Sunday, June 24, 2007

Insomnia + Ancestor = Great New Idea?

For awhile now, I've been thinking about how to combine my expertise in law with my passion for genealogy and history. Until early this morning, I hadn't hit the right formula.

But I awoke for some reason at 3:00 am and tried hard to get back to sleep. When nothing seemed to work, I just let my mind wander. I was thinking about my great-great-grandfather, Guy Bryant (born 27 Oct 1861, DeWitt County, Texas; died 27 Oct 1918, Rockport, Aransas County, Texas). I thought about an incident that happened when he was about 15 years old . . . and an idea occurred to me for the right blend of law, genealogy, and history! After mentally sketching it out for awhile, I fell back asleep. Thanks, Grandpa Guy!

As the darkness yielded to a bluish-gray Central Valley dawn, I awoke again excited about this idea, but a bit sobered by the realization that--believe it or not--there are legal issues that stand in the way of its full implementation! These are not insurmountable, fortunately, but they will take a few months to sort out. So I can't fully describe the idea yet. But you'll be the first to know.

In the meantime, has an ancestor ever helped you solve a vexing problem?

5 comments:

Jasia said...

My ancestors called out to me to tell their life stories when I wanted to write a novel but didn't know what to write about. Does that count?

Bill West said...

Hey Craig,
I'm tagging you with a Thinking
Blogger Award alond with the ones
I gave Randy Seaver, Tim Abbott, Chris Dunham and Jasia!

"The rules for the meme are straightforward...

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think;

2. Link to the original post at The Thinking Blog, so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme; and

3. Optionally: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ graphic with a link to the post that you wrote. "

I have enjoyed the mores recent posts I've read and will try to catch up on the older ones!

Craig Manson said...

Jasia--That's the perfect example!

Anonymous said...

Craig,

This may seem like a stretch...

I have a photograph that includes my 2nd great grandfather. The picture was unlabeled so I wasn't sure if it was my great grandfather or not.

The photo included my father (as a boy), his mother and father, and this other man. I couldn't pinpoint this person.

Long story short; a Civil War collector found this picture of Civil War vets in an antique shop.

He called upon PBS's 'History Detectives' to identify the two African Americans in the photo.

Long story shorter. The photo is the subject of a segment airing July 9th. The 'History Detectives' have helped me identify my 2nd Great Grandfather, John Stevenson.

... or was it my Ancestor putting things in place to inform me that I'm a descendant of a 29th Connecticut Colored Infantry soldier?

George

Peace,
"Guided by the Ancestors"

Craig Manson said...

That's great, George! I'll be watching on July 9th!