Monday, July 19, 2010
I thought so!
My cousin, Darius[not his real name], confirmed a story that's been floating in the wind for years. A story that I've only heard whispers of, but he confirmed it. My oldest aunt, the oldest sibling in my father's family was evidently born out of wedlock. Now this may not appear to be such a big thing to us today, but in 1907, believe me, this is not something you talk about. As I was preparing to take some family info to the reunion, I happened to noticed again my grandpa and grandma were married in 1910. Now, this first-child was my cousin Darius's Grandma, and he mentioned that his mom had briefly told him about it; but he still didn't know the particulars, and probably since both Gramps and Gram are gone, and all the original siblings we'll might never know them ... its one of those stories you store on a shelf, you don't throw it away, and maybe some day you'll accidentally come across the details. It's also a big story because both Gramps and Gram were rather strict Amish-Mennonites [and they were second cousins, more than you wanted to know, right] .......... so 1] was my aunt born from someone that Gramps never married; 2]could it be that her birth mom died or moved away before Gramps had a chance to marry her, [maybe her family was determined she wouldn't marry Gramps; 3] could this be the child that Gramps and Gram just never told anyone they had had? So many questions. The interesting thing is that it never became a big family issue; and even more interesting is the fact that evidently none of her siblings EVER made it an issue. How could such a potentially explosive issue survive underground through the life journeys of such a large family; and believe me there have been a couple big divisive explosions in the family - and this story remain secretive. I don't know if it's how the story remained so secretive, or its details .... but I'm not giving up on it ... there's another hidden story just waiting to discovered! And by the way my cousin Darius is just as anxious as I am to make that discovery.
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I think there are more of those stories than people realize. My maternal grandmother and mother left Alabama to come to St. Louis to avoid the scandal which ensued when she divorced my mother's father. It was just easier that way and family members didn't bring it up in front of the kids to keep the talk down, I think.
ReplyDeleteCheers.
Sherm ........ its good to know my family isn't the only one with little secrets. The stories that surround those incidents really shout about the cultural/personal mores. I enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of hidden skeletons in the closets, even minor ones that aren't secrets but that people just don't ask or talk about. My personal life comes to mind. My parents divorced when I was six years old. My mom remarried and her second husband adopted me. I carry his name and few people today know that he isn't my biological father. He is my father in ever sense of the word but biologically and I refer to him as such, however, if people ask, I tell them the truth. Few ask though and so it remains mostly secret and I'm sure will be a puzzle to future genealogists trying to track what happened to me after I turned eight.
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