The third cup 6/29

Sunday, June 29, 2003

Hi neighbors. Got your sparklers bought yet? It won't be long till the big fourth of July celebrations. If you're like a lot of folks you'll have family get-togethers for picnics and fireworks. Be careful if you are shooting off fireworks on your own. There are public displays to go to that are very spectacular and a lot safer. You can always have your family picnic before hand. It seems there is something almost every month we can use as a reason for family get-togethers. This year you can do something special that will last a lifetime. As someone who is trying to put together a family history book, I can tell you there is never too much information. Like hunting dogs at a rabbit burrow, genealogists dig through new leads, sniffing for that one scrap of information that will fill in a gap in the family ancestry. At your next big family get-together have every head of household write an essay about his family. This essay you can have included for free in the Vernon County Sesquicentennial book that is getting put together now. A family photo can be added as well. You can get more information on that at the Bushwhacker Museum. Even if you don't participate in that book, having the family essays is a wonderful thing for your family historian. If each head of household is kind enough to include dates of births, deaths and marriages that's enough to make a genealogists decade! I was at the museum the other night for the updates on the 150 year celebration book. I explained that I was having trouble finding information about my family for the years they lived in Vernon County. I knew about what years they were here and had some idea oral history from living family members. The family had sold meat and produce around Nevada for the years they were in this area. Joanne Saathoff, was at the meeting and said she had known my father's family when they lived near Nevada. We chatted about them for a while and after the meeting, she graciously drove me to see where the Campbell farm house used to be. She even showed me the old school they had attended while living there. As we drove she told me about things she remembered about my family. She was only a child at the time my grandfather's family lived in Vernon County, as were most of my aunts and uncles. It was a wonderful insight to my family and how they lived as children. I will certainly remember, and be grateful, for Joanne's kindness. It's little outings and history recountings that make genealogy such fun. Just doing the paperwork and chasing leads through dusty volumes doesn't stir up excitement nearly as much as one drive in the country to see the actual places they lived. Have you ever heard that houses and places absorb energy from people who live there? This is one theory offered to explain hauntings. Putting the paranormal thoughts aside, I still think we can find a new sense of our ancestors by actually walking the paths they walked, seeing the places where they lived and worked, or examining the things they used every day. To me this is the real importance of family heirlooms. Whether they are rare coins, precious gems, antique jewelry, or a simple tin gravy ladle; they are a tangible part of our heritage. From one article, like archeologists working from a chip of a jawbone, we can put together events in a distant ancestor's daily life. Finding old photographs, or sketches of family members, is a real treasure. There is just something special about being able to look at their faces, their poses, their clothing and how they looked together. Many amateur photos back then included more scenery than subject. With no zoom lenses, shutterbugs pretty much had to focus the image by walking closer toward them or backing away.

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