Friday, April 8, 2016

Blank Genealogy

David:
You've done considerable genealogy work on the Blank family, and both of us have collected a great deal of momentos from the family. I thought we might discuss some of our history, and how others might investigate their own family heritage in this week's blog.

After all, who you are can often depend on to whom you're related to.

Doug:
True, genealogy is a favorite hobby of mine. Although there are lots of places you can pay to sign up to connect to genealogies created by others, I have never paid for online genealogy services. I see lots of bad information on the web.

I use (and work on) a free and open source program called Gramps, available for free from gramps-project.org. It doesn't help with research directly, but is a program for you to use on your own computer to record the conclusions of your research.

David:
What do you think of websites like Ancestors.com?

Doug:
Wouldn't touch it. Rather, I'd go to the library. The internet can be a good way to find hints, or to make connections with other researchers, though. The picture below is of the trunk that our Blank ancestors brought with them from Germany, stamped (inset) with the region's name (Urloffen). I did find an online community of people discussing this region.



David:
I'd add that you spent a considerable amount of time just talking to many of our relatives. The Blank family is fairly large (Dad was one of seven children, and our grandpa was one of eight). Many of those relatives stayed close by. Close enough for you to be able to interview them extensively for nuggets of information about the family, and where many branches lead. Older relatives are a wealth of knowledge that cannot be obtained any other way. It's one thing to identify a name, but it's something else altogether to hear stories of their lives, and funny or interesting things they did.

Doug:
One of the surprising things I found was that it was easier tracing some of our female ancestors (even though they almost always changed their names when they got married). I would have thought that that would make them hard to track, but not necessarily so. It also helped that our grandmother's family (Scott and Cooper) and her ancestors were well connected in politics.

It is often convenient to think of this as the "Blank" genealogy, but the truth is that at every generation we are merging two complete family trees. We just happened to end up with the surname "Blank."

David:
I particularly like the number of names one of our ancestors had, on Mom's side of the family tree (The Bamfords). Her name was Mary Sarah Elizabeth Jane Edna Tina Margaret Francis Fortney Wheeldon. It seems her folks couldn't decide on a middle name.  Interestingly (and ironically),  she went by "Tiny".  According to the story from Granny Bamford, it's because they pronounced the name Tina as "Tie-nah".

Doug:
I couldn't verify all of those names, but I did find her (she is our great great grandmother) listed as Tina Frances Fortney, and she did marry Jonathan Wheeldon, so it generally matches.

One thing I have enjoyed is finding items created by our ancestors. For example, here is a painting made by our great grandmother on our father's side, Lucinda (Lucy) Cooper:


I imagine that it was the scene of her Indiana home, but don't know. I find it very beautiful and serene.

David:
Some might find it interesting that four generations of Blank's have graduated from the same High School, Ben Davis H.S. although none of them had classes in the same building. Here's the letter sweaters that belong to me, Dad, and Papa Blank (all size 38).




Doug:
I was surprised to find that we have had a couple of distant relatives teach at Bryn Mawr College before me:

Paul Leland Hayworth - was the sibling of the wife of a first cousin, three times removed from us. Pretty remote, but did teach History at Bryn Mawr College in 1910, and served in the Indiana House of Representatives in the 1920s.

Woodrow Wilson - had a daughter that was briefly married to a Cooper. Precisely, he was the father of a wife (briefly) to a first cousin five times removed from us. He was the first professor of History at Bryn Mawr College in 1885. He left Bryn Mawr because he said that he found the female students "too literal and unimaginative." Obviously, he was not a good fit for the all-women's college, to say the least. Of course, he was also President of the U.S. for a time. Recently, his legacy has been re-examined because of his racist views. In fact, a new exhibit opens this week at Princeton examining his legacy.

David:
Not to diverge too far off topic, but it may be true that women at Bryn Mawr in 1885 were, in fact, too literal and unimaginative compared to college men of the time period. And, I'd bet that most of the faculty of most American colleges and universities of that time period believed that minorities were mentally inferior to white folks.  But beliefs change, and so do people.

Doug:
Deciding to go to a brand new college? I think those women were brave. Regarding racism, I think you mean that racist views were more generally accepted then than they are now.

David:
Racist views were actually supported by some of the sciences of the era. I'm also certain that these scientists considered the science "settled" and beyond debate. I think this supports  my take that you should not judge the motives and actions of our ancestors through the lens of today's paradigms, and it also supports my view that social sciences and psychology can sometimes be directed through a prism of current ideologies, rather than hard data like other sciences. Caution should be used with Social studies and the "truths" they decree.

Now, back on topic, we also had an ancestor who attended Bryn Mawr College as a student. The little girl in the far left of this photo of a Blank family gathering (1923) is  Francis Blank. She became an "owl" in later years.



Talking about ancestors, we would be remiss not to mention a not too distant relative through marriage,  well-known author Kurt Vonnegut. And at one time (before a divorce), we were also related to Geraldo Rivera. Which just goes to show you that with enough digging, you never know who may turn up swinging in your family tree.

Doug:
Indeed, Kurt Vonnegut was one of my favorite relatives! He was our third cousin once removed. I felt that I had a real connection with his perspectives on life, and a deep appreciate for his sense of humor. By the way, it was Kurt's daughter who was briefly married to Geraldo. Well, we all make mistakes.

David:
But, the Blank's have not moved very far from our family's original American roots, have we? The first Blank's who immigrated from Germany settled in Wayne Township, Indiana. They came up the Mississippi River from the port  of New Orleans. The George Blank farm can be seen in early Indiana maps at the Indiana Historical Society. Several of us still live within 20 miles of that original farm.



Doug:
Some of you haven't moved very far. But there are some of us that have gone out into the world.

David:
But that's how it is with many families.  Some stay put, and others plant roots in new locations.

I note a new version of the book Roots, by Alex Haley, is being filmed for release soon. This will likely create a whole new interest in genealogy. It's important to learn as much about your family's history as you can. Spend time with your relatives, and discover interesting stories about your relatives, past and present. With the resources we have today, it's easier than ever to record all of these amazing, humorous, and cultural stories for future generations.


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