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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Shenandoah


In this first post of the Plains Holly Tree, I bid you welcome you to this little family history blog and its companion website.  As music has always been an important aspect of the passing of generations, I thought it most fitting that we begin our journey together - through the stories and chapters of my distant family - with a song.  This song will become the anthem of this site.  In my view, it is a piece of Americana that holds in its heart the yearning of our pioneer fathers who moved continuously westward and remembered those they left behind.

This song, and this rendition by Bryn Terfel, seems so exquisitely appropriate and fitting of the lives of the people I will share in the coming months. It is reflective of their Scotch-Irish heritage and the deep yearning that drove them to move ever westward and the remembrances of those they left behind.  The grass was greener just over that horizon. There were opportunities, but there were also many extended risks.

A more formal introduction to this blog and to the website is pending.  But for now, know that the website is small as of today, but as any young sapling, it will grow with its own character, as I am joined by cousins and others to help provide a part of the story of the family. I am hopeful that this will become a collaboration of my family and the cousins I have never known. Chapter by chapter, and generation by generation, we will read my family book back to its immigrant beginnings - and beyond.

We will start chapter one soon.

1 comment:

  1. This is great, Phil! I can't wait for the coming installments!

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