Our Common Immigrant Origins

We all descend from immigrants!

That’s not really an astounding or radical viewpoint. Humans have migrated to areas where they could find better conditions to live and survive since there were humans. Whatever we might think in North America, everyone here descends from someone who moved here, whether during last year or in the last 15,000 years.

I am a second generation Canadian. My ancestors, not so far back, were immigrants. I am just starting to learn why they packed up and moved themselves and, in many cases, their entire families to North America.

Most of us don’t usually think of English-speaking people (or early French-speaking people in Canada) as immigrants but they were – every bit as much as more recent additions to our national mosaic of Asians, Africans or other Europeans. We reserve that distinction to those displaced by wars or Mother Nature. Some of them we have called them refugees.

When I was growing up, people coming to Canada were mainly from Eastern Europe, parts of which had been devastated by a long and dirty war. Many were fleeing despotic, primarily Communist regimes set up following the conflict and that inflicted even more calamity. The migrants sought safety, opportunity and freedom.

Recent arrivals to Canada and the US in the 1950s were often given unflattering labels, first because they did not speak the common language of the regions they settled in, but also, I suspect, from locals’ fear about how their communities might change and whether jobs would be lost to those who might work for less. Or maybe just from plain bigotry.

What we refer to as aboriginal groups – or First Nations in Canada – did not actually originate in the Americas either. They migrated from Asia when conditions permitted during the last major Ice Age. That only makes their ancestors immigrants of a much earlier period, not different or better. In many parts of the New World, existing societies were demolished by invaders, largely from Europe, who came much later.

Of course present-day Europeans also descend from immigrants who came into the region from Southwest Asia and Africa a few hundred thousand years ago, as the climate and physical environment of those regions changed for the worse. East Asians also originated in Africa.

Within Europe there has also been a great deal of internal migration during the past few thousand years again, when degradation of habitat necessitated moves. The event called the Migration Period or the Barbarian Invasion occurred when climate changed from warm (Roman Climate Optimum) to cold (Dark Ages Cold Period).

Some newcomers made uneasy peace with groups that were inhabitants of the lands wanted for settlement; most, though, took the areas by force. That’s not unusual in terms of human history. There have always been conflicts between migrants and inhabitants going back thousands of years. Perhaps distrust of people coming later is ingrained in our DNA, as part of a survival mechanism. Or maybe it’s just that fear factor humans seem to have in abundance. Such attitudes are certainly part of many cultures around the world. These days, established citizens use the ruse that newly arrived groups will be a burden on social programs.

The facts are clear for North America in particular, though – incoming groups of people have always added to the culture, wealth and development of regions in which they have settled.

Family history studies, besides incorporating analyses of genetic relationships, are really the study of immigration – when did people move, why did they move, where did they go, what method of travel did they employ and how long did they stay. While this is more apropos for the Americas or Australia, even local regions in Europe share similar stories as people migrated within their country of origin to places where work was more plentiful and life might be better.

So – we are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants. The only distinction between us in that regard is when our forebears arrived in the places where we live.

Stories from people I know

We don’t often think about the stories our contemporaries might share when we are looking at our genealogical research. But people my age have lived long enough to have heard about and possibly been around when important historical events happened, as well as those that touched their own families. Family history is not only about who was alive hundreds of years ago but also about who we have been in contact with during our own lifetimes.

How often have you seen or heard the phrase, “Where were you when….?”

You may remember details of things that are now reported as important historical events, such as the shooting of a US President, a war fought in some far off place in the world or the births of future Kings. Such events may have had some personal impact on a member of your family – or yourself. Perhaps you or someone close to you was in the wrong place when a major natural disaster occurred (see my previous blog posts about Natural Disasters and Family Misfortunes). Maybe a special trip or birthday comes to mind because it happened at the same time as an important and newsworthy occasion.

I was reminded of this aspect when a friend asked if I had seen a piece he published recently in The Devon Family Historian (May 2017 issue). It was titled Memories: A Country Boy. Alick Lavers related his experience as a small boy of the bombing of Plymouth during the early years of the WWII and, in particular, when a German plane crashed in the countryside on 24 November 1941 not far from where he lived.

It is a poignant story, one that still lives vividly in his personal memories. I recommend reading the piece if you can (If you send me your email address in the comments section, I will forward you a copy. I won’t publish your email contact details.). His article serves as an example that we do not always need to look in books or newspapers for information about events and how they impacted people. Sometimes we can just ask our friends and relatives. Many of them are now of similar (advanced) age as ourselves.

I do confess that I have not written much about my own life and those people I came in contact with. To my descendants, my personal recollections and story will, of course,be part of their family history. Perhaps this blog post might be a start in that direction, if I can remember what happened decades ago. Good thing I have photos and many documents that go back through several generations.

When recording your family’s history, remember to contact friends and relatives to see what they remember about significant events within your and their living memory as well as what they may have been told by their parents.

Is there a hero in your family tree?

I use the word here generically – that is, it may be equally applied to either gender.

We tend to associate the term hero with courage in battles – to individuals who show exceptional bravery in saving others from harm. But my Canadian Oxford Dictionary defines the word primarily as: a person distinguished by courage, noble deeds, outstanding achievements, etc. There is no mention of fighting, combat or conflict of any kind. So what really defines someone as a hero?

 

More than 3,500 Canadian soldiers (all of them heroes) died in the Battle of Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917. There is always a flower blooming next to every headstone, no matter how remote a corner of the site it may be located. Vimy graves: Paul Kinsman blogsite; Vimy trench image: Vimy Foundation webpage; Vimy monument image: Reflections on Canadian History webpage

In their search of military records, many genealogists may find individuals in their families who were awarded medals for their acts under fire during the many wars in which countries and their people were engaged in over the centuries. We make great efforts to remember these individuals in monuments and in naming of public buildings, parks or streets.

I live in an area of Calgary that was part of a military base during the last two great wars. Street names include descriptions of military significance, such as: Valour Circle, Victoria Cross Boulevard and Burma Star Road. This is not surprising given the area’s history but it tends to reinforce our perception of heroes as being connected to armed forces activities of the past, not to everyday life.

Families can and do have other people who must be considered heroes:

·         a physician who administers to a community even at his own personal risk from contagions

·         a single mother whose focuses her entire life on the well-being of her children;

·         a wife or husband who dedicates her/his declining years to ensuring that her/his partner does not suffer unreasonably from a debilitating health problem

·         a volunteer for a local or foreign charitable organization who offers time and talents to help others with lessor means or opportunities

·         an individual who moves to a far-off, or sometimes not-so-far-off location in order to build a better future for their present or future families (sometimes enduring great physical hardship and deprivation in the process)

·         a relative who takes in and takes care of children of a sibling who may have fallen on hard times

·         an individual who dedicates themselves to their community, acting as a volunteer or elected official but who assists those in need through charitable efforts or his wealth

·         a person who, in spite of his own mental or physical limitations brings joy and inspiration to others by their selfless acts

These kinds of people are true, every-day heroes! They certainly fall under that category of noble deeds.

I have found a few people in my family tree that conform to some of the descriptions I have just listed. I will also say that I have not found any that were awarded medals for bravery under fire in any battle although there were many who enlisted when wars came along and served with honour and distinction.

Engaging in the study of family histories hopefully means learning about the activities in which our ancestors took part. These are not part of the dates and places we normally search for, except for how that information might relate to historical events. We always hope we will find something written directly by family members that will comment on their lives and families. Letters are rarely preserved, even those written by our closest ancestors. Parish records might contain snippets about people from which we can discern details of their actual experiences or relationships.

One example I discovered in my genealogical research was a minister who spent weeks assisting residents in Plympton St. Mary parish in coping with a cholera epidemic which spread primarily through the urban community beginning in July in 1832. Reverend William Isaac Coppard later wrote a book on his experiences, laying out the causes of the spread of disease and the methods he and local health officials devised to treat the afflicted. The book is title Cottage Scenes During The Cholera: Being extracts from a diary written in July and August, 1832, originally published by a number of firms in 1848. The book is available in reprint and scanned versions from several sources but is also available for free download from Google books. Rev. Coppard details his time spent in the homes of families who contracted the disease from notes he kept during the epidemic

Apart from military options, family historians might ask themselves what other heroic deeds have been be unearthed in constructing their family trees.