The Aerie
Given the recent spate of deaths over the past few years, you'd think I'd've learned a lesson about putting things off. But of course I have not - I continue to take the usual things for granted. My birthmother turns 61 today, and yet I take her continued existence for granted. There are so many things that I don't know about my heritage and background, and yet I don't regularly interview my birth-relatives about my heritage.
My birthmother had told me in the past that her parents had come down from Nova Scotia to Cape Cod. As Kelloggs, we are supposedly all ancestors of two brothers Kellogg who came to America in the 17th century. But that myth has to face the fact that people migrate all the time - we could be other Kelloggs who migrated later. Who knows? She told me something else funny. She said that her sister did some genealogy work, and had found that some of our ancestors had been... Eskimos.
Eskimos?
I don't know if that's true, but I won't find out if I don't search. I wont find out if I don't ask. And the longer I spend working, slaving away at my job, and not seaching for these facts, the greater that I risk not being able to find those answers.
My birthmother surprised me when I called her today, but mentioning not only Nova Scotia, but the town of Ingonish. Given the last names of her parents, my maternal birth-grandparents, it ought to be able to track my genealogy back a few generations.
But will I do it? Not today, and probably not tomorrow. Because I'm stuck here slogging away at life, without time for vacations into the past. I guess there's nothing new about this, everyone has to get by. But I've been hustling for a long time, and I guess I'm getting tired of it. I need a break, a vacation, a real getaway. I need months off.
And when I get those months off, what will I do with them? I think I will go someplace, like Nova Scotia, or Tennesee, and take the time to look into my past.
Eskimo?
Posted by Albatross at October 30, 2004 5:04 PMDude, go check out a copy of the Residents' album, Eskimo (or the DVD even) and see if it resonates with you.
Seriously, I am not into geneology. Shawn is and it's something that I humor her with, but that I do not understand the fascination for. Sure, when "Roots" was airing on the telly, I was one of thousands of kids who had to trace back the family tree. I learned that on my paternal side, my skelatives came over during the 18th century and fought for the British, then stayed. My father and his family were not equipped to provide this information. I actually found it in an old history book on Kentucky's founders.
My mother's side could divulge little to no information. My grandmother was adopted and had no information on her parents. My grandfather had little to no information. Ultimately, no one seemed to care much, though they often threw around things like, "I'm Irish American."
When I'm asked, I say "I'm American. In the fine tradition of that country, I'm a mutt."
Posted by: B.D. at October 31, 2004 6:27 AM