I’ve dabbled with genealogy for several years and just couldn’t figure out how to write a family history that I wanted to share with others. This year I was inspired to begin writing family history narratives after watching Beth Stahr’s webinar explaining how she infuses social history into ancestor profiles. Then I found Lorelle VanFossen’s website where she describes how to create a genealogy blog. Each of these scholars has inspired me to launch a family history writing project, and I appreciate the work they have shared online.
This blog is a work-in-progress: I will write posts as I engage in on-going genealogical research. I both hope and expect that my understanding of my ancestors’ lives will deepen and expand as my learning progresses. I will not be writing specifically about living family members or those more recently deceased; instead, I will examine the people, places, and events that make up my family history, starting with my grandparents’ generation.
(Image Source: Google Earth, 2019 Aerial View)
My family history begins in Randolph, Coos County, Oregon. I feel a visceral connection to this place, a connection growing even stronger as I learn more about my ancestors. There is nothing tangible in Randolph that belongs to me. Perhaps I feel a strong sense of connection as a result of knowing that family remains there (literally) in either of two family cemeteries; or, perhaps the feeling simply results from the time spent with my grandparents.
I spent many weekends and week-long vacations as a carefree child on both of my grandparents’ properties. My maternal grandparents’ house stood on an upward slope of land above the north bank of the Coquille River, across from Randolph Island. After my widowed grandmother sold the property over 30 years ago, new owners tore down the house and workshop and they built a larger, more modern house along with new outbuildings.
Two miles away my paternal grandparents’ house still stands on a steep hillside west of Seven Mile Creek. My grandparents sold the house (and ranch) to another family over 60 years ago; the exterior of the house appears similar to how it did when first built. The new owners tore down the outbuildings and erected new ones. In addition, the new owners of both properties removed the large vegetable gardens as well as the fruit trees, resulting in an overall change to the landscape surrounding each home.
In spite of the changes, in my mind’s eye I still see both homes in vivid detail as they were in my childhood: landscape features, household furnishings, and family events that occurred in each place. I also remember the smells and sounds, the dogs and cats, and the joyful adventures shared with my sister. I want to document the lives of those I knew and to learn about the lives of those that they knew by examining our ancestral past, venturing backwards through history, one generation at a time.