Digging Up the Bones

Recently, my interest in genealogy was reawakened by the surprising discovery that the Anthonys of Southern Virginia probably originated in Genoa, Italy. Very little is known of the family patriarch beyond the facts that he ran away from school, jumped on a merchant ship, was forced into slavery, and eventually made it to America. No other details seem to exist. In fact, the same can be said of subsequent generations of the 17th through 19th centuries. And therein lies my problem.

Since I'm a writer, my ambition is not just to collect the dry data about my ancestors but also, and especially, to creative narratives of those people without whom I wouldn't exist and neither would this fascinating blog. To really connect with the folks who saw the early years of the colonies and then this nation, we would need to know their stories. But, as I mentioned above, the stories are apparently lost to time. The family members weren't given to keeping diaries and journals, or at least they didn't make it down to us. When the Anthonys make it into local history books, their appearances are brief and with little fanfare. And no one thought to maintain an oral tradition that would've helped me immensely. If only they'd all been like my grandfather, Douglas, who talks compulsively and interestingly about his 95 years, using a laid-back, folksy style particular to natives of the Shenandoah Valley. My bright young cousin, Kayla, even thought to record his biographical talks into written form.

If only I could find older such records! At the heritage museum in the mostly-dead, blue-collar town of Bassett, which houses an amazing collection of area artifacts and a genealogical library, I found three volumes--a bound book and two manuscripts--about the Anthonys. Unfortunately, they consist largely of that dry data I mentioned before. Other publications and handwritten manuscripts in that library included recorded oral traditions, anecdotes, reminiscences, and more, but we're not that lucky. There is little likelihood of my creating a book on the order of Alex Haley's Roots.

So, what can I do? What should I do? I see three options that don't include a staid family tree with names and dates on it. One, I could invent a narrative from my own imagination and supposition; more responsibly, I could write a purely fictional story, with fake names to go with the fake events; or I could go the easier route and just focus on preserving the tales of the living and of those they knew personally. That last one would mean committing the older generations to the dust figuratively just as they already were physically. Maybe that's a lesson for me today: Don't take for granted the people in your life, and make sure they won't be forgotten by those yet to be born.

#genealogy #writing