Many of my cyber friends have told me that they are members of the DAR. In case you don't study ancestry that means Daughters of the American Revolution. It took them much research to find their family members who were involved in the Revolution, but it seems I may never have the chance to trace my roots back that far. At least in America. SIGH!
I have been doing a lot of work lately on my ancestry. It's been made even more interesting working with my cousins on tracing the Wolf family connections. We have made many great discoveries and I have found back to when most of my relatives came to America.
It seems that most of my Great Great Grandparents are the ones who came over from their homeland. All of them from my dad's side came from Sweden, which makes me 50% Swedish. They came between 1880 and 1900 for the most part. It's funny though with so much Swede in me I was never raised with traditional Swedish celebrations, foods, or crafts. Maybe it was because my parents weren't interested in holding on to their roots or something, I don't know. I find myself wanting to learn more about the countries that my ancestors came from.
My mom's side is a whole different story though. My grandma's parents came over from Finland around the 1880-1900 era too. My grandma is 100% Finnish which makes me 25% Fin. Now I need to search for those lines in Finland, I imagine it won't be an easy task since I can't utter a word of Finnish. My grandpa's side has lived in America for a very long time though apparently so it's hard to pin the country of their origin. A distant relative has traced the line all the way back to England. I haven't been able to solidify all of their findings yet, but I'm working on it! They seem to be my only hope in finding any relatives who were in the revolutionary war. There were many military people in my family in recent years so I'm sure I will continue finding a strong military connection as I work back through time.
Many of my grandpa's relatives made their homes in Guilford County North Carolina in the early to mid 1800's before eventually making a path to MN from there living in several state in between times. It's hard to find them all though since the main last name I'm looking for is Bowman. I never knew that Bowman was such a common name! When I was growing up the only Bowmans I ever knew were my cousins. Who knew? That puzzle will take some time, but it will be an interesting hunt. I am hoping to at least discover if any of them fought in the civil war. I'm sure some of them may have, but at this point it's hard to know for sure one way or another.
I'm not exactly sure why, but the plantations and the civil war era fascinates me. Gone with the Wind is one of my favorite movies and Scarlet O'Hara won my affections even though she was manipulative and oh so naughty.
I never used to be too into history when I was growing up, but now it seems that I just can't get enough. Is that just something that we need to grow older to appreciate?
11 comments:
Hey, Cinj,
It's definitely something that you grow to appreciate when you get older :-) I must've seen Gone with the Wind more than 200 times and I still love it.
Maybe in my next life I'll come back as a Northern gal and you a Southern one. But , for now, get over yourself with that Civil War era, my dear. I had ancestors on both sides. My paternal grandfather was for the Union and living in the state that had the capitol of the Confederacy, well, it was , how do you say this politely ? : STUPID to let it be known. They burned him out of house and home.
SO, no matter where you came from, as far as I'm concerned, it's what you are now that counts.
I've got relatives from your wonderful Rhinelander and I've enjoyed visiting there as well.
My first ancestor was an Irish rebel that fought for the American revolution and is buried in Georgia. His grave is marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
We can't make up our family history, only learn from it.
Hey Cinj, Carolyn gail's comment was interesting, I thought. I don't have anything to qualify me, or prevent me, from DAR membership...but, I enjoy thinking about family history much more now that I'm older. History in general never used to interest me AT ALL...but, I am now fascinated by many things from the past. I didn't understand why it was important to care about history, when I was younger. But, there is so much to be gained, and understood, from exploring history--especially family history! Jan
Hi Girl!
DO ask if you want to know things from Sweden... I will try to help you if I can.
Linda
Very interesting!
Hey Cinj! It's Silence. What great things you're discovering, and how exciting to find out about your Swedish and Finnish ancestry just at Christmastime, since both have such fabulous Christmas traditions. Maybe you could add some to your own family's Christmas traditions each year! As for the DAR, try not to be too disappointed if it turns out you can't join. I could, but my own mother so disapproved of that kind of exclusivity that I wouldn't think of it. I'd rather just enjoy the panorama of American history and my family's part in it on a personal basis. I'm sure that whatever you learn of your family will be fascinating and rewarding!
The genealogy bug has caught you. It can be habit forming :-) I started over 15 years ago and have so many names and data, even started a website on genealogy in my area.Yes, I am addicted. It is fascinating, aggravating,time consuming, and I love it all. Glad you are making connections and good luck in finding your Bowman's.
Isn't it fun finding out all the little details about your family's history? I have suitcases full of photos and info.
Carolyn- I'm sure I had relatives on both sides too. My kids just saw Gone with the Wind for the first time a little over a week ago. They claimed they liked it even though son fell asleep during it and Peanut was chattering away a mile a minute. Good thing I knew what was going on already. You did make some excellent points.
If you're ever up in the area maybe we could try to meet up? I love it up here, such nice people and a nice laid back lifestyle.
Jan- You're right. We can learn so much from studying the past. Too bad so many lessons seem to get forgotten in the mists of time.
Linda- Thanks! We've got lots of info to sift through still, but it's nice to know we can call on you again if we need to. You're such a sweetheart!
Tina- It is, isn't it? I'm enjoying it so much.
Silence- That's so true. I'll have the kids study the traditions and pick their favorites for us to add to our family traditions. It's great to live in such a tolerant and diverse country.
As far as the DAR I don't know that it's really that big of deal, I just needed a point to tie all of my irrelevant family facts all together.
Lona- You're so right. I can't seem to get off the computer sometimes when I'm on a roll. It's just crazy. I've got lots of family to find, I enjoy searching for the more unusual names because I sem to be able to turn up more details on them than others.
Nola- That's so cool. I want to get all that I have scanned and shared with others, that way if anything ever happens to the originals people can still see and access them anyway. I'm hoping to get everything scanned and digitalized to share with whichever relatives are interested.
Cinj,
You are having a great adventure! My cousin tells me we have ancestors that go back to the Revolution and it makes me chuckle. I love the more recent immigrants...from Bavaria and Ireland best! They resonate with me! I hope you keep having fun and please share with us all the funny things you discover!
Gail
Hi Cindy,
I am a DAR member also. It is very hard to get all the right paper work to join and it took me about a year and a half to get it all together. Don't give up. You may find a link yet. At least you are having fun researching. Its a very interesting thing to do. My Grandmother wanted to be in the DAR and never got the chance to collect all the history info to join. After she passed my dad and my brother worked on it so they could join the SAR and finally did that and then had me go ahead with the DAR. My husband is also a SAR member. We often laugh because somewhere down the line we are possibly related...lol My mom is from Canada and her family is Polish. Some of her family were killed in concentration camps during the war. A lot of history in our family. It is very important to document all you can for your kids and grandchildren etc. Keep up the great work. Its all worth it!!!!
I like this sort of thing too, but I have a lot of trouble keeping it all straight. Luckily, my sister has done a lot of work already. I don't recall if we ever went back far enough to look for Civil War ties though. I've always enjoyed history, and working in medicine I've had the privelege of meeting some really cool and interesting elderly people! One guy was born the same year as my dad, but served in WWII. (My dad served in the Korean war.) When I asked how he managed to do that, he told me he'd lied to the recruiter about his age: he was only 15! Then I'd met a lady who had partied in the same speakeasy with Al Capone! She never met him in person, but saw him there and definately knew who he was. Just goes to show, all us cool folks get old, too! (I'm including YOU in that sentiment, of course! ;-)
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