Indians? Did they intermarry? Were they slaves? These are not easy questions to answer but they rest in the minds of many of us and we sure would like to know.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees. Available here:http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-IV-Native-Americans/dp/1500756105

Genealogy: Am I Related to Someone Famous?

How can we make connections going back hundreds of years when trying to find our ancestors? Especially when they have abandoned their original religion and culture, moved across the seas and started new lives. For many of us, our ancestors have really changed. They have changed so much that we don’t recognize them or refuse to because their lives and belief systems are so foreign. Occasionally, a genealogist will find the same profession or brilliance running in the family tree for hundreds of years. There are people who share the same surname as a great musician or mathematician but can’t make any connection to that person other than the surname. The links are lost to the ages. But keep trying. Read all you can about that famous person and make a timeline. Over the years as you find more information, fill in the timeline. Someday you might find some little piece of historical evidence that proves to you, that your own musical genius just happens to run in the family tree.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy VII – DNA, Jumping Into the Gene Pool. A High Tech Gathering of the Tribes. Available here:

Who Were America’s First People?

Scholars seek the truth about the first people who set foot on North America. For decades I have heard Native Americans refer to themselves as America’s “First People.” Now, as archeologists dig and send specimens to universities, they study bone fragments and someday hope to piece together an honest profile of North America’s ancient history. It seems harsh to take that title away from indigenous tribes whose cultures were well entrenched LONG before Europeans came to the continent. When the Europeans began colonizing North America, they either believed that the Natives were the Lost Tribes of Israel or had been here forever.  Even in recent history, many people refuse to believe that Native Americans could have descended from small boats gone off course from various islands west of California. The best known theory is that people from Mongolia (north of China) came across a narrow passage of land called the Bering Straits, into Alaska and gradually migrated into North and South America. I like reading about any and all theories. I love the small boat theory and I love to spin my old globe around and look at the different continents and islands where America’s “First People” may have originated. And I love to look at the variety of faces and imagine the history that must be behind each and every one of us.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees. Available here:http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-IV-Native-Americans/dp/1500756105

They Came For Our Bicycles, Then They Came For Us

During the Nazi occupation of Holland, the Jews living outside of Amsterdam were ordered to turn in their bicycles. Then they were banned from all public transportation. Besides just pure cruelty, the Nazis wanted the bikes for themselves, to use to thwart enemy invasion, (bikes can be handy in city streets engaged in warfare). The Nazis may have been concerned that Russian soldiers would use the bikes to their advantage. Eventually, the Nazis removed the Jews, a very sad history.   Suellen Ocean is the author of Chimney Fire. Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Chimney-Fire-Steinberg-Conspiracy-1/dp/1502816067

“Noisy Jews?”

During the occupation of Holland, in World War II, the Nazis began complaining about, “Noisy Jews,” riding their bikes in the park. Noisy? Sounds like they were enjoying themselves. Enjoying life. But that was not to last. The Nazis took away the Jews’ beloved bikes. Jews were ordered to turn in their bikes, with the exception of Amsterdam’s Jews. We are talking about 60,000 Jews. Even Anne Frank wrote about the Nazi bike confiscation. Her father gave her mother’s bike to Christians for safekeeping. Needless to say, the Nazis got very few good bikes from this confiscation. The Jews cooperated poorly. They gave the Nazis the junky bikes.    Suellen Ocean is the author of Chimney Fire. Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Chimney-Fire-Steinberg-Conspiracy-1/dp/1502816067

What Do Acorns and Fine Wine Have in Common?

What do acorns and fine wine have in common? The acorns come from the oak tree and fine wine is aged in an oak barrel. But there is another aspect shared between wine and acorns and it isn’t just the tannic acid. It’s the way acid can be removed that’s interesting. I was listening to a wine expert on the radio, and he said there were some tests done to remove acid from wine. The procedure that brought the best flavor was the one where wine was poured “twelve times” back and forth between two decanters. It turns out that oxygen breaks down tannic acid. A red light went off in my head because for decades I’ve been leaching acorns and I hadn’t realized the important role oxygen played in removing acid from the acorns. Doubt if I’ll be pouring my acorns back and forth twelve times but I’ll let them spend more time exposed to the air. It might help sweeten them.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Acorns and Eat’em, a how-to vegetarian cookbook and field guide for eating acorns. Find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Acorns-Eatem-How–Vegetarian-Cookbook/dp/1491288973

Hitler, Caucasians, Hindus and Iranians? Can’t Wrap My Brain Around It

Who the Aryans are, has always baffled me. Hitler believed that the Aryan Race was a “pure” Germanic race, which he meant to preserve. Then I heard that Iran means Aryan because they were Aryans. My search for finding exactly who the Aryans are (or were) has brought me this:

Aryans descended on the river valleys of northern India around 2000 BC

Aryans are light-skinned and probably came from Central Asia or Europe

Aryans are of the same stock as Europeans

Aryans were warriors on chariots (this makes me think of Celts)

Hinduism stemmed from ancient Aryans and their writings (they are credited with writing mankind’s oldest book ‘the Vedas’)

If I go by what my newer dictionary defines, it would tell me the root of the word arya means noble, but other than that, it just tells me that an Aryan is a descendant of prehistoric people who spoke Indo-European. And for the second definition it states Indo-Iranian.

Still not enough information for my brain to form a concise picture of who the Aryans are (or were). I have an old 1941 dictionary, which describes it further, by informing me that the Aryans descend from the Iranian plateau from ancient times while another branch entered India. One thing I’m sure of is that they are Caucasian.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy III – From Jewish Anglo-Saxon Tribes to New France Acadians. Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-III-Jewish-Anglo-Saxon-Acadians/dp/148407579X