Nicholas Richard Brewer: At the Spring (c. 1895)

How Utterly Renewing!
It must be that expanding one dimension also expands others. Shoving deeper into the past might naturally nudge further into some future, too, like one of those graphic images with 'preserve dimensions' enabled. When I push my Fambly history further into the past, my future seems to extend itself in sympathetic balance. The result broadens, deepens, and heightens to keep all dimensions in synch. The result seems like a net expansion but with much less effort than expected. I shove one single edge, and the rest harmoniously maintain their relationship relative to me. Who knew that delving into history might invoke principles of physics? My world seems in ever greater balance as a direct result of my effort to dot a long naked 'i' and advance what I figured needed to be advanced. There will be no finish. Finishing could not possibly be the purpose of this series. I have been discovering myself in the stories I've been uncovering. Blow off the moss and rust, and they might be as fresh as they ever were. My history, like yours, presents as extended metaphors. I dare not interpret the least of them literally, yet I dare not interpret them in some way. How utterly renewing!

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Weekly Writing Summary

In this Fambly Story, I introduce another Patriarch from my mother's family history, a genuine Pilgrim by the name of John Keniston of Strawberry Banke.

James Barry: Eastern Patriarch (1803)
"sate in stocks for railing."
—
This Fambly Story exhibits a genuine embarrassment of riches: twenty-eight uninterrupted generations of terribly improbable evidence that I'm related to an authentic eminence: *TheWallaceProblem. This proved to be the most popular story this period!

David Octavius Hill: In Ayrshire Dairy (1822-1870)
"Geneology seems indistinguishable from vanity … "
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This Fambly Story, CreatingHistory, wonders where history happens. In the past or in the moment of transcription? Both? Neither?

Sebald Beham: The Departure of the Prodigal Son, plate one from The History of the Prodigal Son (Early Sixteenth Century)
"We are actively, if extremely subtly, becoming the very stuff of our transcriptions …"
—
This Fambly Story follows my second Great-Grandparents Evan&Sara from Iowa to Oregon, where they set up another necessary precondition for my later arrival.

Warren Mack: Waves of Wheat (20th century)
"It should be no wonder."
—
This Fambly Story opens a fresh line of inquiry, this one stretching back to the edge of The Netherland's prehistory into NewAmsterdam and then on to Oregon.

Jacob van Meurs: View of Nieuw Amsterdam. Novum Amsterodamum (1662)
" … there were many mysteries involved in their history."
—
This Fambly Story follows me as I engage in perhaps the most essential activity of writing any history, RatHoling. I follow unpromising leads. I double-check for implications. I drive myself crazy, seeking sanity and resolution.

Engraved by John Slack: Shakespeare’s Seven Ages (c. 1805)
"You may now safely refer to me as "Sir."
—
This writing week surprised me by being a continual act of genuine discovery. I thought this series might prove different because I'd planned to work from historical documents. Still, between interpretation for this new context and extending discoveries, it's proved to be little different than my usual routine. Except the results seem anything but routine. I'm finding the process of creating much more satisfying than usual because I'm setting something straighter than it ever was before. I am deeply grateful to my Aunt Colleen for first laying out the framework of these stories. She identified the Spokes and spoke to many relatives who were still alive then to remember. Now, I start with her notes and dog-eared documents and find embellishments all over the web. I've pushed her boundaries back decades and, in a few cases, centuries. How curious that time's passage forward would leave the past more accessible. I'm delighted to introduce you and myself to my Patriarchs, my WallaceProblem, how I go about CreatingHistory, Evan&Sara, a whole NewAmsterdam, and my newest hobby/occupation, RatHoling. Thank you for following along!

©2024 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Fambly, #PureSchmaltz