Understanding myself better through genealogy
Guernsey County, OH
When I moved to NYC, I drove across the US on I-80. I-80 is a long and sometimes lonely stretch of interstate that goes through Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Being a western girl, I loved the mountains and valleys in Utah (I was born there after all) and I didn’t mind the dry and empty expanse of Wyoming. Nebraska’s pure flatness was a little unsettling since I’ve never lived on the plains and really never even spent a lot of time there. The eastern end of Nebraska leads into the rolling hills of Iowa which was lovely, and all, but it didn’t particularly strike me. Illinois and Indiana were both fine. I remember a lot of fog as I passed through.
But my favorites were Ohio and Pennsylvania. They had the mix of the gorgeous hills covered with trees, and farmland and adorable towns. I would have planted myself in either of those places and been satisfied. Yet, I continued on to NYC.
Well, I’ve since learned that I have deep ancestral roots in Ohio, and I believe in Pennsylvania as well (I know of one person born there, but her last name is one I associate with Pennsylvania, so who knows. I’m hoping to learn more someday). My ancestors moved to Ohio at the turn of the 19th century and founded a town. My family lived there for over 120 years until my grandfather, as a small child, was sent to California to live with his father and stepmother.
Can a love of a place be genetic? I’d like to think so. I’d like to think that I was drawn to it because of my ancestors calling to me, or perhaps there is some genetic component to the love of a particular geography that has been passed down to me for 6 generations.
Learning about my ancestors has helped me make sense of some of my own personality traits and quirks. Why I love Guernsey cows so much, why Ohio and Pennsylvania call to me, and why I have such insatiable wanderlust. I attribute my love of Guernsey cows to my dairy farmer ancestors, particularly those from Guersney. I’m drawn to Ohio and Pennsylvania because of the 6 (or more) generations of family that were born, lived and died there calling to me. My wanderlust comes to me through the Flatt side of the family, where traces of my German ancestors can be found throughout Eastern Europe. More recently, they have scattered over the entirety of the North American continent, myself included.
What else will my ancestors teach me about myself?
And maybe wonderlust is itself a genetically passed trait. Your Dad certainly has it, He knows of at least one great Uncle on his mothers side that had it. Wonderlust, curiosity, a yearning to see what is on the other side of the hill? Some of have it, some don’t, sounds like you have it.