Serendipity

 

Question for you:  Was your ancestor a yeggman?  Ever heard that term? Here’s a clue:  “We estimate that one crew of yeggs has been responsible for the theft of a total of $75,000 worth of securities from the bank.” Did you guess safe cracker? You were right. I’d never heard that word before. So was your ancestor a yeggman?

If your ancestry tracks back to an Eastern European country (think Croatia), I’d bet you don’t know much about that place. My husband’s line goes back into Luxembourg and initially I couldn’t finger that country on a map. What helped me to learn and what might help you? There are many good sources and references. The FamilySearch WIKI is one. In depth articles are another. The Spring 2021 issue of History Magazine carried a 6-page article on Croatia, “Land of 1000 Islands.” Historically part of Yugoslavia, Croatia has a long and sunny Adriatic coast line and is a favorite European summer tourist destination. The article does not go into research sources or suggestions but just gives background (with photos) of the “country of Dalmatians, citrus fruits, lavender, olives, wine, sunshine and possibly the birthplace of Marco Polo.”

 

We subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and read each issue mostly cover to cover. The final page of the magazine is an “Ask Smithsonian” page where experts address questions. Recently (March 2021) a reader asked, “When did the war of 1914-1918 begin to be called the Great War?”  Good question.  Here’s the Smithsonian answer:  “Almost as soon as the conflagration began. The Canadian magazine Maclean’s noted, ‘Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War’ in October 1914. Winston Churchill broke with British nomenclature when he called the conflict ‘the World War’ in 1927, says David Ward, a senior historian emeritus at the National Portrait Gallery. Most British people stuck with ‘the Great War’ into the 1940s, calling the more recent global conflict ‘the War.’ In contrast, Time magazine started using the terms World War I and World War II in 1939, before the United States entered the conflict.”  Now we know how that name originated.