Appleton's complete letter writer..., [Frontispiece & title page] (1854)

With Nothing Remaining To Impart
I face a dilemma going further forward into these Fambly Stories. I’ve almost accomplished what I imagined I might have achieved when I started this effort, but I’ve only used half the time I’d allocated. Working a theme until the season ends has long been my practice. Into this twenty-eighth iteration, I’ve been faithful to this pattern. It has become a defining element of my work and has been unquestioned until now. I’m not quite finished, but I can see that it shouldn’t take too awfully many more stories to bring all the disparate threads together. My original vision will be satisfied once my parents meet and marry. Now, I’m wondering what I should include that I could not foresee before I found myself immersed in producing these stories. What might have been the deeper hidden purpose behind this whole exercise? How have these stories informed my perspective? What have I learned, and what have I lost? I guess I will continue writing this series until its popsicle stops giving flavor and turns into a clear icicle with nothing remaining to impart.

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Weekly Writing Summary

This Fambly Story presents the background context for the Diaspora that would profoundly influence my paternal grandfather's family for generations, even up to and including today. A Diaspora's influence might never go away.

Sarah Ann Wilson: Album Quilt (1854)
"My Fambly would attempt to bring their history forward with them and largely succeed …"
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This Fambly Story describes TheDeal my Alsatian forebears accepted to leave their homeland, which had become absolutely inhospitable after a century and more of essentially religious turmoil.

Giovanni Battista Nini: Catherine II (1771)
"Edens tend to appear exclusively in their most primitive form."
—
This Fambly Story introduces Selz, the town my forebears helped found in Ukraine after they fled Alsace in 1804. They thrived there until Russia reneged on her deal.

Kolonie Selz. Map by Alexander Ivanovich Mende (Mendt), 1853
"The city ceased to exist after it was evacuated during the Nazi retreat in 1944."
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This Fambly Story follows my Great-Grandparents into another NewWorld, which involved a giant step backward in time.

Lorenzo James Hatch: Locomotive (19th-20th century)
" … that success would ultimately cost him plenty."
—
This Fambly Story closes the loop on my father's family by describing how his grandfather, Nick, ended up in his Eden at the End of the Oregon Trail, *MtAngel. Finally, all the disparate threads found Oregon! This story proved to be the most popular this week!

Schmaltz & Sons Warehouse, Mt Angel, Oregon (circa 1910-15) Mt Angel Historical Society
"There's only a plaque there now …"
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This Fambly Story speaks of AGreatDepression which descended concurrently with The Great Depression down onto my father's childhood.

Ben Shahn: Untitled [Greenwich Village, New York City] (1935)
" … the reason I had a chance to be alive."
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As I’ve worked through these Fambly stories, each Weekly Writing Summary might have followed a similar pattern. I hope I’ve provided adequate context. This week, that context came in the form of Diaspora, which I’d hoped would seem both intriguing and adequately descriptive. Then, this week, came TheDeal, which provided some more detail about the adventure. Finally, some tangible place appeared, in this week’s stories: Selz, the colony my Schmaltz Forebears founded after fleeing their previous homeland, filled in. Then came the flip, where the presumed adventure fell apart because things always eventually fall apart, introducing some NewWorld. Then, a fallback objective emerges; in this instance, MtAngel filled in for it, a perfectly harmonious place to stand in for this week’s Eden At The End Of This chapter’s Oregon Trail. In this case, the Eden was even in Oregon. Then, of course, the Eden falls apart again. Three Edens fell apart this week. Whatever and wherever any Eden resides, it’s destined to fall apart. History and these stories repeat this theme ad nauseam. Thank you for following along!
©2024 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Fambly, #PureSchmaltz