Alvin Gauthier was going about is workday as a postal carrier in Grand Prairie, Texas, when he stumbled upon something unusual in his parcel hamper: a Christmas card sent in 1944.

Gauthier sifted through the hamper and found several other loose letters written in 1942 and 1944, all of which were signed by Marion Lamb. There was also a tattered envelope postmarked 1942, and addressed to “Mr. & Mrs. Harvey Lamb, Jacksonville, Arkansas.” It was stamped “U.S. Army Postal Service.”

As a Marine Corps veteran, Gauthier felt a personal connection to the wartime letters. He know they would probably mean a lot to the writer’s relatives. “I had to find the family,” Gauthier said. 

He searched online and found Marion Lamb’s obituary from 2010. Reaching out to a local news station in Arkansas, they ran the story. Soon Gauthier was in touch with JoAnn Smith, Marion’s sister. “I was shocked,” said Smith, 84, the only one alive of her six siblings. Marion was the eldest and had no children; he had served in the military from 1941-1945. 

To shorten the story (it was a lovely long newspaper article), JoAnn Smith’s nephew had the letters in his possession for decades and in mid-April had mailed a large package of family artifacts to his cousin, Debbie Smith (daughter of JoAnn Smith). The package that landed in Alvin Gauthier’s mail hamper hadn’t been properly sealed and many of the letters had spilled out. “Of course that’s what happened!” said Debbie Smith.

To end this tale, Gauthier made the 5-hour drive from Grand Prairie, Texas, to

Jacksonville, Arkansas, to meet the Smiths and hand deliver the precious letters. It was a very emotional meetings; they all shed tears as they hugged. 

If you wish to read the story in its entirety, just Google the particulars. Don’t we all just love a warm-fuzzy genealogy story????

 Most likely your colonial ancestors were familiar with opossums……….. perhaps they ate them too?  Sometimes in thinking about blog post topics that might interest you, I get to musing about things we know little about but what our ancestors might have been quite familiar with. Such as opossums. 

The word opossum is derived from the Powhatan language and was first recorded between 1607 and 1611 by John Smith. They were described as a “beast in bigness of a pig and in taste alike.”

While there are over 126 species of this marsupial, only the Virginia Opossum is found in the U.S. and Canada, and is commonly referred to as “possum.” 

Opossums are non-aggressive, never carry rabies and when threatened or harmed, they will “play possum” mimicking the appearance and smell of a sick or dead animal. 

Opossums are mainly found in the Eastern U.S. and along the Pacific Coast. They eat insects, rodents, birds, eggs, frogs, plants, fruit and grain. Female opossums can give birth up to twenty babies but depending on the mother’s number of teats, not all will survive.  A possum is a marsupial which means the joeys are born early and must make their way into the mother’s pouch; they are weaned at between 70-125 days when they detach from the mother’s pouch.  

 For a long time, there have been opossum jokes:

What do you call a possum laying in the middle of the road?

Obviously, it is a Himalayan possum.

You did find Himalayan in the middle of the road……………

I was once told that most every American has a good portion of German DNA in their ancestry. I know I do. 

I discovered the German Genealogy Group (GGG) some years ago and have been a member ever since. I am astonished by the MANY FREE searchable records they offer!

Total Database Records (includes all nationalities!): 23,323,444 (FREE to search)

Please take the time to explore our site and its features.

Membership in the German Genealogy Group (which is based on Long Island, New York) is a modest $15 annually and brings to you the monthly Der Ahnenforscher newsletter. This publication includes member stories, timely articles, German recipes and upcoming GGG seminars. 

The April 2024 newsletter directed readers to a really interesting link/website dealing with German Funerary Laws. I printed out the 10-page handout to really study it! Click to www.germanyway.com/history-and-culture/germany/the-german-way-of-death-funerals

Another similar link was titled “What’s With Germany’s Strict Burial Regulations?”Click to https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/funerals/germany-burial-regulations.htmIf

If Americans collectively have one-fourth German ancestry, that usually means YOU and certainly ME, and GGG is the group for you. Click to www.germangenealogygroup.com and plan to spend a couple of delightful research hours.