WHEN FAMILY RESEARCH
GOES RIGHT: Stanley & Marilyn
Just when you think you know everything there is to know about your family, there is always a surprise.
When I began creating the online tree for my Jewish family in New York and California a couple of years ago, I was putting the names of known family members in the various search engines to see what might jump out.
I knew my much-married great-grandmother, Pauline Offerman, had been an actress in the Yiddish Theater and that my great-Uncle Stanley Seedman had owned Carlyle's jewelry store in Salinas, California.
Some of the surprising things I found:
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Pauline had gotten some good reviews, including in the Los Angeles Times.
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Pauline had another brother, whom nobody still living seems to have ever known anything about.
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Stanley had brought Marilyn Monroe to Salinas in 1948, before she was a star, as a promotion for a diamond sale at his jewelry store.
This last, of course, was the most surprising. How could I never have heard of such a thing? Older relatives began saying things like, "Oh, yes. I forgot about that," and "Didn't anybody ever tell you about that?"
Because Uncle Stanley got the wrong actress for his store promotion, Marilyn Monroe met some notables from nearby Castroville who were so taken with her that they quickly decided to crown her the first California Artichoke Queen.
These are the family stories that are fun to hear, and the ones I love to find and tell for you.
How do you know what your family has never remembered to tell you? How will your kids and grandkids find out about these stories?
Backtrackers Genealogy is here to help you do the research to verify what you already believe about your family, and to find out some other interesting (and sometimes contrary) truths.
Give us a call to get started on your holiday gift to your family of some true, undiscovered tales of your ancestors.
Call or email Backtrackers Genealogy today for more information: 512.948.7000
This publicity still from the movie Ladies of the Chorus was the photo Marilyn signed in front of Carlyle's jewelry store on Feb 20, 1948. While Stanley did occasionally have a bit of a weight problem, this is not the copy Marilyn signed to him. This one was located on Pinterest with the owner uncited, and says: "Butter Ball, love always, Marilyn Monroe."