FIVE - let's play the LENORA JENNINGS memory game!

Lenora and Peter VERI wedding photo 1953 - Brunette lady UNKNOWN

Let's play the "Lenora Jennings" MEMORY GAME

I have "Googled" many times on how to find someone. TONS of sites with many ideas, just a matter of reading them all for the best direction. All the sites suggest talking to relatives and picking their brain for Any little tidbit in their Memory.  It has been a challenge because my mom left Over 50 YEARS ago! The adults who would have been her piers have long since passed away and the younger relatives were not old enough to know her.

Even ANCESTRY.CA has links with suggestions. Unfortunetly I do Not have access to ANY photographs, certificates or any other documents. I'm actually amazed that I have found Any thing about my mom...but I haven't found a hint of what happened to her. IF only I had a Birthdate or knew a siblings name! I was able to get a copy of my sister Tina's last surgery. I was hoping there would be a mention of my mom or even a family members name - NOT! Which is why the search continues. A DNA sample, an Instagram and a Twitter account, and finally a BLOG - fingers crossed this works!

"Meager memories"

My oldest living relative Aunt Anne (real sweetheart) remembers mom as having the Gift of Gab. Mom once walked in cold turkey to a job interview then left with a job. Aunt Anne recalls mom also dressed well and had a gentle soul.

One cousin remembers mom's great voice, another cousin said how well my mom made Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches. I remember my mom sketching some fashionable women ( wearing "petal pushers" so that tells you how long ago "Fashionable" was - LOL ) I remember my mom singing and Dancing along with Nat King Cole, but nothing else specific....wish I could. Oh and mom liked to SPOON with us as the three of us went to sleep. 

Mom also had some Fashion tips for my sister Tina and I - Never Ever get your white gloves dirty!!! You want them Always to be pristine, who knew that styles would change so much. My mom spent hours making sure she looked just right. My sister Tina was the same way and she knew brand names, and always the Right outfit to wear. Well I must be the black sheep of the family, I Never knew what was the proper dress code and finally gave up trying. 

Mom also was quite popular with people and had the Kavorka with men. She always seemed to attract attention, again my sister had the same gift.

How I wish I had heard some stories of her family, or her eductation...or her home town. ANYTHING which would help me find out what happened to her.

My cousin Nick, whom I haven't seen in over 50 YEARS. said he and his father were walking down Yonge Street in Toronto (our big city) when they Bumped into my mom! He thinks it was about 1968...kinda broke my Heart...I moved out of my dad's home 1969 * It's hard to push forward some days when you think of all the "shoulda, woulda, coulda's" that were SO close, but now is gone forever. Thankfully the Geneology buddy LOU, keeps reminding me to "Never give up"  IF I don't follow this thru now, I will Never know what happened to my mom.

I "need" to know what happened to Lenora Anne Jennings!

Birth MOM search @ 65

FOUR - Genealogy Research NEEDS organization

LENORA JENNINGS "VERI" Toronto Ontario 1957

Genealogy research needs Organization

There is a note pad with "notes", a binder with random pages of information. Also a file envelope of many bits of paper with notes jotted down, and then a bunch of single papers with "to do" lists and suggestions. 

Everytime I did a search there was a note detailing why I thought this one "could be" my mom. I also made a note of the family members so I could see if they fit the profile ( 2 sisters and a brother, all older ) The information was becoming a mish mash of over load. It was time to get serious!

It took a full 2 DAYS of sorting, writing and filing to get thru all the papers. I splurged on a multi purposed binder with indexes and envelopes to organize the information I already had collected. The amount of Duplicate profiles was amazing...and such a waste of my time. I realized from this point on, I needed to use my time more productively. AND keep better notes of my searches.

I decided to have a separate section for each person - MOM, dad, Tina and myself. There is a file section for Documents, and another for Certificates. I still have to figure out how to keep myself searching in the right direction. Right now I'm using colored "Stickies" @ my PC. It's too easy to get sidetracked.

FIND OTHERS SEARCHING THEIR FAMILY TREE

I made a new friend (Lou) on FB who taught Genealogy for many years. She has been the person driving me in the right direction for my search for LENORA JENNINGS. She asks all the right questions, which leads to other questions I need to be looking for. Better than staring @ my PC screen for direction - LOL

I also went to a Search group @ the LDS church ( Latter Day Saints ) There are 5 PC's set up, all connected to full memberships on the various Search sites, like ANCESTRY.CA and FAMILY SEARCH.org There was a hand full of "helpers" at LDS who get you started in your search.  I learned a few tricks from them how to use the different search venues on Ancestry. My best advice is to @ least check out one of these places...btw, they did NOT try to get me to join the Church or convert me. As a matter of fact no one even mentioned religion.

GENEALOGY DIRECTION

LENORA ANNE JENNINGS - PROFILE SEARCH

With only my mom's name, this is how I am conducting my search

my BIRTH CERTIFICATE Long version

Has MOMs name and age at time of my birth, and State she was born in. ( KENTUCKY ) It does NOT show Date of birth or any identifying information

PARENTS MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE

It showed a discrepancy for MOMs age, and had her place of residence at time of marriage. ( CHICAGO ) Again NO identifying information

DIVORCE DECREE

This was filed in MIAMI-DADE FLORIDA and there was NO identification saying where my mom lived, or date of birth. My dad was living in Canada, so not sure how he filed there...guess he could have been on vacation?

U.S. CENSUS

This is a great place to work from "IF" you know ANY family history...but I do NOT. So for me, it's looking @ names blindly. IF I knew even one person's name who was a sister or family member of my mom, this would work. I have contacted many people on ANCESTRY who have Public Family Trees for JENNINGS, but so far NO one knows my mother.

FIND A GRAVE

They have alot of graves, which again would be helpful IF I knew exactly where my mom was from. Even though she listed Kentucky as place of Birth, I don't know her Birth date. Looking thru the Graves is good IF I knew more facts

I just have to keep moving FORWARD, and NEVER give up!

THREE - Can't find what I'm searching for?!?!

Lenora and Peter VERI Toronto Ontario about 1956

I can't find what I am Searching for?!?!

It didn't take long to realize the info I want is not just laying around. It takes dedication,  LONG late nites @ the PC and Forget about sleep, comfort or television. "Searching" becomes a drug and it takes over ALL thoughts. I Lay in bed after a fruitless nite of searching, my mind wanders, trying to think "out side the box" and what else can I do?

That's when I discovered there is more than one site to search...actually there is more than I can possibly keep track of. Seems each has something different to offer. Trying to keep track of passwords and Family trees, presents it's own challenges. BUT it is worth the effort. A few times a New document or Census starts a new series of searching and a surge of energy

FAMILY TREE is only the start

Best thing about making the Family Tree, is it keeps me on track. I can easily see who still needs to be added, what dates I am missing etc. I started with ONE Family tree but it became too large to manage. (I had included my husbands family) Now I have changed how I do the Family Trees - I have separate Trees for different family. I made one for Hubby and his Finnish Family tree. Another for my Father and our Italian Family members and finally a tree for my mom "Lenora Anne Jennings". 

My " LENORA JENNINGS "  tree is really Sparse!!! There is only my mom, dad, sister and myself in the tree. Since I haven't found Anything on my mom yet, there is nothing I can put in there. It is my sole purpose, to just add Something about mom's family on her JENNINGS Family Tree!

On Ancestry when you do your Searches, there is a way to "Save your File".  I save all my searches to my "ShoeBox" Because the files I have saved so far are only Guesses, I don't want to add it to the MOM tree until I'm sure it's about her. I'm hoping that at least Some of the searches will be right!?  I'd hate to think I wasted my time on all the wrong people  

My FAVORITE Geneology SEARCH sites "So Far"

https://www.ancestry.ca/

https://www.findmypast.com/

https://www.familysearch.org/en/ 

https://www.findagrave.com/

https://www.myheritage.com/

https://billiongraves.com/

https://www.truthfinder.com/

Some of these sites are Free, some require $ to join.

I discovered that " Facebook " has a few ANCESTRY Search Help sites. The best thing on those sites is how Helpful the members are. There is always someone who will answer a question or direct me in a new direction. 
Another venue which may help my search is ADOPTION sites, any site helping to FIND BIRTH PARENTS. I can use ALL the help I can get!

TWO - ANCESTRY.ca 2 week Subscription STARTS it ALL!

Lenora Jennings "VERI" wedding picture March 7 1953

ANCESTRY.ca ~ Free 2 week subscription!

The questions have always been there....what happened to our BIRTH mom? Where did she go when she lost custody of my sister and I? Did she get married, have other children, and enjoy the rest of her life? Did she ever try to reach us? I am 64 years old and struggle to understand.

I suppose there was a lot of things in play that prevented her finding us, and vice versa. Those were the days before cell phones and computers. My sister and I didn't have any money or mom's personal information to start a search. My sister Tina and I also lived on our own, but without a phone. BUT It doesn't solve anything to look in the small rear view mirrow (what is Behind you ), best to look in the Large FRONT window and concentrate on where you are going "now"  It is difficult though to Not wonder about how different our lives could have been IF we had stayed in touch with our mom.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda

Tina and I spoke many times on the odd random little memories we had of our lives with mom. We would also say "we should write this all down so we never forget" BUT of course we did NOT. The memory of an eight and a ten year old who spent much of those years living with other families, have little recall.

My mothers side of the family had an inherited bowel cancer called " FAP " Our mother had it, and we heard a few of her siblings died from it. Unfortunetly my sister also had FAP, and had 3 major surgeries. Tina died in 2009 at the young age of  52. My dad suffered from Parkinsons the last decade of his life, and he passed away Sept 2017. Now I AM FREE to search for my MOM...but now I am on my own for remembering the small fragments of our young years with her. ALL I have is her name - this will be a Challenge!

Ancestry, Family Search, 23 and me

Around Xmas 2017 I saw alot of advertizing for a FREE 2 week trial of Ancestry. Yeah, yeah - Nothing is free...but I signed up. It's then I discovered I had set up an account years earlier??? But I had not signed up for the "Paid" searches.  I started searching and it was like a drug. The problem was the FREE search was only for Canada, so I used it every nite to search out my dads side of the family. Well I was shocked to find out all kinds of things I had never known. There were still births, names, dates and it was enough to peak my interest in doing more searches. Before my FREE 2 weeks was up, I SUBSCRIBED for WORLD searches!!! Ancestry dangled it's lure and I took the bait - LOL

https://www.ancestry.ca/

~

I wish I could say I found out really interesting things about my mother and the search was super easy...NOT!!!! I have  looked under every imaginable name spelling, different states, various guesses about her age, but so far NOTHING.I also keyed in my 1/2 brother Steve's name. But I don't know his adopted name, birthday or where in the USA he was born, doubt I will ever find him. It's been a bit frustrating and I can't believe how many times I have stayed up til 3am searching. Sometimes after searching for long hours, my eyes see double and my brain is drained. All I can do it look at the PC screen trying to figure out what the heck am I missing? I will detail my fruitless journey next!

ONE - LENORA JENNINGS ~ The Drama ~ the Details...my First post is the hardest

Lenora Anne Jennings wedding picture March 4 1953

( page 1 )

My MOM ~ "LENORA ANNE JENNINGS" 

 "Birth MOM search @ 65" is my Blog to Chronicle the journey to find my BIRTH Mother "LENORA ANNE JENNINGS" who I last saw in 1964 when I was 10 years old.

MY mother LENORA JENNINGS apparently met my father PETER VERI @ a hotel in CHICAGO USA. They were both worked there and in their early 20's. Dad thought mom was rich because she was wearing a Mink coat, ya gotta LUV the 50's. I don't know the name of the hotel where my mom worked in Chicago. I heard she worked in a cocktail lounge as a Cigarette Girl, dad was a Bartender

My parents married March 1953 in Chicago, Cook county Illinois, and then moved to Toronto Ontario Canada where my father was raised.  My Paternal Grandparents came to Canada from Italy. Dad was born in Guelph Ontario and moved to Toronto Ontario with his 2 brothers and a sister. It was a Strict Roman Catholic upbringing and my mother just did Not fit in.

The  "VERI"  BEGINNING

I was born a year later in March 1954, my little sister Tina was born July 1956.
I remember things seemed happy at home, and I have some fond memories of my parents.

I do not have an exact date when my parents split, but I am guessing about 1958.  My mother was a Surprise to dad's family. Apparently dad just showed up with a pregnant mom as his wife. The tight knit family hadn't heard about my mom and she wasn't readily accepted into the fold.  It was to be expected, after all she had worked in a night club and was Fair haired and Fair skinned -  And most shocking was she had given birth to a baby boy before she met my dad. Most definitely Not a nice "Italian" girl. My father had a habit of keeping "his" people separate from his Other people...I saw it first hand growing up.  Mingling with the other family and friends was not encouraged, so I think mom was kept apart from the main core of the family. Brought out for special occasions.

After my parents split, life changed drastically for my sister Tina and I. The next 5 years we were boarded out ( Group Homes ) Many times to strangers and we did not see our mother often. We were fortunate the homes we were placed with were Kind people, and children our age. I remember at least 4 different homes, a summer with an Uncle and his family in Fenelon Falls Ontario and twice with mom...all within a 5 year period. There was alot of moving ~ but we spent  holidays and summers with our dad. We were young and excited to spend time with him.

It was during one of those visits with our father, that we stayed at his new house.  Dad was living with a new woman "Mary Turner" and her daughter and son.  I expect the idea of fighting for custody had something to do with Mary wanting to secure a home base for her own children. We never liked Mary, none the less there was a custody battle and we were living with dad and Mary Full time. Our mom was a single woman raising 2 girls and working as a Cigarette girl. Dad had a house and a stay at home woman who would care for us while he worked. It is no surprise dad was granted custody
It was 1964 and the LAST TIME WE SAW OUR MOTHER 

( except for when she tried to abduct us from school but dad stopped her - a story for another time) 

Birth MOM search @ 65 years old!

There are a few reasons why "  I am 64 and trying to Find my BIRTH mother "

TINA and I did Not spend enough time with our mom to know Anything about her Previous life.  We never talked about her parents or siblings, the town mom grew up in....or anything else about her life. I don't even know my mom's Date of birth, her education or even her favorite color. Something inside me (maybe impending retirement) is feeding the sense of urgency to find out Everything I can NOW while I can.

Another reason is the death of my Dear sister Tina in 2009...and now the death of my father in 2017.
Finding out what happened to my mother will Not bring them back, but hopefully will release the demons of wondering what ever happened to my mom. My sister and I tried to look for our mom but could never find any clues. Watching the "Adoption Search" programs of a Happy reunion is a Fantasy for me. I will be Happy just knowing her final resting place.

One of the most heart breaking things that happened when I was a child, is that my dad destroyed ALL the pictures of our mom. I am Really grateful though that he saved 3 wedding pictures (which he gave to me when I turned 30)  Dad would NEVER talk about mom, and later he said she had died, end of discussion!  Never any details about it and any time we would ask a question, there was shit to pay.  Dad was a good man, but Strict and unyielding. I am now free to search for my mom.

The Document I found that Started my SEARCH

I have absolutely NO idea how to research my missing mother, or her family but I have joined ANCESTRY.CA which I'm hoping is a good start and watching YouTube videos!  

I invite you to follow a true NEWBIE who has NO talents in the world of Genealogy  

I welcome any tips or methods you have used which may help.

Wish me LUCK on my

"BIRTH MOM SEARCH AT 65"