World Events Shaping Our Family History

Sometimes I think about all that my grandma has seen in her lifetime and it cements in my mind that she is the coolest person ever. She lived through the Great Depression, World War 2, Elvis, the Korean War, the Beatles, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, Women's Lib, our current war in the Middle East, amazing medical advances--we even put a man on the dang moon! Seriously, though, during the Great Depression do you think people were even considering that one day people would get in a huge metal box, basically light a fire underneath it to fly it to the moon and then get out and take a walk?

Let's not forget computers! My grandma still has a telegram that someone sent letting her know she got married and would write soon. A telegram! Even sending an email to keep in touch seems kind of old-school to me since there are so many ways to send messages. Our grandparents went from sending telegrams to convey important news to hearing about their grandkid's engagement/pregnancy/moving/graduation/job offer/basically everything via Facebook, Instagram and maybe a text if they're lucky. 

(Side note--quit being lazy and call your grandparents to tell them that stuff.)

My point is, my grandma's world is a million ways different today compared to when she was a kid. What I want to know is what she thinks of those changes and events and how they impacted her life.  I don't need to know her thoughts about every political or cultural change that happened, but there are some fascinating things that have happened during her lifetime that shaped who she was and I want to hear about them. Equally interesting are the ones I don't know about until she tells me.

For example, she told me that her next younger brother died of diphtheria when he was 6 months old. At the time they lived way out in the country, but after he died her mother had them move into the "city." Her mom said they weren't going to be stuck out in the country like that again without quick access to help. I did a quick Google search on diphtheria and found that in the 1920's there were 100,000-200,000 cases reported in the United States every year, ultimately causing between 13,000-15,000 yearly deaths during that time. Most of them were children (reference at bottom). This was a pretty devastating illness at the time. I can't imagine how scary that must have been for my great-grandmother to be out in the country trying to take care of her sick baby while also trying to prevent the rest of the family from getting it too. Her decision to move the family affected all of us. Maybe I'd be a redneck out in the woods somewhere on the East coast instead of where I am now. Again, this was a big deal at the time, but not something I ever learned about at school. Yet it still impacted my family greatly.

Seriously, do you think anyone wearing those clothes ever thought anyone would light a metal box on fire and fly it to the moon? Doubtful. One day I'll ask her, she's my great-grandmother Jennie Krause's sister Florence.

Here are some questions I hope will help me learn more about the world/country/cultural events that impacted my ancestors. I figure the more I talk to my family members, the more I'll hear about the events I don't even know to ask about!

1. How old were you during _______ (insert event)?
2. What were your initial thoughts about it?
3. Do you remember how it affected any of your daily activities?
4. What did your parents say about it?
5. What did your friends say/think about it?
6. How did it change your view about the world/community?
7. How were you involved in it?
8. Did your thoughts ever change towards it and why?
9. What lessons did this event teach you?

Fun fact: This is also this week's journal prompt! Pick an event that you have been around for and answer these questions. It can be political, cultural, worldwide, or local--go nuts!

This is my mom's dad during WW2. I don't know that anyone could fully explain how war impacted lives, even on an individual basis. Also, how cute is his inscription to his best girl?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphtheria#History

Journaling and Family History: Join me!

I love stories. I love learning about people, their adventures, their struggles and the lessons they learn. I'm pretty sure some of that is due to my grandma having an awesome collection of pictures from her young adulthood. Black and white pictures of people on farms, visiting big cities in New York, old trucks, glamorous girls in very classy and modest bikinis, amazing hairstyles, big fat cigars sticking out of the men's smiles--oh man, I love it. Knowing that these people literally are my past makes me want to learn all about them.

(Seriously, what's not to love about the '40's? My grandma's coworkers for a summer)

Unfortunately, that's not always possible. I've been having a lot of fun searching through old documents trying to learn about my recent ancestors and have found a lot of cool stuff, but I want more. I want to know why there is a New York Census from 1892 that lists my 3rd great grandparents Charles and Anna Light with all their kids, then in 1900 a NY census says she's a widow, BUT THEN (oh, the intrigue!) the 1900 Pennsylvania census lists him as a widow and living with his cousin. Their towns are just under 50 miles apart. Charles' death certificate from 1912 in Pennsylvania says he was widowed. I know it was him because it was filled out by his son. You'd figure a son would know if his mom had passed away, right? So, were the census takers in 1900 just a bunch of dummies and screwed it up? Were my grandparents separated and didn't want to admit it? Did the kids think their dad was dead? Did she fake her and her last two kids death and run away from him for some reason? Was that really his "cousin?" You can see my imagination runs rampant if you don't give me an ending. Hopefully some of those scenarios aren't true, but seriously--I want to know why the heck these don't line up.

This leads me to my next point: why the deuce didn't anyone in my ancestry keep a journal? I want the dirt! Even if it was just that everyone knew the other was alive and they just preferred to say they were widows instead of divorced, that is still so interesting to me. And let this be a lesson to all that if you don't leave a journal, then your descendants are going to think crazy things about you. 

(My life journals, oldest on bottom to the newest on top. There are a couple other study journals I've used too, but ain't nobody got time to dig those out!)

 I love writing in my journal! Over the years I've been awesome at it and I've been bad at it. And holy cow there are some entries that make me cringe to think my kids will read one day. I can already hear "Mom, you were so weird and boy-crazy." Yeah, thanks, I know. Hopefully they think that along with recognizing my cool moments, the things I've learned, the kind of person I tried to be, my adventures, my heartbreaks, and I hope they see some of themselves in me. Louisa May Alcott said,

"Preserve your memories, 

keep them well, 

what you forget you can never retell."

So, write in your dang journals! It can be a notebook, hard bound journal, a blog, a word document--whatever. Just find somewhere you can preserve your memories and write. I have a goal to use a journal prompt once a week to help me think more outside the realm of "this is what I did today." Join me if you want! This week's prompt is:

 What skill or talent do you wish you had and why?

Remember, without writing in your journal, you're giving your descendants free license to make assumptions about your pictures. Take this guy, for example: butcher, terrifying jungle surgeon, or a psychopath caught on camera? The world may never know...