Cultural Heritage

What aspects of your cultural heritage are you most proud of or interested in?

Well, I’m a Heinz 57, as my mother would point out. 😂 But I’ll proceed. Primarily European descent.

Heritage:

My dad researched our ancestry as far back as the 11th century. A few years back, my niece’s teacher asked when their family migrated to America as a project. I went through my dad’s records. Not only did I find that we came here from England in the 1620s, I was also able to research one line of the family back to Norse kings in 93 AD. That was super fun.

My great-grandfather (on Mom’s side) was one of the three doctors who took care of the sick in the (Missouri and Arkansas) Ozark mountains. He aided my grandma in the birthing of her 13 children. I’m sure he helped her four other sisters as well. He made what our family calls “horse calls,” (house calls) because Browny, his horse, took him to all his patients. He whittled while he waited for babies to be born, or fevers to break.

On my dad’s side, my great-grandfather (or maybe 2 greats) stowed away on a ship to America when he was 14. He did this because he was being pressed into the Franco-Prussian war. He nearly died on the journey. He became the captain’s cabin boy and then his indentured servant for seven years to pay for his passage. As family lore tells it, he continued working for the captain to pay for the rest of his family to migrate.

As to culture?

On my mom’s side, our family loves and worships Jesus, the Son of God. We deeply love each other. “I love you more!” is our standard greeting or farewell. We sit squeezed together on purpose, hug tight, kiss and cry. We laugh, play and write music, and write poetry. I love this about my family.

My dad’s family loved us, but didn’t demonstrate it the way Mom’s family did. “I love you” wasn’t something my dad heard from his parents. He knew they loved him, but he never heard them say it. But we had fun with our cousins and family nights of card games, especially canasta! Two tables put together so we could fit 12-14 people around to play the game. Some of my favorite memories. They were artists who enjoyed painting and ceramics.

I’m thankful for genetics. Hearts that love, spoken or unspoken. Musical and artistic traits, passed down from generation to generation. Traits to cherish.

And…if only 2% of the world is redheaded, our family has a good deal of them!! 😂