Category Archives: Writing Family History

18th century Highland weddings and recipes

In researching my Highland Scots ancestors, I was excited to see this map again. This “Scotland of Old” map is cropped from a photo I took when visiting the Pacific Northwest Highland Games at Enumclaw back in 2016. (The event will be virtual this year. Check out info here.) 

When I was growing up, this map hung at the end of our bedroom hallway (as a child, it scared me — it looked like a witch flying through the air on a broom, her cape flying out behind her). My dad hung it in our hall because of his Patterson ancestry. His surname stemmed back through his paternal line to Highland Scots, Patterson being a sept of Clan Chattan, which also encompassed Mackintoshes, McPhersons, Nobles, and others in our ancestry too. Dad was descended of Gaelic-speaking Highland Scots who immigrated to Columbiana County, Ohio circa 1804.

I’ve been working for some time now on a deep dive into the 18th century world of these Highland Gaels in order to write a historical novel about their lives. As I attempt to re-create what life was like in those times, the tiniest of details hang me up, sometimes for hours. A simple wedding scene, for instance, becomes complex on many levels.

First, because the Scottish Highlands are not one cohesive culture. The designation of “Highlands” refers to the north and west on the map above, where the larger, spacious clan boundaries are found. (The denser areas to the south and east indicate the Scottish Lowlands, more commercially connected with England to the south, and much earlier to shift to English as the predominant language.) The Highlands topography to the north and west is rife with deep glens, lakes, and snow-capped mountains, so when it comes to weddings, superstitions, and lore, the remoteness of populations led to a variety of customs. So there’s no one right answer, other than, “it depends.”

It is my good fortune that Aeneas Mackintosh of Moy wrote an 18th century account of wedding traditions in the Strathdearn valley where my book is partially set. On the morning of the wedding, Mackintosh wrote, the celebrants leave for the church,

being dressed, the Bridegroom first (preceded by a Bag pipe) having a young man on each side of him, next comes the bride with her two Maids, proceed for church; when the ceremony is over, and the partys come out, pistols and guns are fired over their heads by their acquaintances who then join, and a Cake broke over the Brides head, when a great Struggle is made for a piece of it.

Glorious, right? Gunshots and a riotous melee? The scene is exuberant and what one might expect of the Highlands. But the mention of a Cake made me wonder. What kind of Cake? Certainly, the author did not mean the elaborate tiered cakes standard at weddings of today. The quest to learn more led me to a delightful find. At archive.org, I came across a recipe book — “Cookery and Pastry” — written in 1783 by Mrs. MacIver “Teacher of those arts in Edinburgh,” wherein I found a slew of 18th century Scottish recipes — for hare soup, for broiling pigeons whole, and yes, for a yeast shortbread cake that might even come close to the mark.

We think we’re so smart

When researching for history details in pre-photography days, I’m always on the look out for paintings. Take the Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket, by Eastman Johnson, which I came across when browsing around the Art Institute of Chicago.

Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket, 1876 by Eastman Johnson

The picture offers great details of community farming life in the 19th century, and also a bit of folk history. I had permission to snap this photo, without flash, and I also photographed the interpretive sign next to it, which has this cool detail. “[The artist] carefully included a woman discovering a red ear of corn, which, according to folk tradition, would allow her to kiss the person of her choice.”

I thought of this painting and its colorful glimpse of life in former days recently when reading Letters from America by James Flint. The book gives a first person account of the author’s walk from the East Coast to the U.S. interior in 1818, the things he observed along the way, the people, the climate, the farming methods, the terrain. On September 28, 1818 while passing through Ohio, James Flint writes: “The Indian Corn is nearly ripe, and is a great crop this year. The stalks are generally about eight feet high. The people have been picking the leaves off this sort of crop, and setting them up between the rows in conical bunches, to be preserved as winter food for the cattle.” (Flint, Letters from America, pp. 41-42.)

Instantly, I pictured our modern use of bundled cornstalks as Halloween decorations, and wondered if farmers also feed cornstalks to cattle. Apparently, it’s not standard practice. In our “modern” times, the winter diet of choice for cattle is generally hay. Only recently has the method of cornstalk grazing made a come back. About ten years ago, the website drovers.com published an article about it, Cornstalks for Cow Feed Is a No-Brainer. “University of Illinois researchers found that feeding co-products and cornstalk residue in the winter can save cow-calf producers up to $1 per day per cow compared to feeding hay. Grazing cornstalks is arguably the best cost-saving strategy Midwestern cattlemen can deploy.” And the practice not only saves money. When there’s a hay shortage like the one in 2012, it can also save the lives of horses who must have hay to survive.

These disconnects crop up (sorry) surprisingly often. It bemuses me, how researchers have gone to a lot of trouble to “discover” what cattle drovers knew centuries ago. And we think we’re so smart.

Free Ohioana Book Festival this weekend, and more

As fall approaches, so do a lot of on-line events that are a boon to readers, writers, and book lovers.

The Ohioana Book Festival is this weekend, Friday, August 28- Sunday, August 30.

Since its inception in 2007, the Ohioana Book Festival has given readers the opportunity to connect with their favorite Ohio writers. The 2020 Book Festival is being held online from Friday, August 28 to Sunday, August 30 2020. It is a FREE event open to the public. For the full schedule, click here: Ohioana Book Festival 2020.

I’m honored to be one of the many “Ohio” authors this year, for my memoir How We Survive Here: Families Across Time (Coffeetown Press, 2018). Check out the whole list of authors here. Books are being sold through The Book Loft in German Village, Columbus, Ohio. (Support independent bookstores, they’re set up for online orders. And, if you’re ever in Columbus, visit The Book Loft, it’s awesome!)

Friday morning the Festival kicks off with “The Story of a Life: Memoir”, a panel discussion, 10 a.m. EST, 7 a.m. PST. For this panel I am a participant alongside Ohio memoir authors Dan Cryer, Jill Grunenwald, and Erin Hosier. Nancy Christie is the moderator; she asks probing questions about the challenges of writing our own stories and digging into our pasts.

Following that kick-off panel discussion are three packed days of presentations, on writing books of all genres, a crowdcast on Black Stories, Black Voices, on picture book illustrating, and much much more.

I hope to “see” you there!

On preservation, writing groups, and Scotland’s Faerie Hill

Great news!  My memoir How We Survive Here is a Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist, and a child-sized buckboard wagon made by the Harm & Schuster Company has been completely restored for display at the Western Reserve Historical Society. Also in this May newsletter: 6 tips for forming genealogy writing groups. For the full newsletter, click here:

More …

Phantasmic art insights

I love to visit art museums, especially when visitors are allowed to take photos. It’s a wonderful research-gathering tool, especially if you’re looking for glimpses of how people looked and lived before photography came along.

That said, paintings of some eras and peoples are easier to find than others. Lately I’ve discovered that European cultures like France, Italy, England, and Germany are better represented than places like Scotland. On a visit to the Boston Museum of Art earlier this year, I found not one single painting by a Scottish artist. I even inquired at the information desk just to be sure. No, nothing about Scotland or by Scottish artists, I was told.

Therefore, being able to visit the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh was a huge breakthrough. In honor of the October Hallowe’en month, I offer this example of one of my finds there, a painting called “The Spell.”

The brass plate beneath the painting reads:

Sir William Fettes Douglas (1822-1891)
THE SPELL
The superstition was common in many countries that it was possible, by word of power and magic, to force the dead to reveal the secrets of the unseen world. The Rosicrucians and Illuminati of the Middle Ages being especially accused of violating the tombs for this unholy purpose.

Beside the painting is a further explanation of the artwork (I also take photos of those so I can identify the paintings when I get back home):

The magician here is endeavoring to raise the spirit of a dead man. The mood of the painting is enhanced by the number of strange diagrams and mathematical calculations together with the glimpse of moonlit water and ancient standing stones.

It’s awesome to go to museums themselves for this type of elucidation about the art and artist, the time period, and more. The next best thing is exploring art images online. This week, for instance, I happened upon the Scottish artist Thomas Faed. His work is a wonderful glimpse into the life of Scots in the 19th century. Using Google search, type in “Thomas Faed artist” and then select images for a wonderful overview of his paintings.

Tips for family history albums

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“The New Bonnet” 1858 by Francis William Edmond, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, NY

Two weekends ago, I gave a session at the Write on the Sound Conference in Edmonds called “For the Record,” about ways to write about and publish your family history. A popular approach is to design a “family history album” online. Many sites will assist with genealogy “scrapbooks” or family history albums. A few links to vendors are found on Cyndis list here.

"The Power of Music" 1847, William Sidney Mount Cleveland Art Museum

“The Power of Music” 1847, William Sidney Mount
Cleveland Art Museum

Additional options for creating an album: Snapfish, Shutterfly, and my friend David Williams’s favorite Magcloud. These companies provide design templates and instructions for uploading text, photos and graphics to create your personal album. At Magcloud, you can give relatives and friends the option of downloading the digital book for free, and/or buying a hard copy edition for a pretty fair price.

"The Penny Wedding" 1819 by Alexander Carse The Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

“The Penny Wedding” 1819 by Alexander Carse
The Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

Regarding graphics, the choices for visuals become slimmer before the invention of photography, first accessible to middle-class families in the mid-1800s. These days we’re so reliant on photography we tend to forget a very helpful alternative. Paintings. Before the camera, painters were the portrayers of everyday life. I’ve found that many art museums allow non-flash photos, so whenever I’m doing research I bring along my camera.

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“Return from the Church Fair” circa 1859-1860 by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller Old National Gallery in Berlin

If you do include a photo of a painting in your album, it’s helpful to include a caption noting the title, the artist and year, and the museum where you snapped the picture. How do you get all that detail down? Photograph the painting first, then follow that up with a photo of the label next to it for later reference.

Honestly, I didn’t think of this resource myself — my writing friend Michele Genthon pointed it out. Thanks, Michele. In this post, I’ve included just a few of the many paintings by artists who have brilliantly captured life in former times.

In the footsteps of every visitor to Amsterdam and beyond

Our first day in Amsterdam, we made a beeline to the Van Gogh Museum, where we came within about 200 yards of the place, at the back of a long line of ticket purchasers.

Van Gogh Museum“Must be because it’s a Sunday,” I muttered after about five minutes of no forward movement. “Maybe we should try again tomorrow.”

The next morning found us no closer. This time, at least we’d purchased tickets for the voucher line.

“This must be the one thing in Amsterdam every tourist does,” Dave said.

The woman in front of us turned around and nodded. One hears many different languages in this city, but just about everyone, it seems, speaks English. In the end, we only waited half an hour. The line to the Anne Frank House is the other must-see, and a wait of 2-3 hours no matter when you go. With only two days here, we had to skip it.

Amsterdam City ArchivesInstead, we opted for a 75-minute canal open-boat tour. The driver took us by the Amsterdam City Archives. (If we had another day, I’d definitely be dragging Dave here.) But you don’t have to physically stop by to appreciate archives treasures–through their website, the digital collection is extensive and impressive.

Self-Portrait at Rijksmuseum, Vincent Van GoghBack to the Van Gogh Museum, and the current exhibit (“When I Give, I Give Myself: Artists and writers respond to letters from Van Gogh”), with displays about the multitude of artists Van Gogh has inspired these last few centuries based on his brief 10-year career as an artist (1880-1890). In one letter, which Vincent wrote to his brother Theo in 1883, I  especially resonated with these words, about the “intense struggle between ‘I’m a painter’ and ‘I’m not a painter.'”:

Sometimes a frightening struggle … If something in you says ‘you aren’t a painter’ — IT’S THEN THAT YOU SHOULD PAINT, old chap … one must take it up with assurance, with a conviction that one is doing something reasonable, like the peasant guiding his plough …

Imagine. What if Van Gogh had listened to his inner critic?

Name change for Family Chronicle

family chronicle cover

January/February 2015 issue

Family Chronicle: A how-to-guide for tracing your ancestors recently arrived at my door, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

I learned about the publication when giving at talk at South Whidbey Genealogical Society. It’s a Canadian magazine with 80-percent distribution in the U.S. You’ll find it at many libraries and genealogical societies, and also in the magazine section at Barnes & Noble. And, I’m proud to announce, my article: “My Ancestor Was a Blacksmith!” appears in the January/February 2015 issue.

ancestor was a blacksmith

 

 

But that’s not all. There are a lot of great articles in this issue, including one on clues for discovering more about your family’s musical traditions. Here’s an excerpt from “Music in the Family”

Estate records for farmers often mention small bells that were placed on harnesses, or around the necks of sheep and cattle. … One bell was enough for a flock of sheep. The bell was placed around the neck of a “wether”, a castrated ram that the flock would follow. Called a bellwether, this term has evolved into a word for a person or group that leads followers into a coming social or political trend.

Love it! There are also articles on finding African American ancestors before 1866, a “Primer on the Russian Language and Names,” a primer on using DNA in genealogy research, and, my personal favorite, a great article called “Black Sheep, Loose Nuts, and Family Secrets,” about how to handle those skeletons in the closet.

The articles are all well written and informative. But one caveat — the publication won’t be called Family Chronicle for long. Beginning with the March issue, the magazine will continue under a new name: “Your Genealogy Today.” I’m really glad I found this publication, and honored to be in such good company.

Guessing right

“You might want to look through Dad’s stuff, the boxes in the spare room,” my brother Craig said to me over the phone. I was visiting his house in Cincinnati in early May. He had left for work earlier that morning. “I’m not sure what’s in there.”

The rest of the afternoon found me sitting on the floor of my brother’s living room, pictures and documents spread around me, as I took photo after photo of family genealogy documents, histories, and old photographs.

The material I’d pulled out of storage had been sorted into 9 x 12 manila envelopes. The outsides were labelled with names — PATTERSON — HOPPENSACK — MCINTOSH — GRESSLE — but I soon discovered the contents did not match the labels. In my dad’s dotage (he passed away in 2009), I remembered how he used to mix everything up. I had a clear vision of him sitting in his assisted living room, through a drugged haze of Parkinson’s, anti-depressants, and other meds, attempting to compose his “autobiography.” These materials had no doubt been spilled across his coffee table to jog his memory, then stuffed back in confused disarray.

It amazed me that I had none of this stuff when I was writing my novel The Last of the Blacksmiths. I had letters, tin-types and other photos, a family tree, plenty of other paraphernalia, but this material I had not seen.

One document in particular took my breath away: an 1858 confirmation certificate for “Elisabeth Crolli,” Michael Harm’s future wife.

elizabeth crolly confirmation zum schifflein christi

 

I had guessed Elizabeth Crolly was religious. Here was impressive evidence — from a church I’d guessed her family had attended — Zum Schifflein Christi (The Little Boat of Christ) German Church in Cleveland, Ohio. Somehow, through DNA? or instinct?, I’d also guessed my great-great grandmother was very devoted to her faith. Now, I beheld the evidence of her confirmation, carefully pasted to a stiff backing and preserved, a message to descendants five generations later regarding what this German American held dear.

Another first

With the publication of my debut novel The Last of the Blacksmiths, the “firsts” keep piling up. The first book deal, first book launch, first novel reviews, and now, a first radio interview! This afternoon at 4:00 p.m, I’ll be interviewed by host Ed Bremer on Everett’s “Sound Living,” KSER 90.7 radio.

Am I prepared? The novel took almost four years to write, so hopefully I’ll be able to answer a question or two. Since it’s radio, I won’t have to demonstrate how to shoe a horse or anything. Still, this being another first, it feels as challenging and daunting as all the others. I’m excited too–it should be fun. Listen in, if you get a chance, and wish me luck!