As I explained last week, I’ve started uploading videos that used to reside on RootsTelevision (RTV). One of the fortunate aspects of waiting to do this is that YouTube now accommodates longer videos, and many RTV ones exceed their earlier length restrictions. Now I have the luxury of uploading a single, complete video, rather than a sliced-up version in two or three separate sections.

This week, I decided to share one of our classics – Unclaimed Persons. In case you’re not familiar with this concept, it’s essentially “lost and found,” but for human beings instead of gloves and umbrellas. It’s a quiet but disturbing epidemic. People are going to their graves with no family to claim them. Medical examiners and coroners’ offices — frequently overstretched with burgeoning case loads — are turning to an unexpected resource for help: genealogists.

This video shows me tackling cases from Lackawanna County, PA (heads-up – the Finch case mentioned has been solved!) and San Bernardino County, CA. I started assisting coroners and medical examiners back around 2005, and several years later, we figured that this would make an interesting topic for RTV to cover, so we produced this video. When we shared it, I was inundated with requests from fellow genealogists saying that they wanted to help,and that’s how the volunteer organization organization known as Unclaimed Persons was born.

If you like this video, please tell your friends and keep your eyes open for more!