More than two decades ago I got to do some fitness training with a 95 year-old man. I mentioned that he was almost as old as the airplane, had lived to see the moon shot, and watched a sattelite TV signal on the treadmill. He replied with the hour and day and circumstances that he had first laid eyes on a real airplane. He was almost my exact same age at the time.
Such a fun, interesting read. Off the top of my head, my great grandfather fought in the Civil War, and I believe he was the last Washington to live at Mt. Vernon.
My mom has a very rich history. Yes, she was a Washington, but as you probably know, George and Martha did not have children. So her family is related through his half brother, Lawrence. My mother and her six brothers grew up in Alexandria, and their mother was a direct decent of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.
My mother was born in 1918, and she had some wonderful stories about her family.
that is very interesting. I'm planning to write a sort-of young adults intro to the revolution in time for the 250th anniversary so I plan to visit all the sites I haven't seen in the next year or so.
In part to at least try to appreciate the legacy of the founding fathers, even if some of them were misguided Whigs.
My dad was from the Midwest, so that’s where they ended up. We visited relatives in Virginia and Maryland, but not often. When I was an adult, my then husband and I drove with my parents to a family wedding that took place in the rose garden at Mt. Vernon. My uncle was an Episcopal priest, so he performed the ceremony. Later, when going through a messy divorce, my mother drove from Wisconsin to Ohio to pick me up for a trip out East. Our first stop was Calumet Farms (very famous and scandalous in the horse racing world) to attend another wedding. My mother’s cousin had married the son of the founder of Calumet baking powder, and eventually he inherited the racing farm. To be honest, that was much more impressive, but I also like horses.
From there we went to Virginia, and it was fun seeing the many homes my mother and her family lived in. It seems to me that most, if not all, were quite historical. We visited the University of Virginia, where she attended nursing school, and I mostly remember the serpentine wall. I see that it’s been tied to slavery, but in Virginia, I imagine most things are.
At one point, I believe it was her grandfather who owned all of the land Washington, DC is now located on. I had an older cousin who was the keeper of our family history. She died during Covid, unfortunately. However, I still have some information she sent me, and I have another cousin who is really into it. I wonder if having the name “Washington,” causes a bit more zealousness in some of my relatives than it does for me.
It’s interesting to look at the family tree to see all of the names on both sides. My dad used to brag that a Washington had married him, the son of a poor farmer. However, his family was interesting, too. I think everyone has a story, and it doesn’t have to involve famous relatives, although I will tell you that my mother was extremely proud of her heritage.
I'd mentioned a great-great grandmother whose life spanned the 1840s into the 1930s and the collection of photographs we have of her showing the astounding changes in women's fashion across her life, paralleling the rapid changes of her world. I wonder what she thought of it all? Based on other things we know of her, she probably heartily disapproved. People generally do and thus the movie, No Place for Old Men.
My father (born 1948) likes to talk of his paternal grandfather who he was close to (born in 1877, youngest of a large Victorian family, passing away in 1972). Two things clearly stood out about his grandfather, he was proud of a favorite aunt who attended a ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where a passing president gave a short speech in 1863, and he also apparently never quite recovered from Franklin Roosevelt's presidency (FDR's impact on America can be reasonably compared to Attlee's Labour government).
There are people who must feel they outlived an era and live in a world that no longer makes sense to them. I suppose we may be passing through such a phase, unexpectedly for the most part.
dread to think how much we will see. 'Ed West, born in the United Kingdom, 1978: died, the disputed zone, sub-British new Wessex, new calendar year 23' etc etc
The ultimate long duree view of history!
More than two decades ago I got to do some fitness training with a 95 year-old man. I mentioned that he was almost as old as the airplane, had lived to see the moon shot, and watched a sattelite TV signal on the treadmill. He replied with the hour and day and circumstances that he had first laid eyes on a real airplane. He was almost my exact same age at the time.
Such a fun, interesting read. Off the top of my head, my great grandfather fought in the Civil War, and I believe he was the last Washington to live at Mt. Vernon.
wow. how he was related to George?
My mom has a very rich history. Yes, she was a Washington, but as you probably know, George and Martha did not have children. So her family is related through his half brother, Lawrence. My mother and her six brothers grew up in Alexandria, and their mother was a direct decent of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.
My mother was born in 1918, and she had some wonderful stories about her family.
that is very interesting. I'm planning to write a sort-of young adults intro to the revolution in time for the 250th anniversary so I plan to visit all the sites I haven't seen in the next year or so.
In part to at least try to appreciate the legacy of the founding fathers, even if some of them were misguided Whigs.
My dad was from the Midwest, so that’s where they ended up. We visited relatives in Virginia and Maryland, but not often. When I was an adult, my then husband and I drove with my parents to a family wedding that took place in the rose garden at Mt. Vernon. My uncle was an Episcopal priest, so he performed the ceremony. Later, when going through a messy divorce, my mother drove from Wisconsin to Ohio to pick me up for a trip out East. Our first stop was Calumet Farms (very famous and scandalous in the horse racing world) to attend another wedding. My mother’s cousin had married the son of the founder of Calumet baking powder, and eventually he inherited the racing farm. To be honest, that was much more impressive, but I also like horses.
From there we went to Virginia, and it was fun seeing the many homes my mother and her family lived in. It seems to me that most, if not all, were quite historical. We visited the University of Virginia, where she attended nursing school, and I mostly remember the serpentine wall. I see that it’s been tied to slavery, but in Virginia, I imagine most things are.
At one point, I believe it was her grandfather who owned all of the land Washington, DC is now located on. I had an older cousin who was the keeper of our family history. She died during Covid, unfortunately. However, I still have some information she sent me, and I have another cousin who is really into it. I wonder if having the name “Washington,” causes a bit more zealousness in some of my relatives than it does for me.
It’s interesting to look at the family tree to see all of the names on both sides. My dad used to brag that a Washington had married him, the son of a poor farmer. However, his family was interesting, too. I think everyone has a story, and it doesn’t have to involve famous relatives, although I will tell you that my mother was extremely proud of her heritage.
the Kerensky one just does my head in. I think we all miss the USSR.
The beginning of a book, hopefully?
I'd mentioned a great-great grandmother whose life spanned the 1840s into the 1930s and the collection of photographs we have of her showing the astounding changes in women's fashion across her life, paralleling the rapid changes of her world. I wonder what she thought of it all? Based on other things we know of her, she probably heartily disapproved. People generally do and thus the movie, No Place for Old Men.
My father (born 1948) likes to talk of his paternal grandfather who he was close to (born in 1877, youngest of a large Victorian family, passing away in 1972). Two things clearly stood out about his grandfather, he was proud of a favorite aunt who attended a ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where a passing president gave a short speech in 1863, and he also apparently never quite recovered from Franklin Roosevelt's presidency (FDR's impact on America can be reasonably compared to Attlee's Labour government).
There are people who must feel they outlived an era and live in a world that no longer makes sense to them. I suppose we may be passing through such a phase, unexpectedly for the most part.
dread to think how much we will see. 'Ed West, born in the United Kingdom, 1978: died, the disputed zone, sub-British new Wessex, new calendar year 23' etc etc
I love this stuff. Was it actually Major's half-brother who was born in 1901? Wikipedia says it was a Tom Moss.
I have corrected and, in true Stalinist style, deny it ever happened.
That's a brilliant opening paragraph.
thank you!