Joe Blow

Everyone thinks that Joe Blow is just a generic term for John Doe. I am here to tell you that there were real men called Joe Blow and one of those men was my grandfather. He was a dynamite man that made things blow up. He worked on mines, canals and ports during the 30's and the 40's across the nation and around the world. His final project was the Port of Monrovia, Liberia which is where is set his final charge of dynamite. One misfired and it blew him up. His name was Al Dawson Helmick and the people of Liberia called him by a term of endearment, Joe Blow.

I was not aware of this until I began doing genealogy to find the answers about my father's heritage. After sending for his birth certificate, I began the tedious process of search and elimination of facts and fiction. In my search I found my grandfather and many incredible facts about him. I wrote a book about the process of searching and it was released last week. The name of my book is "An Ordinary Guy Joe Blow.
Jan