Long before I made so many connections on the Camino, connections that are important to me, I was interested in genealogy. I’ve always loved history and what history is more important and interesting than the history of your family.
Two years ago, I did the 23&Me DNA test, I was looking for links to the Jones side of my extended family, it seems they just disappear in the mid-1870’s in Tennessee. Obviously, the Civil War which raged across the American south from 1861-1865 probably contributed as many town and county records were destroyed. I also learned that a key county courthouse in Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tennessee burned in the late 1800’s. My Jones family lived there for a while before moving on to Arkansas.
One of the interesting things about 23&Me is that it links subscribers based upon shared DNA and predicts how you may be related. Sadly, I’ve not found any Jones’s that I was looking for.
What I did find was a second cousin who was lingering out there that I could not place. This past Sunday, I used the internal messaging system built into the App to reach out to Russell. Russell (Russ) responded and we continued our discussion after he checked me out to make sure it was not some elaborate phishing scheme, smart move Russ.
As it turns out, Russ and I both descend from the Blackledge side of my family, my maternal grand-mother and his maternal grand-father were brother and sister. Our grandparents have long since passed but my mother remember her Uncle Joe and her cousin Barbara Jo.
Russ knew very little of the Blackledge side of his family, fortunately I have a lot of information from my grandmother which I thankfully collected before she died 30 plus years ago. I was happy to be able to share what I had, including pictures of his great-grandparents and his grandfather and siblings.
Maybe someday, Russ and I will have the opportunity to meet, he lives in MA and I live in TX but who knows.
Connections to me are very important, I thrive on them and depend upon them. I look forward to making new connections of all types and suffer when I lose them. I am I guess a true people person.
In this time of social isolation, human interaction is suffering, and connections are difficult to make and maintain. It’s not just the lack of contact, it’s the strain that the current environment puts on us emotionally, psychologically and spiritually.
I’m trying through whatever means I can think of to maintain these bonds and relationships to both offer some semblance of normalcy but to also console myself. It’s difficult but, there’s always another hill. I just have to put one foot in front of the last.