JSL's Side of the Story

James Sankey Lindsey

On the back of the
above photograph is written:

Born on this day ~ May 5, 1846 ~ 164 years ago
~ Happy 164th Birthday Great Grandfather ~
After a turbulent life, may you
Rest In Peace ~ April 10, 1921

Dayton National Cemetery

***************

From The Guest Book
By Sarah Blake

Below the pattern, the great sweeping pages, the wars drummed out and fought, are the questions: What if? What happened? How? Beware the vast magisterial history unrolling a carpet across time: this followed by this, leading inevitably to that. The march of history, the teleology. Nothing is inevitable; everything is tangential, particular -- human.

. . . History is in us. Our history lives in us. Lean low and listen, that's your job. Not that they had lived . . . But how. . . .

History is sometimes made by heroes, but is also always made by us. We, the people, who stumble around, who block or help the hero out of loyalty, stubbornness, faith, or fear. . . . The people at the edge of the photographs. The people watching. The crowd. You. . . .

So know yourselves first . . . Then look back and account. (44)

. . . What the study of history had taught her, clearly, after years and years, was that she might pull up the single moments from the darkness where they lay centuries old, she might point to a spot in time, a line in a diary, the particular shredding of a blue ribbon used to tie a shoe, she might string these together and say, Here is what happened.

And history would sit back on her heels and laugh and laugh. 46)

P.S. My Great Grandmother
Sarah Elisabeth Hartman Lindsey

The Great Aunts

My Grandfather's Sisters

Mabel

Beatrice

Virginia

Gail

Their Mother ~ My Great-Grandmother
Sarah Elisabeth Hartman Lindsey

For more on the life and times of Aunt Mabel
see my recent post:

Where Aunt Mabel Lived

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A literary blog of connection & coincidence;
custom & ceremony

Veterans Eve

I have spent the last few weeks looking through stacks of family papers that have come into my possession over the years, including all the army pension documents of my great - grandfather James Sankey Lindsey (1846 - 1921) who came home sick from the Civil War with untreated measles (contracted by his entire division: Company B, 185th Ohio Infantry) from which he never fully recovered (chronic kidney & digestive ailments).

He spent the remainder of his life petitioning the government for a decent pension in return for his service to the Union at a very young age and was met with resistance at every turn. Shameful! The funds were finally granted in 1912, nine years before his death, in the amount of $15.50 per month (would be approx $373 per month in today's economy). Imagine how much taxpayer $$ was wasted in repeatedly denying his rightful claim instead of granting it outright! And how many people were employed in the wasteful task of telling him -- and doubtless thousands of others Veterans -- "No" instead of "Yes."

That's what I'm going to be thinking about this year on Veterans Day.

Civil War Veteran James Sankey Lindsey & Family ~ c. 1911

My maternal grandfather -- Paul Jones Lindsey -- is the tall,
handsome brother in the middle of the back row.
His brother -- Samuel Gordon Lindsey -- sitting on the front,
right-hand side, beside his mother -- was killed in France in WW I.

Sam, with his mother, my great - grandmother
Sarah Elisabeth Hartman Lindsey ~ c. 1916


My grandfather
Paul Jones Lindsey ~ 1922

Two Fine Families

In honor of my grandmother's 127th birthday, here is a formal studio portrait of her with her family in 1911, when she was 20 years old:

The Heidemanns

Seated are my great - grandparents:
William Michael Heideman (1855 - 1931)
& Anna Mary Miller (1862 - 1923)
with their children, standing, L to R:
my Grandmother Mary Rovilla Heideman (1891 - 1966)
and her brothers Melville Miller (1896 - 1966) & Harry Louis (1887 - 1940)

16 years later she would marry my grandfather, in 1927

Here he is with his family in 1913, when he was 18 years old:

The Lindseys

Seated are my great - grandparents:
James Sankey Lindsey (1846 - 1921)
& Sarah Elisabeth Hartman (1856 - 1937)

Sitting by father: Wayne Wallace (1889 - 1951)
Sitting by mother: Samuel Gordon (1893 - 1918)
Standing, L to R: Lillian Virginia (1897 - 1980), Gail Hartman (1899 - 1946),
my Grandfather Paul Jones Lindsey (1895 - 1983)
Bertha Mabel (1880 - 1968), James Sankey, Jr. (1883 - 1965),
Edna Beatrice (1891 - 1922)

*********************

For more family history, see my recent posts:

"Talking About the Homestead"
&
"Thus Far Our Experience"
&
"Getting Almost Homesick"

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A literary blog of connection & coincidence;
custom & ceremony