By Way of Context

Well, let's see. I suppose I should begin this project by filling you in a bit about the things I'm working on.

Project #1: The Farm
For the past two and a half years, my wife Audrey and I have been helping her parents re-construct an old log cabin. It's phase one in what is sure to be a decades long effort to create a small family farm. Currently we are putting up rafters, which is a thrilling job that mostly entails awkwardly trying to drive screws into boards held at odd angles all while standing 15 feet in the air at the top of an extension ladder (as you can see me doing in the photo). In truth, this part of the process has gone quite well, and it is nice to see the cabin roof taking shape. This weekend we should get the other half of the rafters up and begin decking the roof.

The cabin originally stood near Cynthiana, KY and was of unknown age, but a fair estimate is that the logs are more than 100 years old. We had to do some filling in (and we designed some alterations) with another set of logs acquired from a local barn. Apparently some wood rots when you leave it out in the weather for a century or so.... who knew?

The idea behind this whole farm thing is to create a place where extended family can live close together. Audrey and I decided early on that we wanted our kids to know their grandparents, and so we stayed close to home. When Audrey's folks decided to purchase this piece of land, it opened up the possibility for a connection to family that I don't think many kids get to experience these days. The property is 25 acres so there is enough room for Audrey's parents, us, and her brother's family to all build there. For Audrey and I, it's a chance to let our kids grow up with some exposure to family, nature, the outdoors, farm animals, and food production. They are taking quite well to exploring the woods and creeks. The farm animals are not yet a reality, and their family is growing on them.

Project #2: Writing

The folks on the left are Amy and AW Voss. They were my great, great, great grandparents. I'm trying to learn enough about them that I can write their story, which becomes more fascinating to me the more I learn. Neither of them really knew their fathers. Amy's father was a Civil War veteran who died of tuberculosis less than 2 years after she was born. Al's parents were just two kids who messed around and conceived a child by accident (I presume). Al's father never acknowledged him and his mother died young. He was mostly raised by his grandparents.

Al and Amy married in 1885, and stayed married for 67 years until they died within four months of each other in 1951. During those years they had 5 children, two of which they lost-- one to disease and one was murdered at their home. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

I became interested simply because I wanted my kids to know their ancestors stories. I grew up knowing virtually nothing about any family member who was not still living, and next to nothing about the older one's who were. Poet Gary Snyder once said something about learning the names of trees that is pretty much the same notion as to why I wanted to know about my family history. He said something to the effect that (paraphrasing) "I had an instinctive notion that simply referring to every tree in the woods as "tree" was inadequate. It had to be possible to know with greater specificity and precision the names of the things around me." indeed.

It has been an awakening for me to begin poking around in this stuff. What amazes me is the way that when you know something about your family history it begins to unfold and fit into the larger pattern of history in unforeseen ways. For instance, how many Americans know how they are personally connected to the Civil War? I'd wager not many. But I guarantee you almost all of us have a direct link to that most famous American conflict. I would also wager that if you cared to learn it, there would be a pretty good story in there someplace.

Ok.... that's enough for now. It's a start. We're off and running.