Okay, this is a little weird, but I thought it might be some fun. Humans don’t live very long, but it is possible to bridge the years a bit, but talking to our grandparents. Consider the American Revolution (1776-1782). It was quite a while ago, yet my grandfather was born in 1889. It is quite possible that as a child, he may have met someone born in the 1830’s, whose grandfather could have been a veteran of the revolution. So it is entirely possible that I could have heard a war story only 4th hand. My grandfather passed away in 1978, but fortunately, his mind was quite sharp-I can remember him telling me about a Civil War veteran that he knew (the last veteran of the Civil War died in 1957!). Which brings me to the question: how many people from large families (I would expect) have recollections of stories from the distant past? Does anybody have ancestors that served in the revolution?
Yes, I have ancestors who fought in the revolution, but no third- (or fourth- or fifth- or sixth-) hand stories.
There was an obituary in the Washington Post only six or eight years ago, however, of a man whose proudest moment was shaking the hand of a man who shook the hand of Thomas Jefferson! I sure would have loved to have shook his hand.
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That’s one of the reasons I read the obits–all sorts of interesting stories about inventors, scientists, explorers, etc. My friends (30’s and 40’s) say I’m nuts. Of course, the other reason I read them is to see what all the young people die of…probably partly explains my stomach problems…
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You might want to check with the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), which is a fairly active group and undoubtedly has lots of members with such stories.
No, I’m not being sarcastic, I know a woman who is very active in that organization.
I’m a Canadian, but I read a letter this summer from my mother’s only cousin, who’s in her late 80s and lives in Houston. I posted a thread in MPSIMS called “My American Roots” but less than forty people read it.
Her first husband is now in a retirement home in Alaska and he had “talked to his great grandfather who was a Phi Beta Kappa at Yale, who in turn had talked to his great grandfather who fought with his uncle who led the revolutionary troops to victory at Bunker Hill”.
I think this fits your query to a “T”. There is an old man in an Alaskan retirement home who spoke with a direct ancestor who had spoken with his direct ancestor who had fought at Bunker Hill.
I’ve never posted a link before, here goes nothing:
[ http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=32142 ]
Johnson—I’m an obits fan, too. Just today I saw someone I knew in the L.A. Times; Jane Ardmore, who ghosted the autobiographies of Joan Crawford, Mae Murray and Eddie Cantor.
I don’t have anyone in my family who fought in OUR revolution,though my grandfather was in the Russian revolution.
BUT—I did have a friend (born in 1893) who interviewed people who were there the night Lincoln was shot!
This is from one of my favourites, James Lee Burke, from one of his crime fiction novels set in the New Orleans area:
“And if you should ever doubt the proximity of the past, I thought to myself, you only had to look over your shoulder at the rain slanting on the fields, like now, the smoke rising in wet plumes out of the stubble, the mist blowing off the lake, and you can see and hear with the clarity of a dream the columns marching four abreast out of the trees, barefoot, emanciated as scarecrows, their perforated, sun-faded colors popping above them in the wind, their officers cantering their horses in the field, everyone dressing it up now, the clatter of muskets shifting in unison to the right shoulder, yes, just a careless wink of the eye, just that quick, and you’re among them, wending your way with liege lord and serf and angel, in step with the great armies of the dead.”
I have an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution but it was a good six or eight generations back and I know very little about him save his name. Also a handful of ancestors on both sides of the family who fought from CT and MA in the Civil War. But they were long gone before a) the ancestors I know and have spoken to were born or b) I even knew about them through digging at the Archives. So no stories here.
This does, however, seem to be a good place to tack on a separate, though relevant, query. A fellow whom Mamma O was seeing years back related a story about a guest on the old radio/TV show I’ve Got A Secret. She was an elderly woman, in her eighties or nineties at the time, and her secret was that her father had fought in the American Revolution. The gist was this: he’d fought as a very young boy, and fathered her when he himself was in his eighties or nineties. Anyone else ever hear of this?
Thanks for the posts…a few years back, I read in a newspaper about the last of the (CSA) Civil War widows. These were women who married as girls, to very elederly Civil War veterans. As of 1990, there were still a few of these women left.
Another aside-in England, there were two famous centernarians - one was named henry Jenkins (he was reputed to be 140 years old at his death). The other was Thomas Parr (“old” Parr-he made it to 123). Anyway, this Jenkins was supposedly alive at the battle of Flodden Field (ca 1485). He related this story to Parr, who told his friend about it-almost 200 years later! If true, this HAS to be the oldest 2nd hand account on record!
PS-anybody know how old the Jenkins really was?
I was in Westminster Abbey a few years ago and saw a stone in the floor for someone who, math told me, lived to be 140-something. I asked the guide about this, and he said, “Why not go up to the library?” I was led up these creepy vaulted stairs to the attic library: dust-covered books, dust-covered shelves, and a dust-covered librarian.
The latter told me, “well, he CLAIMED to be that old, but back then there was really no way to prove it.” But I got to see the attic library at Westminster Abbey! Very cool.
Well, my Great[sup]5[/sup]Grandfather Michael M[sup]c[/sup]Guire was a captain in the Revolutionary War, and rather well-decorated, I understand. I’m going to have to pick Grampap’s brains and see if there’s any family stories about him, though.
Interesting note there: Aside from my 1/64 Shawnee blood, Captain M[sup]c[/sup]Guire was the first of my ancestors to come to the New World, in 1775. He came over specifically for an opportunity to fight against those English bastards.
I know a couple of Indian tribes whose members still have a downright impressive oral tradition. When first learning about one tribe, I read a still commonly told bedtime story (included in an anthropological report) about a chief, the circumstances surrounding his death, and the location of his burial.
Imagine my suprise when I discovered documentation from the 1600’s which more-or-less verified the tale! Pretty incredible.
Oh, and CKDext is right on about the DAR. They are an historical resource of incredible depth.
My grandmother loves to tell stories about Mary Draper Ingalls, who was kidnapped by Shawnees and taken to Ohio in the 1750’s. My grandmother helped run the Ingalls Ferry as a child, and apparently was told most of the stories she tells now by descendants of Ingalls herself.
I was listening to a person on a local radio station a few years ago recounting his dinner with the 70-year-old grandson of Pres John Tyler, who was born in 1790.
Apparently, John Tyler, fathered a son (or was at least married to a woman who gave birth to a son) at age 70 or so.
His son did likewise.
No word on whether or not the grandson was going to keep the family tradition going.
Dunno if this is a tangent or not, but my wife’s grandfather knew his family’s history (who married who, sometimes why; when the hard times happened, etc.) dating back to before the American Revolution. They’re Germans from Ohio, so I doubt anyone in the family messed with the revolution.
I’ll ask my wife about the OP.
Another resource: The American Antiquarian Society, headquartered in Worcester, MA.
Oooooold American (read: WASP) geneology is their thing.