Fans of Morton Farrier, the English forensic genealogist created by author Nathan Dylan Goodwin, rejoice! Goodwin’s newest book is here!! This is the tenth in the Morton Farrier genealogical crime mystery series and they just keep getting better and better.  In this book, Morton journeys to Salt Lake City to give presentations at RootsTech and while he’s “in the neighborhood,” does some research in Las Vegas on his wife’s great-grandfather…….. who deserted his English family after WWI and ended up leading quite a colorful life in Las Vegas. And of course, Morton’s RootsTech presentations figure into the plot. 

This is The Perfect summer read; the book is available from Amazon. I do 1000% recommend it to you……….. I could not put it down and read it in two days!!

Now for a truly funny tombstone story:

“While writing the history o his village some years ago, the Vicar of the Parish of Eye in England decided to include thumbnail sketches on the “pillars of society” over the centuries…. parishioners who had been “famous” in either the church or community. 

The Rev. Philip Randall was particularly impressed by a tombstone just inside St. Matthew’s Church which bore the initials, “HWP.” Because of its prominent position, he concluded that this  must be the grave of some extremely important local dignitary. 

He poured over old, dusty parish records for nine long years in the hope of finding a Henry Wimbourne Potter, or a Herbert Wattle Pittstock, or even a Happy Washwater O’Pudding. Almost a decade of research yielded not one prominent person with those initials. He was about ready to give up but had the idea of one last try by placing a final appeal for information in the parish newsletter.

Two days later, a parishioner telephones to say that he remembered the story of how his father had helped to lay the the stone that marked the Hot Water Pipe.”

True story? I have no idea. Provenance? I cannot remember how long ago I came upon this bit nor where I found it. Just read it, enjoy and laugh. 

An arson-set fire in the summer of 2023 at the Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple near the Chinatown International District in Seattle destroyed historical archives going back more than 120 years.

This is a disaster which should affect all genealogists  and not just Buddhists. 

The article in our Spokane paper was from Greg Kim of the Seattle Times. Kim wrote: “Just outside the room where the fire began were the temple’s physical archives dating back to 1901 when the temple was founded by first-generation Japanese Americans. The current location was built during World War II in 1943. The destroyed archives contained documents from when temple members were detained in incarceration camps.”

Alex Sakamoto, a temple board member, said “By losing this, we’re losing knowledge and history. Even if people in the community don’t belong to our church, or even if they’re not Buddhist, this has really been a gathering spot in the community…because it has stayed in the same place and remained unchanged for so long.” 

Could a similar disaster happen to “your” archives…… the place where historical records pertaining to your ancestors’ lives are housed? Yes, it surely could. 

 I’d bet a nickel that there is a museum to just about anything you can name. I’d also bet that you’ve visited a good many museums for that’s a “genealogy thing.” But I’d bet that you’ve never heard of these three museums that I just discovered.

Wikipedia tells us that there are some 4500 species of crab scattered in the world’s oceans. In Margate, England, is the Crab Museum where inside is a diorama featuring all things “crab,” real and fanciful. The museum aims to teach visitors about crab anatomy, mating habits and their importance to marine ecosystems, including environmental threats. Their website is both fun and informative and you can sign up for their newsletter for free. 

The Museum of Failure first began in Sweden as a traveling exhibit and now is located in Malaga, Spain. This museum highlights digital disasters, medical mishaps, bad taste things, Failure in Motion, Failure to Innovate, “What WERE they thinking,” and “So Close But Yet So Far….”  The museum has over 200 new items and artifacts added every year because “innovation needs failure. All progress, not only technological progress, is built on learning from past failures and mistakes.” 

Last of all, a museum in Reykjavik, Iceland: The Iceland Phallogical Museum. This eclectic museum purposes to “collect, study and preserve some 200 phalluses of land and sea mammals (including man).” I visited this most unusual museum and to be honest found it to be most interesting. The gift shop offerings were definitely “something else.”