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| The Chautauqua Gorge - one of my favorite places. (Taken July 2009 by Jody Bradish) |
I
don’t enjoy writing. I would much rather solve a quadratic equation, work a
crossword puzzle, or play around with watercolors. When it comes to writing,
just deciding what to write about and where to begin seem like monumental
tasks. Then there’s the matter of actually putting pen to paper. It is, and
always has been, a struggle. The result is usually procrastination.
Near the end of 2019, I found myself once again looking at a list of ancestors patiently waiting for their stories to be told. It's a long list. There are stories of incredible bravery, great loss, hardship, strength, and success. There are also stories of day-to-day living that provide insight into what life was like for our ancestors. But, where to begin?
Earlier in 2019, I discovered Amy Johnson
Crow’s newsletter and her “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge. I thought this
could be the answer to my version of writer’s block. Amy is a genealogy
educator who challenges her readers to write one story per week, providing a
theme for each one. The challenge is designed to help readers start writing,
using the prompts in any order and interpreting them in whatever way makes
sense for them. I’m beginning with the last prompt for 2019, “You,” because Amy
reminds us that our own stories are important; we are each a part of our family
history. So this one is about me and why I decided to write about our
ancestors.
I distinctly remember having very little interest in history when I was in high school. My teacher spoke in a monotone, or so it seemed to me at the time, and memorizing dates and events seemed completely pointless. I graduated from high school at age 17 in June 1967, with an attitude about history. I left for college in late August. Because I had never been away from home and led a sheltered life in a small town, I went out into the world as a naive, trusting teenager. That, combined with my somewhat rebellious nature, resulted in my college career being put on hold later in my freshman year.
Fifteen years and three children later, I resumed my college education after coming to the realization that “Sesame Street” was slowly becoming my favorite TV show. It was during the process of planning my first two semesters that I made an absolutely horrific discovery. Among the required courses, even for a math major, were two semesters of American history. I was somewhat skeptical about what that would entail but also knew I needed to think about this in a positive way − those classes would certainly be a boon to the genealogy research I started in the mid-1970s. In the end, due to a more mature attitude on my part, along with interesting lectures and activities, I minored in U.S. history.
Now history is a very important part of my life. I’m fascinated by how events I can only learn about through reading or documentaries shaped the lives of our ancestors. When added to the photos, records, and documents that are the foundation of each ancestor’s story, historical events provide context and depth, making each story come to life. By writing about our ancestors’ lives and sharing their experiences with you, I hope you will find joy, sorrow, amazement, and laughter. I hope you will gain an appreciation of the challenges our ancestors faced, and even recall some experiences of your own that parallel theirs. But most of all, I hope you find yourself and will be proud to say, “These are my people.”
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