I did it! I wrote about an ancestor every week for 51 weeks! For the 52nd week, I have been asked to write about myself and what I hope future generations will know about me. That's a tough question. I'll start with the easy part.
I've been an English teacher for 21 years. I love reading aloud to my students (even though they are high schoolers) from my favorite works. I have students who remember, with great fondness, my passionate reading of the scene where Beatty meets his grisly end in Fahrenheit 451. I love discussing the implications of short stories like "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." I sat back and smiled like a benevolent goddess of literature and hidden meanings as my AP students debated the ramifications of accepting another's suffering. Sometimes, when the mood hits and the subject matter is applicable, I tell my students of some genealogical discovery. Generally, they are as disinterested as my husband and daughter 😂, but there is occasionally a student who evinces a modicum of interest. I take interest wherever I can find it, so while my job is to teach literature and language, I am happy to also teach an appreciation for ancestral research.
I couldn't tell you when/why I started researching my family's history, though I suppose it's worth mentioning that I am qualified to teach middle school social studies, and history has always been a secondary interest of mine. I could talk your ear off about the 6 wives (and innumerable mistresses) of Henry VIII and the political, religious, and social influences at work in the various dalliances, marriages, and offspring. And let's talk about tracing the lineage of these royals! Not a whole lot of 'branching' going on in Henry's family tree!
I have read every work of historical fiction that Philippa Gregory has written concerning the key players in the War of the Roses, and I love the way she weaves history and fiction into a cohesive work. (I assure you, I am not being paid to plug her books - she doesn't need any help from me.) Her novels inspired me to try my hand at a little historical fiction of my own, and I have written a first draft concerning my Pearson ancestors from Pulaski County, Illinois.
And I guess that brings me to the second part of this prompt. What do I hope future generations will know about me? I'm not a vain person. I don't feel I'm of any more importance than any other person trying to live his/her life. My family history certainly isn't any more important or interesting than anyone else's, so I'm not sure there is anything I want people to know about me, specifically. I suppose I hope someone will be interested in carrying on with what I've spent at least the last decade researching. I hope someone will see the value in the boxes of pictures I have yet to sort or label. I hope someone will understand why I felt the need to write about a great grand aunt and a great grand uncle not a single person remembers. (I'm really hoping it's my daughter who currently rolls her 8-year-old eyes at my "dead people.")
Whether or not someone is willing to continue my research, I will continue to do it. I'm very excited to start 2024's #52Ancestors next week. Cuzzin Heather and I have figured out how to label our posts, so now they can be filtered by surname!
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