Why Does He Do It?

So as you read the posts, you may be asking yourself, “Why does he do this?”

“What’s the point?”

I wondered where this might lead when I first started trying to assemble a basic understanding about the Wanzenried family just over two and one-half years ago.

In part, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it and prove to myself that I had the patience to persevere when I ran into dead-ends.

As the project has unfolded, I realized just how little I knew about any of my ancestors, let alone how much they sacrificed to leave the world a better place than when they arrived. This venue serves as a way of consolidating information and telling an interpretative story.

It’s also an adventure of learning and sharing and discussing memories and by doing so, honoring the many gifts we have inherited. Oddly, while we are connected with them genetically, we only passingly acknowledge it in terms of our health histories and profiles. And, how about our personalities and traits and idiosyncrasies that found their way to us at a chromosomal level?

I feel strongly that we honor our Mothers and Fathers and their Mothers and Fathers by seeking to conceptualize their lives and expanding our understanding of the context in which they faced challenges and pursued opportunities. For example, how did our ancestors view the brutality of slavery from the middle of the 17^th Century through the Civil War and the Jim Crows laws and court rulings that transformed injustice and inhumanity into the bifurcated and divided society that persists still? Did it influence their values and shape their world views? If so, how?

We honor their memory by truly understanding as much as we can about their lives. Interpretation surrenders to facts.

While it is rewarding to find connections to well-known individuals, I have grown to admire just how very common most of ancestors were. Yet, they were uncommonly special. Regular people with ordinary lives, who loved and lost, raised families, built lives from scratch, worked hard, some succeeding and some failing miserably. But, they remain connected to us and we to them forever.

Imagine the hardships and dangers they faced as they moved inland into the Ohio Territory early in the 19^th century. Or, crossed the oceans in rickety sailing vessels in deplorable conditions on voyages that lasted weeks.

I have been amazed at the patterns.

We all learned how fragile life can be when our Mother suddenly passed away. But, it is clear that her Mother and her Mother’s Mother and her Mother’s Mother’s Mother all died while very young, too. Coincidence? Perhaps. But, simply knowing about the pattern leads to more inquiry.

The number of women who died in childbirth or died within months of giving birth is staggering. The number of children who died and still die at birth or while very young is equally sobering. In successive generations, Kenneth and Louise lost a newborn child as did Fred and Margaret and David and Linda.

In the end, I have been intrigued by how many people are utterly indifferent about all of this. Not disappointed mind you. Just curious about why they would not want to know more.

Like low-information voters, perhaps, they are comfortable with small bits and pieces of information to shape their reality and specifically their version of their family history. Viewed in that way, their choosing not to expose their assumptions to any questions makes perfect sense.

For me, I will continue trying to make sense of all of this. And, what it means to me.

If you are in, stay with me.


Next: Pace Ancestors