Interesting day! Genealogy group meeting in the a.m. We studied City Directories. One can find out a lot about their ancestors by searching through such directories. I mentioned that when I was ten years old and a street person, I spent a lot of time at New Bedford's great Public Library, which was built with the use of a big bequest by Sylvia Ann Howland (daughter of the richest woman in the world, Hettie Green). One of the features of the library was their collection of incunabula, which was open, free for all to thumb through and enjoy. Taking a break from looking at that material, I discovered New Bedford City Directories.. and, at the young age of ten.. I did the work of a genealogist, even though I didn't know how to record what I found out.
Recently, though, I got waylaid by information in Boston City Directories. I was searching for my Aunt Lurana and her family. I found: Lura or Laurana or Lurana Etheridge and her husband, William Ethridge, and her daughter, Pauline, and her son, William Jr.
The dates were a little off, but I was sure I had the right family.... but then, a short time ago, I came across an Ethridge family with a different street address in Boston. There was a Lurana Ethridge, a William Etheridge, a Pauline Ethridge and a William Ethridge Jr. How could they live in two places at the same time.. checking other years, I found the same thing. There were two families in Boston with the same names.. for the same years. What are the chances of that happening? I hope I picked the right people... but I will need to check other information to make sure.
Next month, we will be discussing the "Black Sheep" in each of our families. What? You don't have anybody like that in your family? Don't be so sure.
I need to find the Internet documentation for the outlaw who retired from being a bad guy, changed his name to Joe Vaughan, and settled in Arkansas. Also.. that William Ethridge that I mentioned was supposed to have created storefront churches in Boston.. and scammed a lot of people.
In the P.M., I attended the second Great Decisions session. This one was on ISIS. We had a very knowledgeable speaker from Hood College in Frederick. I learned a lot, such as the fact that ISIS has its own currency, garbage collection and other features that one would expect in a city-state. I also learned that ISIS has a net worth of 2 Billion dollars.
Probably, the only real way to defeat ISIS is to somehow get it to go broke... by somehow destroying its purchasing ability or instituting sanctions against it and/or those who feed it arms and such.
Someone in the audience said that NPR had mentioned today that planes from 22 countries bomb Syria each day. I wonder if that is true.
Also, ISIS would like to get American troops engaged with them so that the wars of Armagedon (sp?) can begin. ISIS members think that this is the "end times" and a messiah, perhaps even Jesus, will be around soon to lead their forces in destroying the infidels.
How many additional people would be alive today if it wasn't for RELIGION. It always amazes me when I read how Nazi soldiers were praying to God to let them kill Americans... while Americans were praying to the same God to let them kill Nazi soldiers. Japanese soldiers, ditto.
ISIS would like to see a "reverse Crusade"...
Sunni vs Shia... Protestant Ireland vs Catholic Ireland .. Hindus vs Buddhists .. the list will go on and on until humans learn how to get along. Even in the U.S., there are so many hate-filled evangelicals... but... I think that we are doing a lot better than anywhere else in the world right now in learning what the hell diversity is all about. Look closely at each other.. we are more alike than different.. regardless of what hate-mongers try to make us believe.
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