Last week, my friend Tipper at Blind Pig and the Acorn wrote a post called "The Daffodil." She says, "Each spring, I ponder the Daffodil blooms I see in fields or in wooded areas - in other words blooming in the middle of no where - yet sending out a strong and mighty signal that someone once lived there."
She can tell where her grandparents, great-grandparents, and other ancestors lived by watching for the blooming daffodils.
I have thought so much about her story this week. Tipper lives in the place where her family has lived for generations. Her past is such a big part of her present.That's something I've always longed for. I've always wished I lived in a home my ancestors built. I want an attic full of old things that I can search through. I want to feel the past. I want to know where I came from.
Most of my ancestors came West with the Mormon Pioneers between 1850 and 1885. They left behind their homes, their farms, and even their families. They settled in these valleys of Utah and Idaho in sod huts and log cabins that are long gone.
We frequently make pilgrimages to these places - we visit cemeteries and feel the land under our feet. We tell their stories, and we remember.
But I want more. I want to know about my distant past. Where did those pioneer ancestors come from?
Today I found out.
As I was thinking about Tipper's daffodils, I pulled out this picture from one of my mom's scrapbooks, and got to thinking....
(Photo courtesy of Dawn G. Perkins)
What is Ceres, Virginia like now? Are there any daffodils growing where my ancestors used to live?
My ancestors left Ceres, Virginia in 1881. I know that my great-grandfather, Henry Clay Heninger, came to Utah. And I know his parents - my great-great-grandparents - James Preston Heninger and Louisa Catherine Groseclose Heninger came too.
Who did they leave behind? What was their life like in Virginia?
I started doing a little online searching....and this is what I found.
At Dean's Corner, Dean (my distant relative), tells all about my Groseclose ancestors - things I've never known before! I knew some names and a few dates, but very little about them - especially that their HOME IS STILL STANDING and being lived in.
It even has an attic filled with treasures!
These two lovely ladies are my great-aunt, Ethel Naomi Heninger, and my grandmother, Hazel Heninger. I think this photo is so pretty of the two of them.
But Ethel didn't think so.
Whenever she saw this photograph, she would sniff and say, "Noses."
Roy Perkins was inducted into the armed service on August 21, 1918. He received his boot training at Camp Fremont in California, then was sent to New York where they remained in camp about one month before they shipped out for active duty and headed for France.
They were on the ocean only a day or two when, on November 11, a wireless message reached their ship informing them that an armistice had been signed - the Great War was over!
As it says in Roy's life story, "they turned back, a shipload of disappointed kids."
They landed at Camp Lee, Virginia, where they remained until spring. While at Camp Lee, Roy was one of the soldiers who gathered for a photo called The Living Uncle Sam.
There are 19,000 soldiers forming this image of Uncle Sam - Roy is standing in the white collar. His original picture hung in their home throughout his life - he and Lillian were very proud of it, and it has always been one of our family treasures.
I got curious about this photo - wouldn't something like this be well-known?
So I did what any researcher with my skill and training (none) would do...I Googled it!
And this is what I found...
Arthur Mole was an English born photographer and commercial artist who became famous for his series of "living photographs" made during World War I. For these photographs, Mole and his partner, John Thomas, used tens of thousands of soldiers, reservists, and nurses - and arranged them in various patriotic symbols.
From the ground, the soldiers' formations looked meaningless. But from the 80 foot high viewing tower where Mole stood, you could see his intricately arranged artistic shapes and portraits.
The blog Dark Roasted Blend has a great article called "People as Pixels in Monumental Art" that tells about these photographs
In that article, Avi Abrams tells how Mole would stand on his viewing tower and shout into a megaphone or use a long pole with a white flag to arrange the tens of thousands of soldiers into position. He had to figure out the exact number of soldiers needed for each pattern, and every project took many weeks of meticulous preparation.
Mole and Thomas visited many military camps throughout the country, creating these wonderful works of art. They donated all their income from this project to the families of the returning soldiers and to the government's efforts to rebuild their lives.
The most well-known of Mole's photographs was the Living Portrait of Woodrow Wilson. For this photo, he used 21,000 troops at Camp Sherman in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1918.
Do you have an ancestor who was part of this project? Maybe one of these photos is among your family treasures!
You can read more about this project here.
And you can see more images at the
Library of Congress gallery, not copyrighted.
Courtesy of Dark Roasted Blend, Chicago Historical Society, and Library of Congress.
Child Discipline. How many times have you heard someone say, "What are you supposed to do? Children don't come with a manual!" Nowadays, they don't have to. It seems like there's a parenting expert on every corner.
A century ago, none of these experts were available - but even then, people still came up with parenting ideas. (Remember "children should be seen and not heard"?)
I suppose child discipline has been discussed in every play group, at every quilting bee, and around every cook pot since time began.
But it all boils down to this - what works well for one child, doesn't work for the next - and we all have to figure it out for ourselves.
Henry and Naomi Heninger faced parenting challenges just like we all do...here's what they did.
Henry and Naomi raised their family of ten children in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Shortly after their 6th child was born in 1897, Henry was called to serve an LDS mission, leaving Naomi to take care of the farm and family.
Their oldest son, Lorin, was only nine years old - but still expected to do his share around the farm. Naomi's younger brothers lived nearby, and they would also come to help.
One day the "helpers" were doing their farm chores, and got to playing. They started chasing the pig - and chased it until it fell down dead.
What was Naomi to do? How do you discipline (punish) children for killing a pig?
She did the only thing she could do. She cut out large letters spelling "Pig Killers" and pasted them on the their foreheads.
Why have I never thought of that?
After Henry came home from his mission, he stepped in to help with parenting.
Henry was well-known for his lengthy prayers. One night during the family prayer, some of the boys started getting bored and unruly, giggling and poking each other. Henry stopped praying and walked over to the kindling pile. He came back, swatted each boy's behind with a piece of kindling - then knelt down and continued his prayer right where he left off.
_______________________________________
One traditional parenting method was to sit the child in the corner in the pouting chair. This is Miles pouting in my pouting chair.
My Mommy's kind-of short you see,
She bought this chair for her, not me.
It helps her reach the things up high,
Without it she wouldn't even try.
It looks like a chair as you can see,
Now she uses it for me.
When I'm bad she makes me sit,
In the corner, facing it.
I usually cry when I'm there,
That's why it's called my pouting chair.
-Anonymous-
Here's a list of some other parenting techniques I've heard of (or tried...or had tried on me!):
What did your ancestors do to discipline their children? How about you? I hope you'll leave me a comment and help me add to my list! Just click on comments below, and follow the instructions!
More pouters....
I need to tell my parents, "I FIGURED OUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY BLOG FEED!"
Because I know they're reading this.
Aren't parents great that way? Even at nearly a half century, I still know my parents are interested in everything I do.
My kids are the same way. They still like me to come listen to them play the guitar, or look at their artwork, or read what they write. It reminds me of when they were small. "Watch this!" they would say. And I'd drop everything...and go watch.
That's how I know my parents are reading this. And that's why I need to tell them that I figured out why my blog feed hasn't been working!
Thanks to the great folks at Typepad (really this blog platform is awesome) and a new blog I discovered called Blogging Basics 101, (my new favorite) I now know what's wrong with my blog! Apparently the problem happened when I moved my blog from Blogger to Typepad - probably a user error on my part...
Anyway - Mom and Dad, here's what you need to do.
Now your feeds from my blog will work like they are supposed to!
I was thinking...what if somebody else besides my parents is reading this? I guess it is possible.
So if you are reading this (and I hope you are!) and you want to come back again (and I hope you will!) YOU NEED TO FIX YOUR FEED!
Just Resubscribe to Uphill Both Ways in your reader, or if you'd like, subscribe by email! And don't forget to fix the link in your sidebar - just delete it and add it again. Now you're good to go!
Speaking of parents....
A couple of weeks ago we went to a basketball game to watch our high school girls WIN THE STATE 5A CHAMPIONSHIP! GO CAVEMEN! GO KAYCEE!
We found ourselves sitting on the wrong side of the gym. We were the only Cavemen fans in the section. A little uncomfortable at first, until our team took a nice lead.
Anyway, one of the refs was a girl, which I always like, and I found myself watching her. Then I met the people sitting next to me. They were the girl ref's parents. They came to the game TO WATCH THE REF! They were taking pictures of her and cheering her on - even when she made bad calls.
Really, I never thought that the ref's parents might be in the gym somewhere watching. But I should have known, because that's what parents do.
And that's another reason I know my parents are reading this.
Our oldest got married last year. We celebrated with some wonderful family traditions.
They got married in the morning at the Mount Timpanogos LDS Temple on a bitter cold January day. They were married by her grandpa, who is a sealer at the temple, which was a real treat.
Then we had a family luncheon, and later in the day, a beautiful reception with a wedding cake...
...and dancing with her daddy.
We had great photography, and friends and cousins made beautiful music to entertain us.
We sent them off with confetti - and their friends of course decorated their car.
It was a completely lovely and wonderful day! Doesn't she make a beautiful bride?!
But wedding traditions weren't always the same in our family.
On another cold January day - this one in 1889 - Virie Mendenhall and Nephi Perkins took a bobsleigh - and two of their school friends to act as witnesses - and rode up Dayton Canyon in Idaho. They arrived at the home of the Justice of the Peace and were married. Just like that.
At the Mendenhall ranch, everybody was waiting for them. There they had a wedding dinner, and rolled back the rugs for dancing. Several guests gave recitations and Nephi and his cousin, Dave Evans, sang duets. (I wish I knew what songs they sang!) So far, it seems a lot the same, doesn't it?
This is where the traditions get really different...
It was a custom at the time to "put the bride and groom to bed."
Friends would put the bride in the groom's nightshirt and the groom in her nightgown - usually over their regular clothing. Then they were tucked into bed together. (I'm sure it was way more fun for the friends than for the bride and groom...)
During the evening, Virie knew what was coming. She quietly tucked a key in the top of her high-buttoned shoe. When the festivities came to an end, it was time for the great joke. But the couple was missing.
No one had seen them slip away. Soon everyone was laughing and calling through the locked door of the little upstairs bedroom. Someone asked George, her father, for the extra key - but all the keys were gone.
There was not going to be any "putting to bed" on this night!
Celia, Nephi's older sister, pounded on the door with both hands and shouted, "You just wait until the next time you two get married!"
What are your family wedding traditions - and how do they compare to the traditions of your ancestors? I hope you'll leave me a comment and tell me about it!
Post Script:
I'm so excited and honored that Uphill Both Ways is featured this week on Genea-Musing's "Best of the Genea-Bloggers" list!
Every week, Randy Seaver selects from hundreds of blog articles written by genealogy bloggers, and posts his "Best Of" list on the blog "Genea-Musings." THANKS SO MUCH Randy for including me in your list for March 1-7! And thanks Becky for nominating me! The article he selected from Uphill Both Ways is "Two Wrongs Never Made One Right." There are so many wonderful blogs and great writers. I'm really flattered to be included with them.
And can you believe the time it must take every week for Randy to read all of our articles and publish this list for of us?! You can read his list at Genea-Musings - be sure to take a look at all of these blogs. There's lots of good things happening in the Genea-blogging world!
Thanks to everybody who has commented at Uphill Both Ways in the last month! They are:
Becky Jamison, Jenny, Brenda, Thomas MacEntee, Mike J, Tipper, Danielle, Jenna, Evelyn Yvonne Theriault, Janet Iles, Dirt Princess, Greta Koehl, Debbie, LVP, Dawn, Amy (We Tree), Ryan, Linda Jean Limes Ellis, tgtank, Terri, Kay, Msteri, Lorine McGinnis Schulze, Kevin, Patti Hobbs, clsgunnell, Judith Richards Shubert, Gayle Gresham, and Susan L. Arday, Nells, and Vikki.
The winner of this month's Free-for-All is.....
Tipper of Blind Pig and the Acorn!
Congratulations, Tipper!
Hopefully when Tipper receives her custom family portrait from Dysfunctional Art, she'll let us take a peek!
Most of the people who've commented here during the month have some really great blogs. Be sure to click on their names - I've added their links so you can visit!
And remember...I love comments! Next month we'll have another Free-for-All - every time you comment, your name will be entered in the drawing. And who knows what awesome gift you'll get!
It's time for Uphill's first Free-for-All!
What exactly is a free-for-all? Well, I looked it up, just to make sure.
Dictionary.com says that a free-for-all is a contest, open to everyone and usually without rules - and it's usually disordered, impulsive, or out-of control.
Hmmm....well, this free-for-all does have just a few rules...and hopefully it won't be completely out of control!
The rules are:
The prize for Uphill's first Free-for-All will be:
This is an awesome gift and one that you will really treasure. Julene does hilarious family drawings that focus on each person's hobbies, talents, or idiosyncrasies. They make great wall portraits, Christmas cards, baby announcements, wedding gifts...well, the list could go on and on.
Your prize will include a portrait of up to five people. (This is a value of 50 to 80 bucks - not too shabby!) You'll get to tell Julene all about the people in the portrait - something funny, their hobbies, anything you'd like. She'll do the rest!
Let me show you some pictures from Dysfunctional Art....just click on the pictures to see them up close.
This one is called "Kids n their Toys."
Here's another one.
It's called "Cat Psychology." Look really close to see all the funny details.
This one's called "On the Job." You really need to go to Julene's website to read about it - it's hilarious!
This month's drawing will be held on Monday, March 9. That gives you two more days to make comments and get entered into the drawing. Comments close Monday at 8:00 a.m.
Why don't you make a comment now?
And just to make things interesting, anybody who makes a comment on Julene's blog - Dysfunctional Art - before Monday will also be entered into the drawing! Be sure to visit - you'll love what you see!
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