American Journeys
This is a “breather” thread from the more intense ones dealing with our frustrating HC battles. It is entirely based on a PJ Media piece, an excellent and inspiring video called:
or, as Bill Whittle says:
You can’t be grateful and unhappy at the same time!
Here Bill Whittle details his own family’s history, telling a story of large families enjoined by biographies of hard work, short lives and forward goals of their children living better lives than their parents.
It is a 100% an “American” story, one that most of us can relate to in culling through our own backgrounds. What it points out is that our country was stitched together, not by the efforts of an elitist crowd, but by the untiring work of the common man attempting, in his own way, to have his offspring be more exemplary — or “exceptional,” something Obama is always on the move to erase! In the film it is stated as follows:
It’s the dirty people, not the powdered ones, who built this country!
My own family, on my dad’s side, arose from the coal mines of Michigan. Fourteen Catholic-indoctrinated children from a dirt-poor family was it’s make-up. Most of the children remained in Michigan, following the tradition of working the mines. My dad, however, road a freight train out west and started a new life and family here — a courageous decision which made me a recipient of more advantages than my father ever had.
My grandmother, an immigrant from Prussia, lived with her large family on the North Dakota prairie. She experienced being burned out by a rampaging prairie fire, seeking shelter temporarily in caves, and relocating to a sod-roofed home, which, by today’s standards, would be very eco-friendly. In those days, though, it was done for survival purposes, using the materials that were readily available to you. Her husband was eventually elected AG of North Dakota, only to die suddenly from undiagnosed stomach cancer before he had even taken office. Could he have benefited from Obamacare? Hmmmmm….probably not: too long of a wait for a Dx and Tx.
Penniless, my grandmother and Mom came out to CA to rebuild their lives, living in a small guesthouse behind an Aunt, babysitting children and receiving a stipend from the rental of their ND farm land as a way to make ends meet. My Mom was Valedictorian of her high school, but was too poor to go to college. No government loans for her! She went to secretarial school instead, met my father at a dance and together they were able to combine their humble beginnings, creating a more stable, financially secure environment in which to raise their children.
This is how America evolved and grew, by a meshing of innumerable lifetime family journeys, usually not involving any government entitlement programs, hand-outs or ploys. It was the strength of the individual, augmented by love and commitment to their family that pulled America through, time and time again, in order to become the striking country of ingenuity, freedoms, and an unusually high standard of living, for so many people, that it is today.
Why then is there such a rush to dilute our hard-fought rights? Has America really lost it’s way? Maybe by reexamining our fertile history, more people will come back to their senses and appreciate what our ancestors have so graciously given us — something, by the way, we are not doing for our own children!
What are your stories?
[1]
While out for a jogging journey always check behind you once in awhile.
[2]
#1 Oh that is awful!!!
[3]
“You can’t be grateful and unhappy at the same time!”
—
Yes you can.
[4]
I’m grateful that I’m not obama, but unhappy that he is.
[5]
KH
You are just a unique soul!
[6]
I am, but apparently not that unique.
[7]
We are all created in God’s image.
[8]
red alert
Prepare for an estrogen bomb.
(perhaps eph has been stealing uteruses again)
[9]
But – next year it will be “in Obama’s image” as he taking over the job of …!
[10]
Estrogen….simply enough…….is God’s curse on man. ——from urban dictionary!
[11]
God gave each of us full measures of life’s cup,
It is up to each to fill it to the fullest.
[12]
Estrogen
Simple enough, why all the concern
[13]
My family has an interesting story, but man it would take too long to write.
[14]
God gave each of us full measures of life’s cup,
It is up to each to fill it to the fullest. comment by drdog09
Speaking of filling cups! Dang, I gotta go to the doctor tomorrow.
[15]
A cup full of alpo makes the HC go down,
A cup full of alpo takes away mutley”s frown,
[16]
Hey, drdog, would love to hear the cliff notes version!
[17]
MIC, good luck on the physical. Got my results back just last week and the Doc recommended I eat more hard cheeses. Good cholesterol was almost too low.
[18]
post 12 inop
[19]
Mutley’s need omega 3
[20]
A cup full of alpo takes away mutley”s frown, — IP
As I remember the Mutley version on TV eons ago it was a dog biscuit that took away the frown. At least me thinks….
[21]
Thanks drdog, I eat hard cheeses everyday and it is the one thing he dooes not want me to eat. I am addicted to it. The sharper the better. I order stuff from northern Michigan that will make the hair on Pelosi’s chest curl. Ha
[22]
When I look back on what generations before us had to go through just to exist, it makes me wonder if I could do the same.
The “timber” of our grandparents seemed much more solid and less vulnerable to the everyday disappointments that seem to shake those of us living in 2010.
That is why I was so taken with the Whittle conversation, as it represented one man’s family that could be multiplied by millions which represents the “human” history that went before all of us!
[23]
Hmmm. Post 12 worked for me.
[24]
Actually, guys, it’s the drops in estrogen that cause problems.
[25]
ip’s post # 8 started this you know!! Always getting us all stirred up, eh ip?
[26]
Dr. D., you should write it out. I’d like to hear it.
Jan, I really enjoyed reading your post. I love family stories.
[27]
IP, I take Omega3 pills three times a week. But my bod has an absorption problem I guess.
MIC, I love a hard sharp cheddar. Whole Foods has an excellent brand but it is pricey. Best cheese selection I ever had my hands on was the Italian Market in Philly. They had a Gorgonzola that was to die for.
[28]
Thanks INC.
I do too.
Even as a child, I preferred my grandmother’s prairie stories to fairy tales. She not only passed on all the hardships of the day, but all the quirky family stuff and good morals for a young child to ponder and absorb into their own life.
[29]
Black diamond hard cheddar from canada~~muy bueno.
[30]
Hmm. Haven’t heard of that brand. Will have to look out for it.
[31]
yum yum
[32]
I’ve been out most of the day. Just checking in to see if I have a HC enima, but judging by the leisurely cheese and estrogen banter, I will guess no. Family history, my grandmother was a full blooded American Indian.
[33]
TLS — what tribe?
[34]
Cheroke. she married a full blooded Englishman. So unfortunately, I am stubborn and proud
[35]
Health care fight
[36]
ip-Black Diamond is great stuff. Don’t slice it-just break it off and enjoy.
[37]
TLS
Wow, what a combination! Nothing wrong with being both proud and stubborn. One supports the other = tenacity!
[38]
I have always gravitated towards Indian goods — their textiles, jewelry, leather goods and what not.
[39]
When we were kids my mom and dad use to give us this herbal Indian tea from the upper peninsula when we got sick. They mixed it with whiskey. I don’t think it cured us but we felt a hell of a lot better.
[40]
Great video
[41]
I’m not a very good Indian obviously, I misspelled Cherokee
#39 lol! Yeah, my grandmother used to cook plants out of the yard. She made dandelion wine in barrel and cooked the best fish you ever ate.
[42]
TLS
Blame it on a typo!
[43]
Wow, what a combination! Nothing wrong with being both proud and stubborn. One supports the other = tenacity!
That’s not what my husband calls it
[44]
Ok. You asked for it.
* Mother’s side of the family. Family name Meisch, originates from Lichtenstein, though the name probably further back is bavarian German. Ancestor emigrated to the US in the 1860’s.
* Settled in Johnstown area. Yes they survived the flood of 1889. Moved to Union Town closer to the steel mills. My great grandmother hung clothes in the basement to dry. To hang them outside was to turn them black with coal dust according to her letters
* G,G,G,Grandfather served two terms as PA state Senator.
* 1893 the family moved to Florida via covered wagon with Gen. Sanford under a Florida land grant program. Trip took approximately 3mo according to my Dad’s research. 4 men died of malaria soon after arrival. This was the founding of Sanford, Fla.
* Three generations of Meisch ran one of the larger celery farms in the area. Land was not much good for anything else due to high water table. Crops were sent via rail to east coast cities. Depression destroyed the market and much of the farm had to be sold off. The balance was sold off when the Naval Air Station arrived.
* Grandfather passed away in 1958. Grandmother in 1972.
* They all were tough old birds. Great Grandfather was known to get in minor street brawls and threatened to buy out the local bank more than once for charging him too much.
[45]
http://www.sanfordfl.gov/tour/wtour.pdf
See p. 16 for the Meisch building.
[46]
Wow, what a history, drdog!
Steel mills, celery farms, PA Senator — all very colorful. And, you are able to go way back to great grandparents.
Like I said, when you hear about these early stories of survival and toil, it makes what we do today seem rather mundane and not daunting at all!
[47]
That’s remarkable they went through the Johnstown Flood.
[48]
TLS, we are related–way back when.
I had a great-great-great-great grandmother who was Cherokee and her husband was a half-breed. Our story is that they were with those on the Trail of Tears forced by the Feds to leave the Appalachian mountains. They dropped out in Illinois (this is how I had Yankees sneak into my family tree!
).
Their grandson was an attorney who bought and published a Republican newspaper in Illinois. He fought for the Yankees and moved to Florida after the Civil War.
My dad was a history and geneological fanatic.
I suppose I am a mixed bag when it comes to reparations!!!
[49]
INC, thanks for the link! That would be John Meisch Jr. as his dad Sr. was still kicking in ‘23. Have you been back there anytime recently? Its been a decade for me.
Janzam, my dad has been doing genealogy for the last 15 years. That is how I know most of this.
[50]
The last time I drove through Sanford was about 6 years ago. I have vague memories of going there as a child because my mom had a friend who lived there.
[51]
excellent thread janzam, thanks!
we got deep into the genealogy a couple years back, and it was indeed wonderful to discover our ancestors. They struggled, fought in our wars, raised huge families (losing too many young ones way too soon), and ultimately helped build this country…just like the ancestors of all y’all.
And to a man and woman they would stand in OUTRAGE at what is being done to this country right now. I’m sorry…I’ll feel more like relating stories from my family’s past later. Today, this week, I am consumed with what is happening…and getting madder by the moment.
[52]
INC – I’m in good company then. My grandmother’s family made it as far as Ohio, which is where I was born. I’m related to President Harding on her husband’s side, although he wasn’t much of a President. I do find it interesting that Harding was believed by some to be part black. I wish I had proof to break the magic spell of Obama. My mother’s side of the family is German, although they were here prior to WWI.
[53]
My sister spoke at my dad’s memorial service last year, and mentioned that he dragged us around to every battlefield in the Southeast. One of my third cousins (Southerners are like hobbits, you know, when it comes to family trees) told me later that her dad did the same thing.
My brother had volumes of books on English history. He could recite the British rulers since the time they’d made any claim to a title just about (long before William the Conqueror).
I have no recent immigrants in the family tree and the very early stories are lost. Some of my family came to the US in Colonial days.
[54]
Ohio is where my Dad’s side of the family came from. Around Danville I believe.
[55]
TLS–hey, that’s neat to know!
[56]
Oh wow. I remember the vacation from hell. My Dad did the same thing. Seem like he tried to hit every battlefield from Arlington to Vicksburg in 3 weeks. I was glad to see it end.
[57]
Dr. D., whenever there was a movie with any historical implication/origin on TV, then my dad would give us a mini-lecture with additional facts and trivia!
[58]
You mean you only had one vacation touring battlefields!!!
[59]
HC update? http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/16/cnn-obamacare-opponents-11-votes-away-from-killing-the-bill/
[60]
TLS~~what part of Ohio??
[61]
ONLY 11~~!!! we’re dead in the water.
[62]
My dad had family from north central Tennessee (I still have relatives in Nashville and surrounds). My great-great-great-grandfather fought with Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812 (hopefully fighting with and not against MFG’s family!!
). The TVA flooded the family farm and it’s now at the bottom of Dale Hollow Lake. (My maiden name is Dale). To my everlasting chagrin my family was friends with Cordell Hull.
My great-grandfather was the black sheep of the family. He would go up to Kentucky and bet on the horse races and could figure out odds in his head (this is where the math streak in the family comes from).
[63]
Yeah, thank God! Dad got the florida lobster bug soon after and we ended up in Marathon for about 8 yrs straight chasing ‘bugs’. That’s a lot more fun for a kid.
Besides once you have see one 6# brass on a trunnion you have seen them all, being mass produced.
[64]
IP – I was born in Clarksville, southern part of the state.
INC – If your interested, here is info on Harding’s black history.
http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/did-republicans-elect-americas-first-black/
[65]
Wow–much better to be down in the Keys.
[66]
IP, I don’t know, there are a whole slew of uncommitted Dims. So 11 is a small target.
[67]
Thanks, TLS.
You know, I never really think of Obama as black. His life history is totally different.
I never had any problem believing that the US would someday elect a black President. I always hoped he would be a clone of Thomas Sowell.
[68]
housing construction -5.9 % last month.
[69]
My great-great grandfather Dale (remarkably named Andrew! –and the family name continues–I have a second cousin named Andrew) was one of five brothers who fought for the Confederacy.
I’m descended from his first wife. He remarried after she died and while my own great-grandfather died when I was an infant, I remember the three children from the second family. It’s always been kind of strange to realize I talked with someone who talked with someone who fought in the Civil War.
[70]
KH – they’re blaming it on the weather, giving Obama’s economy a pass.
[71]
Great post, Jan
My mother was born in Cleveland, one of six kids in the middle of the depression, dirt poor; came of age with Pearl Harbor, joined the military and worked as a court reporter, worked some of the Nazi war crimes trials
She met my Dad in Europe, he was an attorney in the JAG, they married in Switzerland, they’re both gone now
I have the watch he bought in Switzerland in 1946 on my wrist as I type; keeps perfect time today
The WWII generation is fading away and it’s sad to see
The depression and WWII formed who they both were, for good or for ill
What you might call “ordinary heroes”, my Mom and Dad
Miss them both…
[72]
see the problem JR is causing. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/16/house-phone-lines-frozen-barrage-calls-health-care-reform/
[73]
MFG, you need to tell some of your New Orleans family history.
[74]
Go here to be fulfilled on life’s journey, and get your cheese while you are at it.
[75]
On my Dad’s side, my family has lived in south Louisiana for hundreds of years; my grandfather’s grandfather was an artillery private at Shiloh, shot several times during the war, captured a year or so before the war ended, survived the Yankee prison camps which were worse, in some ways, than being a soldier subject to combat
[76]
he would be a clone of Thomas Sowell. — INC
If ONLY!! Were he on the ballot I would vote for him in a heartbeat. The Libs would be apoplectic. Be like watching Harry Truman, reincarnate.
[77]
I have traced my family back to 1840 which is the birth year of my Confederate ancestor but no further
The family history is that two brothers came to Louisiana in the early 1700’s, one to settle in New Orleans, the other who settled in southeast Louisiana
They were fruitful and multiplied (boy did they ever!!) and have produced many, many descendants with my common (for this area of the country) French last name
[78]
MFG
You have a rich history behind you.
My husband, like you wearing your dad’s watch, has a number of things that he uses that were his father’s, who passed away almost 5 years ago. Wearing his watch, once in a while, is one of them.
[79]
cheese and mullet
[80]
My great-grandfather was so hard to get along with that my grandfather left home in his teens and came to Florida in the 1910s. He started out as a tile setter. There’s an old duPont mansion on the St. Johns river that is now a yacht club. My grandfather did the mosaic tile work on the tower of the house and on the fountain in the garden.
[81]
I have my ancestor’s “honorable discharge” from Confederate service
You may not know this, but after the war, former Confederate soldiers were issued what amounted to honorable discharge certificates detailing their service for the Confederacy giving a list of the units they were in, dates of service, etc
Fascinating stuff
[82]
The Confederate war bonds crack me up
“$500 payable in gold three years after a treaty of peace is concluded with the United States”
And similar language…
[83]
The Confederate war bonds crack me up~~MFG
May very well be worth more than U.S. bonds before we’re through.
[84]
Jan, I found my Dad’s old cufflink box last year
I thought I had gone through all of that stuff years ago, but somehow I missed this
I opened it and there were collar stays, cufflinks, an old lighter, etc
Fascinating, sad, poignant
Then I found an old unpaid traffic ticket in there, and I laughed and laughed!
[85]
Dr. D.,/#72–that’s funny!
Tonight on FOX Tucker Carlson was on the panel and he said something like where’s the organized opposition to health care. He must think we’re astroturf or something.
[86]
cheese and mullet = a fine dinner with some champipple.
That’s 7up and Ripple for you sophisticates.
[87]
My hair is gray now, but when I was younger I had red patches in my hair which often made me think of my grandmother who was a flaming redhead, the only one in the family tree
Looking in the mirror then I often thought of her
[88]
The Confederate War Bonds and Confederate currency are fascinating, very, very, intricate engraving, I’m very impressed with the craftsmanship involved
[89]
Most conf bills were copies by lithograph from northern engravings.
[90]
One of my uncles landed on D-Day
My grandfather fought in the first WW
Not a scratch on either one of them, thank God…
[91]
I just now remembered a story my Mom told me from what her Dad had told her
Soldiers in the trenches in WW1 were always looking for newspapers, as many as they could get, but not for the reason you might think
They stuffed their uniforms with them, apparently they’re very good for keeping you warm in those bitter European winters!!
[92]
They’re really cool looking IP, I have a handful of them which have come down to me
[93]
86, I have a niced smoked mullet cheese dip recipe. Hopefully not involved with any of your kin….
[94]
The two uncles that raised my dad both served on B-24’s in the Pacific theatre. They were a year apart when they entered the Air Corps both ended up in B-24’s, in the same Air Group, though not under the same wing command. One a bombardier the other a navigator.