Storytelling With the Ancestors

Tag: genealogy

  • Discovering Family Treasures: An Archival Journey

    Discovering Family Treasures: An Archival Journey

    What began as “I really should organize these old family photographs” has somehow turned into a full-scale archival project.

    At last count, I have scanned, catalogued, and sleeved about 150 photographs, newspaper clippings, programs, documents, and assorted family treasures dating from the late nineteenth century through the twentieth. Each item gets a catalog number and a digital copy, and many of the photographs have also been carefully restored.

    The collection is beginning to divide itself naturally into family branches: The patriarchal branch of the Chapmans and Fenstermakers, and the matriarchal branch of the Youngs and Hancocks.… Read the rest

  • A Mile Into the Woods: Finding the Ancestors

    A Mile Into the Woods: Finding the Ancestors

    I knew that before this trip. I just didn’t fully understand how much it mattered until I found myself climbing through the Hoosier National Forest in search of my ancestors.

    The adventure began on a quiet road in southern Indiana. My cousin pulled his truck to the shoulder, pointed toward a wall of trees, and casually announced:

    “It’s about a mile into the national forest. There’s no trail and all of it is uphill.… Read the rest

  • Family Lore: Secrets from Southern Indiana

    Family Lore: Secrets from Southern Indiana

    The Family Lore

    On a recent trip to visit family in southern Indiana, a cousin shared a deliciously scandalous story about my grandparents that sounded almost too cinematic to be true.

    According to family lore, my grandparents — both teenagers at the time — quietly defied the law, her Baptist preacher father, and most of Orange County by slipping away to Jeffersonville, Indiana for a secret marriage that caused family outrage for years afterward.… Read the rest

  • Simon Franklin Chapman: A Drummer’s Journey in the Civil War

    Simon Franklin Chapman: A Drummer’s Journey in the Civil War

    Black and white portrait of an older man with a prominent mustache, wearing a suit and bow tie, against a dark background.
    Simon Franklin Chapman (1838-1916

    Enlistment in Illinois

    On August 12, 1862, in Metamora, Illinois, my 2nd great uncle enlisted in the Union Army at the age of twenty-four. Just over two weeks later, on August 28, he was mustered into service at Peoria as a private in Company E of the 108th Illinois Infantry.

    Another record makes clear that he was chosen for the drum corps because of his musical ability.

    … Read the rest
  • Iron and Independence: The Chapman’s in the American Revolutionary War

    Iron and Independence: The Chapman’s in the American Revolutionary War

    When we think about the American Revolutionary War, we often picture major battles and famous generals. But in places like Vermont, the Revolution was experienced very differently.

    Here, it was not defined by large-scale engagements, but by constant readiness, local defense, and the daily work required to sustain a fragile frontier community.

    The Chapman family stands as a powerful example of this reality.

    A Family on the Northern Frontier

    By the time the Revolution reached its height, the Chapman family was firmly rooted in Vermont, an independent Republic which operated its own government and militia from 1777 to 1791.… Read the rest

  • The Value of One Room: Lessons from Youngs Creek School

    The Value of One Room: Lessons from Youngs Creek School

    Youngs Creek School interior, 1923

    Inside the Youngs Creek Schoolhouse, 1923

    There’s a stillness to the 1923 photograph of Youngs Creek School that feels almost audible—the kind of quiet that holds attention, not emptiness. Rows of wooden desks face forward. A potbelly stove anchors the room. Eight grades share the same space, the same teacher, the same expectations.

    This was how much of America learned.

    At their peak, there were roughly 200,000 one-room schoolhouses scattered across the rural United States.… Read the rest