Month: December 2022

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Christmas on Crutches

~ michaelhvs ~ Leave a comment
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At this time of year I find myself looking back with fondness to Christmases of old. Some of the most memorable for me occurred during those transitional college years when Christmas became a true homecoming. On break between semesters, I would travel back to my parents’ home to be reunited with family and friends from whom I had been separated for the first time in my life.

One of the traditions (short-lived) became an annual football game played with my old high school chums who, like me, had returned to our hometown for the holidays. We would gather at a field and, as this was a time where our development was more brawn than brain, we would opt to play a no-pads, full-on tackle game. And this we did faithfully for four years, in snow, rain, mud, or bitter cold… until life sent us in so many different directions we began losing track of each other. Or perhaps it was just that our brains finally caught up to our brawn. But for a time, it was a holiday tradition we looked to with great anticipation.

All the regular rules of the game were in place with one exception. We didn’t bother with a clock. We played until it got dark or until someone got hurt.. and as I don’t remember ever playing till dark, someone always got hurt. And that someone was usually me.

Which is why, for the next four years, you would find me on Christmas Day sprawled out on a day bed in our family “rec” room, crutches at the ready, unsuccessfully trying to fight through the brain fog brought on by whatever pain pill was being prescribed in the 70s. Ah, those were the days.

Merry Christmas all and Happy Memories!

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio specialize in the preservation of family memories through the digitalization of film, videotapes, audio recordings, photos, negatives and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website. And please take a look at our TEDxEustis talk and let us know what you think.

A Love That Laughs at Locksmiths

~ michaelhvs ~ Leave a comment
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Sometimes, it is the family narrative histories that are the most fun to read for they can provide  more of an insight into the lives and emotions of those who lived before us than is provided in a mere recounting of names and dates drawn from a generational chart. I found the following in a book, “The Houstons of Pequea,” and it features a headstrong Mary Johnston who is related to my daughter-in-law.

“As the Johnston family was moving from Lancaster to their new home in Franklin county, they stopped at a country school house to get water from the spring, and to inquire their way.  The teacher was Mr. Hunter, a man of fine character and ability.  Mary Johnston, a girl of refinement and spirit, was scarcely over fifteen, but in this brief interview at the schoolhouse an affection sprang up between these two that could not be severed.  The parents looked with disfavor on this union, and this gave rise to a romance which has been cherished by succeeding generations.  Difference of opinion in religious matters seems to have been the obstacle.  Thomas Johnston was a rigid Associate Presbyterian.  John Hunter was an Associate Reformed and they could not be reconciled.

But the “love that laughs at locksmiths” proved stronger than parental authority, and when Mary found that she would not be permitted to be married under her father’s roof, she mounted her horse and, accompanied by her cousin, Mary Murray, who had been brought up with the family, rode to Mercersburg, where John Hunter stood holding two horses, one of them wearing a woman’s saddle.  Throwing the rein to her cousin, Mary dismounted, placed her foot in the hand of her lover and springing to the saddle, rode away to a long and happy married life.

The Hunters held a high position in social and religious circles and were successful in a financial way.  After some years in McConnellsburg, they moved to Mercersburg, where they ended their days.  They had one child: Mary Anne Hunter.”

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio specialize in the preservation of family memories through the digitalization of film, videotapes, audio recordings, photos, negatives and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website. And please watch our TEDxEustis Talk on YouTube at https://youtu.be/uYlTTHp_CO8.

The Mexican War of 1846

~ michaelhvs ~ Leave a comment
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We are sometimes able to catch a glimpse of our ancestors’ lives through a blurred photo or a snippet of a saved letter but rarely do we have the opportunity to really delve inside the actual thoughts and feelings of a relative we never met. My niece’s husband now has that opportunity through the reading of his 5th great grandfather’s Mexican War Diary.  

Thomas Tennery was a volunteer and private who left his farm home in Illinois to join the 4th Illinois Regiment to fight in the Mexican War. A sensitive and articulate man, he kept a diary of his experiences which covers his long trek down the Mississippi, across the Gulf of Mexico to Matamoros, up the Rio Grande as far as Camargo, then overland and south to Victoria and Tampico. His regiment was then shipped to Veracruz for the march to Mexico City. In the battle at Cerro Gordo he was shot in both legs.

His diary allows us to view Mexico, the war, and the everyday experiences of the volunteer soldiers through his eyes. His prose is vivid, poignant, and at times breathtaking when describing the deaths of his fellow soldiers. He was deeply moved by the natural beauties of the Mexican scene and Mexican civilians appear frequently in his record, always in terms which suggest friendliness and respect. His pity for their low estate is grounded on his belief that a Spanish tradition has left them priest-ridden.

There are other personal accounts of the Mexican War that have been published but due to his superb educational background and ability to express himself in writing, many consider Tennery’s to be the most valuable.

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio specialize in the preservation of family memories through the digitalization of film, videotapes, audio recordings, photos, negatives and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website. And please watch our TEDxEustis Talk on YouTube at https://youtu.be/uYlTTHp_CO8.

Baby On Board

~ michaelhvs ~ Leave a comment
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There are many “coming to America” stories out there but none seem to me to be as harrowing as the one involving my daughter-in-law’s 5th great grandfather. 

Joseph Musgrave Whittaker was born at sea in 1754. His parents, Charles and Rosy Ann, had made the decision to start a new life in America and Joseph just happened to be born aboard the ship taking them there. Tragically though, both Charles and Rosy Ann perished during the crossing, Rosy Ann during childbirth and Charles a few days later.

Now an orphaned infant, Joseph was looked after by friends as the ship continued its journey to America, along the Roanoke River until it reached North Carolina. There, the baby was “bound out” to indentured servitude, presumably to pay for his voyage or to reimburse for his care until he became of age.

At 21, he married Zobedia Obedience Perdue whom he called Biddie. Together they had nine children. He was active during the Revolutionary War, serving in a regiment of the Virginia Militia. He fought in the Battle of Point Pleasant, the Battle of Whetsels Mill, and at Reedy Fork of the New River. He reportedly, for a brief period, served as a courier for General Washington.

After the war, he settled down to raise his family and his crops on a small plantation in Wyeth County Virginia. In his will, he left to each of his children the sum of one dollar which, to be fair, was a dollar more than he was given at the beginning of his life.

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio specialize in the preservation of family memories through the digitalization of film, videotapes, audio recordings, photos, negatives and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website. And please watch our TEDxEustis Talk on YouTube at https://youtu.be/uYlTTHp_CO8.