Black Sunday Dust Storm

 I was reminded by a post on the Newspaper.com blog page that April 14^th will be the anniversary of the Black Sunday Dust Storm that raged across Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas in 1935. The piece describes many of the experiences of residents of those states during the storm but mostly during the whole depression-era drought.

I commented briefly about droughts in a post here on 29 May 2017 and mentioned effects of the Dust Bowl on migration (Natural Disasters and Family Misfortunes 3: Drought). I have since presented a talk about Drought and Family History at THE Genealogy Show spring event. I hope to share it again in the future.

Newspapers of the time quoted dozens of farmers about the hardships of the drought-stricken lands and the storms in particular. The storm of April 14^th was not the only one that occurred during the drought years, but it was arguably the worst. Storms were all too common in areas where farms had dried up so much that topsoil was being blown away. Once it was gone there was no hope or reason for those that had survived to stay.

View of a dust storm that occurred at Spearman, Texas, on 14 April 1935. The photograph was submitted by the official in charge, Houston, Tex., and was taken by F. W. Brandt, cooperative observer at Spearman, Texas.

The destruction of farms ultimately led to passage of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936. It was a measure adopted to allow the federal government to pay farmers for reducing their production and to conserve soil from being eroded.

As I have pointed out in my presentation about droughts, as well as talks about other natural phenomena, disasters such as storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, epidemics, famine and droughts are all elements of Mother Nature’s arsenal that more than occasionally have impacted people. Recognizing their scope, effects and consequences are important parts constructing family histories.

Droughts, like most natural events can occur in any area, at any time and under any climatic conditions. They can be short-lived or span centuries. The worst of them have resulted in bad to non-existent harvest yields, leading to food shortages and extreme hardships on people who endured them.

Events like the Black Sunday storm could be deadly, causing immediate fatalities or long-lasting respiratory problems like “dust pneumonia.” Such maladies led to authorities and the Red Cross urging people to wear masks to prevent inhalation of the fine dust particles.

Red Cross volunteers in wearing masks to protect their lungs from blowing dust; taken in 1935 in front of the Red Cross building in Liberal, Seward County, Kansas (Kansas Historical Society)

Family historians who had ancestors living in the southwest USA, as well as other regions that experienced drought, during the 1930s will find reports like this of interest.

Ontario Ancestors Conference 2022

 

I am pleased to be announce that I will be presenting a talk at the Ontario Ancestors Conference 2022 titled Natural Phenomena and Their Effects on the Lives of Our Ancestors.

The conference will be virtual and held the weekend of June 24^th to 26^th, 2022.

Like many of many of my presentations and articles, this one offers a perspective on how natural events and conditions of the physical environment controlled the lives and livelihoods of people in the past. In almost any scenario one can imagine involving people and communities in the past, the physical environment has played a major role in living conditions as well as in how the basic necessities of food, shelter and employment were obtained.

Registration will open on April 1^st. Go to the conference website to find out more.

Our Memories

As I talk with family members and other genealogists, I get the impression that most people have a relatively limited memory of past events, whether they have to do with ancestors or the environment around us.

We all remember most of what happened in our lifetimes, although they become more indistinct the further back we go. Research indicates people have no real memories from before they were about seven years old. Because the brain was still developing, there was no facility to store and then retrieve memories from earlier years. Photographs of us may prompt some memories of some events but they will be limited to how those activities stimulated us (For example: Were we excited, scared or happy at the time?)

I keep telling myself that I remember being on a scooter with Mom and Dad when I was just three or four, but it is possible I tricked my memory by seeing this photograph of us.

Memories of schools and classrooms may be etched in our minds as they were from times when we were stimulated to learn new things and make new friends. We may also have retained our old report cards that remind us of specific activities and achievements. And there are the ubiquitous class photos to jog our memories of who was in our classes from year to year, like this one of my big sister Lynn, with her grade four class taken in 1950.

Of course, we have no memories of our parents’ lives since we were not around then. What we may know about them, or their parents would have been passed down to us again perhaps with the use of photos to illustrate who they were, what they looked like and what activities or occupations they were involved with. We might be lucky if stories were told to us about people from earlier generations. It is rare that anyone actually met their great-grandparents.

Here is a photo from 1920 of three generations with my father (on the right), his father (in the centre) and his grandfather (on the left). Dad did remember much of the work on the farm where he grew up.

With regard to historical events, we are mostly at the mercy of what might have been taught in school. And those lessons will be dependent on where we lived and the importance that was placed on whether local, national or international events were emphasized. I remember learning about the famous people who explored Canada from the 17^th century onward: Samuel de Champlain, John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, David Thompson, Anthony Henday, Alexander McKenzie, and many others. I was intrigued by their exploits that their names stuck with me.

Growing up I learned a bit about the Depression and the 2^nd World War by hearing how they impacted my parents and grandparents. It was not until I began doing genealogical research and assembling information about my ancestors that I was able to relate the lives of my ancestors to these kinds of historical events.

In my discussions and talks, I have discovered that there is much less knowledge about natural history than about political or social history.

The impact of Mother Nature is a complete enigma to many people. We may remember a particular snowstorm or heat wave that we lived through or have heard about similar weather conditions that our parents experienced. People have no personal reference points further back than a couple of generations. What they may understand about natural history may have been obtained from studies of such subject matter in post-secondary school programs – like I did.

Most people are surprised, if not shocked, for example, to learn that it is not as warm as it has been in previous centuries, or that storms are no more severe than they have been in the past, or even that about 1,000 years ago mountain glaciers were further back in the canyons that they are now.

I frequently come across references and quotes in old publications that people were experiencing storms, floods or drought conditions, as examples, that were “unparalleled in history” according to residents of the time. Such quotes go back centuries indicating that each generation had its own frame of reference to measure the scope of events.

It’s all still a learning process, of course, but I maintain it is important to understand that natural phenomena had significant impacts on lives and livelihoods in the past. What we might remember from our own experiences of the seasons, for example, may have very limited application to what went on many decades ago.