Can You Tell?

Meet Melvin Dawson....My paternal grandfather. He is Scottish but something else appears to be

glaring out. Either Greek, Spanish, or Italian? Can you tell?

Genealogy

Since I was a teenager, I have always been interested in Genealogy.
One intersting thing about genealogy is you don't know what you are going to find out.
I wanted to know about my biologicals fathers side of the family (Robert Melvin Dawson).
At one time or the other, I tried to locate him through Social Security. They could not find
anything recent on him except that his father Melvin had passed away in 1986. I knew his father
was Melvin John Dawson. Do you see the pattern here? The sons middle name was the fahters
first name. Many years later, couriocity got the best of me. I was sitting in a McDonalds eating breakfast when I reached for my Iphone and called Macomb county vital statistics since they have
death records. They looked up Melvin John Dawson and they told me he died in Oakland County
which is also in Michigan. When I got home, I emailed Oakland County and asked if I could order his death certificate. They replied, Yes. A few weeks late I got his death certificate in the mail. I never knew he was a truck driver for Hare Cartage. My mother said his wifes name was Viola. Vi for short.
She was the next informant on the certificate. I knew at the current age she would be, I did an obituary search for her. I found it. I then wrote a letter to one of the names listed. His wifes daughter emailed me a few weeks later. Hello....After 40 years, I recieved a picture of my grandfather Melvin John Dawson. On the death certificate, it showed his parents as John Dawson and Lillian M Edgar. I checked on familysearch.org and had seen that John and Lillian were married on November 18th, 1910. I ordered there marriage certificate and it showed me Lillians mother and father as Thomas
Edgar and Sarah May Edgar. I looked on Ancestry.com at the libraryand found Sarah's mother May Edgar as being born in Dumfries, Scotland in 1834. Now I want to look for John and Anna Dawson.
Thomas Edgar was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. In August, I am going on a 12 day cruise of the british Isles. My grandfathers picture, he looks Irish/Scotish and something is glaring but I can't tell. Spanish maybe? I took a DNA test and it shows Scottish, Italian and Spanish.
Greg

Drip by Drip

Sometimes when I least expect it, a thought will just pop in my head from out of nowhere.
I write it down for future use. Jim Morrison said that he wanted to write that way but it never
did happen for him. One day, out of the blue came what I thought could be a good title. Drip by Drip. Enjoy:
Drip By Drip
Like the sound of ice melting,
Drip by drip
Sliding down its icy walls
Drip by drip
It becomes an ocean.
Drip by Drip
Some cold new world
yet to be explored
Drip by drip
opening windows and opening doors
swimming in pools of eachother
Drip by drip ©

Poetry

I read and write poetry. It seems to be a lost art. In 2000, I was watching television when I seen a
commercial for an upcoming documentary on fire fighters. I thought, what a great poem I can write.
It took me about 25 minutes to write it. 2 weeks after 9/11, I sent a copy to Rescue 1 in NYC.
A few weeks later, I got home from having a rough day at work.. My, did my eyes ever light up when I
checked my mail and there was a hand written Thank You card from them. Just think of all the billions of mail, I got a reply. Enjoy the Poem.

Valor
 Heroic deeds of emergency workers beyond the call of duty.
 Their morality great in the eyes of God. And sometimes beyond
 those in others.
                     This is Valor.
 They selflessly confront infernos and uncirtain situations.
 At times, life threatening. Simply doing what they do because
 they want to do it.
                    This is Valor.
They are more than willing to walk into burning buildings, burning
homes burning brush or crash. They often place the safety and welfare
of others ahead of themselves.
                    This is Valor.
They walk into a blazing rage of heat, fire, and fumes. Not knowing
if they will come out alive. When called apon, they do exactly that.
                    This is Valor.
Sometimes and often times expected; a fatality. A true hero never dies.
When a hero dies, his voice is never silenced and his memory never
extinguished. No medal can describe the feelings inside of these
corageous men and women after a job well done. Wheather deacesed or
wheather alive, hold strong to the truth. They will when called apon,
go out of their way to save the life of a stranger in need.
                    This is Valor.
They are ordinary citizens doing extraordinary deeds.
                    This is Valor.
For those who have died in the line of duty, for those who have died
quenching a fire, I comfort you in truth and all sincerity, they are
with the lord. When one walks through the fires of hell, they walk
into the loving arms of God. We solute these people of valor.
Blessed are those that respond to the call; Our father in heaven is proud of you all.
Dedicated to the men and women of the fire department.
                   This is Valor. ©