RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 29, 2009
KINSEARCHING
by
Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
As Americans sat down to eat a scrumptious Thanksgiving meal this week, many people probably believed they knew the story of the Pilgrims and the first festive banquet. History, however, did not necessarily happen the way individuals think it did. How many persons remember, for instance, that the Pilgrims sojourned in Holland awhile before coming to North America? How many people realize that turkey and cranberries were not part of the first celebration in Massachusetts?
For an informative and interesting book on the subject, you may want to read Godfrey Hodgson's A GREAT AND GODLY ADVENTURE: THE PILGRIMS AND THE MYTH OF THE FIRST THANKSGIVING, published in New York by Public Affairs™ in 2006. Individuals will gain a better understanding of the Pilgrims' religious background, the conditions of English village life in such places as Scrooby, the reasons they chose to live in Holland before sailing to the New World, their relationship with the Indians, the circumstances leading up to the first Thanksgiving, the food served, and how Thanksgiving became a national American holiday. The book also furnishes lesser known stories like the one concerning the family Bible of Pilgrim William WHITE and whether or not it was a fake. In addition, some genealogists may be curious about a footnote in which the author raises the question as to whether the surname COPPIN, borne by a ship crew member, was the same name as COFFIN. Readers may gain a new perspective on the topic of Thanksgiving after scanning Hodgson's volume.
Terms used in one part of a country may have different meanings when they are utilized in another part of a country or outside of a specific country. In the United States, for example, "Yankee" usually means an American from the North so the word would not apply to someone from the South or the West. In other nations around the world, however, "Yankee" is a general term that refers to anyone from the United States. Allen Sangree makes a statement about this usage at the beginning of his article, "Americans in South Africa," which appeared in what is probably the March 1900 issue of Munsey's Magazine. In a bound volume of several issues of the periodical, Sangree's article starts on page 802 of Munsey's Magazine, Volume XXII (October 1899 to March 1900), published by Frank A. Munsey in New York:
"In South Africa the term 'Yankee' is applied to all who claim protection of the Stars and Stripes. The Polish emigrant of six months' citizenship and the scion of an old Virginia family are classed together. Boston, San Francisco, and New Orleans might as well be ten miles apart."
Charles N. Ferguson, 811 South Market, Shawnee, OK 74801 will certainly gives thanks to anyone who can send him information about this QUALES (QUARLES?) family who lived in Precinct 6 in Red River Co., TX, in 1900:
Arthur, white, age 44, born in November 1855 in Mississippi;
A. B., wife, age 24, b. November 1875 in TX;
W. R., son, 13, b. in December 1886 in TX;
N. B., daughter, 11, born in December 1888 in TX;
J. R., son, 8, born in November 1891 in TX;
I. E., daughter, 4, born in October 1895 in TX;
N. A., son, 2, born in January 1898 in TX;
and
A. L., 5 months, born in January 1900 in TX.
There was also one boarder residing with the family.
Were some of your kinfolks living in Carter Co., OK, or the surrounding area in the early twentieth century? If they were, you may be thankful for the newspaper extracts at http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?Dewey,County::ok::24860.html. Items come from the June 1924 issue of the Daily Ardmoreite, published in Ardmore, OK. In addition to various towns in the Sooner State, places mentioned in other states include Wichita, KS, and Amarillo, Denton, and Sherman, TX.