Dear Ari, Avery, and your many cousins who call my mom, Grandma Smith:
My mother was a great family story-teller. She shared this trait with one of her favorite aunts, Lavaun Toft, and her grandmother, Beulah Blanche Conner. She never hesitated to paint an unvarnished picture of growing up in her family, nor failed to describe the broad array of characters who made up her universe of relatives.
Respecting her tradition, I’ve set out to look back centuries, a capability she did not have in her lifetime, and want to share with you and your cousins a snap shot of some of her/our ancestors. I have no doubt she would want her descendants to be aware of who preceded her.
AN OVERVIEW
Written history generally describes people, events, ideas, or social changes. When people are referenced in the historical narrative they are usually the well known, the celebrity, an authority figure, or someone of means and accomplishment.
So the small businessman, the 9 to 5 worker, or the down and out receive scant personal attention. Yet without these unremarkable citizens the dictates, plans, proposals, or grandiose ideas written about would have never been remembered.
Think about this scenario. What would have happened if Washington’s command to ‘cross the Delaware’ had gone unheeded? or Grant’s strategies at the Siege of Petersburg had been rejected by the privates who suffered the most in battle? or Lincoln’s belief to preserve the Union lost the support of millions in the North?
The history books would have been rewritten with the same names, but the people who determined the ultimate outcome would never be singled out. To be fair written history cannot individually recognize the many contributors to the outcomes memorialized.
Our only chance to resurrect the individual and place him or her in history’s spotlight is to document their presence at an event, a movement, or activity which has been chronicled in history books. (Nowadays, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and smart phones are documenting events in the lives of almost everyone - for good or bad).
This is where genealogical research and family stories come together to
remember those individuals in some small way who are now forgotten and at best a name on a tombstone or on a vital record.
I hope seeing some of your ancestors placed in these moments of history gives you new respect for their contribution to the world we have inherited. Most importantly, I hope you will be motivated to read and research these historical moments so you too can develop an appreciation for their role in making the world around us. Grandma Smith would approve of your efforts!
METHODOLOGY
What will follow are the results of 13+ years of genealogical research, which includes: collecting written documentation online, sharing with and collecting information from other family researchers, trips to locales where Mom’s family once lived and struggled, collecting photos of this evidence, and, of course, asking questions and listening to the stories about the family over a lifetime. I, too, listened to Mom, Aunt Lavaun, Grandpa Berle Kendle, and Great Grandma Conner. If they were here now I would ask so many more and different questions than I did in my youth. Alas, they are no longer with us and I am determined to share with you what I know from them, so much of their insights and memories are not lost.
I have chosen the format of a Blog to transmit this information. When I am motivated and have the time to write, I will. Winter is coming soon to Wisconsin so I think it should be a fruitful and active period. Each time I enter new research, if you are a ‘Subscriber”, you will receive a notice through your email.
Finally, I truly hope that one or more of you will want to investigate Grandma Smith’s Family in greater depth and detail in the future. That would be grand! The first post should be coming out soon, so register your email and receive the notices.
Grandpa (Uncle/Cousin Mike)
