1991 Review

Year in Review 1991

Greetings

The Year in Review in 1991 was a break with tradition. I opened the review by apologizing for the lack of graphics. This was due to the fact that I had spent more time in Japan than the US. I have repackaged the original text for easy reading below the images.

This year's card is a traditional scene with a boy and his dog bringing home the evergreen tree, the symbol of everlasting life.

Christmas scene

Bell Labs

I spent more time in 1991 in Japan than in USA -- 12 trips this year. I also attended the famous Telecom event in Geneva, Switzerland which occurs every four years. It is considered the Olympics of telecommunications.

Personal

My father drove up from Dallas to visit me in August and we made breakthrus on the family tree while working in the famous Newberry Library in Chicago. In December, I had dinner with Linda Cartledge, who now lives in Australia. She and I were the two seniors voted Most Likely to Succeed back in high school in 1962. At home, I got a laser printer and upgraded to laser checks. I haven’t written a check in years. I print all checks on my Mac.

Family Tree

I discovered an ancestor every 16 minutes on average in January and February at the Newberry Library during Saturday visits! Family tree work can be hit or miss, but when you hit a mother load of discovery, it is exciting! On my grandfather Parrish’s side I’ve identified over 300 ancestors in America -- so far. Of these 300, over 80 are First Comers. Most came to America in the 1630’s and the 1640’s. These are an amazing group of people! Most are political and religious dissidents who became leaders. For example:

Harvard grad in 1664 (Samuel Street)/Yale grad in 1712 (Samuel Maltby)
Mary Bliss successfully defended herself in Witchcraft trial in 1675
Captain John Taylor and Lt. Roger Plaisted were killed by Indians

In January this year as I continued to find ancestors who were First Comers, I hoped I would find a link to the Mayflower. This summer I succeeded with help from my father in fulfilling a lifetime dream. We have documented evidence! Four of our ancestors came over on the Mayflower!!!!

One of these John Howland is also an ancestor of Longfellow, Emerson, O’Henry, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Smith (Mormon church founder). This makes all of these famous people my distant cousins.
In 1967 I saw the replica, the Mayflower II, in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
In 1990, I visited Leiden, in the Netherlands where the Pilgrims lived before coming to America.

Thanks to my father’s work we have 10 registered ancestors who fought in the American Revolution. We have identified one ancestor who was half Mohawk. The Mohawk’s were one of the five nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. So we have achieved the ultimate genealogical finding for an American family: we had ancestors on the shore to greet our Pilgrim ancestors!

On my mother's side of the family, my sixth cousin Jan Vegelius in Sweden was about to publish my research on all the descendants in America which I completed last year when he died very suddenly at age 49. Explanation is in Swedish and I can’t read it. He left a wife and 3 young children.

World Events (chronological order)

US Government leaves Saddam in power after killing over 100,000 in Gulf War
Yugoslavia has civil war, 8000 die so far, European Community does nothing
Communism dies in former USSR
Communist coup d’etat fails - Yeltsin stands on tank
Baltic States freed & Ukraine votes over 90% for independence
Economic collapse gains momentum in former USSR - hyper inflation next
US Government debt increase exceeds 300 billion in 1991 and is climbing
Andre Marrou picked as Libertarian candidate for President in 1992
Arabs & Israelis start peace talks (“You dirty scum” - “You tick on a camel’s rump”, etc.)
After 50 years, Japan refuses to apologize for its attack on Pearl Harbor. Typical attitude is: “just a miscalculation”
Mario Cuomo finally decides --- and picks VHS over beta