01:12 - 04.03.06
searching
I think I mentioned a strange coincidence that happened back along the early fall last year, dear diary. If you remember, I noted I began receiving emails from sales people who claimed I had ordered their merchandise on-line. Not so, I huffed and insisted that since I had had this email address for many years that they should try and track down the person who was impersonating me. That didn't happen, so I finally found the person through one of those serendipitous moments that can only be the universe playing directly with you in the headlights. Maybe that isn't the best analogy, but it's late. Anyway turns out the lady had an identical email to me but one character and hadn't really worked out how to use hers yet. She had the same married last name as my maiden name and was still using it despite the fact she divorced that man long ago. Anyway we decided that we had some reason to be brought together just because each of us found the other's life and circumstances interesting and wanted to maintain the connection. Communication has been intermittent and uneven and that was fine too. A couple of days ago I got another couple of misdirected emails for her and passed then on with comments. Not prying or anything, just joking about some things that would let her know I wasn't put out at all. She came back with a question about possible shared relatives - one I don't recall her asking originally. She made reference to whether I had asked my Dad about it yet or not, so I guess she must have. Tonight another email appered directly from her. Could I please correspond with her teenaged daughter about the family history - she needed to know. I'm not certain why the urgency, but mid teens is that "who am I" angst time so why not indulge it while indulging one's self as well. I love a lot of the history that is England's and which shapes my family so strongly. I spent a good part of the day surfing sites to add into the commentary I wrote about the family tree so that it would provide, hopefully, a bit of a provocative history lesson as well. Some of the links deal with analysis of military tactics and some with political and religious issues. No sex please we're British. Whatever. There are photos of beautiful gothic and medieval castles, as well as pastoral scenes from the south of England next to sea worthy vessels and ports of call. I took a fair amount of care trying to find credible and verifiable sites that would stand the scrutiny of a teacher, for example, if that is where the story goes next. Anyway it was so much fun that I've decided to preserve that research in your electrons dear diary, so I can share it with children and grandchildren if and when they ask. Here goes then.
My information comes from my Dad, my Uncle who was our family historian, a book called Mosquito Creek Roundup - about the settlement of the Nanton/Parkland area of Alberta at the turn of the century - the early 1900's that is, and a cousin of my Dad's who joined the Mormon church and also did significant research into the family background.
A synopsis of the story goes something like this. The family was well established in the south of England and apparently still thrives there. My particular branch came from a sea settlement on the south coast of England directly south of Stonehenge/Salisbury and near to Southhampton - Micklemersh, Herefordshire by name. Some part of the family seems to have moved to Portsea (near to Winchester) Hampshire for a time before sailing off to the New World. There is a fiction book called Sarum by Edward Rutherford that actually includes some of the family history in it. My Dad's cousin traced the family line in England back to about the time of the Norman invasion of England in 1066 ad. Wars make relationships very murky and there are many questions about that time that haven't been answered.
Around the end of the 1600's part of the family made the decision to emigrate to North America. Depending on who is telling the story the reason either is because of repression of practicing the faith of the family's choice at that time Baptists or avoiding being pressed into his majesty's navy to go about colonizing Asia and Africa. There are distant family connections there as well I believe. Anyway the upshot was that my Dad's branch of the family seems to have first settled in the Dakotas somewhere. As farmers/missionaries they moved where there was arable land or receptive parishioners and each generation saw some of the family move more north and west. My Dad's family tree began in Nebraska sometime in the mid 1800's for example. The family was very mobile - something that seems to be a family trait by the way. There are letters that were found on one of the old farms between family in England and the New World that discuss life at those times.
Sometime between the beginning and end of World War I the southern family arrived to stay permanently in Alberta. There had been several major droughts in the US in the decades prior and I think there was a lot of movement back and forth across much more fluid national borders by farming families just trying to survive. My Dad's mom's family was from the immigration wave of Swedes who arrived in Canada about the same time. My Great great Grandmother was one of the women who founded the local chapter of the United Farm Women of Alberta in 1916. They strongly supported the work on the Persons case that eventually resulted in women being allowed to vote and hold office in Canada. Go Granny!
My Dad's father was an entrepreneur who tried founding many enterprises. In many he was successful and in some he was not. My Dad worked for him during World War II in Dawson Creek as a young teen where they had part of the contract with the US and Canadian governments to build the Alcan Highway as part of the North American defense plan - I guess. After the war they settled in northern Alberta for a period of time. My grandfather took the Canadian government all the way to the Supreme Court over a claw back of taxes on all businesses to pay for the war - and lost. The family doesn't need to compete in the Olympics, I guess - we can have the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat all by participating in the social politics of whatever century or decade we find ourselves in.
My uncle - the historian - and his family settled in middle Alberta in the 1940's. Many of our cousins from the south did too because of the fertile land available. One of my cousins became a nurse practitioner and worked through the circuit in northeast BC. She and her husband - the environmentalist - now live back in the foothills in Alberta. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it - for now.
The time spent researching meant I didn't watch movies, but no one seemed to mind much. The snow is falling steadily and that is making any sort of travel uncomfortable. My youngest came back from the video rental store covered head to toe in snow. He handed me some hot soup he picked up at the coffee shop on the way home then headed down to his room for a nap after watching the comedies he'd picked up. The cats have a new game called "move the doors". They have realized there is a lot of psychological power in changing the shape of the doorways I guess. Changing the position of the door changes the ambience inside and outside of a room. They are having a good time experimenting with their new skill set, as it were. For me I think it's time for bed though - good night dear diary.
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