It seems like the more time I am allowed on this earth, the more I think about my ancestors. As a child it’s all about the present. And a young adult tends to believe he or she is invincible, and for most of us it’s all about us for a few years. But I think later in life, especially around our forties or fifties, many of us begin to remember we have family members that came before us. This past Saturday I was acutely aware of that as I attended a family reunion on my mother’s side, the Mudd family.
Several of my female cousins and myself had gathered at a restaurant a few months ago to work out the details for our gathering. The planning paid off as the reunion was a complete success in my mind. I believe approximately one hundred of us traveled to the outskirts of Springfield, Kentucky and met in a little town called Fredricksburg. This is where my mom and her one sister and six brothers grew up. And I thought about all eight of them and how proud they must be that so many cousins and second cousins took the time to hang out together. And it was so great to see all my cousins and their families!
A few relatives had brought old pictures of our family, including our grandparents and our great-grandmother. Lots of black and white pictures because it was before color photos were available. A photo shop had altered the picture of my great-grandmother, Catherine Angelina, focusing in on her beautiful red hair and piercing blue eyes. My grandfather, Bert Mudd, was only seven years young when she passed during childbirth of one of his siblings. There was a picture of him later in his life, in his seventies, and also my grandmother, Prudie Mudd. All three of them were born in the 1800’s and that got me thinking, “Wow! That’s a long time ago, and what was life like?”.
My granddad was born in 1893 and Grandma Prudie was born in 1895. I am not sure about Catherine but I would guess her birth year to have been around 1870. What was life like then? Don’t you really wonder? How much human contact did one have besides your immediate family? Did most children go to school? The telephone was invented in the middle of the1870″s. There was certainly no social media. When did families begin to have family reunions? And more personal questions, especially for Catherine. How much formal education did she receive? How many brothers and sisters did she have? Did she date much before she married? Who was the young, beautiful man that gave her that first kiss? Did she have flowers brought to her to make her smile? What was her favorite flower? How much did she or the average woman know about sexual intimacy before marriage? Or birthing a baby? I mean, let’s get real, talking about the reproduction of a human being can be tough for some of us and it’s 2025! Did the women help each other? And what about the men? One time my granddad told one of my uncles that the sight of a woman’s bare ankle was very exciting to a man. How times have changed! I wonder about the information that was available to both, the network or support that was available for any subject; healthy communication with your spouse, raising children, learning to manage money, building homes. And don’t you wonder how much free time there was to read a book, or take a simple, meditative walk, or sit and play cards? And was the concept of a vacation even something to be talked about?
It sure would be fun to talk to Catherine Angelina, that beautiful Lady. She would be a wealth of information. But I would want to know more than just facts. I would want to know how she felt about things in her life. What had made her cry? What were her fears? What songs did she sing? What made her laugh? Did she ever laugh so hard she cried? I played cards yesterday with the Foxy Hags and laughed so hard I cried! So, now I am beginning to wonder what would my great-grandchildren want to know about me? What would they think about me driving a car if transportation is dramatically different thirty years from now? Will the phone be a thing of the past? Will they think I had a hard life because I washed my own dishes and cleaned my own house? Will family reunions still be around? Will they want to know my favorite flower? (The Rose) Will books still be in paper form? Will they realize how much I loved to take my prayer walks and anticipated vacations far earlier than they ever arrived?
Yeah, the more time on spend on Mother Earth, the more I think about things.
c Love, Joan
Oh, the questions, yes, there are so many things our ancestors could tell us about what life was like in their day. What make them happy, sad, mad, glad… I know we would be amazed at how different life was in the past. I hope that would make us grateful for all the “modern convenances” we have today! My memories of my grandparents are of them working hard to make a life and home for their children. I never saw them have time for resting or prayer walks during the day. I believe they prayed as they “worked the land.” So many things to think about as we get more mature in life. Blessings to you dear Joan!
Amazing people we all come from! For sure Rev. Rick! :O)
Hey beautiful lady, thank you so much for this thoughtful post, I loved reading it! And I loved the questions you asked about your ancestors, as I have wondered similar questions about my own beloved grandmother.
Like your Grandma Prudie, my Grandma was born in the mid- 1890s. Her first husband was a doctor, and she somehow mustered the courage to eventually divorce him when he became addicted to the painkillers he had access to through his medical practice, and was a womanizer as well.
I’ve wondered how in the world she was able to gather such courage to divorce her first husband, when she was a stay at home mom with a young child to care for, and it was common for a woman to be told to stay married and “look the other way” back then.
My grandmother had to find a job to earn the money to raise her young daughter after her divorce, which must have been difficult for a woman back in the early 1900s.
She eventually met and married her second husband, my beloved grandfather, and raised my father and his sisters during the years of the Great Depression. How hard that must have been for her!
And how hard it must have been for her when my grandfather died in the 1950s. I know she became very depressed after his death, and my dad convinced her to leave her home in the Midwest and move to Florida, to be near my family.
I’ll always be so grateful she decided to make that move, as my childhood was so blessed by having her presence. But it meant that she would no longer be a part of her other grandchildren’s lives back in the Midwest, except for infrequent visits. How hard that must have been for her as well.
I know that life must have been very hard in general for my grandmother’s generation, and they faced hardships that my generation has not had to face. I salute my grandmother, your grandmother, and their generation for all of their hard work in their lifetimes.
As their descendants, we have so much to thank them for, as we stand upon their shoulders and enjoy a life they likely could not have imagined with all of its freedoms, luxuries, and conveniences. God bless them, one and all!
What a marvelous, strong woman you share DNA with beautiful Lady! :O)