Debunking the Family Secret

Have you ever heard a family rumor about a great-grandparent or a great-great-grandparent before? One that has made you stop in your tracks and go, huh? Or have you ever had a parent drop a bombshell and tell you, you weren’t actually related to the people you thought you were related to all your life?

Rumors destroy lives.

Earth shattering revaluations, reveled by family members about family members are always hard to take. Rumors destroy lives, whether they were stated today or over a hundred years ago. They are cruel and some need to be researched for the truth to come out. Sometimes you need to take a stand against family members and dig deeper into the rumors to right the wrongs of history. It takes one person to stand up and ask more questions to get down to the truth.

The truth will always find always to come to light.

There will always be those who will not want to know the real truth but finding the truth will be worth it in the end if even one person listens to the family detective.

That’s what I call myself the Family Detective, The Protector of the Flame, The one who wants the truth no matter where it will lead. Family History is my passion, and I am doing all I can to keep the memory of the ones who come before me alive.

The quest of a lifetime started a little over a decade ago: My mother dropped a bombshell in my lap on the way home from the last Thompson/Sabey reunion had been. I was the one driving home, and she was in the passenger seat.

Nonchalantly, she said, “You know, you aren’t actually related to the Sabeys.”

I had to pull over as I cried out, “WHAT?! EXPLAIN?!”

I felt like my whole world was being turned upside down, shaken, shattered and left in pieces. For 25 years of my life every summer we would go to the Thompson/Sabey Reunion. This was my Father’s Paternal Grandparents’ “John Thompson and Maude Sabey” Reunion.

“Your great-grandmother Maude’s surname on the 1900 U.S. Census is not Sabey. Actually it’s Rose.”

“Show me.”

We arrived home she showed me that 1900 U.S. Census.

Well, I’ll be…

Sure enough, Maude’s surname was Rose not Sabey.

This was the document that launched a 10-year investigation. For ten years all I knew about my biological 2nd-great-grandfather was his surname was Rose. He was from Germany. He also had to have connections to Evanston, Wyoming, because that is where Maude, my great-grandmother was born.

This was how my life long quest started.

To be Continued…