New Year, New direction…

First of all, I want to say Thank You to all of the fans and friends who have visited over the past few years! This space  has taken many different directions and paths since it’s beginnings. It started as just a little corner of the sims 3 world where I could share my creations. From that early beginning through all of it’s twists and turns, one overall theme or idea has been and will continue to be my guide through the next year. That founding focus is the love of history and a desire to encourage interest in the subject by any means possible. Whether that interest is spurred or inspired by your passion for a book, a movie, a game or your family ancestry, it makes no difference to me as long as something inspires you to wonder, to question, to learn more about history as you enjoy the stories that are all woven from bits and pieces of history. Our journey together began in the fantasy type gaming world of the Sims franchise, led us into the historical fantasy time travel world of Outlander, then guided us to the realms of more ancient somewhat historical fantasy world of the Vikings, the Saxons and even the earlier times of Romans in Britain. Along the way, we have delved into much of that early history and even made some forays into Norman history and the medieval era. We have explored those worlds through books, through movies, and through additional research into actual events and people as we made our way through time via the stories told.  Through it all, it was the story that first captured our attention and interest. It was a story that inspired and guided us to each and every destination in history that we have visited. All of those virtual travels through time culminated in an amazing real trip through time for me last spring when I finally had the chance to visit some of the places where so much history took place. During that trip and afterwards, I was inspired and in some way guided to take a step back from the stories of others to focus on the story within me. I took a much needed break from this space to devote my energy and passion to the history that has made me who I am. 

Lagertha Our lives are stories: Fan art by Jul Sanchez at facebook group, Vikings the Aftermath

As we are so often reminded, Our lives are stories waiting to be told. I have often repeated that thought and made mention of how important I believe that statement is in the context of each of us having a story within us worth telling, worth sharing. I have touched on this subject in previous posts but just want to address it quickly here again because it directly relates to the path and direction that I will be taking in this coming year. Each and every one of us comes into this world with a story already started, we are just another chapter in that never ending story. Some may think and assume that their story is insignificant, boring, mundane and not worth reading, telling or sharing… and in some respects that may well be true. There always chapters of a story that we deem somewhat boring or tedious. We often struggle through those seemingly inconsequential, unnecessary details wondering why the author is bothering with this. We skim over those parts in anticipation of the bigger, better portion of the story only to find out later that those small insignificant details were extremely important to a later chapter or event in the overall story. Perhaps we are one of those smaller “insignificant detail chapters”, maybe much of our more recent family history falls into that category… that does not mean that we are not an important and integral part of the bigger story. It simply means that our portion of the bigger story is yet to be told. We are all a part of that unfolding story and it is up to each of us to find the meaning of our part or role in that story. 

For some of us, we may be destined to be the story teller, the record keeper, in a way- the voice over narrator for part of the story. It may be our calling to be one of those who keeps the story alive, shares the memories of those in the past. In that capacity, we are an essential  part of the story for we enable the story to be remembered, for the events and the people of our past story to have meaning. With or without us story tellers/narrators, the story would continue to unfold but the past chapters would be forever lost to those in the future chapters. In a sense, it would be like starting to read a book, watch a movie or series halfway through and thinking, “What the Heck is going on here? I’m so confused, what happened before?” So, the reader or viewer goes to find the earlier parts and discovers that those earlier portions have completely disappeared or have been buried in some vault somewhere that requires much searching to discover. Think of it in terms of the books and shows we have discussed over the years here… imagine for example that you were only able read the Outlander series from midpoint on and had no idea what events took place in those early years? Or, you were only able to watch the Vikings from season 3 onward… when you went to search for earlier seasons, they were all locked away in a vault somewhere and not easily accessed online. You may be interested and want to know about those earlier beginnings, you may be frustrated in reading or watching the current events playing out while not knowing what happened to bring about the events you are watching or reading now but the search for that background information might become so frustrating that you just give up on knowing what happened before. As a result, in a way, the overall story has been changed and altered by not knowing the events that led up to what is taking place now and in the future. The early events and people that played an important part in getting the story where it is right now will be forgotten and when or if they are mentioned in some future episode or chapter, they will be relegated to some category of either legend or folklore, or they will be deemed as completely insignificant non-important entities even though they may have been a crucial part of the story’s outcome!

On the opposite side of the above scenario is the thought most all of us have had at one time or another when a book or series ends. We go through a sort of let down, and are often left with the all consuming, frustrating thought of “But, then what happens to them?” Many stories leave us hanging, they have some unfinished business, there is an open ended finish to them that leaves us wondering and guessing at the people’s lives after the story ends. We all know that the phrase, “And they all lived happily ever after” just does not cut it, even with the majority of pre-schoolers! Those young children are often the ones asking the all important questions of then what happened? We ponder and guess at the what happened next and in the end, usually console ourselves with creating our own sort of closure or after life for those that we grew to care about in a good story. What happens next is that life goes on, stories play out and become a part of history until it merges with the present and each of us makes an appearance.  The moment we are born, we become part of the story and the history. Whether we concern ourselves with the rest of the story or not, we are still a part of it and at some point in the future we will be part of the story even if we are a forgotten name in an insignificant chapter. While we are living here in the present, helping to create the ongoing story, it is up to each of us how we choose to be portrayed in some later chapter. We can choose to remain an insignificant bystander whose name and life events disappear into the fabric of the ongoing saga, or we can make an effort to make some contribution, to be someone more than just a faceless, nameless remnant of the story’s background. We do not have make some amazing, awe inspiring, world changing contribution, all we need to do is live a life worth remembering, make a difference in one person’s life so that one person honors us with passing on our name, our existence, our story to the future. We make such choices on a minute by minute, day by day basis as we live our life hope that in some way, at the end of our chapter, we have made a difference, made a contribution, made our name and our life a treasured and valued memory. That is how our life becomes a part of the story because yes, in the end our life is but a distant memory and a story to be passed down. 

In some case, many cases to be realistic, we are far more that the record keeper or story teller. We are often an integral part of the story whether we realize it or not. Very often, our family story is one of unknown mysteries, forgotten tragedies and adventures, and we are a part of the search for answers to those mysteries and secrets left in the past. Those secrets left in the past were often left there for what seemed like a sound or just reason at the time the events were playing out. But, as we all know, secrets seldom stay buried forever and mysteries have a way of sucking us into the story. When presented with the unknown, with a mystery, most of us are drawn into it, and what ever the secret or mystery is, we have an innate sense of curiosity about it. We find ourselves at times reading an otherwise somewhat boring or not so well written story, continuing to read just in order to solve the puzzle or have some answer to what ever mystery is presented to us. We want to know what actually happened, or why it happened and if we do not find the answers, we will often search for some fathomable conclusion on our own… and if we can not find such a conclusion, we will make one up if for no other reason than just to satisfy that sense of curiosity! 

Those of you who are regular visitors or readers know that I  occasionally include stories from my own family history as we travel through various points in time. I have made it a point to address the idea that I feel a deep connection to my family history, to my ancestors life events and how those people and events affect who we are and how we choose to live our lives. Each and every person has a separate individual history that in one way makes us completely unique and individual but at the same time also connects us together as a group through our shared histories and our dna.  As I mentioned earlier, my journey last spring was a life changing experience in many profound ways. That journey to the United Kingdom and it’s rich history was on the surface, one of those chances and trips of a life time to savor and enjoy for the usual travel experience, but it also had some other much deeper meaning for me. It left me examining my present choices and paths, and it inspired me to put more time into my own personal family story. I have spent the past months away from here focusing on that personal family history, on many of the secrets and mysteries, the unknowns in my ancestry. After so many months of continued research into my own family history, I am ready now to begin a new chapter for this blog….

I hope that many of you will remain regular readers as we make a change in our direction and our path. I have covered much of the more ancient past in general as it relates to such topics as the Vikings, Saxon history, medieval history, along with much of the history surrounding people, places and events that relate to the incredible world of Outlander. I have previously touched on some of my personal ancestry as it might relate to those topics- such as the fact that much of my ancestry goes back to those earliest times in Britain including some Saxons, some Vikings, and some Normans. My plan now it to take us on a journey through a slightly later time frame. In the coming months, I hope to share with you the stories of how my ancestors made the migration from Europe to this new world, America and how they moved across the country. This journey will take us mainly from England and the Netherlands to the early beginnings of New York, New Amsterdam, New Jersey and the early colonies as I attempt to trace the migration path that my ancestors took as part of a large extended family group that eventually settled in the midwest. This is not just the story of my direct ancestors but one of a collective group of families that came together in the earliest colonies in New Amsterdam and New Jersey and over generations remained an extended family group that migrated to parts of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio before making that one last migration to areas of Illinois. As I began to trace my family members back, I consistently found the same family names and groups intertwined together so there is really no way to tell just one individual family’s story without telling the stories of all those others! It is also a story of varied backgrounds and beliefs, from rich and poor, Protestants and Puritans, Patriots and Loyalists, Quakers and Mormons, all coming together in the struggle to survive and forge a new life for their families.

I invite you to join me as I tell the story of my family, and possibly yours as well. Along the way, I will try to give my thoughts on some of the resources, research tools that have helped me at times, or have made my life more frustrating. On a separate page I will provided a list of family ancestor surnames for my family. If any of those names or families look familiar to you, please contact me! I would love to know that I am making some difference and helping someone else taking on their own family research. I would also love to know how you fit into this ongoing story of family!