Perspective and Family History

My husband and I just got back from the 75^th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.  That’s right, we rode our bikes 1,875 miles round-trip PLUS daily excursions through the Black Hills and Badlands.  A great experience and beautiful countryside to ride through.

Have you heard of the Needles Highway?  This route is a motorcyclists dream. Incredible twisties, switch backs, pigtail bridges hills and valleys, and even a few short tunnels.  And the last time we went, my husband was in control and I took the pictures.

Although we ride separately to the rally, we want to share the rally experience and ride together.  However, this time I wanted to ride the Needles so he rode on the back and took the pictures.

It was everything I thought, the twisties were even twister than I thought, the roads were narrower and the switch backs were quick.  OOWEE! that was fun.  But something happened on that ride - our viewpoints changed.  Until this ride he had never seen the beauty and I had never seen the danger.

Although we had both been on the same motorcycle on the same road two years before, we both came away from that ride with a new appreciation of Needles Highway.

That experience got me thinking about how we look at family history.  I believe that it is human nature to see history through our own perspective and easier still to make judgement.  But as family historians, is that our job?  Can we tell the story without bias?  Or can we figure out a way to switch seats for 50 miles to see another perspective?

When we listen to the stories of our family members, we need to remember that their experiences were different than ours which makes their decisions possible different than ones would might have made today.  If they made a different choice than you think you would have made, take the time to ask them why they did what they did.  Find out as much of the circumstances surrounding the situation and keeping asking “why”.  Maybe then your own perspective might change.

I never knew my Great Grandfather George R Bird and my grandmother never talked about him.  When I found his Workers Progress Administration record I found out that he had been fired for absenteeism.  That was no surprise to me at all.  After all, George had been a bigamist, kidnapper and overall louse, according to all of the other documents that I had found.  It wasn’t until talking to a granddaughter from his last marriage that I realized that I needed to change seats.

The more probable reason why he didn’t show up to work was because there were four little ones at home and his wife gave birth to their fifth child on the day he was fired.

Perspective!

Remember with Me is a family legacy company dedicated to recording the stories of the individual and solidifying their place in their family’s history.  Please call us to schedule a time with a trained Life Historian to tell your story, archive heirlooms or identify family photos.