ON THE HISTORIAN'S MIND - Ripples in a Pond

Recently, while developing a presentation about Germanna - Virginia's first non-English settlement - I ran across the text of a keynote speech given at the 28th Anniversary of the First Germanna Colony of 1714. The speech was presented by the Honorable John O. Marsh, Jr., former Secretary of the Army and the descendant of a Germanna colonist. Marsh has some interesting reflections.

Of all the creatures on Earth, only man has a sense of history. That is why we have monuments, calendars, centennials, anniversaries, and the like. The search for our past is an important part of our human dimension. Why are we here? Our history is best understood by examining the lives of the people and understanding the wide impact an individual can have - how we each interrelate with each other - how our lives, throughout time, often intersected to share events. Marsh referred to this as a ripple principle - throw a stone into a pond, and watch the formation of surface ripples, reaching far beyond the place where the stone fell. Toss more than one stone at the same time, and the ripples will intersect. Our "ripples" - those that impacted ourselves and others - some call coincidences. Maybe such intersections are not just coincidental, but providential.

Case in point - Baron Christopher de Graffenried was responsible for that colony of German iron miners coming to Virginia's Germanna in 1714. One of those miners was Johann Kemper, my husband Frank's 4th great-grandfather. If it hadn't been for the persuasiveness of the Baron, Johann would probably never have come to America, would never have married the daughter of another Germanna colonist, and Frank and all of his Kemper and associated ancestors in between would never have been born.

I met and married my first husband Bob in Texas. My research revealed him to be a direct descendant, a 9th great-grandson, of Baron Christopher de Graffenried. If it hadn't been for my first husband's ancestor, I would never have had the privilege of meeting and marrying my second husband Frank. Coincidence? Providence? Or, just a serendipitous intersecting of ripples in the vast human pond?

Heritage, lineage, genealogy, pride in ancestral achievements belong to those of us willing to study them and ultimately claim them as our own. If we don't care about our roots, we will never know the extent of our incredible heritage. Genealogy isn't just closely connected with history - it IS history.

Henry David Thoreau said, "Time is but the stream I go fishing in." Each of us - with the help of our ancestors, friends, teachers, historians, and others - goes fishing in that stream. It's those 'ripples' that enrich our understanding of the whole human past and of ourselves. And, often, we find it is not what happens when and where that's most important, it's who it happens to.

Written Nov-Dec 1997.