Replies

I am not disputing that geneological records got messed up during immigration. My own great-grandfather was the ONLY Protestant with his surname in the entire USA. Everyone else with that name was Jewish. We found a newpaper article that said he had converted to the Methodist Church (odd phrasing in Indiana...most would simply say "joined").

However, I am Senator Kerry's age and have known this for over 30 years, because we were working on our family ancestry. Senato Kerry is not talking about his great-grandfather, but his GRANDFATHER. One would think he would have had a bit of curiosity before now.

I'm about that same age. In some of these cases, it's hard. I read that his grandfather committed suicide at such an early age and it makes me think a lot was hidden. Was there a surrogate in there?

Another factor is that a lot of families weren't exactly proud of the circumstances that got their families here. Being Jewish would've been a real negative in some environments, probably until the '60s...it's a fact that might have disappeared, just as criminal or war backgrounds do.

Meanwhile, I have to say Senator Kerry has done a nice job, with what sounds like a humble background, to service in Viet Nam, to being Mr. Heinz.

I don't dislike him or his views as much as I did during the Kosovo bombing, when he was spouting the Clinton line. It seemed hypocritical for the founder of VietNam Veterans Against the War to support that outrage. He's doing better with the issues, and his office has improved greatly at listening to constituents.

While I find all this most suspicious at this particular time, I have to say that this is entirely possible. Jews sadly did hide their heritage--for self-preservation. They have been doing that since the Spanish Inquisition. This would have been not long after the Dreyfus affair in France when many Jews began to re-evaluate their place in Europe; Zionism became the option for some.

Genealogy is my hobby and I know that there is a lot of utter junk on the internet concerning family connections. I did a quick search on this and found it published on a website by William Addams Reitwiesner who appears to be a credible genealogist. He either works for the Library of Congress or is associated with it. He also gives exact citations where his material can be found; shoddy researchers do not do that. He is also associated with Gary Boyd Roberts who does work with Royal and famous genealogies and from what I know, he also does good research. So at this point, I would conclude that this is correct unless I see something to indicate differently.

What I do find interesting is that Reitwiesner thanks a corrrespondent who provided some of the information from an archive in NY. That person wished to remain anonymous. While I don't doubt the authenticity of this, I do think that the motives behind it are political.