One of the great interests of many as they age is their family tree and heritage. In the midst of child rearing, challenging jobs, bills, car repairs, family activities and general chaos there is not much chance to ruminate over where our antecedents came from or indeed their history. In fact, if we have any interest, we tend to take at face value the family stories that have been passed down over the generations. And these tend to put our ancestors in the best and most interesting possible light. It is only human.
An example in my own family is the memoir my grandfather wrote for his immediate family. He was the 8th generation in this country, the original Smith having come to what was then a colony in 1653 from Scotland. The history of these early family members is scarce but begins to be filled out by the third generation with Samuel Smith III who was born in 1729. He served in the local militia and fought at Quebec in the French and Indian War. As a result, he was awarded a land grant in North Carolina. Or at least that is what my grandfather wrote. On the web, however, there are those who maintain that Samuel was never in Canada and bought the land that became the plantation called Abrams Plain outside of Oxford, North Carolina. At this remove, I cannot know what my grandfather’s sources were any more than I can the sources for the comments on the web.
However, one indisputable fact is the plantation itself. The house still stands, the original structure built by Samuel Smith with a later addition on the back. It is on the National Register of Historical Places with Samuel’s grave in the cemetery somewhere on the property. My grandfather in his memoir was taken with the fact that this early member of his family served his country not only in the French and Indian War, but the Revolutionary War as well. Himself a retired Marine general, he admired this family member’s service to his country. Yet, this very moral and upright man failed to acknowledge in his memoir that Smith’s plantation house was built by slave labor, the same labor that worked in his tobacco fields, and at his death 30 living human beings, known only by their first names, were passed on to his wife. Does that fact wipe out his service to his country? Not in the least, but it is also a fact that bears coming to the light of day.
So, my family history now includes Y. Hannah, S. Hannah, Rose, Ben, Caesar, Winney, Milley, Goin, Gloster, Harry, Laurey, Sookey, Lucy, Lenden and 20 more. While I am horrified at the thought of slavery, I am pleased to acknowledge that these lives were entwined with my predecessors, and to remember what these forgotten people added to the history of my country. And in the process, I only hope that I can examine my own assumptions, cultural heritages, and prejudices and not be blind to beliefs that harm others. That should keep me busy.