Archetypes in the Ancestors

July 30, 2012 — 2 Comments

Santo Bassano My 12th great grandfather Birth 1440 in Bassano, , Del, Italy Death 1492 in Venice, Venezia, Veneto, Italy

If anyone had asked me 10 years ago to go on a trip to investigate my ancestors I am not sure what my response might have been.  I had a typed document composed by my maternal great grandmother with information about my heritage, but had never given much thought to investigating genealogy.  My mother died and the stock market crashed, all in short order in early 2008.  My inheritance suddenly became a freaky nightmare.   As I pondered what in the world  these people had left me and why I saw an ad from ancestry.com gifting me with two weeks of free play on the site.  Surely this would offer more insight into the nature of my true inheritance, and be a lot more fun than watching the market crash and burn.  Indeed it has been.

I have been a strong enthusiast from the first moment I saw those historical documents on line.  My membership makes me extremely happy, and gives me insight.  Now that I am more proficient with the tools on the site, and now that I am back to the middle ages there is nothing I can imagine more fascinating than knowing about my ancestors.  I went straight from gin rummy to ancestry without even playing pac man, so other “computer games” have never appealed to me.  Now, however, I am on a quest to know more..and there will always be more.  I can also look at my tree now from an overview to see “trends”.           Both sides have patterns of repeating occupations.  My mother has a whole lot of preachers, and my dad has a long line of teachers.  Both, naturally, have a few unsolved mystery peeps and scalawags.  My most desired “prize” in the game is portraiture.  When you see the image of your ancestor, or even the handwriting, or the gravestone, or the place they were born something within engages with the past like never before.  Once you have more knowledge of where you family was and what they did during history your bond to history deepens.  It is possible to view your antecedents as part of an epic saga that results in your birth.  They are the real players that took the stage to express themselves and create  new generations in the world.

The archetypes in my dreams are played by my ancestors, dressed up in their period costuming.  When there are written records it is easier to piece together details and locations.  When there is a picture, however, I find that they virtually come to life in my imagination (memory?).  The only thing we know for sure is that without them we could not exist.  We must also assume some human error and downright mendacity exists in the records.  Still, more accuracy and data is available all the time. I recently joined a DNA study in its infancy/beta stage.  Unlike the traveler I was 10 years ago, my next giant thrill is going to be a trip to Jamestown and Williamsburg. I visited often as a child and always loved it.  Now I know both sides of my family are buried all over the place, having played roles in the first settlement on the James River.  In the old days I used to research markets and restaurants before a visit.  This time it is all about the history, the dead peeps, the reenactment and my connection to it.

William Carpenter My 9th great grandfather Birth 23 May 1605 in Somerset, England Death 7 Feb 1659 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States

Elizabeth Plantagenet My 16th great grandmother Birth 1364 in Leicester, Leicestershire, , England Death 24 Nov 1425 in Burford, Shropshire, , England