Nana, why do you write stories about dead people?

Oakman-Ranger Methodist Church Cemetery
Oakman, Georgia (personal photo)

I was taking a break from the marathon of football games over Thanksgiving weekend.  Taking my laptop with me, I settled in the breakfast area, thinking I would do a little internet browsing or at least look over my various trees in Family Tree Maker.

After a few minutes one of my grandchildren popped in to see what I was up to.  She asked a simple question, one that continues to cause me to ponder, "Nana, why do you write stories about dead people?"  My answer to her was simple, so that she and others in the family would know about some of the people in our family.

As she sat in my lap, I opened my Nelson tree in Family Tree Maker and quickly guided her through looking at the tree, starting with her GreatGrandfather Nelson.  He died several years ago, but she still remembers him.  I explained that he grew up, met her GreatGrandmother, they married, and then they had a baby, her Grandfather, the one watching football in the next room.  Her Grandfather grew up, met me, we married, and then we had a baby, her father.  Her father grew up, met her mother, they married, and then they had her.  With each generation her smile grew bigger and bigger.  After a quick "Thanks, Nana", she ran off to check on the family and the football game.

But why do I write about dead people?  For a variety of reasons ...

• I've heard stories all my life and what to know more about these stories and the people they involve.  It is one thing to know that your ancestors farmed a homestead in North Dakota.  It is another to look at maps to determine its exact location and to see Bureau of Land Management information about when and how the family obtained the homestead.
• The research is making history much more personal as I see how ancestors are part of it.  Adolph Myren, my great uncle, because more to me than merely a World War I soldier pictured in his uniform.  Learning about his unit, where and when he served, and the time he was declared missing in action brought new insight into events of the first World War.
• My writing is connecting me with other family members.  I've discovered some new cousins.  And with these connections, we've also established more communication, sharing photos, information, and even speculation about certain family members or events.
• I want to help preserve the legacies left by our ancestors.  When a family clock gets passed on to the next generation, I want that person and other family members to know its history.  I also hope the new recipient will glimpse a little of the life of the individual who puchased it.
• I enjoy the whole research process and want to share what I've learned.  After years of teaching the basics of research and the evaluation of resources, it just seems natural for me to sometimes write about where I locate family information.  Other times I find that just writing about the steps I've followed to answer a personal question helps me see more clearly where else I need to look for new information.

So, as I told my granddaughter last week, there are a lot of reasons I write stories about dead people.  The primary reason. for me personally, is summed up in this quote by the late Maya Angelou.(1)

"We need to haunt the house of history and listen anew to the ancestors' wisdom."

 (1)  "Inspirational Heritage and Legacy" Family Tree Quotes,  http://www.familytreequotes.com/categories/Inspirational-Heritage-and-Legacy.

Veterans Day, 2014: Remembering the Past

Field of Poppies, Tower of London
By Ian Pegg (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Tower of London 2014
By Scarretero (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
via Wikimedia Commons

This past week, I have seen several images which pointed my thoughts toward the observance of Veterans Day.  The first were pictures I saw of the poppy memorial at the Tower of London.  The monument, which is titled "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red", contains 888,246 ceramic red poppies that have been placed in the moat area of the Tower of London.  Each poppy commemorates the death of a soldier of the British Commonwealth during World War I.(1)   The monument in its simplicity makes a powerful statement.

A very different image was the snapshot of a military cemetery which I found in a family photo album.  The handwritten note on the back indicates it was taken on Okinawa in 1945.  My father served with the US Army and was stationed on Okinawa in the final year of World War II.  This photo was something he brought back from his time spent on Okinawa.  Try as I might, I have not been able to enlarge it enough to clearly read the symbols and inscription on the crosses.  All that is clear is that it is the burial place of apparently hundreds of soldiers killed in World War II.  

Okinawa 1945
photo from personal collection

Today Veterans Day is celebrated in a number of ways.  For many it is a federal holiday, for others it means parades or patriotic programs in schools.  But for all of us it should be a day to recognize, honor, and commemorate our country's military.  As the US Department of Veterans Affairs reminds us on their web site ...

The ... observance of Veterans Day ... not only preserves the historical significance of the date [Armistice Day], but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day:  A celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

On this day I especially want to remember these veterans about whom I have written during the past year.

• Raleigh Spinks Camp, Civil War, Confederate States of America
• Thomas Lumpkin Camp, Civil War, Confederate States of America
• Josiah Gresham Camp, Civil War, Confederate States of America
• James Houston, Revolutionary War, Colonial America
• Adolph Myren, World War I
• Thomas P Nelson, Civil Confederate States of America
• Ernest Vaughn Perkinson, World War I
• James S Roach, Civil War, Confederate States of America

(1) "888,246 Poppies Pour Like Blood From the Tower of London to Remember the Fallen Soldiers of WWI",  http://www.earthporm.com, Nov 2014.

Military Monday: Adolph Myren

Pvt Adolph Myren, World War I
photo from personal collection

The story of Adolph Myren, my Great Uncle, is much like that of many young American men during the years of World War I.  I grew up hearing how Uncle Adolph had served in the first World War, seeing the photo above in the family picture box as I was growing up.  His story, however, comes in bits and pieces for his service record was most likely among those destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Archives Record Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Adolph Myren was the son of Norwegian immigrants who became Dakota homesteaders and American citizens.  In June of 1917, Adolph registered for the draft in his hometown of Hillsboro, North Dakota.  The physical description listed on his registration card - tall, slender, blue eyes, and [light] brown hair - speaks of his Scandinavian heritage.

World War I Draft Registration Card
source: Ancestry.com

A detailed record of Adolph Myren's military service is found in Ancestry's "US Adjutant General Records", pictured below.  Initially he was a member of the North Dakota National Guard, enlisting about three months after his registration for the draft.  Adolph, along with other state national guard members, later became part of the regular American military forces serving in World War I.

source: US Adjutant General Records, 1631-1976
Ancestry.com

Adolph was reported as Missing in Action while he was serving in France.  His name appeared in the list published in the Official US Bulletin of 23 Sep 1918.(1)  It would appear that Adolph was missing following the Battle of St.Mihiel which occurred 12-16 Sep 1918.(2)  Since the fighting at Meuse-Argonne took place between 26 Sep-11 Nov 1918, Adolph was apparently able to rejoin his unit within a relatively short time.

Following the conclusion of the war, Adolph Myren returned to his home in North Dakota.  He was a farmer for the rest of his life. never married.  Adolph lived until his mid-90s, always standing tall and straight just as he did done many years before in his military photograph.

photo by Alexis Yokom
FindAGrave memorial #92116119

(1) Official US Bulletin, Issues 402-451. Washington, DC, US Government Printing Office, 1918, accessed through Google Books.
(2) "US Army Campaigns, World War I." http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/army_flag/wwi.html.

Military Monday: Ernest Vaughn Perkinson

Ancestry.com recently added a new database, "Georgia, World War One Service Cards, 1917-1919".  I had already used their database of World War I Draft Registration Cards for a number of my relatives, but I wanted to look around this new database since it contained records about officers in World War I from the state of Georgia.

I started by searching for any Perkinsons in the database.  The only family name shown was that of my Grand Uncle Ernest Vaughn Perkinson.  Side 1 of Ernest's service card showed the date of his appointment as an officer as well as a list of the various places he had been stationed.  Side 2 provided some new information, the fact that he had been inducted at Washington, DC.  All this time I thought that Ernest had been back in Cherokee County, Georgia.

Georgia, World War I Service Card for Ernest V Perkinson, side 2
source: Ancestry.com

The Service Card showed that Ernest was inducted into the Army on 29 Jul 1918, appointed Sergeant First Class on 6 Aug 1918, then honorably discharged on 6 Oct 1918 to accept a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.  He remained with the 472 Engineers until he was finally discharged on 2 Jun 1919, six months after the war had ended.  The Service Card had provided a clear timeline of Ernest's military service.

But what brought Ernest to Washington, DC to enlist, especially as his residence was listed as Woodstock, Georgia?  That answer came as I looked back at his draft registration card.  It turns out that Ernest had been a surveyor with the International Boundary Commission of the State Department.  In the 1910 census, Ernest's occupation had been listed as a civil engineer with the US government.  Now I knew more about this work.  He had actually registered for the draft in Maine in May, 1917, as he apparently was working there as a surveyor.    Interestingly, by direction of the US Boundary Commissioner, he was seeking an exemption from the draft. 

World War I Draft Registration Card for Ernest Vaughn Perkinson
source: Ancestry.com

The final bit of military information I found that day was the application filed by Ernest's wife for a military headstone for his grave.(1)  It was interesting to see the verification of Ernest's military record - enlistment date, honorable discharge, his rank and branch of service - that was part of obtaining that marker for him.  The only surprise was seeing his name listed as Ernest Vaughn Perkinson.  The draft registration card had listed his name as Vaughn, but I had assumed it was just recorded incorrectly by the draft registrar.  All these years I had thought (incorrectly) that his middle name was spelled Vaughan, like the maiden name of my Grandmother Annie Laurie Vaughan Perkinson.  Wrong!  Ernest was related to Annie Laurie only as her brother-in-law, so there was no requirement that his name be spelled as my grandmother's surname.  Where the Vaughn in Ernest's name come from is probably another story.

Lessons learned:  

• If you use Ancestry.com, it pays to look at their list of new and updated databases.  There is no telling what you might find.
• Take the time to look at previous records with new eyes.  I had looked at Ernest's draft registration card before but had not noticed the link to Washington, DC, or the request for a draft exemption.
• Once again, information about a relative has lead me to learn more about my country's history, in this case the work of the International Boundary Commission.  I had assumed that the US / Canada border had been firmly established long before 1918.  The Boundary Commission's website provides some interesting information about the work of this joint US / Canadian commission, work which continues today.
• One more reminder that assumptions aren't facts.  Just because Ernest's middle name was Vaughn did not mean he was related to the Vaughan family, even if my mind kept automatically making that connection.

(1)  Ancestry.com. U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. "Application for Headstone or Marker" for Ernest Vaughn Perkinson; citing Microfilm publication M1916, 134 rolls. ARC ID: 596118. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92. National Archives at Washington, D.C.