Probably not. Sorry, but the chances that you are kin to America’s favorite industrialist are slim. Most people don’t have rich, exciting, drop-dead gorgeous ancestors. Now you’re wondering if Henry Ford was good-looking. Trust me, he was. He looked like Tom Riddle in the second “Harry Potter” movie. You know, the one where they kill the big snake.
My point is that most people don’t have legendary relatives; they descend from ordinary people. However, the fact that your ancestors led typical lives shouldn’t stop you from doing genealogical research. Your family history will interest you because it belongs to you.
There are no celebrities, scandals or Tom Riddle look-alikes in my family history. All my family members before 1950 were Virginian farmers and laborers. They didn’t have a lot of money, and many of them couldn’t read. I always imagine them wearing straw hats and overalls like Huckleberry Finn, but I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t. I’m the only one who is allowed to stereotype my uneducated, hillbilly ancestors. Even though they weren’t titans of industry, their stories interest me. For example, I learned that one side of my family previously owned land in the Shenandoah National Park area. Then the FDR administration, eager to build the park, stole all of their land and kicked them out of their home. Cool, right? Isn’t that a fun familial anecdote? I encourage you to go out there and discover why your great-grandparents hated Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Another seemingly boring part of my family history is the fact that everybody was from Virginia. We’re all from Albemarle County or Southampton County. If you’re not familiar with Virginian geography and you don’t understand context clues, those are two counties in this beautiful state. While it would be cool to have some family in different regions, it is also interesting to be surrounded by my ancestry. I just found out that my great-grandfather died in the University hospital. Isn’t that freaky? I live next to the University hospital! If my great-grandfather were a ghost, we’d be next-door neighbors. For the record, I don’t believe in ghosts. I don’t believe in magic either. I’m an old, jaded woman who does not believe in fantasy and enchantment. However, I do enjoy the little things, like the fact that I live 20 minutes away from my grandma’s first house.
Perhaps the most disappointing part of my ancestry is the staggering homogeneity. My ancestors are all white Christians with English- and Irish-sounding last names, such as “Bradshaw,” “Crawford” and “Painter.” Granted, I haven’t been able to find any information from earlier than 1860, so I won’t rule out the possibility that a bunch of confused Italians immigrated too early and changed their last names. Stranger things have happened. Regardless, I’ve found interesting things to compensate for the homogeneity. For example, we may not have any last names like “Marino” or “Esposito,” but we do have cool first names like “Liberty,” “Oleta” and “Nimrod.” What are some cool Italian first names? Silvia? Francesca? Matteo? All right, yes. Those names are pretty cool. You win this round, Italy.
So go forward and learn about your family history. If you find out you are not related to Walt Disney, Dwight D. Eisenhower or Ellen DeGeneres, that’s fine! Join the ranks of people who are satisfied with their ordinary genealogy. If you are related to one of those people, you will be so happy you did your research. Also, if you end up being related to Ellen, can you please tell her to respond to my fan letters?
Nancy-Wren Bradshaw is a Senior Associate Editor for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at n.bradshaw@cavalierdaily.com.
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