Last year, I joined the wonderful women from Is This Mutton, MK’s Adventures in Style, Deb’s World, Grownup Glamour, and Frugal Fashion Shopper for a global writing challenge. Later, Suzy from The Grey Brunette, Sue from Living Well after 50, and I joined in on the fun permanently! Jill decided upon this month’s prompt, and I can’t wait to read the stories each will write! I hope you’ll visit all of these blogs because you are going to be amazed at, not only the diversity of the ideas, but the stories of each person. There’s also a link party on Is This Mutton.
A little history…
Family history is one of those amorphous things that seem to change with each telling. Sometimes, the stories get wilder and wilder. Sometimes, they become more tame. As I was thinking about this month’s prompt, I kept coming back to the story of my Grandma Rose and her interference with my dad’s military service. Settle in, grab a beverage, and have a read.
Even more history…
A little background on Grandma Rose is necessary. I loved that woman fiercely. She was just this tiny little old woman but with lots of sass and bite! I was always told she was born in Tell City, Indiana, but a little digging reveals she was probably born in Hawkesville, Kentucky. The funny thing is when we would go to visit relatives who did live in Tell City, Grandma’s southern accent would come roaring out! What I do know is by 1940, she and Grandpa Rose were living in Whitley County where I was born. I’m just now delving into Ancestry.com to try to trace my roots.
Some more history…
Grandma had always told us we were related to James K Polk, 11th President of the United States. This is what I think I know. Her mother was Emma Polk Earles though there are some records on Ancestry that state her name was Poke. I’m pretty sure those are wrong as I’ve noticed many census records with misspelled names. Miss Emma is hiding, but I am determined to find her! If what we think we know is true, President Polk was my great-great-uncle. Grandma was a straight ticket voter…Republican all the way. I’m wondering now if she realized Polk was a Democrat!
Still more history…
Family urban legend (is that a thing) is that Grandma was connected to someone high in the federal government. She could have pulled strings and gotten Dad into West Point. Dad had an older brother who had died from strep throat at a young age so I think Grandma and Grandpa were a tad protective of their remaining son. And, that is why Grandma didn’t pull any strings. After a long and confusing text go-round with my oldest sister and brother, I gathered my dad wouldn’t have wanted to go to West Point anyway as he didn’t like school.
A wee bit more history…
Another family legend, and the one this post is supposed to be about is that Grandma pulled some more strings to keep Dad off the front lines when he went to Korea. Dad enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1951. As he would have been 23 years old, I think he must have already been working for the telephone company. In the Marines, he was a radio lineman so the chances are pretty good he saw some action and was, indeed, on the front lines or close to them. Nigel tells me Dad would have had to have been close to the front lines just so he could have hung those all important telephone/telegraph/tele-something lines. I have a few photos Dad took while he was in Korea, but I have no context for any of them.
Your family history…
Here’s the thing, though. Almost all of my dad’s immediate family are deceased. His youngest sister is alive. I think I’ll try to get in contact with her to get some answers. But, what I’m getting at is talk to your parents and grandparents, if you’re lucky enough to still have them. Find out about your ancestors; ask questions about their lives; or if you’re a tad lazy, buy them a subscription to Storyworth. You can read more about that in this post, and I’m honestly glad my kids bought this for both Nigel and me. They will have the stories and then some!
Wrap it up, Marsha!
So, am I related to James K. Polk? At this point, I honestly have absolutely no idea! My sister had a scrap of paper that said one of Polk’s younger brothers was Emma’s dad. He, however, died before she was born! I have a feeling we are probably related by a very long and stretched to the limits shirttail! I have texted with my brother and sister and am now completely confused over who remembers what! But, one of them does remember being told at a Rose family gathering that Grandma could have gotten Dad into West Point. The other remembers the story about the Korean War, and both remember the James K Polk story. Do I care? Ultimately, not at all. But, I also realized I haven’t told my kids these stories, true or not! I need to get on that as soon as I finish that daggone Storyworth! So, can we talk? Do you know your family history? Do you have an urban legend in your family? Have you tried Ancestry.com? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk! I promise to respond as soon as possible.
Thank you!
I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, subscribing or emailing! It truly means so much to me! If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me here.
Where you can find me:
Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style, Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, The Grey Brunette, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World and A Fresh Cup of Coffee. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, Style Splash and Elegantly Dressed and Stylish. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, and Sue. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!
What others are saying…
When Sue from Women Living Well After 50, looked at this month’s Tell Us About prompt, she didn’t think she would have much to write about. Then she discovered a surprise ancestor in her family tree and is planning to do some digging……
Jill from Grown Up Glamour says, “My summary explores my family roots and like many Australian families there is a mix of early free settlers and convicts.”
Suzy has merged her blogs into just one called Suzy Turner. There, you can read how “Suzy uncovers her ancestor Sammy Morton, revealing a surprising past that inspires her creative ventures and sparks connections to pop culture icons like Adam Ant. Find her post on her updated blog.”
Debbie tells us, “Unexpected visitors of led to an unexpected, and surprising, family history connection. Cue lots of information flowing backwards and forwards and DNA testing done now awaiting results. Read more at www.debs-world.com“
Penny, the Frugal Fashion Shopper, “goes slightly left field and instead of writing about a distant ancestor found in the family tree she tells us about the process of writing a story about her mother, and a mystery….. She hopes that this qualifies as family history!”
“Gail from Is This Mutton was an early uploader of DNA to find more ancestors. Has it worked?” Find out at https://www.isthismutton.com
And, now, it’s your turn!
If you’d like to link up your Friends/Friendship posts, please pop over to Gail’s blog, Is This Mutton, for the link up!
This is another fascinating post Marsha, this prompt is full of great stories!! I think your father is very handsome and I agree with you that we need to talk to our elderly relatives in order to find things out before it’s too late. It’s quite time consuming going through all the old records, so my husband tells me, but ultimately it’s worth it to get these stories straight. Great post!
Thank you, Debbie! I wish I’d thought to ask Dad all manner of questions, but you always think you’ll have years and years with them. By the time he was dying, I was only concerned about him beating the odds and living. I should have asked my mom more, but she was lost in her own grief at the time.
My husband loves this, too, so I’m going to be relying on him to help me with it!
Hi Marsha, I think this month’s prompt will certainly prompt us to dig deeper into our past. Your Dad looks very distinguished in his uniform and fancy being related to a President of the United States. Your grandmother certainly sounds like a character as well. It is important to record our own story as was suggested in my recent Podcast with guest, Carolyn Tate. Our children might not be interested now but in years to come they just might be. x
Thank you, Sue! I think this prompt has been so interesting and thought provoking. I’m going to keep digging to see what I can find out on both of my sides. My grandmother was definitely a character. I didn’t put this in the post, but her middle name was Foote…family lore says she was named for the doctor who delivered her! I’m really glad my kids bought us each Storyworth because it does hit on lots of things they’d certainly never think to ask. And, I would never think to talk about!
My grandfather was a radio lineman, but then in Indonesia. And indeed, talk to your family. I have only my sister left and we are not the talking kind a family. I wished I had talked more with my father. About his parents and how he was brought up.
Wow, Nancy! I bet he saw some things! I have a sister I don’t often speak to. We are just two completely different people in all ways. But, I have a wonderful relationship with my other two siblings. We didn’t talk much with our parents, and I sure wish we had.
Thanks, Nancy!
Different spellings on Ancestry are the bane of my life, but it was quite common apparently. Often here in the UK the census was taken by people who went from house to house, and they often misspelled names by accident. Your links to Democrat president Polk are amazing! And what a fierce and determined woman your grandmother sounds, protecting her son from anything that might have harmed him. You’re right that we need to speak to our older living relatives. Even now my mother, at 91, amazes me with some of her recollections from childhood about people on the tree I never knew.
Oh, yes, those handwritten census records…my mom’s side of the family has several different spellings of the name. But, both sides of the family Americanized their names so there’s that to contend with also. I will continue to skulk around and see if I am well and truly related to Polk or not. But,
it’s so funny to me that she was such a staunch Republican (Press just that button, Marsha), and he was a Democrat. Yes, she was very fierce and truly a matriarchal kind of woman. I wish I’d thought to ask questions of my parents and grandparents. That’s why I’m always going on about it.
Thanks, Gail!
What a fab post, Marsha!! And the photos are brilliant. I don’t have any old photos, just perhaps one or two of my dad and his twin when they were kids. My biggest regret is not making the effort to talk to my grandparents when they were alive. So sad.
I love that you might be related to a former US President. That’s just brilliant!!!
Hugs
Suzy xx
P.S Yes your dad was very handsome!
Thanks, Suzy! I think my dad is very handsome. I mean to include his official USMC portrait, but I never got it off the wall. I am so glad to have these photos even though I’m not sure what they are. I talked to my grandparents all the time (I’m sure they wished I’d just be quiet on many occasions), but I never asked the important questions.
Time will tell if we were related or not. I might have to try to work backwards from his family tree! I will keep you all updated!
What a fun post. I loved this!! How cool that you are related to a president! I can see why she would have tried to pull some strings about his time in Korea. I remember my dad telling me once (He was in the Marines in Vietnam) that no one wanted to be the radio person because it was super dangerous to carry around. You were an instant first target. 🙁 My family is whackadoo and we have so many stories!
Thanks, Erin! Well, it remains to be seen if we are truly related to the president. Oh, my grandma was a little spitfire! The Marines are usually in the most dangerous places so I am sure your dad has some stories to tell. You should try to get him to talk. I know lots of Vietnam vets don’t want to talk about it. And, then write them down for everyone to be able to read!
That’s just so fascinating Marsha. Yes, the spelling of surnames are so often misspelt on birth, marriage, death certificates and especially so on census forms as people who did not know the family often misread, misheard or just misspelt the name wrong.
And oh my goodness, write those stories down for your kids! Both me and Mr F are doing this now – the story-telling – as we can easily leave them family trees, but who are these people on the trees and what happened to them. Anecdotal stories can also be lost or distorted. I have an example of that, my father and my uncle were very sure that one of our hand-loom weaver ancestors was either a business man or a factory owner, all from hearsay and family stories, but I found verifiable evidence that this ancestor was poverty-stricken. So writing the stories down is very important with some evidence is so important. Your kids will be so grateful later on – if you know what I mean!!!!!
Wasn’t this great theme!
I am definitely going to be writing these stories down (other than the blog). I think I’ll insert them into my Storyworth book so all three kids will have them. I’m going to continue to research and dig up all I can. This has to be one of my favorite themes so far!
Thank you so much, Penny! You are the great writer in our group so a compliment from you means so much!
What a fun post. These pictures are full of memories. Wonderful Post! Have a great day!
Rampdiary
Thank you so much, Jyoti! It was fun to write!
I’ve never been one for ancestry but I love hearing the stories. I bet you are related to Polk…you know all Midwesterns are somehow related,
XOOX
Jodie
When Mike was doing his, he was just obsessed and wanted to share everything with me. I wish I’d paid more attention to what and how he was doing it. I think I just need to sit him down at the island and we work through mine now. I have a feeling I probably am related to him, but he was originally from North Carolina. So, the relationship is probably stretched rather thin!
Thanks, Jodie!
I love that the records are making you work for it (the connection) – so many immigarnats got new names just because the customs person typed their name wrong (and they rolled with it to fit in). It’s sort of a beautiful puzzle to tease out the truth…I love that he was a Democrat and she a staunch Republican – that’s the most delicious part of the story…#Tellus About
Thanks, Lydia! It’s actually frustrating and exhilarating at the same time. And, yes, my maternal grandfather’s name shows up so many different ways on census forms. The immigration form at Ellis Island has the name correct which was a bit surprising. I do think some Americanization occurred at one point, though. Oh, I do love that part about Grandma Rose! I mean, she was vociferous about being a Republican, and I never thought to ask why. I just assumed it was because of Polk. Then, in writing this post, I discovered he was a Democrat! Oh, I would have teased her mercilessly! And, she would have given as good as she got!
I did enjoy your family history post Marsha. So interesting that you may be related to a US president.
Family history really is one of those – if only we had thought to ask things – but the past doesn’t seem important when we are young .
Best of luck finding out about your history . I know through my sister’s work on our family how frustrating it can be with names and dates .
Thank you, Jill! I’m so glad you selected that theme. It was fascinating reading everyone’s take on it. If I am related to this president, I think it will be a very fine shirttail stretched to the thinnest!