Video Footage of Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island

This short footage has deep meaning for us as we think of our immigrant ancestors walking the same path from the ferry to customs house.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island
Scroll to the bottom to find the video.

Mormon Pioneers in the Family

Tarlton Lewis was a member of Brigham Young's first company of saints to arrive in the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847. That company consisted mostly of men, their families remaining behind in Nebraska until the next spring. Sure enough, Tarlton was crossing the plains again in 1848, this time with his wife and two small children. Mary Younger Mayberry and her husband and two grown sons were also in the same company with the Lewises. In 1846, Haden Wells Church joined the Mormon Battallion in Nebraska, but didn't make it all the way to San Diego as planned. Instead, he became part of a detachment of sick soldiers who wintered over in Pueblo, Colorado. When the weather cleared, the soldiers, in company with saints from Mississippi, headed north to the Mormon Trail and then continued on into the Valley on the heels of Brigham Young's first company. None of these are direct ancestors but rather, close relatives just the same--just many generations removed.

Haden Wells Church-->Abraham M. Church-->Thomas A. Church
Daryl E. Hahn-->Hazel R. Lutes-->Robert E. Lutes-->Tennessee E. Younger-->Mary E. Church-->Charles C. Church--Thomas A. Church

Tarlton Lewis-->Neriah Lewis-->David Lewis
Nancy E. Thaden-->Nannie I. Moore-->William H. Moore-->Melvina Murphy-->Elizabeth Alexander-->Elizabeth Lewis-->David Lewis

Mary E. Younger-->Thomas Younger
Daryl E. Hahn-->Hazel R. Lutes-->Robert E. Lutes-->Tennessee E. Younger-->John W. Younger-->James N. Younger-->Thomas Younger

Trouble on the Border

The Punitive Expedition in 1916 was a military operation to secure U.S. borders from revolutionary bandits leaking over the border of Mexico and attacking U.S. towns and citizens. Poncho Villa was the Mexican folk hero of that time and the criminal who was the subject of a hot pursuit by both the American and Mexican presidents. Harry Boyd Kline was 21 years old and a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard when Woodrow Wilson called up the guard from across the nation to assist General Pershing's Army at the border. Reading old newspaper accounts of the progress of that operation causes one to reflect on the similarites of today's border situation. It took awhile for Harry's unit to organize and get equipped for the mission, and so it arrived at El Paso six months after Wilson's initial call in June. The guard units were not required to cross the border as the regular army did but rather, stayed on the alert, from the U.S. side, for attacks from Villa's bandits.

I am in the process now of seeking more information about Harry's specific unit, the 13th Infantry Regiment, Company I, and what their specific roll was in this military operation.

Interestingly, upon the arrival of the 13th back home to Bloomsburg, Pa., Harry's cousins in Kansas City were registering for the draft, as did Harry.

Harry B. Kline-->Mary E. Bright-->Richard B. Bright.
Nancy E. Bright-->Fred B. Bright-->Joseph F. Bright-->Richard B. Bright.

Greek Festival

On Saturday the 19th, Mike and I went to Pueblo to attend the Greek Festival hosted by St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church. The first thing that caught my attention was the sign outside the church with the words, "In memory of our immigrant parents." This church is nestled in an old Pueblo neighborhood. One of the festival workers informed me that most of the membership consists of descendants of immigrants who worked in the nearby steel mill in the early 1900s. I found it quite satisfying to find this small ethnic enclave had managed to preserve their culture after three and four generations.

We began our festival experience with a tour of the church. I was very interested in this part of our day because our Syrian ancestors were Greek Orthodox. Why not Syrian Orthodox, I have often wondered. I learned that all of the Orthodox religions are exactly the same. The only difference must be in the language spoken in their liturgies. This leads me to believe our Syrian ancestors spoke not only Arabic, but also Greek. I've known for some time now that there were other Greek influences in their lives. I'm thinking the ancestors of our Syrian people were Greek.

I was pleased with what I learned about the Greek Orthodox doctrine. I found I could agree with it and I felt very close to my Syrian ancestors as I stood inside the church surrounded by candles and saints and the color red. I'm so glad they remained true to Christianity in spite of the religious persecution they endured.

There were many fun wares on display imported from Greece. I bought myself a bracelet and Mike came home with a jar of olives and a can of stuffed grape leaves.

We then ordered ourselves gyros and baklava and sat down to eat while listening to recorded Greek folk music in the background. I looked around at the people and was soon able to pick out all the ones who were Greek just by the way they looked. Shortly, a group of teenagers from a Denver dance school, dressed in various colorful Greek folk costume, entertained us with some dances. There was not a blonde in the group. I thought how my own girls would not have looked out of place on that stage.

I must learn to make tzatziki sauce. It was a great cultural experience, and Mike even said he would like to go again next year. I hope to bring my girls with me.

Syrian Cooking with Sitto

A very thoughtful Syrian American living in Jacksonville, but who is no relation to me, sent me, via e-mail, a most precious collection of recipes in pdf format. The forty-page cookbook was prepared by the grandchildren of Syrian immigrant women who settled in Jacksonville in the 1920s.

This cookbook is very valuable to me, for while it is safe to assume that classic Syrian food varied from region to region in Syria depending on local tradition and the availabilty of ingredients, the recipes had to likewise be adapted once more in Jacksonville for the ingredient factor. Granted, the cookbook inspired by these Jacksonville Syrian women reflects the regions from which they were born, and they may not have been Beiruti or Damascene or Tripolitan, as were my ancestors, but they all became Jacksonvillians. In that sense, they were all family--my family.

Syrian Cooking with Sitto has become a treasured family history item.

And the Name Is . . . Fadilallah

Once again, my book is a success. Another distant cousin has found me by finding my book online. This distant cousin descends from the Yazigi/Yeager family of Syrian origin. She provided me with interesting details that would only be passed down through family lore, but the most interesting tidbit was the name represented by the letter F.

Her father and his brothers all had the middle initial of F. I am not surprised the initial was the same, for it was customary for a boy's second name to be the same as his father's first name. Therefore, I knew if I ever figured out this middle name, I'd know the name of their father. My cousin knew it! The name is Fadilallah.

In spite of her Southern accent, she has such a beautiful pronunciation of the Arabic names in our family. Arabic vowell sounds are not quite like ours. The As in this name are pronounced somewhere in between an aahh sound and an uuhh sound. The first and fourth syllables are stressed. The I is practically silent. The sound goes from the D to the L without really hearing the I. All four syllables are pronounced as if two words--more like FU-dl UL-lah. I have not seen very many Arabic names among our family and their associates that begin with F and this is the first time I have ever seen this name. I love a mystery solved.

Daughters of the Confederacy Need Not Apply

I've just had myself a good chuckle. In researching for another book project, I ran across information about the Union Veterans Union (UVU), which was organized in 1886 for Union veterans, who did not necessarily agree with the practices of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), also organized for Union veterans. Even though the UVU was also open to sons of the veterans, membership eventually fizzled out. In honor of Union veteran ancestors, the UVU has been re-formed.

Check out these membership requirements: "We do not seek your affiliation if you belong to any organization which has been recognized as racist, white supremacist, or divisive in their practices or teachings. This includes, but is not limited to, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), the League of the South, the Southern Party, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), Confederate Reenactors Assoc., KKK, National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP), or other Southern "Heritage" group which may support the principles of any racist organization or those principles of any other such organization as may have been identified by the Southern Poverty LawCenter and listed in their current annual 'Intelligence Report.' "

Whew! This means if I become a member of the UDC, I will not be welcomed in the UVU. While membership in the SCV and UDC requires a direct or colateral kinship to a Confederate veteran, everyone can belong to the UVU as long as they are not racist. This is interesting because the original UVU did not even include all veterans; only combat veterans were welcomed. Membership requirements in the Confederate groups do not include a list of organizations I can not belong to. The UVU's objection to the SUVCW, what should be their sister group, is that they supported South Carolina's right to fly the Confederate flag on the State House. This is what started the war in the first place, the issue over states' rights. It sounds like the UVU is practicing their own version of discrimination.

Has anyone told the UVU that the war is over? We're just all trying to get along now as fellow Americans. Besides, like myself, many of us are descendants of both Yankees and Rebels.

See "History of the UVU," http://www.uvuinc.4t.com/about.html
and "History of the Union Veterans Union," http://www.unionveteransunion.org/4_1UVU_HISTORY.html