Episode 45 - Prison stories & research, Google customization, & Free British Records

Published Mar 31, 2008

Episode 45 SHOW NOTES

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MAILBOX:  Email from Linda Kvist in Sweden that includes a fun story about an immigrant who didn"t immigrate:

"They were somewhat surprised that my father did contact them. In the church examine rolls it said that my dads grandfather emigrated to the US! He left the place and never came back. We know he never got to the US though. He met he's wife and the settled down in the area where she was born. So, in a way, we solved a clue for them as well!"

GEM:  Mar 22, 2008 was the anniversary of the First Bank Robbery Profile America is brought to you  by the U.S. Census Bureau.

CBSNews.com that takes a look at the precedent for bank robbery that Edward Smith set by profiling some of the most famous robbers in history.   48 Hours Mystery Article 

GEM: Kidnapped!  Listener Greg Norland sent me a note to let me know about an intriguing podcast episode of the Chicago Public Radioâs This American Life show that he had recently heard.  The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar

Song: Mystery of the Dunbarâs Child by Richard "Rabbitt" Brown.

Here are a few pieces of the puzzle that Bobby Dunbar's granddaughter, Margaret Dunbar Cutright likely looked to when working on finding the truth about her grandfather.  From The Constitution newspaper, in Atlanta, GA.  On April 25, 1913  "Have the Parents Got Wrong Child?"

The 1920 census of Opelusas City, in Fort Landry, Louisianna

Look for Percy and Lessie Dunbar, and their two children Robert age 11 and Alonozo age 9.  Or were they both their children?  Be sure and take a look at the census during the last few minutes of The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar as they give the ending to the story and what happened to the people involved. 

Email me with your thoughts or comments on the Ghost of Bobby Dunbar.

GEM: Prison Records:  My cousin Carolyn Ender shares her journey in locating the prison records for a man named George Jump who married her grand father's sister.

Carolyn's Research Approach:

Try to determine the facility / town where you think they served their time.
Locate birth & death dates & the county where they lived during the suspected timeframe.
Contact the Genealogical & Historical Society for that county and ask where you might find inmate records.  Possibly the closest Corrections Dept.
Send a letter to the Corrections Dept. You may be directed to the Bureau of Prisons (www.bop.gov)  if it is a federal crime.
Complete a Freedom of Information Act request form & provide copy of the death certificate. (Listen to Episode 27 and Episode 32 for more information of the FOIA.) 
The BOP may refer you to NARA. They gave Carolyn a particular file # to ask for. 
NARA requires written consent from the inmate's family members or they black out the info regarding family members.  They will require payment for copying. 

If you know the inmate served in a Federal institution for a Federal crime, you can go straight to the Bureau of Prisons.  Consideration will have to be given to whether or not the inmate is deceased, how long he's been deceased, are his children living etc.  For State records, you could probably start with that state's Department of Corrections. 

GEM: Blog And Podcast Gadgets: Step-by-step instructions for Google Gadget customization can be found at the Genealogy Gems - Google Genealogy Research Strategies page.

GEM: Free digitised British newspapers access 1600-1900 Scottish Genealogy News and Events.  Temporary free trial to 17th, 18th and 19th Century British and Irish newspapers at the Gale Digital Collections website. You will need the following details to log in:E-mail: rcc1934@aol.comLogin: virtual Password: books "Bonnie Scotland" was performer:Alexander Prince circa 1914 for Edison Amberol and it is courtesy of the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

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