A Family's Oral History

The history behind family heirlooms I fear is being lost through each generation. I'm sure you have something in your house which was owned by your grandmother or great-grandfather which you plan to pass down to your children someday. However what is the true story behind it? Why was kept all these years besides being a nice piece of furniture? Oral tradition is lost in our day and age. There was once a time which oral history and tradition was the only gateway to ones past. With the internet and multimedia we seem to have no need for that oral history, passing our stories on from generation to generation. However I believe that the loss of that tradition has lost us some of the great stories of our own families' histories. Recently a relative of mine sent me a handmade quilt for my new son to enjoy. The gift itself was beautiful and wonderful but more than likely would be lost, thrown out, or sold once my son became an adult. However my she placed a story behind the quilt, a meaning which has turned an ordinary quilt into a memory giving it emotional value. She reminded me of my great-grandmother who I had the wonderful pleasure of knowing all the way up into my mid 20s, and her husband. 


My great-grandmother was a wonderful woman who used to visit my family every Sunday afternoon on her way from church to check on us and see how we were doing. In reality it was her loving way of pointing out that we should be in church too. Sometimes she'd bring us food but mostly it was to see what we were up to. When speaking with others they had only the most wonderful things to say about her. Many considered her their second mother because of how loving and gracious her company truly was. She cared for others, was a hard worker, could sew better than anyone on the planet, and loved her family through good times and bad. I did not have the pleasure of getting to know her husband, my great-grandfather however my mother could speak about him for days. She was very close to him and although I never had the pleasure of meeting him I know from their stories that he was a great man that meant a lot to his family. You see my relative that made this quilt created it in their memory. A memorial to a great couple which my son will never have the pleasure of meeting but can be told the story of who they were and what they meant to the people around them. A history of his family which can be passed down to him through an oral tradition. This quilt was very exciting for me because I look forward to the day I can tell my son about Joe and Martha, about the impact they had on the many lives they touched including my mother's and my own. I encourage everyone out there to seek out an oral tradition that you can start. Record histories of your family that are still alive and tell those stories to your children, or your children's children. Let us redevelop an oral history for our families and maybe teach future generation where they came from and who they are as an individual.  

Roman Shipyard Unearthed

According to researchers they believe they have uncovered one of the largest Roman shipyards dating back to the second century. This shipyard is apart of an ancient port known as Portus which linked Rome to the Mediterranean Sea. This discovery adds to the uses that Portus seems to have had including the storage of grain and military defense.


http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/09/24/huge-ancient-roman-shipyard-unearthed-in-italy/

A Brief Hiatus

So it has been nearly three months since I had the opportunity to discuss, contemplate, research, read, and/or write about history. My life has recently been blessed with the addition of my first child, a son, and I could not be more excited and happy about the moment. At two weeks old he is a bundle of energy at some moments and complete coma at another. As I consider him in the context of my blog I start to wonder what impact my son might have on this world. Is it possible he could be a catalyst for change, one in which we historians will write and read about in the future? Is it possible that my son could cure cancer, solve world hunger, balance economic woes, or even run the country from the desk of the White House. As I consider this and hope for what my son will one day become I am easily reminded at how each and everyone of us affects history everyday. At our job, school, or socially with friends and family we are affecting the world in every way, whether it be for the good or the bad. We make history at our jobs, at our schools, and even in our communities and that is a responsibility which we should not take lightly. It is in these small realms of history that we can better understand the very nature of a society at the time. This is an ideal I wish my son to be raised with, this is the way in which I want him to live his life. He should always remember that the actions he takes on a daily basis effect the lives of those around him and in turn help write the history of that moment and the history of the world. As I start to read, research, and write history again I am burden with the idea and hope to continue to convey this idea more in the future.

A Poem by Johnny Cash

RAGGED OLD FLAG

I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I said, "Your old courthouse is kinda run down."
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town."
I said, "Your flagpole has leaned a little bit,
And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it.

He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down.
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"
I said, "I think it is." He said, "I don't like to brag,
But we're kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag."

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
And it got powder-burned the night Francis Scott Key
Sat watching it writing _Oh Say Can You See_.
And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams."

"And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on through.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag."

"On Flanders Field in World War I
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp and low by the time it was through.
She was in Korea and Vietnam.
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam."

"She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they've about quit waving her back here at home.
In her own good land she's been abused --
She's been burned, dishonored, denied and refused."

"And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.
And she's getting threadbare and wearing thin,
But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.
'Cause she's been through the fire before
And I believe she can take a whole lot more."

"So we raise her up every morning,
Take her down every night.
We don't let her touch the ground
And we fold her up right.
On second thought I DO like to brag,
'Cause I'm mighty proud of that Ragged Old Flag."

Written by Johnny Cash

What Was It Like 100 Years Ago...

I received this in an email so I take no credit for the research behind it but I absolutely love this information.

THE YEAR IS 1911
This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!
**********************************
* The average life expectancy for men was 47 years.
* Fuel for this car was sold in drug stores only.
* Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
* Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
* There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.
* The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
* The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!
* The average US wage in 1910 was 22 cents per hour.
* The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
* A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year,and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
* More than 95 percent of all births took place at home.
* Ninety percent of all Doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard".
* Sugar cost four cents a pound.
* Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
* Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
* Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
* Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

The Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

* The American flag had 45 stars.
* The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30.
* Crossword puzzles, canned beer and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.
* There was neither a Mother's Day nor a Father's Day.
* Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write and only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
* Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores.
* Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health!" (Shocking?)
* Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
* There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.!