Okay, I admit it. I couldn't resist the temptation to do a little genealogical digging in search of Santa Claus and his family roots. I also must confess that I didn't spend too much time conducting this research. Instead, I conducted a general search for our Christmas hero on Ancestry in order to find a good starting point. Unfortunately, I must report that I hit a brick wall!
Recognizing that Santa's address is North Pole, Canada H0H 0H0, I first restricted my search to Canadian records only. I was shocked that an obituary record was immediately provided to me by the Ancestry databases. Not wanting to believe that the obituary could possibly be for Santa, I quickly went to the record provided. What a relief - and for that matter, a mystery. The obituary was for actress Deborah Kerr who had passed away in November 2007 following an award winning film career that included notable performances in The King and I and From Here to Eternity. Santa was not named as a surviving family member in the obituary so what relationship could Miss Kerr have with him? Well, it turns out that Santa happened to be mentioned on the same page in the Toronto Daily Star newspaper as the obituary - the reference to Santa being related to a charitable funding raising campaign. Santa was also mentioned with the same charity reference on another page offered by Ancestry. This time a newspaper page listing an index of obituaries about notables who had passed away. Other newspaper references were provided through my Ancestry Canadian record search, all from the Canadian prairie provinces and none dealing with Santa or his roots.
So I broadened my search to include all Ancestry records. I found a Santa Elf Claus reportedly living at 999 North Pole Lane in Baltimore, Maryland. Clearly not the same Santa I was looking for as everyone knows Baltimore is not the North Pole and, to the best of my knowledge, its not even likely his summer home. I found another Santa Claus who married Alisa P. Porter on September 21, 2001 in Elko County, Utah. Again, a 2001 marriage just doesn't seem to fit and I suspect that the Mrs. Claus I had been aware of throughout my life wouldn't have been amused. Finally, there was the record of a one year old Santa Claus in the 1898 Pueblo and Jicarilla, New Mexico, US Indian Census schedule. This again didn't fit as 'my' Santa Claus is said to have Dutch roots.
Like all brick walls, I hope that perhaps this one might come tumbling down. Until that day, I will just have to continue to believe!
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