What Is Your History?

One of the things I enjoy doing when I have some spare time is traveling on my computer. It really is the cheapest way to fly! (Do you remember an old airlines commercial with that slogan? I can't remember which airlines it was now, but I remember that part of the slogan). I get out my well-used, trusty Rand McNally United States Road Atlas, pick a state and then let my finger drop on a city or town. I enter that town/city into Google search and then start reading away on the history, visitor guide, and whatever else catches my interest about that area. I love going to the links they list for the attractions, restaurants and churches in the place I am armchair traveling to (I also love to listen to the sermons from the churches I visit. Most have an archive you can click on. I just wish they included the whole service - songs, announcements and all. Then I could feel like I really attended church there one Sunday!). I even enjoy looking at their real estate offerings. If you go to Google Maps and enter an address from that area, you get a birdseye view of the whole countryside, some towns even have street views. Oh, the wonders of the computer. It can be a good thing.

I love to travel in my car. I have never been on a big jet liner, but have been in a small Cessna. I was sick for 3 days afterwards, so I think I will keep to ground travel! You get to see more of the countryside that way anyways. I have been in every state west of the Mississippi (except Alaska and Hawaii), and have been in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania east of the Mississippi. Every state has it's own beauty. One of Jerry's and my dreams is to buy a motor home and travel all over the United States. There is just one tiny factor -- money. So for now I happily armchair travel.

This past Sunday while I was waiting for my daughter Kymberlee and her family to arrive for Mother's Day, I was armchair visiting in Savannah, Georgia. When I think of the south I always think of the great plantations and the girls in their Civil War era hoop skirts. Did I mention that Gone With The Wind is another one of my all time favorite movies? (I read the book when I was 17. The book is so well written, so much better than the movie. I felt like I was right there in the middle of everything. I remember clearly when General Sherman had entered Atlanta and was burning it, my mom came into the room and told me she was on her way out to get my youngest brother. I was so engrossed in the book that I looked up at my mom and said "Oh no! Mom, you can't go out there. They have us surrounded, they're burning Atlanta!" She looked at me and started laughing.)

I am currently reading the history of one the gorgeous, old churches there in Savannah. It was mentioned in the article that a certain rich widow had donated a parcel of property to the church. I began to follow the trail of her name on Google search. So far I have found out she was married to 3 different well-to-do gentlemen, all of whom died within a few years of their marriage to her. Quite interesting reading. Oh, did I mention I am nosey? At least that is what my son tells me. I hate watching soap operas, but I love learning the history of everyday people, even the most mundane, insignificant morsals of someone's everyday life I find fascinating.

Which brings me to today's picture (in a round about way). This is a distant relative of mine. One day several years ago, I was reading some genealogy on my maiden name. I came across this picture and boy!, does this man resemble my Dad in my Dad's younger days or what?! I did a triple take when I saw it. I still have to sit down and follow the family tree to see how we are related to this guy. All I know is, he sure looks like Dad and my brother, Les.

His name is Cleophus and he was born in 1844, died June 27, 1883. This picture is from when he served in the Navy in 1864 to 1865 aboard the USS Harvest Moon as a Landsmen. He was married but never had children. He spent time confined in the double irons February 18-20, 1865 for leaving his station and sleeping on his watch. After he got out of the service he worked in his father's cemetery and later in the grocery business. He died when he was 39 years old. The USS Harvest Moon was a Union Steamer and flagship of Admiral John A. Drahlgren. It was struck by a confederate torpedo on March 1, 1865 and she sank within minutes near the city of Georgetown, South Carolina. To this day she rests where she went down in the sands of Winyah Bay with her smokestacks still proudly visible. Apparently only one crewman lost his life.

Have you ever thought about what history you are leaving about your life for future generations to read? Every minute that passes in our day becomes our life's history. I have sporadically kept a journal through the years starting when I was teenager. What better way to leave your history than by your own words and not the gossip of someone who barely knew you, or didn't know you at all. If you have never started a daily journal/diary, start today. Keep records of even the everday boring things. Some future family member may feel like they discovered gold when they read your account of your grocery shopping expences!

History is so fascinating, it often repeats itself. How many of us look like a relative that lived long before we were even a twinkle in our parent's eyes? As the picture above proves, you don't even have to be a direct decendent to look like someone from long ago in your family tree.