Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #27
by Tonya Graham McQuade
Yesterday I had the opportunity to be the featured speaker for Los Gatos Rotary and to share the story of my letters, research, travels, and books. I was both nervous and excited! While I loved being able to share my story, I quickly realized that it is impossible to explain Missouri's Civil War history, share excerpts from both the letters and my books, and describe my research and travels in 30 minutes. LOL. I frequently run into the same issue in my classroom - I get overly ambitious because I'm so excited about the subject matter!
At any rate, I thought it would be worth "resharing" some pieces of my presentation. I am still processing the research from my two trips in April and October, and trying to condense my thoughts into a 30 minute window was actually a helpful process. I also had the opportunity to attend a two-day online writing workshop on Friday and Saturday to learn more about the publishing process, and I'm mulling over those lessons as I think about reaching out to possible publishers in the new year (the agents at the conference all agreed that submitting anything after Nov. 15 was a bad idea because everyone is in "holiday" and "clear off the desk" mode).
I also recognize that I still have plenty of work to do on both manuscripts before they are ready to take that next step ... but I hope to at least have the non-fiction version to the point soon where I am ready to share it with some "beta readers" for their thoughts and feedback. If you are interested in being one of those readers, let me know.
My presentation began with an explanation of how this whole journey got started with Jeremy's message on Ancestry.com last February. That story alone got lots of reactions - and yes, I know what a gift is was that literally showed up on my doorstep. I still can't believe that the first two people to whom he reached out were not interested.
Besides the letters, there were all the other amazing items ... tintype photos, pieces of material from my ancestors' dresses, family tree records, my GGG Grandfather's eyeglasses ... and of course, the flag that my GG Grandmother made for her father, which he carried with him throughout the war!
It was that flag that inspired by book idea - I lay awake during the night, thinking of a book opening for Missouri Daughter in which Mollie (aka. my GG Grandmother Mary Ann Hale) is making the last stitches on the flag so she can finish it in time for her father's departure the next day to join up 3with his regiment in St. Louis.
As I explained to Rotary, prior to reading those letters, my ancestors were just names, dates, and photos - and I thought I would never have the opportunity to know more than their faces as seen below. In the photo on the left, Mary Ann and Bailis sit with their ten children, my great grandmother Nora (the second youngest) standing at the center in front. Her parents, on the left, were etched in my mind as always being old but fortunate enough to live to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Now, having read 40 letters, most of 4 pages each, written by James Calaway Hale, I feel I know him in a way few people get to know their great great great grandfather. Again, what a gift to land on my doorstep!
From there, I went on to explain why Missouri is such a pivotal state to understanding Civil War history. All of the events listed here were essential contributors to the war ... and all took place before the firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. They are all explained in detail in the books I'm working on.
Furthermore, while the entire country was clearly torn apart by the war, border states like Missouri were even more torn apart since family members and neighbors often ended up on different sides. In St. Joseph, the largest city near where my GGG GF and his family lived at the time, about 2,000 men fought for the Union; another 2,000 men, for the Confederacy. One of the questions I ask in my book is, how did they all come back together again after the war? Did families reconcile and once again sit down to dinner together? Did church members once again join in worship? Did neighbors let their children play together? Once pardons were officially given by the U.S. government, were they as easily given among individuals?
In my presentation, I shared an excerpt from the letter to Bailis from "Cousin Rachel of Rebel Rendezvous," where she basically tries to "smack talk" him into joining the Southern cause. Did they meet again after the war? How did that conversation begin?
Soon after this, I ran out of time and had to "fly" through the slides in which I described my recent trips to Missouri and the research I have done and continue to do. I am now working on the digital scrapbook for my Missouri trips, starting with the first one, and am realizing how much more "processing" I still need to do of the information I acquired on that first visit. My summer was so busy with travel, and now I am so busy with teaching, that it is difficult to find the tine to devote to this "passion project" that I am so anxious to pursue!
A lot of the work I still need to do involves going back through photos and reading all the photos of displays I did not have time to read at the time. From those displays, I take notes, compare the information to other information I have gathered, and figure out if and where those details might fit into my book. I also have to be careful not to "reinvent the wheel," so to speak, by writing about something I have already described somewhere else. When a document gets to me 125+ pages, single spaced, it's easy to lose track of what you've already written!
Kathy, the Andrew County genealogist I met on our recent visit, is one of the readers I am looking to for helpful feedback. She has already provided me with a lot of useful and interesting information related to land deeds, schools, guerrilla activity, and other Andrew County history. I'm still reading through many of the materials she gave me, as well as brochures I picked up and books I purchased on that trip.
It was especially nice to have my husband Mike, as well as my parents, in the audience for my Rotary presentation. I shared this photo of my father, as well as his mother back in 1970, at the grave sites of Bailis and Mary Ann Petree in Kirksville, Missouri - and told how I had visited others as well. I find it so interesting that four sets of my great great grandparents are buried throughout Missouri - two from mother father's side and two from my mother's - and that I likely have six sets of great great great grandparents buried in Missouri as well. From what I can tell, they all died in Missouri, but I have not yet found information on where they all are buried.
The more work I do, the more I realize I still NEED to do. Sigh. The writing workshop I attended also left me fairly certain that my best road forward - esp. with the non-fiction book I hope to finish first - is to reach out to some university presses that have published other Civil War books. The "Ninth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium" is also happening in August in Virginia - I'm debating whether I should go. It sounds like a great opportunity, but I'm also planning (and paying) for Anna & Nick's wedding in September. Lots of opportunities ... lots of decisions ... lots of work to do.
Thanks for reading! If you want to be sure not to miss a post, I'm creating a "subscriber email list" since the blog notifications don't seem to work very well. If you would like to be added to my subscriber list, please email me at Tmcq1966@gmail.com with your name and email address.
Tune in next time to learn more about my visit to the Patee House Hotel in St. Joseph - the headquarters for the Pony Express and the place where Union troops set up their base during the Civil War.
