Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
Anna B. Leatherby
Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
What are family histories? What are family legacies and traditions? How do family legacies and traditions connect people? What connection challenges do families face when separated by migration?
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Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
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Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
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Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
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Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
Do you know that connecting to family origins can offer new understandings? Introduction: For the past nine weeks I have been looking into family histories, traditions and legacies. To gain this information I have interviewed people, read books and scanned websites in order to answer my questions. The problem is that most people nowadays have phones to communicate with each other but are forgetting other means of communication, like the spiritual way of connecting through practicing traditions, understanding our legacies and knowing our families histories. These things can connect you to people all over the world in many ways. Do you ever think, when you get out a certain Christmas bauble, of the loved one who gave it you? Do you ever imagine that someone in your family did 5 | P a g e
Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
something amazing? Do you ever wonder where your family comes from? Everyone comes from somewhere.
What are family histories? Each of us belong to a family. We have parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on. This is called our family tree, which tells us who our ancestors were and where they come from. Like most people, you probably know a bit about your grandparents and maybe even your great grandparents. After that though, it's hard to think. Family history helps us find out the rest of our family tree. And it's a lot easier than you might think. A long time ago, family history used to mean looking in the library at dusty prints and old films and because family documents were scattered across the globe it meant that it would take a few days or even years to find the information that you are looking for. Fortunately things have changed and information on paper or film have been scanned, digitized and loaded onto data that can be accessed by an internet connected computer, so now finding out about your past is only a few clicks away. You can access military, immigration, census and other historical documents. You can learn where your ancestors lived, what their occupation was, property ownership or more.
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Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
Living relatives are a good way of finding out about your ancestors. You can listen to their stories and find out a bit about the personal side of relatives. You could also have a look at some research they have on ancestors to help you along. When you find out about your family history you can start to notice familiarities. It's always interesting to see where you got your sense of humour from or where you got your talent for swimming. People feel a sense of belonging when they have soothed the urge to find out about themselves and it really connects families and religions all over the world. Family history brings people together, it literally bridges all kinds of nationalities, times and places. People have an urge to know who they are and where they come from. Organizations like the Mormon Family History Center makes all these family history records available because of our belief in the importance of families. We do this because we love families and we know that the peoples of the world love their families too and that connecting is a rich and significant experience. When people see a document with a family member’s name, there is just immediate connection. Family history and genealogy is everywhere. It makes people feel like they're part of something so much bigger and some find it exciting to share this with the generations to come. It's important to feel that you belong to something or someone. What are family legacies and traditions? Traditions: 7 | P a g e
Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
Family traditions are practices or beliefs that create positive feelings in families and are repeated at regular intervals. They’re more than routines, which are ordinary, everyday activities that require no special behavior and involve little emotion. Often traditions are handed down from generation to generation, but every family can create its own traditions as well. Some traditions are based on religious beliefs, such as praying before meals. Others come from cultural or ethnic heritage, such as serving dumplings on cold winter nights. Traditions cultivate connections between immediate family members and between generations. Family scholars Nick Stinnett and John DeFrain say that traditions are the “we always” of families, like “We always make snow ice cream at the first snowfall,” or “We always have games and popcorn on Saturday night.” Because such traditions have meaning that is special to an individual family, they create feelings of warmth and closeness. By spending time together in a fun and special setting, family members grow closer. Effective traditions promote a sense of identity and a feeling of belonging. They also promote a feeling of safety and security within the family by providing a predictable and familiar experience. Family members have something to look forward to which gives them a sense of assurance in a hectic and ever-changing world. In his book The Intentional Family, family scholar William Doherty says, "As family bonds are weakened by busy lifestyles, families can stay connected only by being intentional about maintaining important rituals and traditions". 8 | P a g e
Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
Regular participation in meaningful traditions helps families overcome an inclination toward what family scholars call “entropy.” In the physical sciences, entropy is the tendency of a physical system to lose energy and coherence over time, such as a gas dissipating until it’s all but gone. As Doherty explains, an “entropic family” is one that loses its sense of emotional closeness because members neglect the family’s inner life and community ties. Legacies: Everyone has a different opinion of what legacies are. To some, it means the study and tracing of lines of descent and family history. To others, it is a list of things that have been accomplished, or values and lessons of life that were handed down to them. Yet others may indicate that it is a set of character traits or skills; or a set of instructions or wishes for things to happen a certain way in the next generation(s). Then some will say it is Great Aunt Minnie's diamond tiara or Grandpa Joe's war diary.
In the context of keeping your family's wealth and wellbeing intact across multiple generations, what is the meaning of family legacy? I believe that it most closely fits with what the below quotes express:
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Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
Erik Erickson, a developmental psychologist, summed it up as - 'I am what survives of me”.
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” Pericles (Greek statesman of Athens who died in 429 BC). “A man cannot leave a better legacy to the world than a well-educated family.” Thomas Scott “A tribute, published October 22, 1931, to Thomas Alva Edison upon his death: THE passing of Thomas Alva Edison serves to direct our attention to the multitude of benefactions he bestowed upon all humanity during his many years of fruitful activity. It reminds us of the debt of gratitude we owe him as members of the human race. By his achievements, he laid the foundation for continued and greater development. His persistent efforts and indefatigable spirit multiplied many times the valuable opportunities for man, especially the young man. To each and every young man, Mr. Edison left a legacy of opportunities. “Thomas Watson (1874 – 1956 President of IBM) In other words, family legacy means the accomplishments, beliefs, actions and guidance you demonstrate in your life - that carries forward to future generations in a fashion which allow those family members to adopt and adapt them to make their lives meaningful and fruitful.
I believe, that in order for your future family to benefit from your legacy, you must drive towards it as a 10 | P a g e
Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
family, carrying along the past legacies of your ancestors, with focus from, and action by, the entire current family on the legacy that you want to leave to your descendants.
How do family traditions and legacies connect people? When people perform traditions they think of whoever taught or showed them this tradition. Madame Hardie makes a checked cake that her mother used to bake for all the family birthdays and celebrations. When people use a passed down artifact or even look at a relatives name there is a connection. That is something a lot of people treasure. Don't you find it weird when you hold something your great-great-grandfather held? The feeling is amazing, I know from experience. Traditions can connect different generations like grandfather Larry Faas and his grandson. In this world that’s always changing we need something to keep us grounded. Something that may give us a sense of connection and steadiness and that’s when traditions and practices come in. 65 Year Old Larry Faas and his 13 year old grandson Chad Trim won the Grand Prize in the "SOMETHING TO REMEMBER ME BY" Legacy project Intergenerational contest held in 2001. The entry that won them this was about a family tradition. Here it is. Sleigh Bells in the Desert When I was a boy growing up in rural Iowa in the 1940's, farmers hung sleigh bells on their horses during the wintertime. My Uncle Truman Faas gave me 11 | P a g e
Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
his heirloom string of brass, acorn-shaped bells on a leather strap. The bells jingled as our horses pulled us on a sleigh ride, or pulled a bobsled full of hay for the cattle. In 1967, my wife and I moved to Tempe, Arizona. The sleigh bells came with us to the desert. Every Christmas Eve we brought out the bells and told our three children the bells' history. After our children were tucked into bed, I sneaked outside and shook the sleigh bells under their windows and ran! I did the same thing in some of our neighbours' front yards causing excitement there too! Now, our grandchildren are old enough to keep the tradition going. -- Grandfather Larry Faas
Every Christmas Eve my family and my Mom's relatives get together with Grandma and Grandpa Faas. After supper, we open presents and walk down the street to look at the Christmas lights. Neighbours decorate their driveways and sidewalks with luminaries to make a landing strip for Santa and his reindeer. Grandpa brings out his sleigh bells and my younger brother and sister get excited. I hang the bells around my neck. The family cheers me on while I run up and down the sidewalk. I see faces in the windows when I pass the houses. Sometimes I hear kids 12 | P a g e
Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
yelling, "Santa Claus! Santa Claus!" Christmas in the desert is real to me after I do my yearly sleigh bell run like Grandpa did! I hope someday I'll own Grandpa's sleigh bells. -- Grandson Chad Trim
From http://www.legacyproject.org/holidaykit/part1/hd1.3.html
My great-grandfather John Lownie: John Lownie was born on the 8th of September in 1841 in Abernethy. He was father was David Lownie and his mother was Isabella Williamson. He was schooled in Perth shire and was offered a job as a builders and house carpenters apprentice. By the time he was married to Charlotte Reid in Edinburgh 1871, he was a journeyman joiner and had set his own business. In 1880 he opened new premises at Gilmore Park next to the North British Rubber Company's works. In this new premises it included sheds containing timber and a big steam powered saw mill and joinery workshops. He became one of the most foremost builders of the late 19th century. He employed regularly a number of two hundred men and that number doubled when busy. Out with his working life, he was a member of the Perthshire Association, the Merchant Company of Edinburgh and an elder of the Barclay Free Church. John 13 | P a g e
Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
Lownie died on the 23 of July in 1920. His oldest son David Allen Lownie, continued the business and then, after the 1ww, by the third son as well as the youngest son James hood Wilson Lownie, known as John Lownie & Sons. It continued until the late 1940s. What connection challenges do families face when separated by migration? Many immigrants have many challenges and connection troubles are one of them. In some circumstances families cannot bring all their belongings with them, even the important things like a family album or a grandfather clock. These can be a precious thing to your family and to leave it behind is a big challenge. Sometimes a country holds something special for you like Andrea Yiappos who had a lot of family in Greece but felt that New Zealand had something special. If the love of the two countries is very powerful then the urge becomes stronger and you find yourself jumping between the two. Mrs. Yiappos doesn’t do this but likes visiting Greece from time to time. There is also the obvious problem of distance which can sometimes not be solved by telephones. If you decide to move to an undeveloped country and there are no means of communication in technology it can resolved by traditions. It might not be as good as talking and receiving one another but it’s somewhere. But sometimes communicating with or even skype and telephone isn’t enough for some and they want to feel close to those they love. Traditions can give some people that feeling. Conclusion:
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Anna Leatherby: Connecting to family origins can offer new understandings
I have concluded from this terms inquiry that traditions aren't just things people do that their past generations have done and that legacies aren't just things that your great-grandfather did that he was well known for. Traditions are something that help bring families together whether it’s for Christmas or for French Bastille Day or even to have movie night. I find it’s really great how no matter what happens in life this is something that doesn’t change and allows us to connect with family. Legacies are something that can help us find out more about ourselves and help us see what talents run in the family. I am looking forward to performing the traditions I have found and looking into my families past. Will you?
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