History's Mysteries (or "Geeking Out On Stuff You Don't Care About...")

I've written from time-to-time about how much I enjoy playing my "Online Video Game..." about how it gives me a connection to history I didn't know I had, about how researching the lives of long-gone family members reveals stories that the best authors and screenwriters couldn't have made up, about how delving into my family's stories helps to make connections with people I already had connections with - but didn't necessarily know about.

When I talk about how much time I spend messing around on Ancestry.com and how much I enjoy it, a lot of people roll their eyes... but it really is kind of like a video game.  I don't mean a first-person-shooter like Halo, or a "brawler" like Dynasty Warriors though... I mean the RPG-type story-driven investigative video games we loved to play in the 80's and 90's - games like Suspended or Police Quest or Gabriel Knight.  Games where the purpose wasn't to gain points or treasure by defeating aliens and monsters, but to unlock a mystery so a story could be told by the time the player finished the game.  That's the fun of messing around on Ancestry.com - solving mysteries and reading stories.

Case in point - I was contacted through the web site by a distant, distant, relative (we're related by a connection about five generations back - I'm sure we share a little DNA, but no more than I share with Louis CK, Prince Charles, or... well, maybe you!)  She had a couple of photos in her possession.  The first was a photo of three Phillips men from, say... 1900 or so.  She knew who they were, and how they were related to my "3rd great grandfather" (after a while, you stop saying "great-great-great..." because, hey, it'd just get ridiculous.)  She had a second photo of three more Phillips men, though, that she couldn't identify... so she asked if I could help.

Here's where the "video game" starts getting interesting.  When I'm doodling around on Ancestry.com, I generally work back along my "line" linearly - my dad to my grandfather to his grandfather etc... sure, there are lots of other relatives that "branch off" from that line, but for the most part I don't pay much attention to them - not because their lives aren't interesting, but there's only so much time I can spend on a hobby like this and hey, I have to make a living, too :)

This investigation required me to take a look at some of those branches on my family tree. The first photo gave me a start - my 3rd great grandfather's three boys Alma, John Dee and Joseph.



Now, I don't know anything about these guys... their brother Edward Charles was my 2nd great grandfather, so he's the one I've always focused on.  Ancestry.com makes looking into people easy, though - all I had to do was add all of my 3rd great grandfather's kids to my family tree (a fairly automatic process where you import information from other people's family trees into yours... you have to pay a monthly fee to do this, but it's not much - and at times like this it's worth it!)  Once I did this, their lives started to take shape - I could find out where they lived from census data, where they were born and where they died, and even some personal details like their professions, newspaper articles about them, and that sort of thing. 

I even found a couple of children that no one else had in their family trees... see, Ancestry.com has digital copies of census pages dating back to the 1800's in their system.  If you want, you can go beyond the catalogued data, and see the actual census page the data comes from.  Looking at one page, I discovered John Dee's wife and two children living in Utah in 1910, more than 20 years after John Dee died... so I added them to their records to the system for other people to find.  Look at me - such a trailblazer :)

Anyway... back to the task at hand: the mystery Phillips men that my relative was wondering about.

As you can see from the border, the photo was taken in Idaho... and most of the Phillips' of that generation were based in Utah.   Looking into the details of the three guys in the first photo, however, I discovered Joseph Samuel was born in Utah, but died in Ucon, Idaho... and he had three sons - Edward Christensen, John D and Joseph M.  Two out of the three were born in Idaho, and one of them died in the same town Joseph Samuel died in... so it's not too far a reach to assume that these three are Joseph Samuel's sons.

Figuring all this out took me an afternoon.  That's it.  But the feeling that went along with making these discoveries, putting the pieces together, and figuring out the mystery - well, I'll put that up against any video game on the market.  Or detective novel.  Or police procedural on TV... because just like the audience for all those mediums, I'm doing the detective work as I watch/ read/ play the story.  I'm trying to figure out the mystery.  And that's a whole heck of a lot of entertainment to get out of an afternoon in my back yard on the laptop.

Now for the sequel... what's the story behind those two children that weren't in the system before...

Putting The History In Perspective

Yup... you're right. It's Sunday again, and you know what that means. Even if it is the Fourth of July, I'm sitting down to play my Online Video Game for a little bit.

You'd think that sitting inside uploading photos and tracking my family history is a lousy way to spend the Independence Day weekend... but actually, it's a natural fit. See, the point of today isn't to enjoy a day in the sun (hopefully) and gorge on hot dogs while you wait for the sun to go down and the fireworks to start. The reason we take today off is to allow ourselves time to reflect on our country's history. To look back at where we started, and to reflect on where we've ended up around 235 years later.

Now, I don't know about you, but I was exposed to a lot of American history growing up. Sure, American history was a mandatory class in school (and we still learned about Thomas Jefferson, so I'm better off than kids in Texas), but I was also raised by a history buff who would rattle off information from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War to the Cattle Wars. So, like I say, I was exposed to a lot of American history... but that doesn't mean I necessarily learned a lot of American history.

The big problem with history, in a lot of Americans minds, is context. We don't see how what's come before affects our lives today. Now, of course, we've all heard "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it..." but lets be honest - a lot of people don't take that old saying to heart. We're Americans, after all... we're all about the future, about progess... about moving forward! The past has passed... right?

That attitude changes when you you have a personal connection with history... and that's just what happens when you look back through your family's history - History with a capital H becomes your history, because part of you was involved with it.

Look, let me give you an example... we've all heard about the Salem Witch Trials, right? Horrible time in American history... mass hysteria, hundreds of people put to death. It's just a story from the past, though... right? Nope. Not really... not if you have an ancestor who was accused of being a witch. Suddenly, that period of history means something to you, because it's not about a date and a place. It's about a person - a person you have a connection to.

Another example from my own history... I always thought, growing up, that my maternal grandfather was a second-or third-generation immigrant. My mother had always talked about his father (my great-grandfather) as an "old-world European..." so I just assumed he'd come over from Germany before my grandfather was born. After doing a little research on Ancestry.com, however, it turns out that's not the case... my great grandfather might have had "old world European" ideals and values, but the Goodykoontz family has actually been in the united states since 1750, when Hans Georg Gutekunst arrived in Pennsylvania.

1750. Twenty years before the Declaration of Independence was signed, 234 years ago today. That means my ancestors lived in the 13 Colonies before the revolution. That could mean that my ancestors fought for independence. Suddenly, the story of our country's tumultuous birth takes on a new meaning for me... suddenly, I'm involved - indirectly - with our country coming into being.

Fast-forward 54 years. I know Jacob's son, Daniel, lived in Grayson county Virginia in 1830. Virginia. A slave state. Then, he's dead 13 years later... in Indiana. Indiana - which by that time has abolished slavery, and had become a "buffer state" between pro and anti slave states. Did Indiana's anti-slavery stance have something to do with Daniel moving there? Did the Goodykoontzes play a part in the Civil War?

It's a pretty amazing thing to realize, out of the blue, that you've had ancestors who've played a part in major historical events... that, by extension, you've had a hand in shaping that history. People ask me some times why I spend so much time messing around with this family history stuff... that's part of the answer. My family's history is ALL of our history. It helps me understand what's come before, and how common people played a role in making the events we think of as "history" today.

So, as you're enjoying the fireworks tonight, give it some thought. Think back... what part did your ancestors play in making tonight happen? I think you'll find it's an interesting journey to take...

-Harold

A Sense Of History...

Howdy folks

So, here we are again. Sunday. As I've mentioned several times before, Sunday is my day to kick back in the office and play my online video game. You know, I've wondered a bit to myself about why I have so much fun looking into the past... why cataloguing and chronicling the family history is of enough interest to me that I'd dedicate a day a week (ok, a little more some weeks, a little less other weeks) to uploading photos and poking through family stories.

Turns out it takes my Junior-High-School Girlfriend, the lovely Joanne, to tell me why. Jo and was my very first real-and-for-true girlfriend, back when I lived in White Bear Lake Minnesota (Go Bears) Over the years, we lost touch... you know how it is, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy moves to Alaska... it's the classic story.

Recently, we re-connected... and I could not be happier to see where life has taken her! She actually runs a state park in Minnesota now, and she and her husband live on a firm out on the prairie. I've been following her blog 14 Acres ever since we "met" again online (she's got great tips on a lot of subjects... canning, separating lard, how best to buy meat from a farmer... seriously, check it out!)

I know, I know... I'm getting off the point. Jo added this post to her blog on the advent of her 39th birthday... and, in a funny kind of way, she explained why I spend my Sundays this way. It's all about history - our place in it is due to those who have come before, and what we do to make history now will inform the actions of those who come after us. A pretty simple concept, really... but comforting in a way too - the knowledge that we're part of something. A cog in a machine, a character in a story, a link in a chain... use whatever metaphor you want to.

And, besides, what the heck... it's cool to un-earth the dirt on people, anyway. Did I ever tell you about my ancestor who got shot in a land dispute...

-Harold

Pilgramage Part II: The Return!

And we're back!

Of course, you know that we've been back for a couple weeks now. It's Memorial day, though - a time to remember those who've come before... and it's the weekend, when I generally spend time in the office playing my online video game. It seemed like a good time to update you all on my recent trip to Arizona with my family.

Besides... I have to do something while the software is loading on my new computer... oi! Ya spend six years getting the box juuuust right... and then you have to get a new one set up just like it in a day? I tell ya...

Anyway, what follows is a mixture of travelogue, photo show, and a bit of insight into the things I learned on my little pilgrimage back to the land of my ancestors. You might be interested in some of the photos, a video or two... or you might not care a whit about what I learned on the trip. Really, this post is more for me, my friends, and family who want to see what I saw on my journey to explore my familial past. Don't worry, I'll get back to letting you know about my current and upcoming projects soon enough (as if I hadn't already :) ). For now, though... lets head back a couple of weeks to the land of sun and - snow?

Day 1 (Click here for a slide-show) We landed in Phoenix in the early evening and got the rental car situation taken care of (we drove a Chevy HHR all over the state, and were very impressed with the car! Great gas mileage, a solid ride... maybe Detroit is starting to "get it" finally!). It was late enough that we didn't want to head too far - so we grabbed dinner at an Old Spaghetti Factory in Phoenix and then found a Holiday Inn for the night. Not too much to tell!

Day 2 (Click here for a slide-show) We set out for Flagstaff, which was to be our "home base" for the next couple of days. On the way we stopped in Black Rock Springs - a spot my Dad lived in while my Grandfather was working on the Black Rock Highway (Grandpa was a road engineer for most of his life... he worked on most of the major roads going through the state of Arizona at one time or another...). We got to Flagstaff in the early afternoon, found lodging at the Canyon Inn, and then visited the Lowell Observatory when the sun went down. Fun fact about Flagstaff: It's the world's first Dark Sky City - and that makes the sky AMAZING at night (not that my camera really did it justice...)

Day 3 (Click here for a slide-show) We headed to the Grand Canyon... in the SNOW! Now, Flagstaff has a higher elevation than Phoenix, so we were expecting the temperature to be lower than "shorts and t-shirt weather..." but none of us expected THIS! I could write more about the drive, but this video tells the story just fine... and the photos in the slide show give you a good idea of what we saw when we finally made it to the canyon!

On Day 4 (Click here for a slide-show) we headed East to see Dad's cousins in St. Johns. On the way we passed through Holbrook - the town my grandmother was born in. This isn't in-and-of-itself a major distinction; she didn't spend a lot of time in Holbrook, to the best of my knowledge. We had a pleasant surprise waiting for us when we stopped, though... at an honest-to-god "Wigwam Hotel," we found a Studebaker pickup truck like my grandfather's. Mom and I spent quite a few minutes by the truck, while she told stories of being picked up from the bus stop in one like this, playing in it, and generally re-living old memories. Then it was back on the road. Once we hit St. Johns we spent some time with Dad's cousins John Dale and Bobby Lee, and then it was back down the road. We were planning on making it down to Phoenix that night... but it'd been a pretty full day, so we ended up holing up for the night in Show Low (there's a funny story behind the name of that town... click here!)

Day 5 (Click here for a slide-show) We headed for Phoenix by the way of Pine (where my parents got married) and Payson (where my Dad, Grandparents - and I! - lived for a while). After taking a look at the church my parents were married in, my great-grandmother Alice's house, and a couple other spots along the way, we finally made it to Scottsdale and the Sheraton Desert Oasis, which was to be our home base for the rest of the trip. It was a welcome stop (especially for Trish!)

On Day 6 (Click here for a slide-show) we headed to Miami (the old-timers call it "Mi-ammah") and Globe - sort of the ancestral home of the Phillips side of the family. My great grandfather Joseph Alva Phillips worked for the copper mining company there, and my Grandfather's whole generation was raised there. We met up with some of Dad's relations at his cousin Frank's house, sat about and had a good time, and then headed out for Mexican food in Globe (apparently, a Phillips family get-together tradition... who knew?) Outside the Mexican restaurant was a reminder of Arizona's... tough-on-crime attitude.

Day 7 was a "down day" for Trish and I... Dad and mom went to visit some friends from High School while Trish and I hung in the condo for a bit... and then, that evening, we went over to Dad's cousin Bob's house for dinner. While we were there I got to see something of a family heirloom... Dad's cousin Linda showed me her copy of the autobiography of Christopher Layton (now out of print) - Layton was probably one of our more famous relatives (at least in the Mormon Church... but hey, we've got Davy Crockett on our side, too! :) )

On Day 8 (Click here for a Slide-show) Mom, Dad and I set out to visit Kingman, where they first met. Along the way we passed through Wikeup (where Mom's family lived for a time) and the Big Sandy Valley. We couldn't get down to the farms my Mom lived in in Wikeup - but one of them had a collection of farm equipment spread out over the property - many of which were similar to the equipment my grandfather used. My grandfather Harold owned a farm somewhere in the Big Sandy valley, but we weren't able to find the site no matter how hard we looked (and believe me, we looked!) Kingman - when we finally got there - was interesting... all the remains of the high school my Mom and Dad went to is the band room (where they spent most of their time), and after much looking, we were able to find the house my Mom lived in (she was amazed it was still standing). On the way out of town we stopped by a restaurant that my dad worked at when he was about 16 years old (it was called "The Platter" back then... now it's under a new name and closed).

On Day 9 (Click here for a Slide-show) we stayed in the Phoenix area and met up with some relatives. The morning started with a visit to Dad's cousin Patsy, then we had lunch with my aunt Bonnie and uncle Charlie (and his awesome wife Marcia, who we just fell in love with). That evening, we had dinner with Dad's half-sister Melva and her daughter Jan, who had a TON of family records for us - and were nice enough to go to Kinko's with us to copy them.

Day 10 (Click here for a Slide-show) was largely spent at with my Aunt Bonnie and her husband Steve at their house in Chandler. Mom and Bonnie don't get the chance to see each other that often, and it was great to see them hang out and share stories about growing up. After a very nice lunch, we visited the house Mom lived in while she was was in Tempe. When we went around the back, we got a nice surprise - my grandmother planted a pecan tree in the back yard the year she, Mom, and her sisters moved in... but the tree never yielded any nuts while Mom lived there. She got to eat a nut from the tree for the first time. A nice moment!

Day 11 (Click here for a Slide-show) was our last day in Arizona - and it turned out to be a real adventure! The goal was to meet our cousin Sharon Hinton in Geronimo - she was to show us the private cemetery where my great grandfather is buried. Seems like it should have been simple enough, right? That was before Dad said, "Aw, what the hell... lets take the Apache Trail!" Now, the Apache Trail is scenic - with lots of saguaro cacti, some water along the way, a fair amount of wildlife... and 22 miles of unpaved road! What could have been a couple hours' drive ended up taking about 5 as we crept up and down hill. It was gorgeous country, to be sure... but I'm glad I didn't tell Enterprise about the trip before I turned the car in :) We finally got off the unpaved road at Roosevelt dam - a dam my grandfather helped to build the roads in and out of. We finally met up with Sharon in the bustling town of Geronimo late in the day, and she took us up to the cemetery. While we were there she passed on a wealth of information about my great grandfather's side of the family - in fact, she's written several books about it! On the way back, we stopped in Globe again to check the county offices for some records... and then it was back to Scottsdale to pack for our trip home. Not too much sleep later... and we were back on our way back to the Northwest!

So... what did I learn on this little Odyssey of mine? Well, I learned a few things...

- I learned about the fluid nature of memory... everyone at these family gatherings had memories of the past... but that didn't mean they had the same memories about the people, places, and things that they shared with others in the room. My aunt Bonnie remembers my grandfather in an entirely different way than my mother does... my Dad's grandfather had a lot of secrets he wasn't privy to until this trip. This is one of the reasons I'm so driven to document my family's history; somewhere down the line someone is going to what know what happened to bring them to the place they are in time... and the more we record this stuff, the easier it'll be for my nephew, or his kids, or whomever to figure that out.

- I learned that about the power of objects... I never knew my Mother's father; he died before I was born. I can't tell you what it meant to me to see things like the ones he used in his life... a tractor... a pickup truck; I will never have known him, but imagining working the land, hauling a rake behind his tractor... that makes me feel closer to him than I can describe.

- I learned that the places people have lived help put their lives in perspective... if you've been lucky enough to meet my parents, you know that they're quirky people. They make an impression on anyone who meets them... it's just who they are, and how they make their way in the world. It's something I love them for - but like any offspring, I've had my moments of embarasment at some of those parental quirks. It's just one of those parents-and-kids kinda things. Seeing where they lived growing up... how they lived... gives me a deeper understanding of what shaped them into the people they are today; and it helps me understand how they shaped me into who I am today!

- And I learned that everyone's got a story... but then, I already knew that! Still... it's a variation on the theme above. The people who shaped my parents were shaped by the people before them - and those before them. And each one of those people have tales to be told about them - stories as big as a Shakespearean history, and as small as Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman. When you sit down and listen to people talk about their parents, or their parents' parents, you begin to see the big picture - the drama of each individual life that, when put together with the other lives in your family, make up the saga you yourself are part of.

It was a long time to be out of town... it maybe wasn't the most restful vacation I might have taken... but for those things, for the people I met, and the quiet conversations with my parents, I'll always be glad I took this trip with my family. It's definitely made my life richer.

I might suggest, if your parents are still with you, that you consider doing the same. You might be surprised what you find out - and you'll always look back on the time you spent with them with relish!

Pilgrimage

So, you remember the post I published Sunday about family stories, and how important they are? That little meditative ramble was actually a prologue for the next couple of weeks.

As I write this, Trish and I are packing up for a family trip to Arizona with my parents.

Yes, I know, Arizona isn't all that popular at the moment... the state's been in the news a lot lately, and not for the right reasons (in my opinion).

But, land-of-the-crazies or not, Arizona is the soil my family's roots are planted in, and a lot of my extended family are still there. As I said in that previous post, my ancestors' names, birth and death dates are easy enough to find on Ancestry.com or any of a number of online resources... what I can't get from those databases, though, are the stories behind those names and dates. We don't know anything about the people who came before us unless those stories are recorded and shared.

I've always been somewhat interested in my family history; getting it all recorded, however, took on a greater significance when my brother's son Christopher was born. I'd kind of like to know this stuff for my own edification and entertainment... but HE might want to know the story of our family, and tell it to his children, and their children, and... yeah. You get the picture.

Besides, it's a good excuse to spend some time with my mom and dad. We only live six hours away from each other, but if you're a regular reader you know how busy Trish and my life can get. We sometimes go months in between seeing each other - the chance to spend a couple of weeks with them isn't something I want to pass up.

So, if you follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Foursquare, don't be surprised if you see me "check in" at some new and different places over the coming days. We'll be covering a lot of the state over the next couple of weeks; as with other trips Trish and I have taken, I'll probably post some photos on our PhotoBucket page - and heck, I'm taking the Flip with me... I might even stick a couple of videos up on my YouTube channel.

Treat Portland well while I'm gone... I'll see you all in a bit!

I Love A Good Story...

... but, that really shouldn't come as a surprise, given my chosen profession. There are a lot of things to love about acting - the "smell of the greasepaint and roar of the crowd," the chance to put on costumes and do things you might not otherwise do, the chance to work with interesting and creative people... the biggest joy I get out of doing what I do, though, is getting the chance to help tell stories. Storytelling is a vital part of what makes us human; the stories we read, watch, or hear help to put our daily toil into perspective; they help us think about the issues we face in new ways. They inspire us, the scare us, and they help us understand our own lives, and the world we find ourselves in.

I learned early on that history isn't about names, places, and dates; history is about stories, and about the people who made those stories happen. Sure, from an academic perspective it's good to know that Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his legions to take control of Rome in 49 BC (yawn...). Those events shaped western civilization, and got us to the place we are today. Ok, whatever.

The STORY about how Caesar was having an affair with Pompey's wife to gain information about when the Roman leader would be out of the city, the risks he took in taking control, his eventual betrayal by the people who put him power... that's the the story in the history. It makes those events live in our hearts and minds, paints a picture of the people behind the historical figures and, most importantly, it makes us think about what we might do if we were in the same situation.

That's what makes historical drama's like HBO's short-lived series ROME so fun to watch... or The Tudors...Deadwood... Once Upon A Time In America... the list goes on and on. The characters and dates those productions chronicle are known facts. The the people involved - the characters who make the story - well, they're what make the story inside the history live for us.

We're all historical figures... and we're all descended from historical figures. Each of us and our ancestors played a part in making the world the way it is today (for good or for ill). We can easily find out that our grandparents were descended from their parents and their parents before them, when they were born and when they died, etc. etc. etc... finding out who those people were, though, is the interesting part. Learning their stories and seeing how their stories intersect and help to shape our own story is what makes the process fun (yeah, really! Fun!)

That's why I've had such a good time watching Who Do You Think You Are on NBC... yes, it seems like yet another "celebrity reality series" that follows famous people around as they traipse about the globe. The true joy of the show, however, is that it captures the wonder, excitement (and, often heartache) that these people experience when they find out the stories behind the people they descended from. Each show tells a few stories about a few people... and all those stories come together to make the person tracing his or her family history.

If you've been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you know that I've been tracing my own family history for a while now (I frequently call it my "online video game," because just like World of Warcraft or City of Heroes, I pay a small subscription fee and have a whole lot of fun!) See, I finally clicked on one of those ubiquitous Ancestry.com ads you see everywhere on the Internet and started plugging things into their system. It's free to set up an account and add what information you have - you can add people, upload photos, and do all sorts of stuff for nothing - and for a small subscription fee (about $19.95 a month) they give you access to hundreds of records: census forms, shipping manifests, photos and information from other people's family trees... through using the system, some of the people who made up my family's history started to take shape. The more I found out, however, the more questions kept developing. Why did my grandfather leave his family in Indiana and strike out on his own? How did my grandmother - then a nurse in Los Angeles - fall in love with him while he was at her hospital and decide to chuck her career and become a farm wife? Why did my other grandfather, who'd been a construction foreman and engineer, suddenly decide to become a county sheriff?

Those are the stories behind the histories, and piecing them together is, honestly, a blast. Sure, there's a little detective work, but if detective work weren't fun there would be nearly as many mysteries and police procedurals on TV! Finding out who these people were and why they did what they did is inspiring... informative... and tells tales just as exciting as Deadwood or Rome - because you get to know the people behind the history.

So, think about spending a Sunday afternoon some time and looking into the people who came before you. You might just be surprised at how interesting and exciting their stories are - and how their stories helped lead to creating the story you're living today.