The more I learn about this family, the more it hits me how scrappy and even dysfunctional parts of the family have been. Mental illness. Addiction. Assault and battery. Even a murder or two. Recent generations have been scarred by this family heritage.
The data makes me wonder about family patterns and inherited tendencies. It also makes me proud of our tenacity and ability to overcome odds against us.
For example, there's a clear pattern of dysfunction in Davidson McGuire's family. Davidson was kicked out of Mt. Hebron Church for drinking too much. Let's face it, a lot of people drank alcohol to excess in those days; still do. But Davidson's abuse was so rampant that the church felt compelled to call him on it. If you read
American Congregations, Volume 1: Portraits of Twelve Religious Communities by James P. Wind and James W. Lewis
Davidson's son John L. was assaulted—for what???—and hauled into court at age 18. At 19 he joined the Mt. Hebron Church. Aged about 20 he married Britta Ann Green. Less than a year later he was cited by the church for swearing and ultimately excluded a year after he married. He never returned.
John L. and Britta married in January 1854. Ellen Nora, their first known child, was born in 1858. One wonders why, in a family where children pop out regularly, it took four years for the first surviving child to be born....
John L.'s daughter Mary Drucilla McGuire married Simmin Aaron Edins/Eddins, a man known for drunkenness. He got so drunk his buddies would clap him on his horse and slap the horse's rump to send them home. The horse knew the way. Sad. He served prison time for assault and actually did much worse. Sadder. Simmin died thinking he was a member of his church. Unh-unh. He was so mean that he'd been excluded but nobody had the guts to tell him. Saddest.
Simmin's drinking disgusted his daughter Lizzie (Rebecca Elizabeth). She never touched a drop. However, she married a silent man who told their first born to be quiet when the child was crying at night from "just" an earache. Turned out to be a fever that killed the child. Thomas, her husband, took the three-year-old's body out into the church field and buried it. Lizzie never knew where that child was buried. Most saddest.
The current generations have seen their share of inherited problems. Addiction, mental illness, assault and battery, autoimmune disease, jail time. But I have to say, we show courage, too. Lots of courage! Getting help. Fighting back. Letting the past go. Overcoming the odds. Sticking with it. Learning and progressing. Not every branch, and not every one. But enough. Enough to keep our lines learning, adapting, and continuing.
