You're History!

Canadian humourist Stephen Leacock once said, “I did not realize that the old grave that stood among the brambles at the foot of our farm was history.”  To some extent, I think we’re all guilty of this. We tend to think that history is something that only happens in textbooks at school, on some far-off battlefield or to those illustrious faces we see featured on TMZ. Often, it doesn’t occur to us that history is also here in our own backyards; in our own lives.

One thing about genealogy--the study of one's family tree--is that it shows us how our individual lives fit into history. For instance, imagine that history is like a giant jigsaw puzzle and every life is a piece; without your story, the picture will be incomplete. Anyone who has ever tried to put together a jigsaw puzzle only to discover a piece is missing knows how exasperating this can be.

To some extent, history is always incomplete. Documents go missing; photos and letters get thrown out; people don’t get around to writing information down. A good example is this family photo of my great-grandfather Daniel Maddock. He's the man on the left in this picture.

His father William emigrated from Stamford, Lincolnshire, England to Canada in the late 1840's. Daniel was born in Canada, but we know that he made a trip to England with a shipment of cattle that he was selling; according to oral history that has been passed down through the generations, he visited cousins while he was in England.

The photos of this visit list a photographer’s name J.J.P. Bowler and Wellington and Oakengates; another has Lilleshall. We even have a box of nails that is labelled “John Maddock & Co., Great Western Nail Works, Oakengates, Shropshire.”

This information matches nicely with family stories about a John Maddock who was a sibling to my ancestor William. Apparently, he owned a foundry in Shropshire. Using the website familysearch.org, I found a John Maddock who was living in Wombridge, Shropshire when the 1871 Census was taken. It indicates that he was 51 at that time and was born in West Deeping, Lincolnshire. I'm assuming that the people in the photo with my great-grandfather are descended from this John, but their names and the date that the photo was taken were never written down. I’m sure it never occurred to my great-grandfather that his descendants might not recognize these people. Perhaps he did not realize that future generations would be interested in this information.

Before I judge him too harshly, I just have to pause and think of my own photo albums. How many of my pictures have I taken the time to label? What steps have I taken to preserve my individual story? Too often when people pass on, their stories die with them. Their families will divide up the dishes and dollars, but tend to look at paper documents as “a bunch of old junk." All too often, it just gets thrown out.

Alexander Vidal’s papers are a good example of this. He was a well-known historical figure in Lambton County’s early history. As a land surveyor, he was often away up north working. In an era before texting and Skype, he would write letters home to his wife. I can remember one letter in which he said that he missed her so much that he took her nightgown to bed with him!

The beauty of a story like this is that suddenly, he is not merely an historical (and arguably dull) figure from the past, but also a flesh-and-blood man who once lived.  It adds a human element that might otherwise be missing and helps to bring his story to life. The irony is that in one of his letters, he tells his wife to burn his letters; presumably being sentimental, she saved them instead. Years later, a local historian by the name of George Smith bought an old cupboard from the Vidal estate and in it was a cornflakes box filled with these letters. They are now housed at the Lambton County Archives in Wyoming, Ontario. To check out their link, see: www.lclmg.org/lclmg/?TabId=110

The first step in preserving your own piece of the puzzle is to recognize that your story—whatever it might be—is important. Contrary to what the world might have you believe, you are not a mere cog-in-the-wheel that can be replaced on a whim. The phrase “You’re History!” might seem to imply that you’re irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but quite the opposite is true. The truth is you matter; your story is a vital piece of the bigger picture.

Once you acknowledge this, there are practical steps you can take:

• Write down or record the stories which you have in your head. What do you want future generations to know? The important thing is to put in lots of details. Personal anecdotes and feelings will bring your story to life; factual information such as dates and places will help your family relate your stories to larger events in history.
• Label your photographs including names, dates and places.
• Make arrangements for your family papers, documents, photos etc. to be saved. This might means entrusting them to a younger family member or donating them to a local historical collection or both.

Ultimately, it is up to each of us to ensure that our individual story isn’t lost. And the next time you gaze up at a towering monument honouring the past and find yourself feeling insignificant by comparison, please remember that you too are history!