ROOTS & BRANCHES

There’s a genealogy talk I have, generally designed for luncheon or banquet use, called “Genealogy’s Lighter Side,” which consisted of a bunch of semi-connected humorous and/or ironic anecdotes.

Since I don’t use a set of PowerPoint slides but just rely on my voice (and occasional facial expressions) to tell the stories, I therefore rely on stories that don’t need visuals.

That has usually left out one of my most famous pranks, since the best part of that is a photograph, but in honor of this being the weekend of Halloween (and therefore the anniversary of said prank), I thought the readers of “Roots & Branches” might have some interest in it.

This happened on the day of Halloween 2019.

A bit of background is required to set up this gag.

First of all, understand that it was during my three years as an employee of Legacy Tree Genealogists, the globe-spanning research-for-hire team for which I served as the “gray eminence” (aka the oldest guy on staff) in a company filled with young and talented individuals.

Secondly, since everyone at LTG worked remotely, meetings were held on the Zoom platform (which came in awfully handy a year after this prank when the “in real life” world shut down and remote everything—for me, primarily lectures and conferences—became the only game in town.

There were a variety of meetings during the average month at LTG and I’d be lying if I told you that my attention span was equal for all of them, but I always looked forward to the editing team meeting.

The leader of the editing team, both then and now, is Rachel Popma, a veteran editor from Indiana genealogy publications, who I came to cherish deeply.

Also remaining on the team at LTG is DNA expert Candace Camilo, who could ferret out any flaws in researchers’ use of the various tools that have been developed to make genetic genealogy successful.

There were also two talented women on the editing team who’ve moved on from LTG. One is Mckenna Behrmann, who now is part of the crack staff at the FamilySearch Library; the other is Katy Bodenhorn (who you may recognize as having become my partner after our LTG days).

When Popma scheduled our monthly team Zoom for Halloween, the wheels began turning for a prank. Part of it turned on me being able to screenshot our Zoom for “archival purposes.”

When I logged into the Zoom that day, I made sure my camera was off initially and noted to the rest that I was having video problems.”

Then I turned my video on and asked the team if they could see me now.

Turns out they could: I was wearing a werewolf mask, and I did a “print screen” in time to catch Popma’s startled reaction, Camilo and Behrmann in mid-laugh, and Bodenhorn doing a face palm.

Happy Halloween to all!