I imagine the names of those who came before me gently fluttering from this massive tree.
How far back can one go?
A journey into your roots is endless..
They run deep and long through time...
As I search for names and dates I ask the questions that will probably remain a mystery...
The little details about a life that isn't recorded in the books...
Her favorite time of year?
His reflection on the sunrise?
A lullaby sung to the new baby?
Did she feed the birds?
What common threads can run through the generations?
Will this blog give future family an idea of who I was?
I would love to know the thoughts and feelings of my great great great great great grandfather who walked the hills of Kilrush, Co.Clare in the 1700's...
Or the tune my great great great grandmother hummed whilst scrubbing clothes looking out into the Ottawa Valley in Ontario...
I suppose these things are just wisps of cloud on the breeze now, but with such an imagination as mine, I like to think I could possibly reinvent these unimportant events...
If you can...ask such things of elders...write them down...embrace the small moments...
Another thought...when did we stop naming our children after ancestors?
As I look at family history, I realize that around the end of the 30's, people weren't using the old names.
My dad and I thought it was from the influence of movies and music and I suppose you weren't obliged to use christian names for baptism like you did in the old days...
(photos: big tree by Mark Requidan. B&W tree by roco_eno on Flikr)
Another thought...when did we stop naming our children after ancestors?
As I look at family history, I realize that around the end of the 30's, people weren't using the old names.
My dad and I thought it was from the influence of movies and music and I suppose you weren't obliged to use christian names for baptism like you did in the old days...
(photos: big tree by Mark Requidan. B&W tree by roco_eno on Flikr)
1 comment:
your post speaks for me. my own two kids have picked out names for their future children, based on the names of ancestors. i am so pleased (though grandkids are years away).
more importantly- i enjoyed what you wrote about wanting to know the little bits about our ancestors. my grandfather, remy, passed away when my dad was 7. dad told me that when remy built the family outhouse, he positioned it so he could use the facilities and have a clear view of any "traffic" on the lonely road in the distance. he hated to miss anyone coming through on the dirt road, so he used the facilities with the door wide open. just in case. that tells me something about him. knowing he was a miner and that he fathered seven children and didn't live to see the birth of his twin sons- well that doesn't tell me about him.
(all this to say, i'm enjoying your blog).
sherry
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