Back in 2019, I was doing some genealogical research, before a trip to Warwickshire and it led to the discovery of Nicholas BROME, my 13th great-grandpa. I was researching all the possible connections I had in the area which led from my grandmother Helen Mildred SHELDON to her 3rd great grandmother Sylvia SHERMAN and her grandmother Jedidiah HAWES, all the way back on the HAWES line to Elizabeth BROME, daughter of Nicholas BROME, who married Thomas HAWES. [See below MY CONNECTION] I am indebted to Anne Elliott’s book mentioned below, articles by the first tour guide at Baddesley Clinton, John Jarman, the lovely staff there, the Shakespeare Trust in Stratford Upon Avon, innumerable books and my newly acquainted cousin Mark Sutton.
So please let me introduce to you, my 13th great grandpa, Nicholas BROME. I promise you won’t be bored.
Nicholas BROME was born in the late medieval period about 1450 to parents John BROME and Beatrice SHIRLEY. They are believed to have married about 1431. His father, John BROME Esq., was a member of Parliament, representing Warwick, and was for a time the Under Treasurer of the Exchequer of England. He was a wealthy landowner and it seems, a successful entrepreneur. He raised cattle and sold hides to Henry VI at Kenilworth Castle, he had a rock quarry from which headstones were fashioned and owned a tile factory. He held manorial court at Baddesley Clinton and added to his land holdings, but it seems he made enemies in the process. The Manor of Baddesley Clinton is assumed to be where Nicholas was born. In the delightful, historical novel by Anne Elliott, My Husband: The Extraordinary History of Nicholas Brome, she recounts the possible circumstances of Nicholas’ birth. Although part fiction I highly recommend it. Nicholas’ mother Beatrice SHIRLEY was the daughter of Sir Ralph SHIRLEY Lord of the Manor at Ettington and grand daughter of Sir Hugh SHiRLEY who fell at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. The SHIRLEY family held this manor back to the time of the Norman conquest. This is a view of the 13th c. Tower of St. Nicholas at Ettington Park, now the grounds of a posh hotel.
The 13th c. Tower of St. Nicholas
A deed dated 2 June, 6 Edward IV, [1466 UK Archives E 40/4493] names the children of John BROME and his wife Beatrice: Thomas, Nicholas, and John, Isabella, Elizabeth, Agnes, and Jocosa [aka Joice or Joyce who becomes the prioress of nearby Wroxall Priory from 1501-1525]. On Saturday 11th of July 1450 Brome Place in Warwick is attacked by marauders. The next morning the Manor House at Baddesley Clinton while Beatrice and the terrified children were inside. It is said they escaped to the farm of one of their tenants. During this time Richard NEVILLE, known as the “Kingmaker”, is instigating the men of Warwickshire to rise up against King Henry VI. The same King with which John BROME is aligned. Trouble is definitely brewing. In 1453 King Henry VI takes ill but recovers by 1455 when the civil war known as the War of the Roses, begins. The factions fighting for the throne are the Houses of Lancaster and the House of York. The war spans the years 1455-1487.
So into this cauldron of strife our young Nicholas arrives. The second son after his brother Thomas. In 1454 his father is having additions made to Baddesley with a Southwest Wing and renovations made to Brome Place at Bridge End in Warwick. With his father’s many businesses and properties there is likely much to keep young Nicholas entertained. Not to mention that Brome Place lies across the river from Warwick Castle. Early 20th c. Postcard and woodcut from Historic Warwickshire 1893 Burgess.
As a nobleman’s son Nicholas likely had private tutors at home before receiving a more formal education, perhaps at the Collegiate of St Mary or within Warwick Castle proper or both. Please click on the photos below for expanded views.
Views around Warwick above and the postcard below would be the view of castle as approached from Bridge End.
The view of Warwick Castle from Bridge End side of the River c. 1891
Google aerial map annotated to show Proximity of Brome Place to Warwick Castle
1885 Map of Warwick annotated.
Interestingly, with the dissolution of the monasteries under King Henry VIII the collegiate of St Mary Warwick was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the crown to the burgesses of Warwick. This would have been antithetical to the Brome family who were loyal Catholics. In any event life, for Nicholas, would have been busy and perhaps more exciting in the bustling market town of Warwick rather than the manor at Baddesley Clinton. It is likely young Nicholas was back and forth between the two, frequently.
THE FIRST MURDER
Whitefriars Church London 1563
Nicholas’ father was often in London. On one such occasion in 1468 he was attending Mass at Whitefriars church when John HERTHILL, steward to Richard NEVILLE, aka ‘The Kingmaker,’ summoned him outside. Called out to the porch and after some words exchanged between them, John HERTILL ran him through with a sword. The argument was ostensibly a dispute about lands, and the redemption of the manor of Woodloes which John HERTHILL had mortgaged to John BROME. I suspect that there was much more of a political undercurrent involved since John BROME and Richard NEVILLE were backing opposite sides. In John BROME’s will written between the time of his wound and his death shortly thereafter he used this Expression : ” that he forgave his son Thomas who smiled when he saw him run through by HERTHILL in the Whitefriars Church Porch.” It is said he is buried there. This was in 1468 which if estimates are correct Nicholas would have been about eighteen. According to Dugale John BROME’s epitaph read [roughly translated]
“Lo! Here lies as dust the body of John Brome, a noble and learned man, skilled in the law of the Realm, a child of genius, witness the County of Warwick, who fell by the sword in this church, slain at the time of the mass by the hands of wicked men. He was buried in the tomb November 5, 1468. Kindly father, it is better for him to have eternal rest.”
Very little of the monastery remained after the dissolution and today the area is covered in modern buildings. However an architectural firm preserved some of the old excavated crypt. I received permission to visit it and here are the photos I took. Click on each for larger image. It was quite dark so resolution not great.
We shan’t leave this chapter without a note on Nicholas’ inheritance. Where his older brother, Thomas is forgiven though smiling during the attack on his father at Whitefriars, as the eldest son Thomas inherits Woodloes, Brome Place in Warwick along with other Warwick properties. However the manor at Baddesley Clinton goes to his mother, Beatrice, for her life. At her death Baddesley Clinton Manor would pass to Nicholas. Things don’t work out well for Thomas, as he dies at Woodloes in 1473 without heirs we shall assume as all of the properties he inherited from his father John BROME pass to Nicholas. Beatrice, their mother, dies and was buried 10 July 1483, in the chancel of St. Michael’s church of Baddesley Clinton. The window shown below with panels of many family members was commissioned by Nicholas’ daughter Constance who married Edward FERRERS in 1507. The Window panel on the bottom 2nd from left is of Nicholas BROME. The Chancel was added after his death.
Chancel of St Michael’s Church Baddesley Clinton
MY CONNECTION
Nicholas BROME 1450-151713th great-grandfather
Elizabeth BROME 1501-1566
William HAWES of Hillfield Hall Solihull 1531-1611
Edmund HAWES 1580-1655
Edward HAWES 1612-1693
John Capt HAWES 1636-1701
Benjamin HAWES 1682-1722
Jedidah HAWES 1709-1764
Benjamin SHERMAN 1734-1805
Sylvia SHERMAN 1765-1831
Justus SHELDON 1796-1871
Elmer SHELDON 1819-1898
Justus Warren SHELDON 1845-1923
Helen Mildred SHELDON 1889-1948 who was my grandmother
The idea for this post came after my recent migration from the “bird site not to be named'” taken over by a megalomaniac, to the much pleasanter and helpful, not for profit, social media site Mastodon. While this blog post is not about Mastodon I do want to put in a plug to fellow genealogists and gardeners to check it out. The desktop version works great but you may want to use one of the apps for Mastodon like Toot or Tusky as they seem to lead to less frustration for newbies.
Crepe Myrtle Lagerstroemia indica ‘Tuscarora’
I couldn’t help but notice in the lists of interests posted in Introductions on Mastodon [new to me social media site] , the number of genealogists who are also gardeners and that got me to thinking of all the ways that the two hobbies overlap. That’s not to say that all genealogists are gardeners or vica versa, but it seems like a very high percentage are. It is certainly true for me. My interest in gardening goes back as far as my memories stretch to fuzzy caterpillars and beautiful garden flowers. My serious involvement with genealogy began at 17. Our garden whether cultivated or that which nature provides has always been my sanctuary. And it seems that the lives of my ancestors also provide a sanctuary from the cruelties of life.
So what things might they have in common. Gardeners and Genealogists are:
Hopeful: the act of planting a seed or adding a new branch to the tree
Patient: both gardening and genealogy take patience
Dirty: they both reveal secrets and they both get you on your knees
Colorful: Gardens and Family trees are colorful
Tools: Gardening and Genealogy can be practiced by everyone whether tending to a potted African violet or spending hours researching an archive from afar.
Rules: Good gardeners and genealogists often break the rules and tolerate chaos becasue it feeds their souls
Stories: The best gardens are filled with stories, like the best genealogies
Love: What’s not better with love?
HOPEFUL
There is nothing more HOPEFUL than planting a tree that you will never see reach its maturity, knowing that its branches will harbor future creatures and provide shade to people you will never know. And no genealogist finishes a family tree —we are ever hopeful that the gardens we make and the family history we uncover will blossom in the future and somehow the failures and brick walls will eventually be overtaken.
PATIENT
Anyone who sticks with gardening or genealogy will either make their peace with PATIENT or give up the pursuit. Some of my brick walls have taken 40 years or more to come tumbling down—and as a gardener I cannot possibly add up all the failures and dead plants that a lifetime of gardening entails. Yes, the weeds keep coming and yet I have spent the last few weeks a couple of hours a day on my knees weeding—in a rather futile attempt to win the war in favor of the native wildflowers. Similarly I am ever patiently plodding along hoping to make a new discovery or DNA match which will unlock the origins of my third great grandparents John MERRITT and Margaret GEARY.
DIRTY
Gardeners and genealogists get their hands DIRTY—I mean that literally. Your hands lead you to places you never expected and your searching for the right plant or the right resources unlocks untold secrets of our connection to the natural world and to our past. We get down and dirty and on our hands and knees in archives and libraries and gardens. We learn dirty little secrets someone worked hard to bury. We just keep digging.
COLORFUL
Even if you garden is currently covered in a blanket of snow or all shades of green, there’s no denying gardens are COLORFUL. Even if most of the color is plays of light and comes on the wings of those who visit it. Genealogy is colorful both in the characters we meet, the places they come from and for some the color coding we often use to separate this family from that one.
TOOLS
This goes without saying, both endeavors have their own sets of favorite TOOLS. And there is a large degree of overlap. Books, libraries and the internet being repositories of knowledge and inspiration. Metaphors abound in raking and shaking the leaves and trees. Pruning branches, cross pollinating and simply mucking about in gardens or graveyards.
RULES
Anyone reading my blog, knows I both like rules, and like breaking them. The best RULES are like paths, they are more interesting when they meander. The rules give structure and orderliness but they can also constrain and discourage. A gardener should always look forward to surprises as should the genealogist. The rules are guideposts. They are not fences nor gatekeepers and don’t let anyone tell you different!
STORIES
I say it again and again, who cares about all those names, dates and places and neatly organized files? Well you do. However, what is important is the STORIES. Even in the garden, it is telling its story. Plants that fail to thrive and others that spread with reckless abandon. My grandfather had a Japanese maple from which my parents had a seedling. Many gardens later the progeny of that maple carry on in my garden today.
LOVE
Arguably gardens and family history grow stronger with LOVE. Our time on earth is transient. We garden and compile family history, best watered with love and perseverance. It is both a solitary act of selfishness indulging in our love of growing things and the selflessness of helping and providing a path for others. Only fellow gardeners or genealogists will appreciate what it took to get there. We did it for love.
“Time is to slow for those who wait, Too swift for those who fear, Too long for those who grieve, Too short for those who rejoice… But for those who love, Time is Eternity.”
Many years ago I wrote an article TItled Conjectures on the Origins of Robert WHEATON. At that time all of the indications were that he was descended from the Wheatons of Devon. This turned out to be 5 different DNA WHEATON/WHEADON/WHIDDEN lines in Devon, England: Wheaton of Sidmouth; Wheadon of Axminster; Whidden of Buckfastleigh; Wheaton of Exeter; and Wheaton of Winkleigh and Brixham. After lots of DNA testing in England with not a single DNA match, I highly suspect Robert WHEATON, who settled first in Salem, Massachusetts in 1636, did NOT come from Devon.
INTRODUCTION
In April of 2015 I had the wonderful opportunity to meet up with Den and Jean Wheaton and spend 3 days visiting parishes in Devon and Somerset where WHEATONs were known to have lived in the 16th century and into the 17th century. On this trip Den and Jean WHEATON and I met up with David WHEATON of the Branscombe WHEATONs. So we represented 3 distinct WHEATON lines—none of them DNA related. We visited many churches from the southern Devon ie. Exter, Branscombe, Sidmouth, to mid Devon parishes like Tiverton, Honiton and Loxbeare. Each unique and beautiful in its own right. As we climbed higher and higher onto Exmoor I began to feel we were closer to the ancient Robert Wheaton homeland. When we went reached Wheddon Cross, Watchet and Stogursey I said, “this feels right.” Now of course a “feeling” can be meaningless but in this case it has led down some very circuitous gopher holes. In 2019 and continuing through Covid I have not let up in researching—although I have been remiss in not writing it up. So without further procrastination here goes.
I am not sure what it was I feeling or even what I was looking for— it just felt right. The topography had similarities to where Robert Wheaton settled in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. The area of the original “Ring of Green” settlement of Rehoboth, where Robert spent most of his life, is actually located on the East side of the Seekonk River in what is today Rumford, Rhode Island [adjacent East Providence]. Robert owned a homelot on the Ring of Green as well as a farm/woodlot on present day Wheaton Ave. in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. The Seekonk River adjoining Rumford feeds directly into the larger Providence River which in turn flows into Narragansett Bay which exits into the Atlantic Ocean. The area is a mix of woods and wetlands. Similarly, in North Somerset, the Avil and Washford Rivers empty into the swamp lands of Minehead and Watchet which border the Bristol Channel and out into the same Atlantic Ocean. Both areas show a marine influence and the North Wheddon Coast and Exmoor have more similarity to Rehoboth than the Midlands and South Coast of Devon, my earlier focus. This may mean nothing at all, but when clutching at straws that’s where we will begin.
Compare the two areas adjacent waterways and nearby major waterways leading both to the Atlantic Ocean.
Minehead in the North on the Bristol Channel with Dunster on the Avil River and further south Cutcombe and Wheddon Cross from 1913 OS Map
Part of 1836 Tanner Map of Rhode Island Rehoboth (now Rumford underlined in Red)
A little while later we got a bit of a nudge in this same direction when 3 anonymous samples of YDNA from the Bristol, England area, matched a key mutation of our Robert Wheaton [R-FGC22501]. The only other person other than our Headless Warrior in York to be positive for this SNP. To be fair this could just be a coincidence, but for now it is all we have. When Robert first appears in Salem the spelling appears to be abbreviated Robt. Wheato and then Robert Wheadon and Robt. Wheaden. Note in the later two instances the name is written Wheadon. It would be a bit ironic if Robert was a Wheadon and not as he was later known Wheaton. However, as I have pointed out elsewhere the dialects in southwestern England make d’s and t’s nearly interchangeable. In two instances a Farm called Wheaton later becomes Wheddon Farm. In many early documents a name will be spelled multiple ways in the same document.
SOMERSET ENGLAND
If we assume for the sake of conjecture that I am right about my suspicions about Robert WHEATON in Somerset, we need look to the first record in Somerset of a Wheaton/Wheddon etc. which is in the year 1201, when a Walterus of ‘Watesden‘ paid scutage on half a knight’s fee which is held of the honour of Dunster, the lands of William de Mohun. William de Mohun [also spelled Moion or Moyon] was a knight in the service of William the Conqueror who received as many as 68 manors in the west of England including 55 in Somerset. His home estate consisted of the ancient hundreds of Minehead, Cutcombe and Dunster. He built his castle upon an earlier fortified castle in Dunster [shown below] originally called Tore. He was engaged in breeding horses at Cutcombe and Nunney [near Frome]. [Planche, James Robinson The Conqueror and his companions London 1874]
Dunster Castle and Yarn Market Postcard
William de Mohun held two manors in Cutcombe both mentioned in the Domesday Book:
Cutcombe [Udecombe, Codecombe] William de Mohun and 3 men at arms from him. Mill, 36 brood mares, 250 sheep. 22 villagers. Later 11 smallholders. 6 slaves. 6 pigmen 1.5 lord’s lands. Meadow 8 acres. Pasture 2 1 leagues & 0.5 leagues 5 furlongs mixed measures. Woodland 1 0.5 leagues & 14 acres mixed measures. Cutcombe is Somerset’s highest parish in elevation. [Uda = wood; combe = deep valley] Manor Value in 1086 £7.8
Oaktrow [Wochetreu] Durand from William de Mohun. Oaktrow Wood. (in Cutcombe parish) Manor later known as Cutcombe Mohun, half a virgate of land. 1 plough. In demesne is 1 ferling and half a plough, 2 villeins, half a plough, 1 ferling, 4 acres of wood(land). 6 beasts and 50 sheep, 20 she-goats and 8 swine. 4 s. [och = oak, treu or treow = wood]
Map showing location of Cutcombe-Raleigh Manor, Cutcombe Mohun Manoraka Oaktrow and Wheddon Farms Annotated OS map
A bit more on perhaps the first of Robert’s line.
“The early history of a small estate at Wheddon is obscure, It seems to have begun in 1201, when a Walter of ‘Watesden‘ paid scutage[Scutage: money paid by a vassal to his lord in lieu of military service] on half a knight’s fee [Knight’s fee: a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight approx. 1,000-5,000 acres] which is held of the honour [honour: Barony] of Dunster.”[Lands of William de Mohun]. “Walterus de Watesden reddit compotum de j. marca de feodo dimidii militis de honore de Dunstore de scutagio. In thesauro liberavit. Et quietus est.[original Latin]”
Lyte, Sir H.C. Maxwell. Historical Notes on Some Manors formerly connected with the Honour of Dunster 1931 p .88
WHEATON WHEDDON WHAT’s in a NAME?
Our next mention of a Wheddon in the Somerset records is in the year 1243 where a lawsuit mentions Robert de Wotedon, a son William, a Richard Whadden and a tenement called Whetendene in Cutcombe. In 1253, ten years later, we see three spellings Whetedon, Whetden and Whedden all different from the earlier three. This is not at all unusual as early documents may have multiple spellings in the same document. Although these spellings may seem very different, the alleged meaning is similar. In Proto-indo-european (udén), wodor, and wodon means water. Variations include waden [to wade], wader, weden, wedene again all meaning wet, wade or water. With den or done meaning valley. So we have Walterus of water valley or the wet valley.
In the Inquisition of Sir John de Mohun from 1285: “Wadendene [aliasUhetnedene, Wetdene]. 1/2 knight’s fee held by Walter de Wadedene [aliasWetendene]. This seems an apt description given all the waterways and springs I have marked on the map below. This area is bordered on the West by the Quarme River and the North the Avil River and everywhere you look are water courses and freshwater springs. Also note a place called Watercombe adjacent Cutcombe. Essentially Watercombe and Wheddon are the same thing. Water + combe = water valley.
Remains of an earlier tower at Dunster Castle
Map showing approximately 1.5 square Miles near Wheddon Cross with Rivers and Springs circled
There are several other mentions of Wheddons in the 13th century but this one is of particular note. “In 1253, Alice of Wheddon, daughter of William of Wheddon laid claim to a third [of the] manor of Wheddon, whereof her father had been seised in demense when he set out for the Holy Land [Henry III Seventh Crusade 1248-1254]. Robert Wheddon, the tenant in actual possession hereupon vouched his overlord, Reynold de Mohun [Reginald de Mohun 1206-1258, 3rd great grandson of William de Mohun], to warrant his title, but soon afterwards recognised the plaintiff’s right, and agreed that she and her heirs should hold of him and his heirs at a rent of 12d. Which, it will be observed, was a third of the rent payable by him to the lord of Dunster. [Lyte, Sir H.C. Maxwell Documents and Extracts Illustrating the History of the Honour of Dunster Somerset Record Society Vol 33 1918 pg 89] This is the only mention I have found of an actual manor and it may be construed that this is probably the Oaktrow, later known as Cutcombe Mohun. It later seems to fade into oblivion.
Oaktrow Farm [Cutcombe Mohun] by Jay Pea used with permission Creative Commons
Also noteworthy that Alice’s father was a “Knight on Crusade in the Holy Land.” This William Wheddon may be the son or grandson of Walter de Wheddon who was the first of that name recorded. As is the case with William de Mohun there are 4 generations of that same name. So too we find a Walter de Wheddon son of Walter de Wheddon. In the 13th century other forenames include for Wheddon’s include: William, Robert, Richard and Alice. It is likely that the Walter de Wheddon mentioned in 1333 and 1335 as “regarder” of the forest of Exmoor would be a descendant of the original Walter since the first mention is 132 years earlier. A regarder was an ancient officer of the forest, whose duty it was to take a view of the forest hunts, and to inquire concerning trespasses, offenses, etc. It may have been a duty that was passed from father to son over many generations. In 1348 we find a Walter de Wheddon as a witness to a deed in Kilton some 20 miles to the East. In 1376 there is a debtor Alexander Leygh alias Alexander Wheton of Tiverton, North Devon. Creditor John More, citizen and mercer of London. [National Archived C241/164/8]
SILENCE
Then the record is silent for nearly 185 years! There are mentions of the place name Wheddon but none of that name or similar in the area. Then the 23 November 1559, Agnes Littlejohn and William Whetton are married at St. Mary Bridgewater [about 30 Miles east of Cutcombe]. In 1571 is a deed of Thomas Luttrell Esq to and a Thomas Withey alias Wheddone. [In 1376 Lady Elizabeth Luttrell purchased Dunster Castle from Sir John Mohun and it remained in Luttrell family hands until 1976 when it become part of the National Trust]
To Close Part One I share with you some photo of Cutcombe. The church of St John was constructed in the 13th and 14th century probably built upon an earlier church from the early 12th century. It sits at a high elevation with lovely views of surrounding countryside.
Entrance to St John Cutcombe
View from Cutcombe Church near Wheddon Cross
North and South Wheddon Farms , Wheddon Cross Postcard
And for comparison I offer this photo taken in 2021 of Robert WHEATOn’s land in Rehoboth. The trees follow “Clayey Brook” which will make an appearance later in our story.
The location of Robert WHEATON’s woodlot and farm in Rehoboth (east of The Ring of Green)
In genealogy we use lots of metaphors for what we are trying to do when faced with a dearth of evidence, and often what we have is circumstantial at best.
Reading Tea Leaves
Following Bread Crumbs
Fitting Pieces into a Jigsaw Puzzle
Putting Flesh on the Bones
Going on Treasure Hunts, without a Map
Scrambling Down Rabbit or Gopher Holes
Firing up the Old Time Machine
Crystal Ball Gazing
Communing with the Dead, hoping they will speak to us somehow, someway
After nearly half a century I am quite familiar with all of them and I am not at all embarrassed to admit that I will use anything to get at the truth of an ancestor’s story. I know in some circles these methods will be met with eye rolling or disdain. No both, we do what we have to do. Sometimes breadcrumbs are all we have. And even as breadcrumbs do not a loaf make…we do what we have to do. Clamber over stiles, plough through muddy fields, name your metaphor, the intrepid genealogist has done it, in metaphor or in fact.
The good thing about breadcrumbs is they lead us to places we never intended to go. And this is the very best thing about genealogy. Genealogy is not just filling in boxes on a tree,rather it is being led to new and unexplored places, physical and metaphorical. Oh how I wish, that back in Junior High and High School, I had been able to connect to what I was studying in a more personal way. So much I have learned about geography, history, anthropology, archeology, architecture and so forth is due to my desire and need to see my ancestors in the context of where they lived and what was going on around them. I can accurately fill in a blank map of the United States and do a fair job on the countries of Europe and the shires of England or even the counties of Germany! This is not due to geography coursework, but rather learning through the day to day research on my families and their origins.
Sometimes I muse on what drives a person to spend a half century on trying to unlock mysteries of their long dead kin? I think Maud Newton has some interesting thoughts in her book Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation. She Writes “I, too, believe that our family dead, and our relationship to them, are important, to me as an individual and to humanity as a collective.” At some point we all need to ask ourselves this question: What is Genealogy all About for me? I think I can finally answer that for myself. I want to understand who I am in the context of my kin. How can their lives inform my own? I want to understand where I, where we, add to the great soup of humanity. Simply I just want to understand in some primordial way, what is it all about?
So crumbs do not a loaf make. However, they provide enough nourishment to see you through. As has been said in many ways it’s not the destination, but the journey. So, while some of my fellow genealogists are busy with lists, filling in names and ticking of boxes give me a few bread crumbs and off I go on another adventure, learning as I go. A few years back my girlfriend, Denise, and I went on a trip to Scotland. Our tour guide, Donald, when asked about times and plans he told us, “It’s guidelines—it is all just guidelines.” I have come to use this as my personal mantra, especially when it comes to genealogy. Whether you are a beginning genealogist / family historian or a more seasoned one, let me suggest that whatever you have been taught, told, etc. that all the rules—-they’re all “just guidelines.”
Everyone has their favorite or “best” way to organize, research, color code, document, etc. And yes there are guides to just about how you should do EVERYTHING that is genealogy related. But the idea that everyone needs to follow the same rules is nonsense. They always start out to be helpful, until they are not. We start out with one idea, one bread crumb, and often end up far from where we started. We make a commitment to log every resource we consulted. I did this for the first five years or so—but after 50 that’s ridiculous, it would take longer to enter all that into a database and check than it would to retrace your steps. I know more than I did back then. I say to myself, “Oh I remember this!” I don’t think oh silly me, but rather, “thank God I came back to this, look what else is here!.”
Let there be no shame in doing genealogy any way that works for you. Even if it is one bread crumb at a time.
This is the second post as a follow up to the first Photos and Postcards: Now and Then. I just keep running into more examples in my photo and postcard collection.
This one it will take 3 to illustrate as I obviously wasn’t matching up angles. These are of St. Nicholas Church in Henley in Arden, in Warwickshire. The day of our visit was quite memorable as inside the church was a young couple, who had been married there the day before. They had come back to experience it in quiet of reflection—as it happened as they said, “in a whirlwind.” Please click on images for full image.
A very special Place the Beauchamp Chapel at the Collegiate College of St Mary’s in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. Final Resting place of my 17th great-grandfather Richard BEAUCHAMP Sir , Worcester “13 Earl of Warwick,” “Knight of The Garter,” and “Captain of Calais.”
This next one is a very different vantage point but is clearly recognizable. Dartmouth Castle and St Petrox Church in Devon. This protected port was quite strategic in many battles.
I stayed at this hotel last October and later purchased this old postcard posted in 1926. The apartment is on the next to the top floor as pictured on the right in the photograph with a Stone balustrade of a balcony on front side and iron railing on the side to the left in photo.
This is both a Writing Challenge and an exploration. Please complete Part One before reading Part Two. For this Assignment you need to make a list of questions you wished you had asked or were able to ask, a relative who is now dead or unable to be interviewed. What I want you to imagine is that you have been given a miracle opportunity to talk for several hours, once again or for the first time, to a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or even someone further back— This is that one chance you thought you would never get. Most of us wish we had asked our relatives more questions before they departed. Or we wish we had the opportunity to meet someone who died long ago. Here’s your chance.
It is important to think deeply about what you want to know. You can scour the web for a list of interview questions, but before you do that I want you to focus on just one person and what you would ask them. The questions should be tailored precisely to fill in the blanks of their story. Make the questions personal and realize this is your only chance to find out more about them. For some it may be obvious, if you have someone who died and there’s no death certificate and you want to know where to look. But others may be more subtle. “How did it feel when your mother died when you were 6 and you were farmed out to relatives? Was there anyone that made that experience better for you?” Or perhaps it is, ‘What were you told when cousin Judy got pregnant out of wedlock?” Or “what was it like to participate in the Battle of Round Mountain?” These are your questions so they can be anything your heart desires.
Here’s mine: I never met my maternal grandmother as she died of pancreatic cancer before I was born. Here are a few questions I might ask her.
What was my mother like as a child? Did you find her difficult as I have the letter you wrote to your mother suggesting she was a handful?
Did you ever think when you entered my mother’s photo into the Beautiful Baby contest she would win? Can you tell me more about that?
Your sister, Louise, was 11 1/2 years your senior how did you get along with her? She married when you were fifteen, how was that for you?
Did you bothe get along with your parents equally well? Or who got on better with one or the other?
You went to Michigan Agricultural College and graduated in 1912 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Can you tell me how it was you came to go to college at a time when this was not the norm for women. What were your aspirations. Can you tell me any stories of mischief you may have gotten into?
Your daughters contend that you had multiple abortions. Is this true? You were married at the time and I have been told that you had career goals did this factor into your decisions?
In 1918 Michigan’s voters approved a state constitutional amendment extending suffrage (the right to vote) to Michigan women. The National Suffrage Amendment, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, was passed by Congress on June 5, 1919. Were you involved in either of these movements and can you tell me how you felt when they passed?
Do you have your list written down? If so then you may proceed to Part Two.
PART TWO
So now that you have your list of questions you have several choices with what to do with them. First choice: pretend you are the person you were going to interview and use what you “do” know to answer the questions. Obviously you don’t know the answers, so just guess. See what comes to you. Use your imagination. Second choice: take one question and turn it into a story of creative nonfiction. Take a really intriguing question and flesh out a story about it. “Maybe your question was how did you meet Grandpa?” If you don’t know the answer just contrive a plausible, but interesting story. Was the meeting arranged or was it a “meet cute.?” Third choice: is to turn the questions on yourself. That is recraft them and ask them of yourself. We often don’t tell our own stories assuming that our progeny will know them. They may only know bits and pieces and they will forget—so give them the gift of leaving a few breadcrumbs. And whatever you do, have fun and be playful.
“The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn.”
After years and years of attempts to locate the original record of the first mention of Robert WHEATON in America, it was finally resolved thanks to J. Webb who responded to a request I placed on Mastodon. Thank you to the kindness of strangers!!! My attempts included a trip to Salt Lake City in 2013 and subsequent letters to the Salem Town Clerk. You can read more about that here. What was missing, and what the Salem Clerk would not bother to check in the original records was the recording for 16th of the 11th month: 1636 [Which would in reality be January of 1637 because the new year began in March.] This record did not appear on the Salt Lake City microfilm copy which may have been spliced out [I had checked the whole reel]. Pages jumped from 11 to 15.
So most likely Robert would have arrived in the summer of 1636 or before. I previously have written here about this record and why “refused to be Inhabitant” did not mean what some others have speculated. In any event I am absolutely delighted to have an image of the original entry.
Salem Town Records 1636-1659 pg 13 Bold lettering about half way down 2nd section
The entry for Robert is in the darkest pen toward middle of second half. It simply reads “Robt Wheato refused to be Inhabitant.” On the same page Edw. Beachamp rd. [received] for an Inhabitant. and below him [just above Robt] is Deborah HOLMES refused Land being a maid….and would be bad president [precedent] to keep hous [house] alone. [Lest we women forget how it was back then.] Please note the relationship of Deborah to Obadiah HOLMES is unknown. She likely married as we do not find her again in Salem.
This is an image of the Volume from which this entry is taken:
Salem Town Record Book 1636-1659
Robert Wheaton in Salem
In doing a bit of background I always assumed that the famous Baptist martyr Obadiah HOLMES had come to Salem before Robert WHEATON. I was wrong. Robert WHEATON arrives before January of 1637. He most likely would arrive in between Spring and early Fall as travel across the seas was otherwise to be avoided. When and where he arrived are lost in the annals of time. Whether he arrived as a freeman or an indentured laborer is also subject to speculation and whether he may have landed first in Boston or elsewhere is unknown. Obadiah HOLMES is recorded as receiving lands in the Salem Town Records book 26th day of the 11th Month 1638 [January 1639] and then again in December 1639 and in 1642. Obadiah’s birth can be fixed in 16010 when he was baptized 18 March 1609/10 at Didsbury, Lancaster, England [near Manchester]. We do not have a birth or baptismal record for Robert WHEATON just the notation that he died in his 90th year. His widow presents the Inventory of his estate 11 Jan 1696 so he likely died in December 1696, placing his birth likely between 1605-1610 in England.
Whereas Robert WHEATON was refused as inhabitant in January 1637 in Salem and not granted lands until the 26th day of the 9th month 1638 [Nov 1638] which preceded Obadiah Holmes lands granted by 2 months. Robert’s record here:
Salem Town Record Robt Wheadon second from bottom
At a towne meeting the 26th day of the 9th month 1638—of the several proportions of land laid out at Marble Head: To Robt Wheadon 10 acres of Land.
Robert WHEATON does not appear in the records of the Salem church, although Obadiah HOLMES does, being noted in the Salem church 24 March 1639 where he and his wife Katherine are listed as excommunct and removed [respectively]. Obadiah and Katherine’s children are baptized in the church records: Martha 1640; Samuel 1642; and Obadiah Jr 1644. So we might venture that his relationship with the church there was tenuous. Robert’s relationship with the church as is Robert FULLERs is non-existent. None of Robert WHEATON’s children’s baptisms are recorded there, nor his presumed marriage in Salem to Elizabeth BOWEN. ELizabeth BOWEN’s approximate birthdate is estimated by William B Saxbe Jr to be about 1620. The marriage is estimated to be about 1640 and their first three children born in Salem estimated to be born between 1641-45. A dte of 1638-1640 seems reasonable since he would have his ten acres of land by then. Elizabeth BOWEN’s sister, Sarah BOWEN, also marries in Salem to Robert FULLER. He is not listed in the early Salem church records nor his wife. It is assumed that their father Richard BOWEN was there, although no record is extant. Robert FULLER was a bricklayer. Obadiah HOLMES was a glassman by trade and Robert WHEATON was a tanner. The estimated population in Salem in 1639 was approximately 950 individuals so it seems likely they may have been acquainted, especially since they were contemporaries and all practiced a trade, whereas many of the Salem residents were strictly farmers.
Richard BOWEN, is first recorded in America at Weymouth, Massachusetts some 30 miles to the south where he is granted land about 1642-1644. It is of note that 2 acres, of the 16 granted him, are adjacent Samuel NEWMAN. This is important because Samuel NEWMAN, minister, is intimately involved in the formation of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Many of the names we find among the founders of Rehoboth came originally from Weymouth, England to found Weymouth, Massachusetts and then to Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
Here is the second grant of land to Robert WHEATON the first day of the 2nd month 1644 [April 1644] in Salem.
Salem Town Records
It reads Granted to Robert WHEADEN 20 acres of land neere to the amrsh at Mr. Bishop’s ffarme, to be laid out by the towne, conditionallie that if hee deptefrom the towne before hee improve it, it shall return to the towne. The Salem fathers may have had inklings that Robert WHEATON might not be sticking around. Note at this point Roberts WHEATON and FULLER are in Salem . Their father-in-law Richard Bowen is in Weymouth. Obadiah Holmes is also in Salem.
Robert Wheaton et al in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
The drawing of Rehoboth lots took place in Weymouth on January 1st 1644. Obadiah HOLMES drew Lot #26 while he lived in Salem some 60 miles from Rehoboth. This might suggest he was not happy in Salem and looking for an escape. He apparently forfeited the lot a year later for failure to fence it, or establish his family there according to James T Holmes [see below]. The Lot is listed in the Rehoboth Town Records as Lot #26 Originally Obadiah HOLMES now Robert WHEATON. This is on the very First Page of the Proprietors Record for Rehoboth. Robert FULLER is granted 20 acres at Jeffries Creek, Salem the 26th day of 12th month 1643 [February 1644] also draws lot #43 January 1st 1644 for Rehoboth. Richard BOWEN of Weymouth drew lot #58.
Samuel NEWMAN was a popular cleric in Weymouth and he was instrumental in the foundation of the congregation in Rehoboth. Among the families that followed Samuel NEWMAN from Weymouth to Rehoboth were John and Ralph ALLEN; Richard BOWEN; Samuel BUTTERWORTH; William CARPENTER; Thomas CLIFTON; John HOULBROOKE; Robert MARTIN; Matthew PRATT; John READ; William, Edward and Henry SMITH, and Robert TITUS and perhaps others. Some estimates say the number could be as high as 40 families migrated from Weymouth to Rehoboth. It is very interesting to note that the two sisters Alice and Sarah BOWEN end up living next to each other in Rehoboth’s “Ring of Green” as Robert WHEATON and Robert FULLER’s lots adjoin each other! Besides Robert WHEATON and Robert FULLER, it appears Obadiah HOLMES and Roger AMIDON came from Salem and from Higham: Joseph PECK and Stephen PAINE.
Rehoboth’s “RIng of Green” The numbers of each lot refer to acreage
Two facts establish the approximate settlement in Rehoboth. “At the meeting on the 18th day of the 12th month [Feb] 1647 at a meeting of the towne it was agreed to draw lots for the new meadow and to be divided according to person and estate, only those that were under Ł150 estate to be made up to 150. Robert WHEATON drew lot 25, Robert FULLER lot 7, and Obadiah HOLMES lot 21. Richard BOWEN is not included but is in divisions before and after so I conclude his estate was more then Ł150. The population at this point would not have exceeded 100 freeman and likely closer to 70. By this point all men would have been well acquainted in Rehoboth. In the center of the Ring pictured above would be the Meeting House which would be the church as well. We have the birth of Robert and Sarah (BOWEN) WHEATON’s first child, Obadiah, in Rehoboth recorded as 20 Jan 1647. Obadiah HOLMES may have sold their lands in Salem about the same time in 1645. Obadiah sold his holdings in Salem by 1645, removing himself and his family to Rehoboth the same year, and becoming a member of Reverend Samuel NEWMAN’s church. Although we do not have a date for Robert’s sale of his Salem property it is likely about the same time, quite possibly their two wives travelling there together.
Comment: I have often wondered if Obadiah WHEATON was named for Obadiah HOLMES. I just went through all the Vital record of Rehoboth and Obadiah WHEATON is the first of that given name recorded. Followed by Obadiah BOWEN 1 Sep 1651. Maybe just coincidence—but I suspect not.
Paul Chiddicks is my muse. Paul publishes popular articles in the UK version of Family Tree Magazine and also authors the Blog The Chiddicks Family Tree. He often writes something that is the impetus for my own blog posts. Such was the case this morning when I read his post Ethical Dilemmas and How To Approach Them. I suggest reading his post first so you have an idea what I am responding to. Paul and I do not always agree, but I do love him for what he provokes in me. Paul thinks deeply about things and his responsibility as a genealogist and family historian.
The title of this blog post is provocative for a reason. I believe that keeping secrets and sanitizing the past is creating fiction. I know that many will disagree, and that is okay with me. I am a truth teller and I like to clearly separate fact from fiction. I don’t like secrets, never have. As a trained counselor I have had to keep many of them. I believe secrets often harm, more than they help. I will try to explain that more fully in my ramble here. But first off let’s’ take a short detour and talk about history.
HISTORY
Skeleton displayed at the Visitor Center at Stonehenge
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
George Santayana
History is the study of past events usually described from a particular person’s viewpoint. When we reach the time when written history does not exist we call that Pre-history. As a genetic-genealogist I have watched as DNA has taken the “facts” of Pre-history and turned them on their heads. Time and time again, what we thought we knew, turns out to be a lie: pure fiction. Whether it is the belief that Neanderthals and modern humans never mated (LIE) to whose ancestors turns out to be a slaver or an enslaved person (TRUTH). If we are going to examine the past and tell the stories of our ancestors we will face the uncomfortable decision of whether to “gloss over” or ignore the truth, thus continuing the lie, or confronting it and telling the truth. I know that my good friend Roberta Estes who writes the blog DNAExplained has confronted many difficult stories, some very close to her. She has told them with great grace and courage.
The great swath of human history is at once a sordid tale of brutal violence: man’s injustice to man, with hints of uncompromising beauty and the will to survive. But much of our history is mundane and often tragic. While the hero of the story stands triumphant at the top of the hill—what did it cost others for him to get there? If as we get up in years we examine our own lives and hold them up to the tall tales of a sanitized past we will come up quite short. We will be comparing our lives with that of legends and fairytales.
“We read to know we are not alone.”
William Nicholson’s Shadowlands
I would argue we study family history to know we are not alone as well. We look for traces of ourselves and clues to who we are , in those that have gone before us. Perhaps, as some have argued this is driven by narcissism, but I argue it is to try to make sense of who we are in a world that is always trying to make us less than in order to sell us something we don’t need, to make us feel better about ourselves. From a shiny new sports car to botox injections we have taken living a lie to new depths. In my parents generation there were many things you didn’t talk about—or did so only behind closed doors. Now we pretend those things don’t happen here or worse yet tell so many lies we can no longer find or recognize the truth. Let’s take suicide which is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States and 3rd cause of death for 15-24 year olds. Let us say you have discovered a history of suicide in your family. Is it a proper thing to keep that a secret? Especially when we know it has a high genetic component?
LETTERS
Milo’s Letters
Paul wrote ” Just because an ancestor lived and died 150 years ago, does that give us the right to publicise their criminal past or private letters, or mental health issues for example?” The answer to that question is not completely straightforward as written materials and the right to publish them follow inheritance laws. During a person’s lifetime the right to publish clearly belongs to the writer. After their death the recipient maintains the right of ownership, but the right to publish belongs to the estate or heirs of the writer’s estate. Most items published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain. Unpublished letters and family photographs, are copyrighted for the life of the creator plus 70 years. So to answer Paul’s question yes we do have the right to publicize a 150 year old letter and generally speaking criminal and health records where extant are free game. But I think the deeper question he is getting at is should we? My reply is generally, yes. Perhaps that is a bit easier for me to answer unequivocally, because I have no living biological siblings or anyone living in my parents generation. But it is also true because I think the most honorable way to pay respect to my ancestors is to see them in their totality. Not as cardboard cutouts, but as living breathing humans in all their challenges and complexities.
Let me give a couple of examples. I have a 3 inch binder of my grandfather’s correspondence with his siblings in the later years of his life [photo above]. I have both their letters to him and carbon copies of his letters to them. So both sides of the story. In a phone conversation with a second cousin I was able to answer her own family mystery because I was able to read to her, directly from her grandmother’s letter to my grandfather. I also was able to discover the circumstances of my father’s wounds received when he was a marine, landing on Saipan during World War II, through a letter my grandfather wrote to my grandmother describing what had happened. The true horror of war is only to be discovered in making it personal in such a profound way. Yes, I do believe in making these public and sharing them. Knowing what my Dad went through during the war has helped fill in many pieces of his story I did not understand. Now I understand that he suffered from PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress DIsorder] but I did not understand it then as a child growing up in an often tumultuous household.
The most poignant letter I have is one my grandfather wrote but never sent. It is 3+ typewritten pages and was crumpled to throw out and then kept. Perhaps as a guidepost for one of his progeny to find. It is a letter written to his brother. It highlights his struggles to maintain a household and his sanity while taking care of his wife who is falling deeper and deeper into dementia. His closing line ” If I read this stuff over I will not send it, and you will not have a letter.” I have not chosen to share it and not sure that “I” will as I knew my grandfather well. However, I suspect he would be okay with me if I do chose to do so. He had his dignity which in the rawness of this letter remains intact. What he exposes is the human condition at its best and worse, in the dark nights of the soul.
SECRETS
I only have one family secret, that I have kept, that continues to haunt me. It happened quite a long time ago. It was a secret that I was not asked to be a party to, but that the holder decided to confess to me. It was a woman who had a child out of wedlock, over half a century before her telling me. She surrendered her child, to her sister and husband and the child was raised as their own. That child was deceased, but had children. When the secret keeper died, I happened to be on a board that was the recipient of a bequest. And there was a clause in that bequest—that loosely translated—said “speak now or forever hold your peace.” In the end I said nothing, because I believed the secret keeper, had the opportunity to to divulge the secret and had chosen not to. So I followed her lead. However as a genetic genealogist I thought of all the consternation that would cause someone in the future. I truly believe the grandchildren have a right to know that their great aunt was really their grandmother. It will be someone else’s muddle to resolve–but I suspect it will be someday.
Another thing I have learned through doing genetic genealogy for twelve years now, history has a habit of repeating itself. The adopted, give up children for adoption. Non-paternal events or Not Parentage Expected [NPE] tend to run in families. The very first page of my website I wrote was Dealing with the Unexpected Result. This was before I did my own atDNA testing and found my own secret. I had an ancestor who had enslaved ancestry and I had enslavers lurking in my family tree. That is probably worthy of its own blog post but needless to say I have embraced that secret because it informs who I am. It makes history real in a very personal way. When history is held at arm’s length—because we either can’t relate or because it is painful makes George Santanya’s quote manifest. I would argue you that we should feel discomfort when exposing the past. We should weigh the consequences and do so for solid reasons not in order to exploit the past but to inform the future on which we build.
Probably the most difficult secrets have involved incest. these are sometimes exposed through DNA testing and I personally believe it is among the most difficult things to grapple with. I try to deal with these instances with kindness, compassion and support. I do offer the person an out, before delivering any such news. And I do continue to support them in their search for truth.
DIARIES
Lulu’s Diary
Diaries are perhaps even more special than old letters as they are windows to a person’s soul. Most diaries are written without the writer intending for them ever to become public. In a way they are a person’s unvarnished history as they see it, or chose to set it down on paper. Such was the case with my great grandmother Lulu’s diary that she requested her daughter burn upon Lulu’s death. The daughter did not follow her mother’s wishes and kept the diary and it was passed down to my second cousin. He believed it was worthy of being published and felt it should get read by a wider audience. He scanned the original and sent to me and copies were distributed among the extended family. Several of us worked on transcription and I did the annotation. I came to know and love a great grandmother who died nearly 25 years before I was born. If not for her diary I would know very little about her and would not know the parts of her that connect me to her as a kindred spirit. Although her life circumstances are very different I can recognize parts of my grandfather, my father and myself in her. But why I chose to publish her diary on my blog had really very little to do with me and more to do with how important it is to get the voices of our ancestors out to a broader audience. In large part her story is about family and music and the mundanities of life. But it is also the tell of the suffrage movement on a personal level. It is the story of a woman trapped in a marriage with a mentally disturbed and abusive man and what it took for her to survive. While given the time she wrote it I am sure should would not have wanted it publicized, but her story is one of an ordinary woman dealing with life’s challenges. She is an inspiration to me and perhaps to others stumbling upon A Soprano’s Aria. You can find all 37 chapters here. You tell me if it was better burned? It is the history of the San Francisco Bay Area seen through the eyes of a middle aged housewife from the midwest.
So again thank you Paul for asking the questions. I am reminded of a training I once went through for hiring teachers. We ended up developing interview questions that were so revelatory that I still remember mine. The question I developed and got to pose during the interview was this. “You have just been to a meeting where it was disclosed that there would be staff layoffs. You are not allowed to disclose what you learned. Later that day a fellow teacher asks you about the rumored layoffs. They say ‘I don’t know whether to go out and do my Christmas shopping knowing that some of us may be laid off.’ What do you do?” I was told many a time that was the hardest question they had ever been asked. It was in fact a moral dilemma. The teachers being interviewed struggled with getting the answer correct. What they didn’t know is there was no right answer. What we were after was evidence of the struggle. The weighing of morals that demonstrated, they had some. Those that did not struggle with their responses were not considered for hire. I think the key is to recognize the risk in revealing secrets but also the risk in not revealing them.
All of life is a struggle, for some more than others. So I ask do you, do you want to write history or fiction? Is the purpose to exploit or enhance our understanding of the past and the human condition. Therein lies my answer.
This blog post grows out of number of things. An article on Self Healing Concrete, a conversation with my 98 year old neighbor, Mary and another conversation with my friend Jean. How lost knowledge is such a remarkable, but common place event. So many secrets are waiting to be rediscovered. We have been here before.
ROMAN SELF HEALING CONCRETE
First let’s look at self healing concrete. Please read the article linked above for the full story, but here we have e crux of it:
“Previously disregarded as merely evidence of sloppy mixing practices, or poor-quality raw materials, the new study suggests that these tiny lime clasts gave the concrete a previously unrecognized self-healing capability.”
David L. Chandler | MIT News Office January 6, 2023
Lime clast gives ancient Roman concrete self healing qualities that have proved to be much more durable than what we produce today.
“Rome’s famed Pantheon, which has the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome and was dedicated in A.D. 128, is still intact, and some ancient Roman aqueducts still deliver water to Rome today. Meanwhile, many modern concrete structures have crumbled after a few decades.”
David L. Chandler | MIT News Office January 6, 2023
Not everything is as we have assumed. Ancient man was not as primitive as we thought. Maybe complex culture did not just spring out of nowhere. Whether the empire was Greek, Roman, portuguese or British. it was built an earlier ones.
JUNK DNA
We are always assuming that we know much more today, than cultures and civilizations of the past. That turns out to be only partly true. We still have much to discover from our forebears. We we “conveniently” forget again and again.
It makes me think of YDNA YSTRS, previously categorized by scientists as “junk DNA.” When I began my DNA journey the idea that there was DNA that served no purpose did not make any sense to me. It didn’t matter whether I knew the purpose—in my gut I believe nature is much smarter than we (humans) think we are. Turns out only about 2% of our DNA encodes for proteins, but the rest provides redundancy and its own self healing properties.
“even beyond the question of its functionality (or lack of it), researchers are beginning to appreciate how noncoding DNA can be a genetic resource for cells and a nursery where new genes can evolve.”
A conversation yesterday with Mary, 98, we were talking about the 275 year old Valley Oak that tumbled over during our recent storms. Mary was born not more than a mile from where she lives now—and she is a storehouse of acquired knowledge and experience. She surprised me by saying, “Valley oaks often uproot along with (non-native) Eucalyptus trees.” They blow over in supersaturated soils during storms. She then said, “I have never seen a Live Oak topple that way.” And what is interesting is that Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia) is susceptible to sudden oak disease, but not Valley Oak (Quercus lobata). They both grow in interior valleys of California. Here is some wisdom based on experience and I am inclined to think I would rather have a live oak near my house than a similarly aged valley oak. Many of our very old valley oaks are under stress from years of drought and they are past the prime of their life cycles. Wisdom born of experience…
SACRED SPOTS AND ANCIENT WISDOM
St Andrews Well, Stogursey, Somerset England
Jean and I have frequently talked about the wisdom of the past and how previous empires and civilizations were built on the foundations of earlier human knowledge. Holy sites are one place that there seems to be some memory of earlier incarnations. Holy wells and springs may go back thousands of years, or more. Many churches are built upon earlier “sacred sites.” A Celtic place of worship may have become a Roman one followed by an Anglo-Saxon church and finally a more modern one. The same is true of Celtic Hill forts often an earthwork located on an elevated location or rise for defensive advantages. They are typical in Bronze and Iron Age Europe. The Romans later built upon them and called them “oppidum.” As I have previously written about the hill fort at Lugdunum (Lyon, France) it is located well above the banks of the Saône River. How many of our cities and towns around the world are built on the banks of rivers , that periodically flood? What wisdom has been lost? The historical memory of nature that we largely ignore today.
But like a child’s game of telephone over centuries and millennium some of the knowledge and wisdom is lost, discounted, or simply ignored. I can’t help but muse on how much is lost in the onslaught of the “information age.” Especially when things move so quickly and anything old and ancient is dismissed as irrelevant. In humankind’s rush to control nature we have forgotten so much. We ignore nature’s wisdom at our peril.
BEAVERS
Beaver dam and Aspen trees
Some of you know that I have long been interested in beavers. It began in my teens when I spent a year in Pennsylvania where I became well acquainted with a beaver colony on Cowley Run, near Sizerville State Park. I knew nothing about beavers when I began, but scoured the local library for everything I could find. And then spent many hours watching them as they came out at dusk. And in an interesting twist of fate my son, a Professor at Utah State University, is a fluvial geomorphologist with a special emphasis on river restoration. He with many others turned to beavers, known as nature’s engineers. Known as a keystone species this lowly rodent holds great promise in helping to rejuvenate our arid wildlands and help prevent soil erosion, flooding and provide protection from fires. Nearly hunted to extinction for their pelts, these fascinating creatures have much to teach us. For a great read I recommend Ben Goldfarb’s Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter. I think of my son’s elderly friend Jay whose knowledge of the history of his ranch in Idaho led to his quest to reintroduce beavers and let them set the land right again.
History and nature have much to teach us. From how we are to survive cataclysmic events from sea level rise to floods to fire storms. Nature and humans have seen these things before. Rather than demand nature to agree to our terms, perhaps we need to be be informed by the wisdom of our past. There’s another book I recommend specifically about water by Erica Gies, called Water Always Wins. we need to see ourselves not as wiser than nature—not wiser than the civilizations before us, but rather a part of a continuum. It’s not the latest IPhone or pursuit of worldly goods that will improve our lives. The oldest among us and their wealth of experience and knowledge are being squandered and ignored. What can they teach us before they are gone?
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
– George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905
As a genealogist and family historian I have always valued what my elders had to teach me. Many of my contemporaries could never understand that. Now reaching elder status myself, I wonder how much of what I have learned will be lost. I remember as a young teen after my grandfather died, how much of his wisdom I had not gained. How we each start anew chasing our tails rather than building on the hard fought knowledge of our elders. I don’t know how to fix that—but I know in my bones that it is of critical importance to our survival.
Winter Solstice 2022. A time of year where I am keenly aware of the changing patterns of light and dark. The Celtic origin myths and the lives of the Celts were much more attune with the natural world than we are now. How they lived and even their imprint upon the earth is very different than that of people today. Perhaps the allure of the Celts, or indigenous populations worldwide, is their closer connection with mother earth. I am aware of the importance of observation of our natural world. How living closer with nature, rather than trying to dominate and impose our will upon her, may be what separates the civilized from the uncivilized in what must be the great irony of our time. In that case perhaps it is better to emulate the latter.
The first thing to know is the Celts are not a race or a tribe of people. They are a culture composed of many tribes of people who spoke a shared Celtic language. At one time, celtic speakers encompassed a very broad area across Europe. The Celts were not mysterious to themselves, but were to some with whom they had contact. They did not leave written histories, so we are dependent on the writings of the Greeks and Romans for the little we know. And this is skewed in much the same way the Pilgrims viewed the indigenous people of America.
Rainbow cups courtesy of Numisantica Creative Commons
I can’t help but note the similarities in how the invading people, viewed the natives as primitive, barbarians and savages. The Celts, like Native Americans or indigenous peoples built mainly in wood or thatch or animal skins, so little of their communities remain. They did not have an early written language that survived. Unlike the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans who built out of stone and left voluminous histories the Celts and Native American history is recorded in myth and song. Like the story of the three little pigs it was the house of brick that survives. When my son lived in Wales I learned that the Welsh or Cymraeg language survived attempts to eliminate it, through singing Cymraeg in church. What survives, and how it survives says much about the need of dominant cultures– to destroy the heroes of the culture they attempt to eliminate. Destroying structures and icons of the past is part of an assimilation process designed to erase the previous cultures power.
We see this in religion as well as material structure. Remove the statues of the saints or gods from churches and sacred shrines, replace pagan holidays with Christian ones. Build your forts, palaces or churches on the sacred spaces that came before them. It is such an ancient pattern that we have a word for it acculturation. But the word hardly suffices to embody the violence and the attempt at historical erasure this often encompasses. The world of the Celts is mysterious because so little of it survived and because often there exists a concerted effort for its history to be obliterated. The wisdom traditions of so many “primitive” people may hold keys to our own survival as we face major climate change. Humans have faced such events before.
The Celts as a culture followed earlier cultures, but generally are said to have arisen in the Iron age from the Halstatt culture about 750-450 BCE and from thence to the La Tene culture about 450 BCE to 50 CE. Where we have the most data on the Celts is from DNA and early burials. The Celts did not become a culture in isolation, rather they are part of extensive trading network that showed the in and outflow of many different cultures. You see this in the development of Celtic coins which were heavily influenced by the Greek and Romans. The Celts operated under a barter economy and did not use money in the traditional sense. They began minting their own coins in about the 250 BC and were fashioned after the familiar Greek coins. What they called the coins, their denomination and value and the symbols they used can only be guessed at. They do show many of the stylized elements found in other Celtic artefacts with a strong emphasis on nature and curvilinear designs. As the Romans moved into formerly Celtic lands, Celtic coins became more commonplace and continued to be minted until their defeat by Rome.
I always think about where indigenous people built their communities. Not in the floodplain or forests, but the Celts built dunon, or oppida as the Romans called their hilltop forts, usually built on low hilltops, adjacent a waterway, but not in the mighty river’s path. Observing and living in close contact with the earth you learn how to stay out of harm’s way and learn how to create defensible space. According to Graham Lobb in his book ‘France: An Adventure History’; the Celts built impenetrable hedges by notching tender sapling branches together on either side and threading them through with brambles and thorns. These hedges if you recognize them today, are all that remain of the Celts of Gaul. His description seems very much the description of a hedgerow anywhere in Britain.
The road to Aberdyfi with hedgerow and rainbow
The patterns of so called primitive cultures informs practices of today and we seldom take note at all. A “sacred spring”Camp de Cesar’ actually a Celtic dunon, an ancient Roman road built upon an earlier Celtic one. In the ancient game of subsuming it is likely that the later culture built upon something of value and then forgot where it came from. On this auspicious day let us not forget that we, and everything we have ever built, is due to the careful observation of people for more attune to mother earth than we are.
I am the wind on the sea; I am the wave of the sea; I am the bull of seven battles; I am the eagle on the rock I am a flash from the sun; I am the most beautiful of plants; I am a strong wild boar; I am a salmon in the water; I am a lake in the plain; I am the word of knowledge; I am the head of the spear in battle; I am the god that puts fire in the head; Who spreads light in the gathering on the hills? Who can tell the ages of the moon? Who can tell the place where the sun rests?
Wheaton Wood 