Patriotic Branches

At this time of year (in the United States), many of us take time to remember the lives of our patriotic ancestors. We proudly recall the genius of the men who developed our founding documents and try to appreciate the sacrifices of our fallen heroes. Try as I might, I can't read about the beginning of the USA (or subsequent, formative periods) without wondering "what was MY family doing at that time?"

Even those of us whose family didn't even live in the country when it was founded take pride in how our ancestors eventually helped to make it greater by their blood, sweat and tears. Wouldn't it be great to find our own "Founding Fathers and Mothers", the ones who came here first and set the family in the blue field of stars on the flag? As you've read in other postings on this Blog, I'm convinced that genealogists are blessed with the capacity to add flesh to the bare bones of the human story of all of us (not just the famous and infamous). Connecting our family history to our nation's history allows us to find out where we fit into the American Experiment.

Before anyone gets worried that I'm wearing my heart on my flag colored sleave, I want to reiterate that I believe the search for ancestors (and collateral relatives) should be rooted in trying to understand them as people. In working so hard to find them, we can also come to understand ourselves (and other people walking in the world around us). Pride in a common purpose or goal (national, religious, etc.), shared across decades/centuries in the hearts of colonist descendants or new immigrant families, makes our country stronger and binds us together. It is one thing to proudly pronounce that we are "hyphenated"- Americans, but most of us are linked by a common thread - the desire of our ancestors to make a new life in an "undiscovered country."

If you hit a brick wall in the last year, consider this: you don't have to get discouraged about one line while excluding work on another. Often, we find new energy to pursue our genealogy projects when we tackle a "less glamorous" branch. Somewhere in the past, your mother's father's mother's family was working in a smothering coal mine in Wales and found that they just couldn't accept such a life. Someone (brave) in the family decided that a drastic change was needed and looked for a place to go where new opportunities were there for the taking. Sometimes it was the USA, but there are plenty of other places on the globe that are populated by the kin of people who simply wanted to seize the brass ring or throw off shackles imposed by landed gentry. When they found the place to do it, they embraced that land as their own.

Here's to Patriots old and young, past and present - may their spirit inspire us to build the best family history we can. Happy hunting!