Intertwined Roots

I once again realized that in order to maintain a blog you have to have the mindset to maintain a blog. Christine and I went to see the movie Julie and Julia on Monday. What a great movie that is -- lots of good energy -- and what an endorsement for blogging. I came home with the thought that I hadn't posted anything beyond my "giant leap" and should get to it.

I've been reading the Mormon Perkins book regularly. There's a lot of density to the book, both in number of pages and information. I've learned that our branch of the Perkins clan cannot be specifically affixed to one location in Great Britain, and that our beginnings with Richard I (Perkins) have roots in Maryland. Each day I read I feel like I want to get out an enormous sheet of (plotter) paper and draw all the connections just to keep track. I'm sure Eugene (author) must have done this. There's just no other way to do it than graphically.

I'm not quite 100 pages (of 700+) in and the family has moved from Maryland into remote areas of North Carolina and some into Georgia. Looks like their path will next lead them into Tennessee, as soon as we get throught the 1790 census. One of the most remarkable things about this archive is how the history books I've been reading and my history and life are dovetailing. It is so awesome to place Perkins ancestors into the development of a nation, see them crisscross the paths of founding fathers, traverse the waters where Joseph Smith was baptized, and know Perkins people were present in significant places that are now known to this generation by way of books, movies and songs. Perkins represent Americana and the foundation of this country. Can't imagine that ever crossed their minds while they raised large families and struggled day-to-day to make end's meet.

I've read where Perkins family members lived on the Chesapeake Bay, crossed the Susquehannah, moved to the Shenandoah valley, had property on or near the Potomac, settled the wild country of the western Catawba river, and guided others into history. There were those among them who were courageous and valiant, while the occasional rogue makes me realize where I may get some of my own personality. And even as I consider their westward trek and revisiting the roots, what they left behind is now more a part of Christine's family than my own. The Catawba river valley into which they pioneered now sits at the bottom of Lake Norman in North Carolina where Christine's brother and sister have each had a lakeside home.

This reading is great. Makes the connection real. On to where reading connects me to the real and only truth.

Perkins, We Have a History

This blogspot was created 2 years ago and I'm finally figuring out how to post. I guess that's both an embarrassment as well as (to me) justified. I'm on a computer about 10 hours/day so getting on after I get home is usually a matter of figuring out a problem for someone else or paying bills online. So what's changed? Well, 1) my children are an inspiration and always have something worthwhile to post and so should I, 2) my excuses for not are thin, and 3) I have something to say.

I few weeks back my oldest brother, Kent, called me. To tell you the truth I'd cataloged (that's one of my words for "forgot") that he called and thus, archived (that's another) his main reason for calling. (I have a two-week limit on memory anyway.) He'd had an occasion to meet up with some St. George Perkins family members, brothers Eugene and Waldo, who had done extensive research into the Perkins family line. Eugene had compiled the research into a book and Kent was calling to offer me an opportunity to purchase. I, of course, accepted.

Two summers ago I had a craving to know of my history, and on a summer trip to Utah took the time to sit down with Dad and Mom to go through our genealogy. I learned a lot and came home with family group sheets and a sense of the difficult mission my cousin Arn and other developers had embarked on to revamp the Church's databases and search tools. Made me reflect and be grateful for all the work my Grandpa Perkins had done to participate in the effort to find those who constituted the Perkins family framework.

So yesterday, as I was just crawling into bed, Christine returned from the mailbox with an announcement that I had a package from my brother. Upon opening it, the conversation with my brother immediately returned to memory. The opened package revealed a book entitled, "The First Mormon Perkins Families. Progenitors and Utah Pioneers of 1847-1852: A Contemporary History of the Ute Perkins Line." I'm excited.

Eugene's introduction begins, "For years I have enjoyed reading biographical history." Cool cousin! That's me. (And my Mom-in-law, Dee.) My last 4 readings have been The Real Ben Franklin, The Real Thomas Jefferson, The Real George Washington (in progress), and How the States Got Their Shapes, with John Adams (HBO-DVD) -- thank you Allison Holley Hunt -- thrown in for added measure. Boring for some. Not boring for me. Putting the Perkins names into that historical quilt will be a that extra spice for me.

I sat in a work meeting Friday where an east coast software consultant, during a conversational moment, gave us a background on her husband's Portuguese heritage. (There's a rich Portuguese heritage here in Turlock.) She's Boston Massachusetts-area Irish. She mentioned how ancestry.com helped them find his progenitors. It was fun to ask if she (or anyone there) had seen the TV ads for the web site. Sure was cool to have those Perkins family names appear on the ads spearheaded by Shawn and to share that with the group. Family is important.

So far I've learned that Richard Perkins is hard to pin down beyond his Maryland roots, but I'm already connecting him to us and those other historical times and places I've enjoyed reading about. This is going to be the best antidote for bad TV I could ask for. Thanks, Eugene. Thanks, Mom for the other half of my heritage. And thanks, Kent.