When The Elderly Die…
 

I saw this on FaceBook this morning and it is so very true. It made me think of so many of our very knowledgable and revered PGCA Friends who have passed on like Alan Swanson, Austin Hogan, Rich Flanders, Charlie Cleveland and so many others.
Please share your knowledge in writing before it is too late.

Perfect example of that Dean is my Dad, who died at age 97. Veteran of WW11, Pacific theater, and I never got the story of his experiences during the war, when he met my mom and life in the 40's, etc. Just never thought to push the issues.

I hear ya ! My grandfather was in Japan/Philippines during WWII I wish I’d paid better attention to where he said he was in the Philippines. If I had I’d have tried to find the places , but like so many other things it’s lost now .

All the more reason to share our knowledge while we are alive.

I am trying to pass the information on to my family and all who are interested. Two books so far on the Morris and Harlow Families. Discovered I am a descendant of "King" Carter who owned 300,000 acres in Virginia. Also discovered that I am a second cousin six times removed of Robert E. Lee (his mother was a Carter). And to our surprise, Jimmy Carter was related to Robert E. Lee. But we don't claim "Jimma" Carter.

Working on the unpublished letters of George K. Harlow a cousin, enlisted 1861 in the 23rd Virginia Infantry, and in 1864 hired a substitute for $300 and a suit of clothes. Before his teenage substitute could get there substitution was outlawed so he lost all he had spent. Captured and died at Elmira (Hellmira) Prison, New Your in 1865. One-hundred and fifty pages of letters, etc. Just got to live long enough and quit hunting turkeys, doves, geese, and deer every free moment.

I ordered the stones for the Morris Family Cemetery where our Revolutionary ancestor and his grandsons are buried. Need a stone for Rev War ancestor's son who served in the War of 1812.

I tell people I know people who will span 200 year plus. My paternal grandparents were both born in 1888. I have grandchildren who hopefully will live to 2088 if man does not kill us all.

A hobby of mine that I began and was most active in pursuing in the 1980s was to record with audio cassette tapes the experiences of New Englanders and Nova Scotians that were active in the Sword and Giant Bluefin Tuna fisheries. I targeted the oldest individuals first. Time will tell if I achieve my goal of producing something for public consumption on these subjects, but I continue to inch almost daily toward it these days.

Aside from that, I do have cassette tape recordings of my parents relating mostly their early experiences, for which no publication is contemplated.

…to my point Mills.





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One guy who should publish multiple books is Dave Noreen. "Researcher" probably has more knowledge on more shotguns than anyone I know.

When I was with Analog Devices. Inc., I had the freedom to fly all over the world. In recognition of the many American lives lost in action i always made it a point to visit battle sites like Corregidor and in Europe to honor all those men and women who fought there and sacrificed their lives for liberty and freedom. My dad, God bless his soul, tried to enlist in the USNavy but was turned down due to his eyes. He spent the war years as a first class machinest in the Charlestown navy shipyard here in Boston. He didn't talk about it much but he did say how painful it was to work on repairing highly damaged ships that still contained mangled bodies. He said tho, that one of his proudest accomplishments was balancing the propellers on the U S carrier Lexington. God bless him and so many others who contributed to the war effort in those years.

Digging into family trees is alays an enlightening experience. I spent about 5 years involved in tracing mine and learned more than I ever thought would be available. I found that my my 23rd great grandfather led his men in the invasion of England by William the Conquerer. As award, he was granted control of Wexford in Ireland and ruled there for generations. When the Cromwell rebellion occured, his descendent was removed (to be reinstated a few years later). His next in line bother (another great grandfather) decide there was no future for him there under any circumstance, and immigrated to Virginia in the latter 1600's, acquiring a plantation of several thousand acres. He died soon, leaving his estate to a young son. He owned it for only a few years and mismanaged it, only to die earlyand left it to a 15 year old son with no trustee.

This is where the story gets interesting and why I think we view the whole issue of early slavery with too simplistic a view. The comlete dynamic of the history can hardly be fathomed by modern people. Not that it is in any way morally acceptable, but the situations that existed at the time were so different than today that they are hard to understand.

My great grandfather quickly lost almost everything he owned. He gradually sold off his land and still kept a number of slaves he had purchased. He had 12-14 children that were both his wife's and some of the slaves. He apparently did not consider any of the children slaves, as opposed to the general trend of the time. Court records and legal papers never refer to them as such. One of his children was legally named Gibby the Mullato. Due to his total business failure, he indentured two of his daughters to a German miller at the ages of 12 and 13. One of these was my great grandmother. She was also a mullato, since future court proceedings listed her as a "Notorious mullato woman". When she completed her indenture, she was a freewoman (not freedwoman). She ended up having 18 children, none apparently by the same husband. During her life, 12 of here 18 children were taken by the court and indentured. (Read: government ordered slavery). Her son James was released at the age of 18 and quickly managed to acquire a 250 acre farm. He married a woman who was not a person of color and had several children. Even with his family history he began purchasing slaves (he owned 16 at the time of his death). He fought in the American Revolution and recieved a pension. Two of his sons, one of whom was another great grandfather, felt so strongly about slavery that they moved to Kentucky at the start of theCivil war and enlisted in the 1ST Kentucky Cavalty, serving throughout the war.

This woman in early Virginia was an indentured mullato woman who was born to a slave but free, became a notorious woman of ill repute and mothered descendents who would become slaveowners, Kentucky anti-slavery soldiers, Hall of Fame NFL players and governors of New England states. Her forebears invaded England, were Irish fuedal Lords and, due to two unique marriages, were related to every modern King or Queen of England.

The history of this time period is well outlined in a unique book titled "People of Color of Mecklenburg County". It was at one time available on-line via Amazon, but was taken down at some point and I have never been able to find a hard copy.

I often wish I had time to document the whole tree, but sadly I don't. This is a story, as they say, that you just couldn't make up. It just points out the diversity our culture and how compex our history is compared to the 60 second talking point blurbs that is all we ever hear or see.