Blog Post

 The History of Where You Live

Could Make For Very Interesting Reading

 

Have you ever thought that some of the most fascinating non-fiction reading material could be looking into the history of the area you grew up in or the place you currently call home? 

     It has been very popular for quite some time now to look into family genealogy. But why not take it a step further? The culture that evolved from the early settling of the place you spent a portion of your life undoubtedly played a part - and still does - in your own family history and the very essence of what exists there even today.

     Not only that, but there are such huge differences in the past history of different parts of our country. Where the early settlers came from and where they put down their roots, as well as the language and culture they brought with them, make for such a huge diversity. 

    And to me, all the stories embedded in those generations that preceded our own can not only be informative, but make for some hours of great entertainment. I really love those early photographs, too.

     Although I moved away from my little home town in Wisconsin with the strong Dutch and German ancestry before exploring books or documents that could tell me more about the beginnings of the community, stories told at the dinner table or during family gatherings of days gone by often come to me now.  I remember one story that was told by our grandparents. In the late nineteenth century a vessel carrying settlers to the Wisconsin shoreline from Michigan got caught in a violent storm on Lake Michigan and wrecked. Many of the people aboard perished.

     This southern Colorado community is rich in recorded history of a very different sort. The earliest settlers to come and settle among the native American population were Hispanic people migrating up from the south. Over the course of 300 years the evolving of the landscape and people who came here have filled volumes of memoirs and historical fiction. And no wonder! There is so much to tell.

     In Wisconsin or Colorado or Alabama or Virginia or Oregon
or where ever, it was a very rough life to be a pioneer.  I want to remember them. Our speech patterns, the foods we've enjoyed, the lifestyles we've embraced, and so much more, began with them.