Recently I had a most delightful Sunday afternoon. As I was sipping hot tea and watching it snow (It is April, isn't it?), I read the wonderful reports the parents had helped my students write about their ancestors. Our family trees stretch across two oceans onto three different continents and into many different countries. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the interesting stories about past generations and their struggles to reach this new country.

We have important ancestors, such as one who lived in a castle in Ireland, one who helped to found St. Genevieve, Missouri, one who was a business partner with Kit Carson, one who was the dentist of the King of Prussia, and one who might have been related to the Viking "Erik the Red." These immigrants earned a living many different ways: working on the railroads and in an orchard, working as a tailor and as a logger, working in a dress-making factory and on a farm. One family served as St. Louis policemen for 160 years. And one family, who has a street named after its ancestors, sold its land west of St. Louis so that the 1904 World's Fair had more land to use.

Some of our ancestors travelled to this new country by boat, sailing past Ellis Island or arriving on the west coast. Some moved west on a wagon train or by railroad. Some were adventuresome, like the cousin who was kidnapped by Indians when he was fourteen and escaped three years later, the grandfather who swam across the Mississippi River, and the great grandfather who hopped trains during the Great Depression. Many of our ancestors were veterans of American wars.

The stories about past generations inspire us with their courage. It is no surprise that my class of students, each one so special and remarkable in his or her own way, has such remarkable ancestors. I want to thank each of my students' parents for devoting so much time and effort to your child and to this assignment. We all benefited greatly from the experience.

Monday, April 14, 2008
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