History nerds' dream.....ancestry!

Revolutionary soldiers, preachers, Cherokee Indians, Scottish kings, Ill-fated Vikings, Civil war rebels and pioneer women; who needs television?

There is a period in our lives when we decide to accept that gravity is winning, our arms cannot be long enough to read something and we’re really not 22 anymore.  There’s also that time when we long to know more about our past.  We want to find our roots.  We feel sorry that we didn’t have long chats with aging grandparents sooner. 

So when ancestry.com came along I was intrigued enough to start the journey.  It started so simple.  I really just wanted to know more about my grandparents but that lead to wanting and needing to explore more about their parents.  Before I knew it I had GEEKED my way all the way back to Robert King of Scotland on my mom’s dad’s side.  Yep, now I can officially be that ROYAL pain in the butt that hubster affectionately calls me.  And when I found out that his grandfather was Robert the Bruce, my alleged 28^th great grandpa, oh heaven help us all.  That’s just like CRACK to a history nerd!! 

Another thing I discovered is you don’t really realize how many people you’re related to, as in JUST grandparents, until you start putting it on paper….or a computer screen.  I’m no mental math giant but let’s see.  Grandparents, we have four, great grandparents, we have eight, great great….16….uh, 32….uh, 64….this is really getting big and fast!  I haven’t even started to add cousins.

Although, when I did start to add these grandparents and great great grandparents kids I bumped into one of those tree leaf hints on ancestry that really got me excited!!!  Ok, so usually because there are records uploaded from the National Archives to the database, when you have dates of birth and marriages, there are a few documents with each person.  So look at Grandpa Carter’s name and there are 12 or so.   The average number of hints is about 4 for an average Joe but Grandpa Carter fought for the confederacy in the Civil War so there are some historical documents and stories linked to him.  Fascinating stuff!!

The real thrill is coming…..so, I nerd back into my research to find that all of a sudden on cousin Augustine, uh, uh, erh, Washington?  Yep, I looked again and although I’m floating the river of denial with a giant sized paddle on the issue of reading glasses, cause I’m 34 ya know, I looked again.  25 HINTS!  Ok, so someone, somewhere is doing a lot of research on my family so the nerd gene must be dominant, right?  Or…. Or….

HOLY cow!!!  Good GRAVY!!!  Grandfather of George Washington, First President of the United States of America?!????  Wh What?  I am related somehow in a rather two centuries later diluted fashion to a founding father?  My 2^nd cousin 8 times removed is on the dollar bill?  That’s crazy.  I’ve always heard we’re all related to someone who formed this country.  If you go looking you will likely find some interesting cats in your family tree.  So in addition to George, there’s Meriwether, oh yeah, he took a famous trip west to explore and fifth graders everywhere have to learn a poem about him and his buddy Clark.  Meriwether is a third cousin 7 times removed and his related to George.  Come to find out he was given the family name Meriwether because it was his mom Lucy’s maiden name.  His sister Jane got the Meriwether as a middle name.  

I really would like to break into a chorus of “It’s a Small World, After All,” (Disney) right about now because what I’m about to tell you is going to blow your socks off.  The cotton kind you bought at Wal-Mart, not the wool kind our grandmothers darned for our revolutionary patriot kin, mind you.  My ninth great grandpa, or my great great great great great great great great great grandpa, I just had a moment of being 6 years old and wanted to do that.  Anyway, Grandpa Godfrey Ragsdale came to this country as a boy and married a young woman in Henrico, Virginia at the tender age of 15.  He and wife, or great grandma, Mary Rowlett Ragsdale had a child and named him Godfrey, when little Godfrey was about a year old, their colony was attacked by Native American or Indians and they both died, the baby was spared.  You have perhaps heard of this event in history as the Jamestown massacre, the most famous one was in 1622 but there were many, actually.

 Some historical research by family members turned up that Godfrey was taken unharmed and adopted by a family named Cookney.  This isn’t EVEN the best part, the small world part of this…years ago I was part of a synchronized ice skating team in Louisville, Kentucky and locked arms on a team with the wife of a cousin from that very line.  Ok, so she’s a cousin but you get it!  Now I wonder how many other friends I’ve had that I’ve really been somehow related to. J

I’d love to finish the story with my discovery of preachers, cattle thieves, kings and such but I feel like I’ve teased it enough to encourage you to go and find your story.  I sound like a commercial but it has truly been a wonderful adventure.  I’ve also found new cousins and made new friends.  I am even gathering documents to join the Daughters of the American Revolution, what a great way to honor those grandpas who fought for our freedom from tyranny.  I cannot, simply cannot, watch a historical documentary with the same eyes and heart anymore.  I will someday take a genealogical journey to South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky to see where my ancestors settled, made their lives, dreamed their dreams and started their families that eventually lead to me. 

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Let's talk about the BEDroom! Shall we?

When we’re grown up it is perhaps the number one thing we think about; the bed.

And there’s one little thing you can add which can really spice it up!

Pillows!

What did you think I was going to say?  Somebody’s been watching too much guilty pleasure entertainment trash news.

Hubster Chad and I were having this talk and he just doesn’t get it.  He even referenced another man in the family to try and solidify his stance on pillows.  Of course we’re talking about throw pillows, the decorative types that go on the bed after you make it.  They just tie in the color theme of the room and make the bed look dressed and ready. 

See?  This is NOT our bed, by the way. 

Chad decided to drag poor Uncle Charlie into the pillow talk, pardon the pun, hons.  He brought up the fact that Charlie told Aunt Teenie (Aunt Ernestine, my mom’s older sister) that she had too many pillows on the bed and either they had to go, or so would he.  I actually don’t think it was presented quite like that but you get the point.  I’m not sure it was proper to play the older Uncle card but he did it.  I retorted that in defense of that, Aunt Teenie had always had more fancy pillows than the display beds at Nordstroms, combined!

It’s just….this is just so hard to give up!  Every woman, or nearly, every woman alive  feels like the cute pillows you get to place on the bed AFTER you make it is sort of like the dessert.  Ahhhh, wonderful!  Look at my creative little masterpiece.  And this is something that requires little to no time.  It’s like even if there’s chaos in the rest of the house, this little beautiful, dressed bed is perfect.  The home can be ripped apart by teenage savages and the master bed is made and fabulous!  Oh yes.  All is right with the world thanks to JCPenney and Hobby Lobby’s 40% off throw pillow revolving sale!   

It might seem silly and simple but when the bed is made all is right in the world.  It’s the little triumph.  So when you’re making the bed this morning think of that.  After all, it is the little things in life that make it wonderful!

~Anne