Do you ever wonder if you are living up to your potential or simply skating by through life without ever knowing what you are capable of accomplishing?
I pose this question because I wonder this myself. I have had the time to look into what my ancestors accomplished during their stay on this crazy planet, and if I should be so bold as they most certainly must have been to set sail across the ocean, in most likely a leaky vessel, in search of a new life, a new beginning. . . that something more.
I feel it is important to know where you have come from in order to understand where you are headed, while finding the all so important balance of not becoming fixated on the past. However, the things you learn about your family can be a fabulously enriching experience as there are, in my case, certain family traits that go back centuries.
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My 5th Great Grandfather on my father’s side – a Mr. Enoch Ward (yeah, I can’t make that name up). I do not know much about him other than he fought in the War of 1812 and because of his patriotic service; Congress gave him 160 acres of land. How bold he must have been to fight for a new nation, to stand up for what he believed in, no matter what the cost. I do not know where or when the vessel he chose was berthed, but I find this type of fortitude, stubbornness, if you will, runs deeply within my own veins.
Someone, I cannot recall who, ran off to live with the Cherokee tribe. Can you imagine such a daring move during a time when such things were, most definitely not politically correct.
There are historical events that make me cringe, as not to long after Mr. Ward, fought for his new land, other relatives moved to the wrong side of the Mason/Dixon line and some had as many as 100 slaves. Moreover, many of them fought for this right during the Civil War. While this is a tremendously hurtful part of my ancestry, as I wonder how in the world anyone could be so ignorant, I shall not sweep it under the rug – I shall simply pause as a deep sigh floats up from the center of my being. It still touches upon the fact that these folks, no matter how wrong their cause, stood up for what they believed in, no matter what the cost.
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Henry Bernard Bartelsen, my great grandfather, on my mother’s side, while he did not sail across the ocean, his father Peter did. Peter set sail from Germany in 1840, in search of that something more. How bold indeed, as even in the 1800’s the invention of whole home temperature control was merely a fantasy. Together, in the early 1900’s both Peter, and H.B. (as apparently he was known) set out to begin what I believe is an early Wal-Mart type store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In the research I have done, I have found several photos and events tied to these two industrious men. While they did not have to fight for the birth of a nation, they most certainly had to fight for the birth of their company; H.B. Bartelsen & Co. Further investigation notes that when Peter made the trip across the sea, he brought with him indentured servants. A crazy thought, but it was the practice if one could not afford the trip themselves.
Which, brings us to my Grandmother, Pearl – H.B.’s daughter.
At some point, my grandmother, like her grandparents, became restless and was in search of that something more, whatever that something more may have been I shall never know. As a teenager, my grandmother hopped on a westbound train towards Los Angeles and remained there until her death nearly 80 years later.
It seems as though my family searches for the more, fights for what they believe in and oddly enough I moved, (from Los Angeles) nearly 100 years later, to Wisconsin as I found it to be the something more I was in search of. I do ponder on occasion, as so many of my ancestors struck out on their own, whether in business or in life in general, I wonder if there is something greater than myself that I must be doing, contributing to this life as to leave something amazing for those who come after.
~E