Who were they ???

Who were our ancestors?

In many ways they were typical and ordinary citizens of their day. A few became minor but interesting footnotes in American history but most were everyday people. Most led normal lives, sometimes falling in love, having broken hearts, succeeding, failing and muddling through. They laughed, cried, struggled, fought, cheered, prayed and sometimes gave up. Some had large families, well over a dozen kids, while others never married. Many, sadly, saw a child die in childhood.

The large majority came from northwest Europe, mainly Britain, leaving their familiar surroundings for a strange but promising new world. They were likely young, under 35, and poor by our standards. Britain in the 1600s was in great turmoil, with wars, religious conflicts and plagues. The new world represented a possibly better life.

Some were pushed from Europe for religious reasons and at least one was a deported political prisoner. Typically, an emigrant paid for his/her cost of passage by agreeing to indentured servitude: most emigrants arrived as servants, legally bound to work for a New World master for five years in return for food.

It is estimated that, prior to the Revolutionary War, 80% of emigrants to America were indentured servants. They were not allowed to vote or marry. Typically fewer than half of indentured servants survived the five years – our ancestors were among the survivors.

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Most became farmers, whether they were any good at farming or not, as that was about the only work available in their world. Many of the men were soldiers in wars, some as officers. At least three were prisoners of war. Religion played a large role in most of their lives, as it did for most settlers. Church was a large part of their self-identity.

Almost all of our ancestors arrived early in America, most before 1700. Most landed in Virginia while a few entered the continent through New England and Pennsylvania. Almost all moved southwestward as America expanded, first to the Carolinas and Tennessee, then to Mississippi and beyond. Their motivation to move westward was a mix of opportunity (possibly better land for farming) and necessity (the decent land in the East was owned by others).

As America industrialized the men began to move from farming into a broad range of occupations, including doctors, storekeepers, lawyers, machinists, small business owners, teachers and everything in between. Women, as was the custom of the times, built families and shaped the generations to come. A good argument can be made that the womens’ accomplishments as mothers were more important and enduring than the mens’.

Many of your ancestors born before 1800 never went to school but they did learn how to write their names. Some never did, however, and signed things with an “X”.

Despite the differences in circumstances and practices, however, our ancestors were humans like us. In so many ways they were us and we are them, alike in both heads and hearts. To see their images, however faintly, just look in a mirror.

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