Hi--I found the article quite interesting, but I also found it very difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The writer, Don Nicoloff, doesn't seem to be a particularly adept researcher, relying as he does on wikipedia entries here and there, for instance. I can't help but roll my eyes as I write this! That wouldn't even fly in high school history class, I don't think.
In addition, he doesn't seem to understand the nature of genealogical research. Here's a quote:
TWI: The Walker clan appears out of nowhere beginning with Thomas Walker I (TWI) who married Catharine (no maiden name). According to the records, there is no date of birth, no birthplace, no parents and no date of marriage noted for either TWI or Catharine. Their union, however, produced one son of record, Thomas Walker II, born/christened August 2, 1758. [29]
CTWII: “Captain” Thomas Walker II (CTWII) married Catherine McClelland Feb. 22, 1785. Dates and places of birth for CTWII and Catherine are not available, though the “christening” date for CTWII is recorded as August 2, 1758, at Holy Trinity Church, Gosport, Hampshire, England. The union between CTWII and Catherine produced “one” child, Thomas Walker III (TWIII) born October 14, 1787. [30]
It is interesting that TWI and CTWII both married a “Catharine (Catherine)” and neither had birth dates, nor places of birth. “Catharine” didn’t even have a maiden surname. Apparently, neither Catharine nor her presumed daughter-in-law Catherine had parents, though both were supposedly born in “England.”
The Walker clan "appeared out of nowhere," eh? Well, most likely records weren't well kept, had been destroyed, had had ink spilled on them, had gotten dry rot or mildew... or maybe the family were a bunch of yokels and never got a chance to get into any kind of official record. It is really, really common for records, especially of that age, to be incomplete.
Then he's suspicious that two men in the same family both married women with the name Catherine (with the variant of Catharine) as if it's somehow evidence of foul play, yet a great many women shared that name during the time period.
Furthermore, in the first section of this piece, he writes about what seem to him to be suspicious irregularities in Ellis Island records for P. Warburg (who he assumes to be Paul Warburg) and James Loeb. What he seems to ignore is the fact that, gee, there could be several people by that name coming through Ellis Island over the years in question. Certainly "James Loeb" could be a fairly common European name, and "P. Warburg" could just as easily be Peter or Patrick or Piers or Piet or Pierre or.... etc.
Then again, early census and Ellis Island records are products of human beings and as such are rife with errors. A census taker could be a poor speller or have terribly handwriting skills, for example, or the Ellis Island official partially deaf, or American ears could have had trouble with European accents. They could have been in a hurry, they could have been lazy, they could have made assumptions...
I've encountered such problems with genealogical research of my own family. My maternal grandfather had what I thought was an unusual name, but when I started to look for census records, it turned out there were at least three men with the same name living in the area, and they were all unrelated to each other. The records for my paternal grandmother dry up quickly; after just a little mention in the Ellis Island records of her mother's name, I can get no further back on that branch of the family tree without actually going to a tiny town in Slovakia to look through church records I most likely wouldn't understand anyway.
That's another thing--such records are often quite localized and have not been digitized, whereas the author of this article seems to have done only virtual legwork.
Here's a particularly juicy bit of error: he first quotes then writes about an article in the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper from 1899,
The greatest difficulty now in the way is lack of funds, no appropriation being available for experiments of any kind. It is possible that in 1917 Tesla was receiving heavy fire, but it certainly wasn’t from his own gun.”
The last sentence in the quotation above is not only ambiguous it is misleading. The relevance to the original request by Admiral Higginson is not only suspicious, the document has been edited with a date insertion some 18 years after its original publication.
What's funny is that he doesn't realize that the last sentence is actually another person's commentary on the 1899 article. As seen here, it is lifted from
http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_036.htm, which is a FAQ about Tesla. The exact sentence appears, but with proper formatting and in context, it's clear that it is part of an answer to a modern-day FAQ, not part of the original 1899 article. Either Don Nicoloff is a plagiarist, and a dumb one at that, or he just didn't format his notes correctly; either way, it's not good research by any stretch of the imagination--especially as he doesn't credit the work of the FAQ's author, probably Gary Peterson, owner of Twenty First Century Books, where the FAQ appears.
Now, although it's clear to me that the writer is a fairly shoddy researcher, it should not be said that everything he writes is incorrect. However, based on what I found upon a cursory reading, I would have to say that the article at best presents a few intriguing ideas that desperately need to be corroborated with more convincing evidence, and at worst, it's obvious disinformation.
Still, it kept me reading, and thanks for pointing it out.
Oh, wow, since I couldn't post because the forum was once again down, I googled Don Nicoloff. Well, that was even more interesting. Here's from
http://www.esnips.com/_t_/topkatsDon Nicoloff: Seer, mentalist, spiritualist & counselor (1st hour).mp3 consultant to the edgeam radio in
www.topkatspride.com's Edutainment Files
What Don discovered was a truth, intentionally hidden from us, through our 'religions' & our 'educational system,' that we all have intuitive talents & abilities. He began to discover the source of his musical inspiration through practice, self-discovery, teaching, & outside research. He recognized that the same source exists in all areas of our lives, & he knows it is part of his 'mission' to share that knowledge with others. Turn on your speakers!
By
www.topkatspride.com on Nov. 2 2006
13 View(s)
Communities: Spiritual
Tags: seer ,spiritual ,topkats ,conspiracy ,911 ,psychic ,NWO ,secret ,mysteries
Topkat, aka "Cue Pate," seems to be a profilic disseminator of oddball stuff (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, mind you--so's Jeff).
Back to Don Nicoloff: aside from repetition of the article across several rightward-leaning paranoid sites, he also seems to do radio shows, which I haven't bothered to look up. I did, however do something else. In the article he talks about George H. Scherf(f), and specifically about how the addition of the second "f" was significant. So I thought, what's good for the goose... and googled "Don Nicolof" with one "f". It didn't come up with anything but the very enigmatic "Did you mean Donna Nicolof?" So, yeah, sure, that's what I meant! And, from
http://www.terrapinn.com/2005/pba/SpeakerList.stm, lo and behold:
Mrs Donna Nicolof,
General Manager, Business Development and Strategy,
National Private Bank
Donna Nicolof was appointed General Manager, Business Development and Strategy for the National Private Bank in May 2002. This followed more than 15 years in the financial services industry in Australia and abroad, including senior roles within the National Australia Bank’s Global Franchise Development unit, MLC, and State Street Australia Limited.
Donna has responsibility for Private Bank’s strategy and marketing functions, including the development of the division’s business strategy, marketing, product development and review. She was also responsible for the integration of Private Bank into Wealth Management.
Which is kind of interesting, since in Don Nicoloff's article, he's quite concerned with the Federal Reserve and reads and enjoys International Currency Review
http://www.worldreports.org/news/42_uns ... d_testimonHe also seems to be involved in the abductee community, and if you look here, you'll find an article that rang a little bell with me.
http://www.ufodigest.com/news/1106/hannahbillups.htmlThis account sounded very much like a series of posts someone made here on RI a while ago, but I can't put my finger on it just yet.
There's more about Don at
http://www.theedgeam.com/guests/pastguest11.htm where you'll find a picture of him that doesn't look a thing like Donna Nicolof's!
Don Nicoloff , consultant for The Edge Broadcast will give mind blowing analysis of Hannah's abduction and how it relates to a much larger picture of world events, the alien presence and the NWO.
Don became interested in metaphysics at an early age and realized that our purpose in life is to fulfill a 'promise' or 'commitment' we have made. Raised as an Orthodox Christian, he often questioned the reality of mainstream biblical teaching and worldly-belief systems. Realizing that there is a difference between belief and knowledge, he became a seeker of truth.
What Don discovered was a truth, intentionally hidden from us, through our 'religions' and our 'educational system,' that we all have intuitive talents and abilities. He began to discover the source of his musical inspiration through practice, self-discovery, teaching, and outside research. He recognized that the same source exists in all areas of our lives, and he knows it is part of his 'mission' to share that knowledge with others. Don Nicoloff is also a professional, multi-instrumentalist musician, singer, music composer, and producer from Ohio. He has performed with many world-renowned artists and operates his own recording studio.
Don is considered by others to be an expert on religious cults, secret societies, and secret projects. His metaphysical talents have been used in a variety of well-known murder, missing-persons, and conspiracy cases, though this fact is seldom reported in the mainstream media or 'acknowledged' by the authorities. He is a methodical researcher of the facts he brings forth from a metaphysical perspective.
Don also appears on artistfirst.com, Tuesday evenings, at 9:00 pm EST, to discuss a variety of issues. He is currently completing the finishing touches on his third solo CD, "Spirals," which he plans to release this year. The CD will be available on a forthcoming website, and at artistfirst.com.
Don't know what this all adds up to, but it's still pretty interesting.