The more digging I do into my family history the more intrigued I am and consequently, the more work I want to do. I have always been fascinated by stories from history and now find many family anecdotes superimposed on major historical events. For instance, my 1st cousin – 6 generations removed was the noble Samuel Lount who participated in Mackenzie’s Rebellion in Upper Canada in 1837 and was hanged and mutilated in 1838…..and this guy was a pacifist Quaker! (http://www.utopiapictures.com/samuellount.html)
I had 3rd great-grandfathers on both sides of the Civil War one of whom, William Angus, was taken POW at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse and moved to the horrible Union prison camp at Point Lookout, Maryland in 1864. He lasted only a few months after his arrival and succumbed eventually to dysentery (http://www.plpow.com/). I often wonder if at any time during that war whether my ancestors were actually shooting at each other…..now that would be a story for their progeny.
And then I also have the relevant reality of mixed races in and through portions of my ancestry. My favorite family hero in this regard has to be one Clarence Ray Angus (my 1st cousin – 1 generation removed). Born to a black father and a white mother, “Ray” and his sister Mary were snatched from the mountains in Virginia by social services and sent to go live with “their people” in Richmond. How stupid was that? By the age of 18 he was in the United States Marine Corps and serving his first tour in Vietnam. Within a month of his second combat tour he was killed in action, 15 August 1967. (http://marines.togetherweserved.com/usmc/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=120513). A patriot true to his Scots-Irish heritage and the Angus name which he bore. Likewise, his service demonstrated the noble contribution of a very special black American who put his country and his family above his own self-interest. Man, what we all can learn from guys like Ray (take some notes President Obama!)
My point in this personal trip down memory lane is we all come from somewhere and from a host of forebears. In everyone’s individual search for identity, sometimes folks are quick to ally themselves with only a portion of their heritage and sometimes unknowingly against others. I find it to be an imperative that to truly understand who we are we must entertain and embrace the reality regarding those from whom we are descended. From my pacifist rebel cousin to my Confederate and Union great grand-fathers to my favorite Marine cousin, I gratefully accept their contributions to my family and the realities of their individual situations. Knowing them helps me to know myself and they are but a portion of the totality of my ancestors. The greatest benefit of all of this, in addition to the privilege of honoring my family, is the bestowal of this wealth of information upon my greatest treasures – my children. My hope is that they too will develop a passion for knowing who they are and from whence they came.
I had 3rd great-grandfathers on both sides of the Civil War one of whom, William Angus, was taken POW at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse and moved to the horrible Union prison camp at Point Lookout, Maryland in 1864. He lasted only a few months after his arrival and succumbed eventually to dysentery (http://www.plpow.com/). I often wonder if at any time during that war whether my ancestors were actually shooting at each other…..now that would be a story for their progeny.
And then I also have the relevant reality of mixed races in and through portions of my ancestry. My favorite family hero in this regard has to be one Clarence Ray Angus (my 1st cousin – 1 generation removed). Born to a black father and a white mother, “Ray” and his sister Mary were snatched from the mountains in Virginia by social services and sent to go live with “their people” in Richmond. How stupid was that? By the age of 18 he was in the United States Marine Corps and serving his first tour in Vietnam. Within a month of his second combat tour he was killed in action, 15 August 1967. (http://marines.togetherweserved.com/usmc/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=120513). A patriot true to his Scots-Irish heritage and the Angus name which he bore. Likewise, his service demonstrated the noble contribution of a very special black American who put his country and his family above his own self-interest. Man, what we all can learn from guys like Ray (take some notes President Obama!)
My point in this personal trip down memory lane is we all come from somewhere and from a host of forebears. In everyone’s individual search for identity, sometimes folks are quick to ally themselves with only a portion of their heritage and sometimes unknowingly against others. I find it to be an imperative that to truly understand who we are we must entertain and embrace the reality regarding those from whom we are descended. From my pacifist rebel cousin to my Confederate and Union great grand-fathers to my favorite Marine cousin, I gratefully accept their contributions to my family and the realities of their individual situations. Knowing them helps me to know myself and they are but a portion of the totality of my ancestors. The greatest benefit of all of this, in addition to the privilege of honoring my family, is the bestowal of this wealth of information upon my greatest treasures – my children. My hope is that they too will develop a passion for knowing who they are and from whence they came.
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