#52ancestors: Winter (week 51) and Resolution (week 52)

I'm putting these two together so I can finish 2020 with a clean challenge slate and start 2021 without guilt (much).  

It is now the last week of December, 2020 and coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are being distributed as I type.  It would be too much to say that the end is in sight, but the possibility of an end exists now.  Unfortunately, we are in the middle of a surge that seems downright apocalyptic in some areas of the country (and world) so clearly there are miles to go before we can relax and take off those masks.

Just one little story for winter:  my grandmother, Grace McDuff Belknap, was born on June 19, 1895.  My grandmother, in a rare moment of talking about the past, told me that the night before she was born, there had been a frost that killed all the potatoes. Astronomical summer began on June 21st that year (thank you Google!) so this was definitely unusually late for winter weather!  Grandma told me that her father told her this story often and it definitely made an impression, though I could not tell you how my grandmother felt about it.  But a quick glance at Newspapers.com which brought up a weather summary for the month of June 1895 in Washington state, reveals there was unseasonably cold weather on the East side of the mountains the week of June 14th, 1895 but not on the Western side where they lived.  The only word about potatoes on the west side of the mountains was that they needed rain.  So, I could have misremembered the details, Grandma could have misremembered, her father could have misremembered:  just one of those mysteries!  

As to Resolution:  well, I am resolving to do the #52ancestors challenge for 2021!  This year's challenge has led me down some unexpected pathways, taught me the value of research and viewing family stories with a skeptical eye, and given me a chance to add a little bit of current history to the family history.  Onward!

Comments

  1. sbrunzieJanuary 22, 2021 at 3:23 AM

    Dear Lee Ann,
    I've stayed up very late and read your blog -- worth it!
    About crop failures, my Schmitz ancestors in Kirkville, Iowa, apparently followed the crop reports much more closely than state and local news (usually) according to my father who spent summers there in the 1930s. So it wouldn't surprise me that the story about potatoes freezing in the ground in June 1895 would be so notable, even hundreds of miles away.
    PS - The Schmitz family farm survived the Depression because my great uncle Oscar and great aunt Rose sold the mineral rights for coal. I don't know the exact date the contract was signed, but it was referred to as "That Year" with a slight head shake and downward glances.
    Sincerely,
    Suzanne

    ReplyDelete

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