A Patriot Sometimes Overlooked

 Most of us remember the Presidents that have led this nation, but sometimes we overlook the importance of other patriots.  John Marshall is one who should not be forgotten, his integrity and importance to the nation particularly important to remember today.

He was the oldest of 15 children, and although his formal childhood education was very limited, he loved books and taught himself by reading.  Both he and his father fought in the American War of Independence.  He saw battle and endured the suffering at Valley Forge in the cruel winter of 1777-78.  After the war, he studied law, gained a reputation as a lawyer, served in the Virginia state legislature, was chosen as President Adams's envoy to France, served in Adams's Cabinet as Secretary of State, (having turned down other positions offered to him along the way), and ultimately was nominated by Adams to serve as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  This summary of his life prior to becoming Chief Justice is incomplete, but offers some idea of his achievements, but his love and devotion to his wife cannot be overlooked.  She was an invalid much of their marriage, although she did give birth to 10 children, 6 of whom lived to adulthood.

There were 3 Supreme Court Justices before him, but little structuring of the Court had been accomplished prior to Marshall's arrival on the bench.  It is indescribably fortunate for America that Marshall was chosen at such a critical time to gradually shape the Supreme Court.

While much of our American law was derived from English law, it was Marshall who led the way to distinguish the differences and to flesh out the unwritten distinctions under our Constitution.  Ignoring the British principle that "the King can do no wrong," Marshall did not hesitate to determine that under our Constitution a President can be impeached and removed from office on conviction of his crimes and misdemeanors.  

Many of the cases that came before the Supreme Court had no precedent to guide them.  Other Chief Justices might have introduced their political bias into the Court's decisions.  However, through Marshall's leadership, the Court avoided political bias. Quoting author Harlow Giles Unger, "The Court and its decisions remained as centrists as Marshall himself--at one and the same time liberal and conservative in the literal sense of both words. They protected and preserved individual liberties that did not infringe on the liberties of others or cross the line between liberty and license."

When John Marshall died, John Quincy Adams wrote in his diary:  "He was one of the most eminent men this country has ever produced. ...Marshall, by the ascendency of his genius, by the amenity of his deportment and by the imperturbable command of his temper, has given a permanent and systematic character to the decisions of the Court, and settled many great constitutional questions favorably to the continuance of the Union."

The importance of the early Supreme Court has always been recognized, but of great significance was not only the Constitution itself but also the leadership of Marshall who guided the Associate Justices who served with him.  The broad unity of the court strengthened the respect for the rulings they made, resulting in acceptance by not only the Senate and the House, but also across state leadership, resulting in wide acceptance among the public. 

John Marshall's Supreme Court ruled America's legal landscape for 35 years.  Yet, shortly before his death, he shared his concern about whether or not the Constitution could last.  He worried that "The case of the South seems to be desperate."  His concern was validated when South Carolina's State Militia fired on Fort Sumter.  The brutal Civil War tested the nation, but the Constitution held.  

Yet, even today, we must not take for granted it's invincibility.  Like John Marshall, we must respect the challenge of preserving the union.

Service to the Nation

 

When I saw a photograph of a returning WW II soldier, with a caption describing that the soldier had been gone for over 4 years, most of which time was as a Prisoner of War, with no news of his fate, I thought about the hardship for both him and his family.

I also thought about the courage of John McCain, imprisoned in Hanoi, who refused to be released so long as other soldiers remained in prison.

The courage and suffering withstood by soldiers continues even today, and they deserve enormous respect, regardless of how history and current events view the wars themselves.

 My blog of April 24, 2024, asked "Why Wars?" but it didn't really answer the question.  It was, however, encouraging to know that the training of West Point soldiers includes avoiding wars, as well as how to fight them.

I am sure that those students pitching tents on campuses and destroying property and blocking other students trying to get to classes believe they are doing the right thing, although I am not sure that they are doing much that is constructive. Have they studied history?  Have they been used by outsiders whose motives were not at all aligned with what the students intended.  Have they considered the expense their parents have suffered to send them to college, or strangers who contributed to scholarships, or taxpayers whose money assists colleges?

When they were not in class, did they study the history that led to war?  Before pitching their tents and   joining in the chants begun by others, what did they do to fully understand the history leading up to the present animosity?  In short, what efforts did they take to more fully understand the complex history of this dispute? Were they aware that Israelis were unhappy with Netanyahu's leadership and were exercising political ways to resolve problems?  Did they research the history of Hamas and the mistreatment they imposed to retain power?  Did they consider the broader impact involving other countries in that region?

Do they realize that at least 1.3 million active-duty members of the military are stationed at home and abroad, not to fight but rather to keep the peace?  Have they spoken with any of the soldiers from diverse backgrounds about what they are actually doing to keep the peace, out of a sense of patriotism and civic duty.  Were they as disturbed by the slaughter of innocent people at a music festival, the use of rape as a weapon, the killing of babies, as they were by Israel's response?  In short, did they try to turn their energy to considering the full perspective of the situation and ways that might resolve a smoldering animosity that has simmered for generations without resolve? 

It is important that their generation should care about what is happening in the world, but what do they really know about Hamas and the history of that region?  Did they consider the pressure on Netanyahu by his own people to reduce hostilities with their neighbors prior to the war, or America's efforts to exert influence before this war began.  Do they know the history of the Holocaust that led to the decision to find a home for Jews?  Do they understand the influence of other countries in that region?  

Maybe they do know some of these things, but has what they are doing done much or anything to support America's efforts to find a peaceful solution or to suggest ways to resolve this simmering hatred and maze of conflicting claims to the disputed territory?  

I have done considerable reading, trying to understand and reflect on what might be done productively.  I do not know the answers.  However, I will continue reading history to learn the mistakes and successes of the past in order to better understand the present.  I believe time spent in the library to understand the complexity of this troubled land, reaching out to elected officials to share informed concerns, and voting for those who seem responsible representatives, makes more sense than pitching tents and disrupting classes.  I also see the role of professors to teach, not to advocate--to encourage students to become informed, not to inform them of their own particular opinions.  

As our world becomes more complicated and dangerous, we need great teachers, wise politicians, and responsible voters, and it seems we also need brave soldiers to help us keep the peace.  I know that on Memorial Day, if I see someone who has served this nation, I will thank them for their service.  

Memories That Should Not Fade

 

I have a clear recollection of first reading "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" by Katherine Anne Porter.  My husband had retired and we were enjoying traveling.  As he drove, I often read, and I happened to be reading that short novel by Porter.  It is a tragic story, and although it is fiction, it is based on the flu epidemic of 1918.

That was the first time I had heard of that epidemic that killed so many people.  It struck during W.W. I and impacted soldiers in particular, as well as civilians.

Until the international tragedy of Covid in 2020, the so-called Spanish Flu was the severest epidemic of the modern era, although in earlier history there had been other devastating epidemics.  I was shocked that I had never registered the 1918 flu epidemic prior to reading the novel, and I wondered whether I had heard of it and paid too little attention.  Is it possible that a novel  caught my attention more strongly that an earlier historic account had?  I hope not, but sometimes reading history seems less personal than it should, and a story touches us more strongly. 

Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

The second example of my learning of a dreadful historic event was when I was a young lawyer in my thirties.  A fellow attorney in my office was from Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I cannot recall the context of his remarks, but he referenced the burning of homes of Black residents by White members of the community.  Perhaps other lawyers were present who seemed to be familiar with the brutal history of the event, and they did not choose to continue the conversation.  For whatever reason, the conversation changed course and I did not learn at that time just how horrible it was.

I had not realized the extent of the crimes, nor that lives were lost in the burning of the Black Community.  It was quite some time before I learned the full context of the violence.  Today I am aware that both Black and White citizens of Tulsa died, but it was the Black community that was destroyed, both businesses and homes, from fires intentionally started.      

There are many other examples of events that have happened that should not be allowed to fade.  We must not turn aside when we hear of such events nor dismiss what happened in the past as insignificant to the present.  Unless we learn from the past, we may fail to avoid the mistakes, cruelties, and wrongs in the future.  History can be our guide, both to avoid the mistakes of the past and to be reminded of the successes.  When we begin to forget that such things have happened, we will forget that they matter.

Americans can be kind and generous, but we must not become blind. 

Awareness of Our Past

Lest We Forget

Last week's post examined "What Makes America Great?" with the focus on our Constitution and the unique form of government our founding fathers created.  This week's post emphasizes the importance of the continuing need for Americans to know our history.  I have written in this blog just how difficult it is to interest young people in the importance of history, given their tendency to think that anything that happened a few years before they were born is ancient history and probably not worth knowing.

I just read a wonderful collection of speeches given at several universities by David McCullough in a book titled The American Spirit, Who We Are and What We Stand For.   One of those speeches, titled "Knowing Who We Are" given in 2005 speaks directly to the importance of knowing our past history.  McCullough writes:  "And it seems to me that one of the truths about history that needs to be made clear to a student or to a reader is that nothing ever had to happen the way it happened.  History could have gone off in any number of different directions in any number of different ways at almost any point...  Actions have consequences.  These observations all sound self-evident.  But they're not--and particularly to a young person trying to understand life."

Visiting Historic Sites

McCullough offers several suggestions for making history more accessible to students, starting with doing a better job of making sure our teachers know history so that they can tell the stories of history in a more exciting way than by sticking closely to the dullness of textbooks.  His further suggestions for improved teaching of history include improving textbooks so that they are not so dreary, avoiding content that reads as if done by committee, and expanding the teaching of history to young children when they have a particularly facile ability to learn.  Beyond the classroom, encouraging parents to take children to historic sites, and to share with their children history and biography books they particularly enjoyed.  McCullough also urges parents to talk with their children "about what it was like when they were growing up in the olden days.  Children, particularly young children, love this." 

The last suggestion I referenced above had a particular resonance with me.  Recently, my husband and I were having a wonderful dinner with friends.  The father began sharing an interesting memory about his grandmother's brave immigration to America just in time to escape the Russian Revolution.  His story was filled with details that held the interest of everyone at the table.

Sharing ancestral history, in this case, my father's grade school

When he had finished, my husband spoke directly to the man's college-age children, urging them to find a way to record these family conversations, and urging them not to  delay too long.  Holidays are a perfect time to spend an evening with family, listening to and recording these wonderful  stories.  My husband asked if they had heard the stories their father had just shared, and when they replied that they had not, he emphasized that if these family stories were neglected, once their father was gone, the stories would be lost forever.  "If you wait too late," he warned them, "you would no longer be able to ask your dad to repeat them, would you?"

"No," both young people admitted, but the man's son added, "But, I could look the Russian Revolution up on my phone," pulling his phone out of his pocket.

Learning how choices make a difference

I confess.  These are good friends, and we are fond of their kids, but his flippant reply annoyed me, and I blurted out, "That sounds exactly like the smart-aleck reply a young man would make."  I probably should not have been so outspoken, and while I tried to make it a bit of a joke, I meant it.

Fortunately, our friendship is close enough that my comment did not end the discussion with hurt feelings, and everyone recognized the difference between imagining an ancestor in a historical moment and reading online a summary about immigrants leaving Russia for America.  It also sunk home with the young man that had his great-grandmother waited too late to leave, his ancestral line would have been interrupted and he would almost certainly not have been born.  That was a real opportunity for our young friend to recognize, as McCullough said, "that nothing ever had to happen the way it happened" in history.

To emphasize how stories can bring history alive, McCullough references E. M. Forster's definition:  "If I say to you the king died and then the queen died, that's a sequence of events.  If I say the king died and the queen died of grief, that's a story.  That's human.  That calls for empathy on the part of the teller of the story and of the reader or listener to the story."  Historian Barbara Tuchman understood that the secret to teaching history is simple:  "Tell stories."

Sharing my own  stories with high school graduates

American history is filled with compelling stories--exciting, tragic, triumphant--but we tend to teach them sequentially, like marking off years on an empty calendar, with the stories reduced to dates.  The more that family history is shared in stories the better their children will place themselves within historic events, and the more that teachers bring history to life with stories and biographies the more interesting and memorable history can be.

Our own lives, like the life of my young friend whose great-grandmother fled Russia, were shaped by our family history.  Collectively, our nation's past shaped the America in which we now live. How can we truly understand and appreciate what those generations before us did to shape this nation and give us the freedoms we enjoy if we are ignorant of our past? And, how can we recognize our own responsibilities if we ignore that inheritance from them?  As McCullough says:  "...we should never take for granted...all the work of others who went before us.  And to be indifferent to that isn't just to be ignorant, it's to be rude.  And ingratitude is a shabby failing."

Happy Holidays to all of you who have supported this blog.  Perhaps, if you gather with family during the holidays, you may find time to share family stories and create an awareness for the youngsters listening of their family's personal history and how the events and choices made by their ancestors brought them into existence.  As McCullough reminds us, nothing had to happen just the way it did.

Unexpected Guests

The photograph above was taken fairly recently from the air and shows Isaac Werner's Homestead and Timber Claim near the center and the surrounding claims of his neighbors.  You may be surprised to see how few trees there are--even less today than there were in Isaac's time when settlers worked very hard to plant and protect trees.  What you may also notice is the absence of fences, something that present farmers have in common with early settlers.

Very early settlers grazed sheep on the open prairie, but as others arrived to claim homesteads and plant trees, open range was no longer available.  However, as settlers with livestock faced several dry seasons and money became scarce, many failed to raise feed for their livestock and lacked money to buy feed.  They felt they had no choice but to release the animals to forage for themselves.  Unfortunately, the hungry animals found food wherever they could.

Bear Scat in our yard 2018

Isaac recorded in his journal having to go to St. John to buy fencing materials to put around his own hay stacks to keep the foraging cattle and horses of his neighbors from eating what he had raised for his own horses.  He also complained about a neighbor's hogs rutting up a planted field in search of potatoes overlooked during the past potato harvest.

Our farming neighbors with livestock fence their pastures and feed yards today, but I thought you might enjoy seeing some of our unexpected guests (or evidence of their visit) during the past summer.

Yes, I know that there may be some of you who regard our seeing three young bears in 2017 as a misidentification, even with photographs of tracks and scat.  This year we did not see a bear, but for about a week or more we found what several people have identified as bear scat in our lawn nearly every morning.  It was the height of mulberry season, and our pasture has many mulberry trees.

Buffalo passing through 

Equally unusual but more easily explained was the herd of buffalo that grazed through our yard.  Because we knew a new couple in the neighborhood had buffalo, it wasn't a complete shock to see them, apparently having escaped through a breach in their pasture fence.  They lingered on our property briefly before moving on.

My husband moved closer and got a better picture of the buffalo, but I chose my photo taken from the yard so that our landscaping would indicate just how close our unexpected guests were.  Our cat likes to keep watch out of the window that overlooks this mowed pasture, and although he is accustomed to various wildlife, he seemed rather perplexed by the buffalo.  Our south pasture had two definite buffalo wallows when I was a girl, but I suspect it had been a very long time since buffalo had been on our farm.

Most recent unexpected guest

Our most recent unexpected guest surprised me one morning as I stepped out the door onto our porch.  She seemed to like our Burmuda grass lawn very well, although the mosquitos  were abusing her.  My husband began calling neighbors that we knew had horses, and it wasn't long before her family came to get her.

The buffalo were gone by the time Isaac Werner was keeping his journal, and bears in this community were never mentioned by Isaac, nor by any of my ancestors.  But horses were found on most homesteads.  Isaac struggled without a horse for almost ten years until he finally bought a mare he named Dolly Varden, the name of a woman in a Charles Dickens novel who dressed in colorful clothing.   He did not describe her coloring in his journal, but his choice of name seemed to me to indicate a more colorful coat.  This beautiful horse is named Jewels (or Jules), and we both enjoyed her visit.

We are accustomed to many four-legged visitors--raccoons, badgers, deer, skunks, squirrels, rabbits, opossum, coyotes, armadillos, even cougars and bobcats, but we did see a few unusual visitors this year, and I hope you enjoyed meeting our atypical guests!

In writing my manuscript, I have been very strict with myself about documenting details.  If I could not confirm from Isaac's journal or local newspapers or other documentation that specific birds, animals, and plants existed at that time, I did not include references to them in the manuscript.  In my own lifetime I have seen many changes.  There are fewer birds and lightning bugs today, although they were abundant in my childhood.  Other animals, like deer and armadillos, that were unheard of are now prevalent.  Although Isaac's main crops were corn and potatoes, they were replaced by my father's generation with wheat and milo.  Now corn is a regular crop, there is a large commercial potato operation near our farm, and cotton is gaining acreage.  One thing is certain and that is change.  It is the responsibility and challenge of every generation to accept the inevitability of change while having the wisdom to protect what is good from our past.  Nature provides evidence to guide us, as does the record of history. 

Remember, you can enlarge the images by clicking on them.

History and the Economy

As this blog has always made clear, the things that fascinate me about history are the lessons history has for the present.  I believe that sharing the story of Isaac Werner, his community, and their connection with the Populist Movement of their time has lessons for our own time.  The trick is, of course, understanding how to apply those lessons.

This blog post contains cartoons published in the County Capital in St. John, the newspaper to which Isaac subscribed.  Remember, you can click on the images to enlarge them.  

King Grover with Boodle and Wall Street

Then, as now, sometimes politics causes all of us to avoid conversations with each other, and I hope you don't stop reading because you think I am about to express political opinions.  I'm not.  The three men I quote in this post are not politicians, and what they are urging is the importance of getting politics out of the way to solve issues important to all of us--issues that were important to Isaac's generation and which never seem to go away.

An article published July 18, 2018 in USA Today reported on a meeting at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. at which Former Fed Chairman Ben Bernake and former Treasury Secretaries Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner spoke to reporters.  They focused on the reforms enacted in the wake of the banking and housing meltdown in 2008, a financial situation inherited by the new, incoming administration, which came dangerously close to collapsing the global economic system and bringing America down with everyone else.

That history is only a decade ago, but as I grow older I realize that what seems recent to me is ancient history to a significant part of the population, and how short some of our memories are!  One of the concerns expressed by these three men was whether today's political climate would allow the bipartisan action that confronted the economic crisis in 2008.

Politics and the economy were a divisive combination in Isaac Werner's time as well, as the political cartoons from the 1890s show.  The issues printed on the steps leading up to the "Throne of Plutocracy" in the cartoon above describe some of the same issues of today.

The point the three men sought to make in their press conference was that the current drop in unemployment and other positive economic trends should not create such a sense of economic security that we ignore long term issues. 

"Today, when we are growing, this is the time when we need to deal with some of the persistent structural issues that are going to determine our long-term economic competitiveness," Paulson said.  "We have the fiscal deficit, dealing with immigration, the income disparity and what automation and globalization are doing to wages.  They need to deal with all those."

Reading the USA Today article I could not help but compare the issues portrayed in the old cartoons with the issues concerning Bernanke, Paulson, and Geithner, men who are not politicians and who served under Republicans and Democrats.

In the above cartoon, notice what is in threat of being submerged by the Wave of Prosperity, as Uncle Sam waves a sign reading "Wanted:  Competent sailors to run this craft."  The weight of "Public Debt" overloads the "Ship of State," and foundering in the water are "Labor," "Farms," and "Factories."

As this blog has often said, we can avoid mistakes if we learn from history.  The challenge always remains, however, just how to interpret those lessons.

Messages from History

Rock formations guided early settlers

I am fascinated by history.  It helps me evaluate the significance of current events and balance seeing those events as too impressive or too frightening.  As children we see the world as brand new, with each day seeming to have been born with us.  Life seems full of magic and monsters under our beds, because our personal history is only as long as our own tender lives.

With maturity, we lose some of the wonder but we gain greater knowledge of the world.  Part of that is simply experience.  The longer we live the more experiences we have to make us aware, and part of it is vicarious experience from education, reading, watching television, and picking up information helter-skelter--some of it valuable and some of it worthless or worse.  The formal teaching of history in schools is difficult and too often ineffective.  As adults most of us can still remember how ancient events only a decade or two in the past seemed.

Kansan John Brown's role in Civil War

As much as I appreciate an awareness of history now, I can't quite recall when it became important to me.  As a child I don't recall that I read much history, although I do remember seeing movies set in the past that intrigued me.

The thing that first intrigued me about Isaac Werner's journal was how many similarities I found in the late 1800s with current events.  When I first began working on the manuscript I was anxious to finish it and find a publisher as quickly as possible, because I thought it was so relevant to current events.  Yes, I do wish I had found that publisher more promptly, but what I have realized is that history doesn't go out of style.  Perhaps the things I initially found so relevant have subsided, but other current events have arisen that share common issues with the late 1800s when Isaac lived.

Another thing I have recognized is that in my youth I paid more attention to things that happened elsewhere than exploring the history of my own region.  I suspect that people fall into extremes, either overlooking the importance of things that happened in their own region or being too provincial in ignoring what happened elsewhere.  History gives us a broader view that helps us put things into perspective.

Beecher Bibles came to Kansas

I try with the blog to share overlooked sites and events of historical importance in Kansas.  I have certainly learned a great deal about my home state in the process of doing research, and I have  learned to be more observant.  Now, if we see a road sign pointing to some attraction a few miles off the highway, my husband and I are much more likely to take the time to explore.  How many times had we driven Interstate 70 without taking the time to visit the amazing rock formations nearby?  Why had we not discovered the church connected with Beecher Bibles.  Would we ever have bothered to see Dr. Higley's cabin?  I have shared those three experiences in this blog, as well as many others, and as one blog follower told me, "You have given me many new places to visit."

But what I also have tried to do is share ideas from the past that have relevance to today's events.  They are part of our heritage.  How many Kansans know that a significant reason that Kansas is a "red state" today is because so many Union soldiers staked homestead claims here after the Civil War.  They were soldiers from Lincoln's Army, they voted Republican, and many of their descendants still do.

We are losing voices from the past

My great-grandfather was one of those Union soldiers, but I had no idea his military history influenced the political conversations around the dinner table when I was growing up until I began during the research for my manuscript.  Soldiers were given a year's credit for each year they served as a Union soldier to apply toward satisfying the five years required to live on and improve their claim in order to acquire title.  Confederate soldiers received no such benefit.  Many of Isaac Werner's neighbors were former Union soldiers. I suspect there are historical explanations of all kinds lurking unknown in most families' histories.

I think it is interesting to discover those things.  The current popularity of genealogy research would seem to indicate that others agree.  Ancestry.com and other genealogy sites include ways to not only discover who your ancestors are but also what was happening in the times in which they lived.  I hope those of you who follow my blog find the the grab-bag of historical information I have shared on the blog to be of relevance and interest to you and your children.

Our community recently lost one of those people who could share first-hand accounts of World War II.  Emerson Shields spoke at the Veterans' ceremony at the Stafford School this past Veterans' Day, but now he is gone.  Isaac B. Werner left his daily journal, whose pages inspired me to write a manuscript about the struggles of the working class of farmers, miners, and factory workers in the late 1800s--a struggle that led to the creation of the People's Party that many people living today know little or nothing about.  Yet, many of the goals of those struggling workers are accepted realities today.  Our current lives are filled with whispered message from the past that we should pause to hear.

History and Young People

Making history relevant

Last week's blog, "The Historian's Responsibility," (Blog Archives 3-3-2016) dealt with the challenges of competing for attention in a world filled with distractions.  That blog generated some interesting replies from followers.  E.R. from Kansas recommended two books on the subject, Overload Syndrome and Digital Invasion and added from his own experience the value of his parents' having removed the television from their home environment, replacing it with "weekly trips to the library to load up on books."  

J.S., a small town librarian whose wisdom I have referenced in the past, shared a fun dialogue between herself and a young boy who had visited the library to use the computer.

J.S. (scooting a group of computer users out at closing time):  "Does anybody want to check out books before you leave?"

Boy:  "Yeah, but I didn't bring any money."

J.S.:  "You don't need money...you can take home library books for FREE!"

Boy (looking at me like I was Out of My Mind):  "Are you SERIOUS?!"

J.S.:  "Yes--Check them out; take them home; read them; then bring them back and get some more!"

Boy:  "ALRIGHT!!!  Where are the basketball books?!"

While that story might seem a bit discouraging with reference to what children choose "to attend to," she also shared a story about a young girl who asked for "animal books."  The girl explained, "I think I want to be a veterinarian when I grow up..."  J.S. added that the girl left with a dozen or so books about animals.

J.S. took particular pleasure when a 9-year-old dropped by to see her 5 years after his family had moved and told her "I sure miss coming to this library..."

Conversations like these should make all of us hopeful that children are still curious about ideas to be gained from books.  Unfortunately, L.K. from Missouri thought of an old rhyme as she read the blog:  You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.  You can give a person information but you can't make him think.

Some of you may have read the comment left at last week's blog from an international follower, which concluded:  "How does one understand history without having read a great deal of it?" 

It seems that much of my own history reading is triggered by something, and I read voraciously about the subject because that random event or bit of information tweaked my curiosity.  Each thing I read prompts me toward further reading.  For example, studying the US Constitution in law school made me want to visit Philadelphia, and although it took me several decades to get there, the visit expanded my reading about the American Revolution, our Founding Fathers, military history, and other issues of the late 1700s.  

Titles Isaac Werner's Library Contained

Isaac's Journal has led me to read and research the early history of his (and my) community, the Progressive Movement of the late 1800s, early farming methods on the prairie, and other subjects that would not otherwise have attracted my attention, many of which I have blogged about.    

Finding the toy W.W. I soldier led to more intense reading about that historic time, including Churchill biographies, W.W. I war poets, soldiers from the English village of my ancestors, the influenza pandemic, and other topics about which I knew little or nothing, information I have also shared in my blog.

If you were to reflect on your own reading habits, you might also recognize triggers of your own.  So, how can a teacher of history create triggers for his or her students that will make history of interest to young people?  An interesting article written by Ann White, a teacher of European history in Washington, D.C. suggests that the key is for teachers to allow their own passions for what they are teaching to be the trigger for their students' interest.  

In her own case, she showed her class how she, as a history writer, proceeds once she has a thesis for a paper.  "...I taught by doing--writing, before their eyes, the same paper they were writing.  Why?  Because I myself write history.  It is my passion.  ...I want to show them how I weigh evidence in my mind and how I weigh words.  Does my tentative thesis genuinely express my understanding...Should I use a more vivid verb?"  White stopped giving tests and began requiring her students to write essays, and she discovered that they responded to her enthusiasm by mirroring her process.  "...they criticize each other's thesis statements.  They recognize statements that describe but do not assert, they find each other's lapses in historical reasoning.  Questions about thesis statements produce more intense classroom conversations than my test preparation ever evoked."

However, she also recognized that other teachers taught history in entirely different ways that also excited their students.  The common factor was "impassioned teachers."  She concluded that the teachers' "passionate involvement with history" is more important that methodology.  (You may read more at "Teaching High School History:  The Power of the Personal, Ann White, May 1998.)

Isaac's Journal

When I was teaching high school English before attending law school, my classes opened their minds to poetry when I used the lyrics of popular songs or assigned the sports section of the newspaper to search for similes, metaphors, and other poetry techniques.  Not by abandoning the text book but by opening their eyes to the poetry around them, I was able to awaken their interest.  Or, as William James said in last week's post, I was able to bring poetry into their own experience.

I hope more of you will share your comments this week about your own triggers for exploring subjects that had not previously been part of your experience, about teachers that shared their passions for subjects in a way that captured your interest, and about reading adventures you took after something triggered your curiosity.  I look forward to hearing from you!     

  

The Last Hours of New Year's Eve

(c) Lyn Fenwick

As the last hours of New Year's Eve 1870 drew to a close, Isaac B. Werner opened his journal.  In a reflective mood, Isaac wrote:  "Who may see the last of 1871, only 365 days but what changes may take place [in] that very short time to come?  How many warm beating pulse may rest motionless 'til then, and what Shakespeare may take his life in the meantime to shine some future day, an ornament to the period?"  

"Very nearly can I say that I enter the New Year--at least--without pressing debts, about $40.00 near at hand to liquidate, while I have also cash in pocket to meet same and maintain square, while that would leave me about square and strapped.  But how many would feel rich at that?"  

Although Isaac was satisfied with his financial situation, his usual longing remained, for he continued his New Year's Eve reflections by listing all the books "...I would like to buy now."  After completing the list, which included the prices (indicating he had been studying the sales catologues from which he typically ordered his books), he continued writing:

"There is nothing like patience to conquer [a] great many things & undertakings.  Whether I really increased the value of my real estate & chattles during this last year or not,  I confidently feel that I enriched my mind, satisfactory to my desire--beyond my any expectations--and in my eye that looks a fortune worth possessing.  'O learn thou young man.  God hath provided wisdom the reward of study.'"  

As 2015 draws to a close, like Isaac, I find myself reflecting on this past year.  I am saddened by the havoc of nature, of war, of hateful discourse, and of the natural sadness time brings as family and friends are lost.  I am heartened by all of the good things in my life, however.  My reflection did not cause me to open a journal but rather to sit down to my drawing board and take up my colored pencils to sketch how Father Time must feel about the burden he has carried in 2015 and how intimidated Baby New Year must be by his task for 2016.

Isaac did not include any New Year's Resolutions in his journal, but here is my challenge to all of you.  If you have made any resolutions, share them with me--in the comment section of this blog, at my e-mail address, or on my Lynda Beck Fenwick Author's page on face book in the comment section below the announcement of this week's blog.  If you meet my challenge, I will share some of your resolutions next week!

Here are my Resolutions for 2016:  1.  Eat and exercise sensibly to get over my holiday indulgences!  2.  Read more of the unread books I have acquired before buying too many more.  (Notice I left myself a little wiggle room about adding really special books to our library.)  3.  Find solitary, uninterrupted time to begin the planned revisions to my manuscript.  4.  Accept the sad and unpleasant things that will surely happen in 2016 with grace and try harder not to be so impatient with the unnecessarily unpleasant and stupid things I see, hear, and do during 2016.  

Here's wishing all of you a Happy New Year!

Just Who was Isaac B. Werner?

Isaac B. Werner's Grave in Neeland's Cemetery

Last week, as I was writing the blog thanking the visitors who have followed Isaac Werner's story, I realized that many of you have followed my blog since I began in 2011!  However, new followers are arriving at the blog for the first time every week.

I thought that perhaps a good way to start off 2015 would be to suggest certain blogs from the past that long-time followers might enjoy revisiting to remind themselves just who Isaac B. Werner was, and that new followers of the blog might enjoy reading to get better acquainted with the history of this Bachelor Homesteader on the Kansas Prairie.

My first blog was "I Love History," which I republished 1-3-2012.  I believe in the importance of knowing history because of what we can learn from the past.  Isaac is an interesting man, but what made me want to share his story is how his life tells us so much about the history of the settling of the prairie and of the political past of the region.  The experiences of Isaac and his neighbors have much to teach all of us today.

What makes Isaac's story so intimate is that he wrote about himself and his community every day from 1884 through 1891.  He was an educated man, who wrote about literature, politics, agriculture, social events, and through his eyes we can see this time in history.  You can read about how I found that journal in "Finding Isaac's Journal," 10-23-2011 in the blog archives.

One of the early St. John banks where homesteaders got in debt

He was born in 1845 in Wernersville, PA, a town founded by his father, and you can read about "Isaac's Birth & Childhood," in the blog archives at 11-4-2011 and about "Isaac's Childhood Church" at 2-23-2012.  After his father's death, Isaac left his hometown and settled in Rossville, IL, where he ran a drug store, and you can read about that in "Isaac's Years in Rossville, IL" at 1-20-2012 in the archives.

Isaac arrived on the Kansas prairie to claim his homestead and timber claim in 1878, and blogs about his life in Stafford County include the buildings he saw being built in the county seat of St. John, the entertainments he enjoyed, the crops he planted and machinery he used and invented, the pests he encountered, the political groups he joined, and many other subjects.  He was an interesting man, active in his community and in surrounding counties, and there has been much to share about him in my blogs.  If you think one of your ancestors might have known Isaac, you can read "Did Your Ancestor Know Isaac?" at 4-26-2012, for many early settlers to the region are mentioned in his journal.  One of the most popular blogs that I have posted is "Isaac's Penmanship," at 5-2-2012 in the archives, perhaps because schools are dropping cursive writing from their curriculum and people are curious about the subject.  (See also "Isaac's Penmanship Revisited," 12-19-2013, and be sure to read the comments!)

The old St. John School where Isaac attended programs

The blog contains a great deal of history about America during the Gilded Age when Isaac struggled to survive on the prairie as wealthy men built mansions in NYC, Pittsburg, and other cities.  Because of the great disparity between the wealthy and the working classes, it was a time of much  political activity, with Kansas at the center of the progressive movement.  Isaac was actively involved, and several posts in the archives address that history, for example, "Politics Hardly Seem to Change," at 11-24-2011 in the archives.

The picture at the beginning of this blog is of Isaac's grave, and you can read about that at "Finding Isaac's Grave, 1-13-2012 in the archives.  I hope you enjoy looking back (or reading for the first time) these blogs that begin to answer the question "Just who was Isaac B. Werner."  

To reach the archives, go the to upper right column on this page and click on the year and month of the blog you want to read.

Learning History from Books

From my first blog post I made it clear how important I believe it is for intelligent people, and especially decision makers, to have a well-informed awareness of history.  (See "I Love History," 1-3-2012 reposting in archives.)  I hope my subsequent posts have shared some historic wisdom with all of you who follow my blog.

Titles from Isaac Werner's Library

What is essential, obviously, is the accuracy of the sources from which we acquire our information.  My admiration for Isaac began early in reading his journal, as he described the books he acquired for his personal library.  The quality of his selections was apparent.  (See "Isaac's Library," 2-2-2012.)  Later in his life he engaged in a practice we all must avoid if we are to be fully informed.  He began to narrow his reading to those authors with whom he already agreed.  As I quoted pollster Frank Luntz in "Isaac & the Political Press," (archives 10-24-2012), "We [Americans] don't collect news to inform us.  We collect news to affirm us."  If we restrict ourselves to biased information, our opinions are inevitably biased.

I have always had an awareness of World War II, but most of what I had read was written from an American perspective.  Only recently have I happened to select books with a European perspective, and I thought I would share some of these books for your consideration.

My first recommndation is a book written by a German author, Hans Falada, called Every Man Dies Alone.  It was written in Germany just after W.W. II and was not available in an English translation until 2009, when I first learned of the book based on the true story of a German couple whose  drafted son died fighting a war of which he disapproved.  His death gave them the courage to begin their personal protest of the war.  The book opened my eyes wider to the universal potential of war to corrupt the citizenry through greed, jealousy, fear, ambition and other dangerous motives to turn on one another, as well as the personal courage of ordinary people to do small things that make a difference.

More recently I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, with a young girl living outside Munich as the central character.  Now having been made into a wonderful movie, the book is described as being for young adults, but it has ample interest and wisdom in its pages for adult readers.  I definitely recommend both the book and the movie (now on DVD).

Madeleine Albright

I just finished Prague Winter, A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, by former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright.  Sec. Albright, born in Czechoslovakia, was not yet two years old when her homeland was invaded following an attempt by British and French leaders to appease Hitler by compromising away part of Czech lands.  She was still a toddler, living in England with her parents, when she was baptized into the Catholic Church, and she did not know of her Jewish heritage until a reporter disclosed that information through his own research when she was 59 years old, after both of her parents were dead.  With the news of her ancestral heritage came the discovery that more than 2-dozen of her close relatives had died in the Holocaust.  

Her father had been a diplomat and the head of broadcasting for the Czechoslovak government in exile in England during the war, so his records of the war play a significant role in the research for this book, but she had to look elsewhere for information about her family's Jewish roots.  The result is a very personal account, sharing her childhood memories, her father's documented role in the Czechoslovak pre- and post war activities and government in exile's activities during the war, as well as her search for information about her own discovered relatives and their suffering as Jews during that tragically inhuman persecution.  She brings not only the personal tragedy and the political insider's perspective of her father and his circle of acquaintances but also the wisdom and professionalism of her own training and experiences.  It is an amazing book, and I highly recommend it.

While this is a bit different from my typical blog, it is certainly consistent with my theme of using history to avoid mistakes of the past in our present decisions.  As I was reading Sec. Albright's book, Putin's soldiers were marching into Crimea, and a part of one nation's citizens were voting whether to secede from their own country.  America and other nations were watching and seeking ways to intervene appropriately.  I could not help but consider the similarities to events before W.W. II, when some ethnic Germans living inside Czechoslovakia welcomed a takeover by Germany of that part of Czech lands and European leaders sought to appease Hitler by doing nothing about his land grabbing.  Our own country has its own bloody example of one region deciding to secede from this nation.  

Perhaps if we look to the wisdom of history, the decisions made in the present will be better informed.