Thanksgiving in the U.S.

Those of us who are in or from the United States will be celebrating Thanksgiving this week. We don't usually think of this as a genealogy holiday. However, when you think about it, there is a strong "ancestral" connotation involved, even for those of us whose ancestors did not travel on the Mayflower in 1620.

Thanksgiving is a time when we pay homage to all our ancestors who traveled to a strange land to find a better life for themselves, for their children, and for succeeding generations. This is equally true for ancestors who arrived in the twentieth century as well as earlier years. We should all give thanks to our ancestors for helping to establish our American way of life and ensuring that we are a part of it.

I would also suggest that Thanksgiving is a perfect time to ask family members what they remember about departed ancestors. This is especially true if there are elder family members at your Thanksgiving table. Ask them about your grandparents, great-grandparents, their aunts, uncles, and cousins, and maybe even earlier generations. Who were these people? Where did they come from? How did they earn their livings? Where did they live? What were their hobbies? Were they religious? If so, where did they go to church or to a synagogue? What family stories and traditions do they remember? Ask lots of questions!

Oh yes, write it all down. You might want to even ask permission to tape record the conversations. You may learn more across the Thanksgiving table than you could glean in a dozen visits to a local Family History Center. Best of all, you can learn the personal stories and other tidbits that were never recorded in public records.

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving, genealogically speaking and otherwise.

Comments

[Stacy Wood]

So where are the links? When the above "Thanksgiving in the US" is clicked, nothing happens.

[Dick Eastman]

The article did not reference any other web site so there are no links. I generally offer links to other sites when ever I mention information to be found on those sites.

- Dick Eastman

[Frances Ames]

"76-year-old Minnesota Grave etc."
click and it can't be found. :(
wcco.com isn't there. (It says.)

-Fran

[Dick Eastman]

I just re-read the article on "Thanksgiving in the U.S." (shown above) and do not see any reference to a "76-year-old Minnesota Grave" or to wcco.com. Am I missing something?

- Dick Eastman

[Paul Copinger]

As an East of the Atlantic reader who doesn't really understand the US Thanksgiving Hoo Hah, do the descendants of slaves celebrate their ancestors being forcibly deposited on American shores?
I wish you a happy one nevertheless.
Paul Copinger

[BigJon]

Paul,

Thanksgiving has absolutely nothing to do with slavery. I guess that you don't understand it. As I recall from History class, it was the English who started the slave trade when the USA was still English colonies, and the English who fed it with the slaves/sugar/rum trading triangle. It was also the English who were the major (and almost sole) purchaser of cotton which was in great part produced by slaves.

Almost all of the slaves' descendants do, in fact, celebrate Thanksgiving.

Let's not forget that England also forcibly deposited people in Australia. So maybe you should ask that question of someone from England.

[Tim]

Paul and Big Jon,

Thanksgiving was created as a time to thank God for all His blessings through-out the year. It has nothing to do with ancestors, except that some of our ancestors may have been present at the first Thanksgiving, which was for thanking God for allowing the colony to survive the winter and granting a bountiful harvest the following summer.

Also, it was the Dutch who primarily started the slave trade in Europe and the US. But lets not forget, though some will not want to acknowledge it in the first place, that the slave trade lasted as long as it did, and still continues in Africa, because of the various tribe's willingness to sell each other into slavery in return for guns to help them dominate other tribes and capture more slaves. The Ashanti tribe, which the pop/R&B star is named for, is the most notorious for enslaving its neighboring tribes.

[BigJon]

Tim,

I was aware that slavery is still practised in Africa. At any rate, there sure don't seem to be a lot of slaves' descendants moving back to Africa from the USA. That says something.

[Dick Eastman]

---> At any rate, there sure don't seem to be a lot of slaves' descendants moving back to Africa from the USA. That says something.

Not many descendants of immigrants from Great Britain are moving back to that country either. Does that say anything?

[JohnR]

--> Not many descendants of immigrants from Great Britain are moving back to that country either. Does that say anything? <--

Some of mine did because they were loyalists and persecuted. Does that say anything?

[Rob]

How about the fact that many descendants of slaves were ripped of culture and heritage and don't know where home is in Africa.

[webdrops]

well seems loads of confusion is brewing in here... but must say m happy to learn that tis post was written in 2004 and now its 2008 and Thanksgiving is back again :) here I tried writing about Thanksgiving History & Facts

http://purpletrail.com/partytrail/holiday_parties/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-history-and-facts/