I’m totally excited. Arnetta and her family have been really interested in all my research and have begun diving in to their history for their family. They’re holding another reunion this August and want me to bring all my research to help them fill things in.

I’ve looked up a few things on the Brenckles, of course, because it was easy to do in all the other searching. When I found them, I sent them along. But all my questions have got them thinking about their own questions. That’s why they want me to bring all my research. We can compare notes.

That’s one of the best things, I think, about genealogy. It’s incredibly healing. At least, it has been for me. Maybe the things you find aren’t excuses for whatever behavior, hang-ups, habits or passions your family has, but they are explanations. And sometimes even knowing WHY can help you at least understand. You start realizing that you’re not just dealing with the things you carry, but that there are echos of the things your parents, grandparents, heck, even great-grandparents carried, too. Whether you had the perfect family or one that’s, well, not, we’re all the sum total of all the parts that came before us. And understanding how those parts came to be can free you from a lot of negative thoughts. I think that’s probably why people — and the celebrities — are addicted to ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’

So, now I have to focus on the essential questions for the family. What did they know about Howard Lager? Had they ever heard whether people thought he was innocent or got away with murder?

And there’s a trickier question that’s been playing on my mind. What if the Brenckles’ motives to adopt my grandfather and his brother were not so pure? What if they did it to buy their silence?

My initial thought is no, and here’s why. Phil and Joe were in county custody, according to all the news reports, from the morning of the fire until, it seems, sometime after the coroner’s jury returned its verdict in January 1923. They were definitely still in custody during the trial.There would be no way for the Brenckles to make some kind of promise or arrangement in exchange for testimony.

I went back to my original research and realized that the trust documents, and the subsequent payout forms, indicate that Phil and Joe were adopted in October of 1923. That’s only 10 months.

Now, I’m not sure what the county would have done. Phil was 16 and in most cases, the county turned you out on your own. Joe was 15, so his status is ambiguous. I could say that the county wouldn’t put them back with people they were calling murderers a few weeks previous, but one never knows.

Which brings up another very, very incongruous bit of information. One that might indicate where they were between January and October 1923.

Ohio.

I’ve maligned Pasquale as the evil uncle who’s carelessness altered my grandfather’s existence. But what if it wasn’t him? What if it was Ottavio? He’s the only other logical choice since he was actively involved in the trust issue.

The story I’d memorized from childhood included a memory that Grandpa and Joe had gone to Ohio to live with this bad uncle. And, they’d run away. They showed up on the Brenckles’ doorstep and that’s how they ended up being adopted.

Is that really what happened, or did my over-active imagination make it up — either in childhood or now? I won’t know until I ask the Brenckles.