Home in its Many Forms

Here we begin, the first post of what I hope will be many. 

No topic but this one seemed quite right to start off with. What more are we all looking for, after all, when we search our ancestors? When we seek out their stories and therefore our own? I would say we are searching for home, for grounding, for a way to understand ourselves and the world. Genealogy is history personified, lessons long forgotten, retold.

I recently got an opportunity that many who may read this would be highly envious of- I got to move to the area that my family spent generations calling home! When I was packing up our Subaru and making plans for the future, I could feel the pride and excitement that my Grandma Omi would have felt for me moving back to the area that was always her first and only home. She probably would have moved right in with me if she was still here today! This is where her heart has always been- right here in Franklin County, Missouri. Grandma moved down to Springfield, Missouri- single with two young children and met my "Grandfather" there. I don't quite like using that term for him as he was a source of pain in my family for generations to come. But my grandmother, this city girl who moved between Union, St. Clair, and St. Louis suddenly became a wife and mother in the rural and industrial areas of southwestern Missouri. My home. I am from that historically poor, industrial area- on the line between the farming land of central and northern Missouri, and the rocky, pasture land of the Ozark Mountain region. The Springfield Plateau stands tall and proud with lots of history, but only from the last century or so in any great numbers. The people here descend mostly from mountain folks and the traditions of these remote areas and small pockets of civilizations surrounding Springfield are still alive today. My uncle even tells me that his old man was a talented forager in the deep woods of  Protem- a tiny town in Taney County where the other side of my father's line raised their many kids.

But now, here I am, finding myself making a home in the place that my Grandmother knew so well. Moving just a few hours away- but already seeing the differences that mark this area as fairly different from the land of my childhood. The history here is different. It is foreign born settlements, and rich river towns. It is wine making, large tourist industries, and pleasant small towns with historic downtown areas. Where Springfield feels like it is finally waking up, these little towns seem to be falling asleep after two long centuries of bustling and hustling through their little roads.

I might sound really silly- being only 3 hours away from my home and even still in the same state and everything- but I'm not judging any of it. I'm really enjoying getting to know my Grandmother and her heart a little bit more thoroughly. I imagine what the world looked like for my ancestors as I drive through the countryside. These differences I notice only add to the experience of my genealogy research and to the richness of this time in my life. They get me thinking about what it takes for these people ( whose names and information I now know) to move the distances they did well over 100 years ago. I long for family dinners with my parents, sister, and nephews. On some down days,  I crave the feeling that I truly belong somewhere. That I know that belonging in ever fiber of my being. If I feel this way only being here a little while so far and still being only a few hours away from those I love, it's baffling to me that my ancestors Mathias Bader  and Melchior Luchsinger came here at all. I wonder sometimes if they spent their whole lives looking to feel like they belonged, or if they found it quickly after arriving. I wonder what the towns and the country looked and felt like when they were here. I wonder who they knew and what they did for fun in those early years.


We can learn so much about our ancestors from knowing the documents in which their essence still exists- but what better way to learn about what they experienced with all of their senses than by visiting and (fate willing) living in the places they called "home"... whatever seasons of their life.


Leave a comment!
Tell me about visiting a place that was important to your ancestor's life. How did you feel? What did you notice about the place, the people and the culture of the area? Could you see yourself living there? Did you feel right at home or out of place?


Love always and happy hunting,
Morgan