Thankful

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James Wheeler: Free to use. Pitt Meadows, BC. 

CanadaCrop Field Under Rainbow and Cloudy Skies at Daytime

 

Modern Blessing: Public Health 

I am so thankful to live now, not 100 years ago. There are tiny figures next to the wife's name in the 1900 and 1910 US census, noting the number of children born and children living. I feel relief when the numbers are the same; sadness when they are not. Worse, we often never know the names of those who have died.  This past week I transcribed a long flowery obituary written by a grandchild of Kezia McGowan Husted, and this part touched me: 

"Kizia McGowan was born in Wayne county, Ohio, February 18th 1830. Came to Illinois in 1845 and married Lyman Husted, 1847. To this union were born ten children of which four are living, namely: Mrs. Carrie Dudley, Mrs. Mary Cochran, William and James Husted. Six children preceded Grandma to heaven, when they were quite young... her angel children, whose names were: Velma, Agnes, Charley, Pery, Delbert and an infant child, have beckoned unto her from the other shore." And, "We will never forget her bright countenance; her loving words and kind deeds towards us. Her patience during her last illness will long be on our memory. During these many months of suffering not a murmur came from her..." 

I hope the grief the author of the obituary was eased by writing this tribute to her grandma. It makes me grateful for modern medical care.

Sometimes we're lucky enough to get a cause of death for ancestors and others whom we research; the saddest for me are those which are now preventable or treatable. Science has given us so much, and these advances are an immense blessing to everyone. I love the increased understanding of physics and the galaxy, but public health touches all of us, and our family history research. 

 

Modern Blessing: Technology 

DNA evidence is an enormous blessing in genealogy research, along with increasing access to records. Digitizing records helps us find them, and tell the stories when they were not told to us. I'm thankful for each of the websites that give us this access, context and help us make sense of what we find. I'm grateful for the experts who organize presentations for us about aspects of our history. I'm grateful to the artists, filmmakers and technicians who help create documentaries and historical dramas, books, music and podcasts. PBS, NPR, and Youtube have nurtured knowledge, and even sites such as Facebook allow wonderful communication. Journalists and photographers past and present give us the rich detail we need for accuracy and fuller understanding of a world so different from ours.   

I'll be thinking of a recent podcast about family stories this Thanksgiving: The Power of Family Stories. Analyzing our findings is one way we can collaborate with those long gone. When we pass those stories along, we are blessing those in the present with the experiences and wisdom of the past. 

Send us your stories!

 

Valorie Zimmerman

 

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Send your stories to m.strickland@skcgs.org


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