Personalizing History

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Genealogy tip for today: Personalizing History. 

One thing that is interesting about Genealogy is how it gets you interested in history. Let’s say you had an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War. You dig some more and you discover that he was a general who led the charge on Bunker Hill and made the statement, (which later became famous): “Don’t shoot till you see the whites of their eyes.”

All of a sudden you want to know more about the battle at Bunker Hill, who was involved, what action took place, exactly where did it happen, was it one hill or an area of hills – all the details you can scrounge up. Now this is your family’s history because your family was involved.

You discover that you had a grandfather of some kind that fought in the Civil War. You had been told that your family was from the south and had nothing to do with the north. One day you discover that your great great-grandfather had had a falling out with his family and moved south, but not until he had first fought for the north in the War of the Rebellion. Ah, now it is personal. Why did he move? What was the argument about? Why the rash separation? Where did he live? What regiment was he in? What was his rank?

Maybe you had an ancestor who was one of the mechanics that serviced Charles Lindberg’s plane that made the famous trans-Atlantic flight. Now all of a sudden, this becomes your story, part of your history, a piece that makes up who you are. It tweaks your curiosity about that historical event. Now you’re reading all you can about Charles Lindberg.

This week we have heard on the news another situation that made history personal. A lady had been looking for her son that she had given up for adoption. She had visualized for years, seeing him walk in her front door and say, ‘Hi Mom, I’m so-in-so.’  But instead what she found was that her son was one of the people who died on the plane that crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, years ago. Suddenly, that historical event, became part of her family history, it was personal!

There are all kinds of dynamics that go into why we do genealogy, something we have discussed recently.  The same is true about who we are. We are the people today that we are because of those who have gone before us. If we don’t study and learn about history, than – as it has been said – we are doomed to repeat it. So we study history to learn from history and we do genealogy because it helps us to understand who we are today.

Civilization went into a period known as the Dark Ages. It was not because the days were dark and there was no sun. It was because knowledge was lost. We don’t want that to happen. When we each do our part about our own history, we own it! We’ve got it. We’ll not lose it. It is us. It becomes personal. And as I have said before: “History – it’s who we are; Genealogy – it’s who I am” sg

 

Now It’s personal!

 

 

 

If any of these posts are helpful drop us a line in the comments section below. We just want to know if the information we provide to you is helpful in anyway.

 

 

Vespian

 

Today in History 69   Vespians's supporters enter Rome and discover Vitellius in hiding. He is dragged through the streets before being brutally murdered. 1355   Stephen Urosh IV of Serbia dies while marching to attack Constantinople. 1802   The United States buys the Louisiana territory from France. 1860   South Carolina secedes from the Union. 1861   English transports loaded with 8,000 troops set sail for Canada so that troops are available if the "Trent Affair" is not settled without war. 1924   Adolf Hitler is released from prison after serving less than one year of a five year sentence for treason. 1930   Thousands of Spaniards sign a revolutionary manifesto. 1933   The German government announces 400,000 citizens are to be sterilized because of hereditary defects. 1938   First electronic television system is patented. 1941   The Flying Tigers, American pilots in China, enter combat against the Japanese over Kunming. 1943   Soviet forces halt a German army trying to relieve the besieged city of Stalingrad. 1946   Viet Minh and French forces fight fiercely in Annamite section of Hanoi. 1948   U.S. Supreme Court announces that it has no jurisdiction to hear the appeals of Japanese war criminals sentenced by the International Military Tribunal. 1960   National Liberation Front is formed by guerrillas fighting the Diem regime in South Vietnam. 1962   In its first free election in 38 years, the Dominican Republic chooses leftist Juan Bosch Gavino as president. 1963   Four thousand cross the Berlin Wall to visit relatives under a 17-day Christmas accord. 1989   U.S. troops invade Panama to oust General Manuel Noriega and replace him with Guillermo Endara. 1995   NATO begins peacekeeping operation in Bosnia. 1996   NeXT merges with Apple Computer, leading to the development of groundbreaking Mac OS X. 2007   Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the UK; previously, that honor belonged to Queen Victoria.

Harvey Firestone

 

Birthdays today

1868		Harvey Firestone, industrialist and tire maker.
1881		Branch Rickey, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1901		Robert J. Van de Graff, physicist, invented the Van de Graaff generator.
1904		Virgil "Spud" Davis, pro baseball catcher, coach, scout and manager.
1914		Harry F. Byrd Jr., first independent ever elected to US Senate by a majority of the popular vote (Virginia).
1921		George Roy Hill, film director (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting).
1946		Dick Wolf, television producer (Miami Vice, Law & Order).
1948		Alan Parsons, musician (The Alan Parsons Project); producer who was involved with The Beatles' Abbey Road and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.
1963		Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo, elder daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain; fourth in line of succession to the Spanish throne.
1976		Adam Powell, Welsh game designer; co-founder of Neopets and Meteor Games companies.

 

 

Word for the Day

colligate

PRONUNCIATION:

(KOL-i-gayt)

 

MEANING:

verb tr. To bind or group together.

 

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin colligare, from com- (together) + ligare (bind). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leig (to bind), which is also the source of oblige, alloy, ally, rely, lien, league, liable, ligature, and furl. Earliest documented use: 1545.

 

USAGE:

"Chizz made a quick overview of the situation, attempting to colligate the loose ends of a somewhat fragmented movie."
Ihebom C. Reginald; Forbidden Choice; Xlibris; 2013.

Quote for the Day

All men are brothers, we like to say, half-wishing sometimes in secret it were not true. But perhaps it is true. And is the evolutionary line from protozoan to Spinoza any less certain? That also may be true. We are obliged, therefore, to spread the news, painful and bitter though it may be for some to hear, that all living things on earth are kindred. -Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)

 

 

Today’s Recipe

Holiday Cooking

Janet’s Rich Banana Bread



Banana Bread

 

"Sour cream guarantees a moist and tender loaf. And bananas are sliced instead of mashed in this recipe, giving a concentrated banana taste in every bite."

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 2 medium bananas, sliced

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2.	In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the sour cream, walnuts and bananas. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3.	Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

ENJOY!

 

Now You Know!