Those are the thoughts that came to me this morning. Followed immediately by thoughts of Maria(h) (Ellis) Birdsell, my great, great grandmother who was born around 1833 in Ohio.
What a life she lived. She married my great, great grandfather around 1857 in Iowa where they had six children before moving to Kansas in 1872.
Around the age of 41 she moved from Iowa to Kansas with six children and her husband. I know they brought one team with them. I'm assuming it was a team of horses. When they arrived they had $200.00 and their team. This is from an blip in the then local newspaper from 1887.
They filed a homestead claim on 160 acres in Brown's Creek Township, Jewell County, Kansas when they arrived. In 1887 their farm was worth $2,500.00.
Maria(h) lost her first son, Daniel Liberty Birdsell, in November 1893 from complications from falling off a wagon.
Then in 1899 she lost her husband, William Birdsell.
In the summer of 1906 she received word that her son, Marion Birdsell, who had relocated to Washington state has died.
Did Maria(h) think at that time that the world was spinning too fast? Did she hate wagons after Daniel fell from one? Did she think the horseless carriages were noisy? Or did she want one for herself?
I don't know how she personally felt progress. All I can do is look at the part of her history that I do know and look at her descendants that I knew.
She was willing to relocate, not an easy feat during the time frame when they left Ohio for Iowa and then later leaving Iowa for Kansas. Was the motivation due to an adventurous spirit, or a desire to own a chunk of land and provide for her family? Or a little bit of both? We'll never know for sure. Or I'll probably never know for sure.
Some of her children remained in the area and others moved away, to Washington state and even to California. Did they do it to get away from home and possible conflicts or did they have an adventurous spirit or a desire to go where they had a chance to get land of their own? Or a combination of all of the above?
As Maria(h)'s children scattered over the country, did she wish for the days when they were all together? Or did she secretly sigh and enjoy having more space in her house and on her homestead?
Why did Maria(h) do the things in life that she did? I really don't know. Basing it on her descendants that I know, she did them out of a sense of adventure, but mostly she did it for her family.
The world stopped for Maria(h) in 1912 at the age of 79 years and some months. One hundred years ago. I wish the stories about her had been passed down to the rest of us. I wish I had known enough to ask questions when there were still people around her had known her.
How many times, if any, did she think the world was moving too fast? Or is it a new idea since we spend less time providing for our own basic needs than what Maria(h) had to spend on her own needs? Have our modern gadgets really made life easier for us or more complicated?
No, I'm not ready to get rid of electricity. Or flush toilets.
Lately though, I've given thought to what I really don't need or want. Downsizing our stuff. Doing more for ourselves and depending less and less on ready made things.
I can't get the world to slow down, but I can get my own spot in the world closer to the pace I want. Maybe that was Maria(h)'s secret.
Such good questions! I often wonder what life was truly like back when and even more, what my ancestors felt about it.
ReplyDeleteThings are moving too fast now and I rush to embrace it, wondering how I'll feel about it all later on.
I suspect my ancestors are quite embarrassed by the amount of waste I have in my ife today. Which is why I'm working so hard to declutter things in the house and outside the home, too.
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about it, the more I realize as I'm rushing to embrace the fast moving world, I'm missing something important...the ability to live my life. Maybe it's age. :-)