Good Morning All & Happy Sunday!
Well, Thanksgiving was a bit different than most other Thanksgivings…less in the way of a large family gathering, but more in the way of a small, “quality time” opportunity with those loved ones that we could gather with to celebrate our blessings (which are many, even in the midst of the “coronavirus blues”). My wife and I got to be with her mom and her sisters and we really enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving meal together (more than one, actually…don’t you just love Thanksgiving dinner leftovers!). Good conversation and the enjoyment of just being together. I must admit that I like Thanksgiving and Easter the best for those very reasons. Not as much “rushing around” with gift giving, but just focusing on the day and the people around you. I loved everything about this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, particularly the turkey (it was prepared in a brine of buttermilk, salt and some special herbs…it was so moist and delicious) and the green bean casserole (I’m not much of a green bean casserole but this particular casserole was so good!…I’m told it’s from the Campbell Soup recipe). And of course, last but not least, I enjoyed some pumpkin pie with my whipped cream! I saw a picture of the way I want to eat my pumpkin pie in the future…it shows a slice of pumpkin pie in a bowl of “Cool Whip.” Now that’s what I’m talking about!
It was beautiful and restful down at the farm and it was just a great time with Judy’s mom and her sisters. Let’s do it again soon!
Speaking of celebrations, here’s to my friend Jaci (she puts on an outstanding & moving memorial every September 11th in her front yard in Spokane) and to my friend Cheryl in Australia. They celebrate their birthdays today. Here’s to both of you! And Happy Birthday wishes also go to one of my very favorite football players, Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks, who is 32 today and to actor extraordinaire, Don Cheadle of “Hotel Rwanda” movie fame, who turns 56 today. Here’s to all of you!
I’ve been enjoying going through my at home library, trying to figure out which books I should keep and which I should get rid of…mighty tough! I’m finding that I’m running out of room for my books because I have so many of them. Do you remember how Imelda Marcos of the Philippines was much maligned for having so many pairs of shoes?…Well, I have a similar affliction when it comes to books….so many books, so little time! One of the gems I pulled out recently (it made the cut) was “Poland” by James Michener. He sure uses a lot of words to describe what he is writing about, but you sure get a great deal of knowledge about the subject matter he is writing about. “Poland” is no exception. I think he wrote some of the best narrative of the holocaust through the pages of “Poland.” He just did a masterful job of debunking the myth that mankind is essentially good in describing the depravity of the holocaust and the way in which people treated one another of different creeds, religions, races, etc.., given that Poland found itself being the “crossroads of history” by virtue of its location. If you ever want to know about the role that Poland played in the history of mankind, Michener’s masterpiece is worth the read.
Another historical gem I came across the other day was the story of Leander Morrison, a Civil War soldier who enlisted in the Union army at 15 years of age. His story was told through the newsletter I receive from the Abraham Lincoln Library & Museum, a stop on our Route 66 trip a few years ago. I joined this fantastic place as a member and have enjoyed receiving periodic communications from them. They have been offering some fascinating Zoom public forums of late. Check it out at www.alplm.org. As the story goes about Leander Morrison, his military discharge dated from 1865 when he was just 18 years of age was found amidst papers for the James Piggott family, which was strange because a connection was not readily available between Leander Morrison and the Piggott family. Michelle Miller, an archivist who was very familiar with the Piggott family tree, didn’t recall seeing a Leander Morrison, or indeed any Morrisons or Morrises, as he is sometimes called—among the names. So who was he, and why was his discharge paperwork included with all these family items. As Miller says, “it didn’t quite fit and that stirred my curiosity…” “I began, as most do in today’s world, by trying to search online for more information. I dug into his military record, and found the unit he had served in, and unexpectedly, located a photo of him, digitized by a project in Kansas. He was strikingly young in the photograph, clearly just a boy. His records said he enlisted in 1862—if his age on the discharge was right, that would mean he had only been about 15…I searched census records, military records, and burial records. The latter jumped out, as I was surprised to find that Leander Morrison was buried alongside several members of the immediate family of Isaac Newton Piggott, at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. The collection of Piggott papers also had a document detailing the purchase of the family plot in 1873—this was a year after Leander had died, at just 24 or 25, in a hospital for sailors in St. Louis who had nowhere else to go…As time when on, I decided to ask more questions and reached out again this time to the public library in Keokuk, Iowa—the town given as Leander’s birthplace…Ultimately, I still haven’t found the connection to the Piggott family. It could be that he was a cousin or a relative by marriage that I haven’t figured out yet. Less likely, but still possible, is that he was just a young man in the area that the Piggotts became acquainted with and ended up looking after. It may be that the records simply aren’t there, and we might never know…After all this (working with other resources), I’m able to tell the story—or part of it, at least—of one young man who may have been forgotten. Leander Morrison was probably born in 1847 in Keokuk, Iowa. In 1860, aged 13, he was working as a staff member at the mansion of Alexander Heaslip, a Keokuk businessman. If he had any family left in Keokuk, he didn’t live with them, though he may have had an older brother named Romulus. By 1862, he had moved to either Arkansas or Missouri, and on July 1st he enlisted in the Union Army—just 15 years old. He spent 3 years as a private in the 5th Kansas Cavalry, a unit that served primarily in Arkansas during the Civil War, and was discharged at age 18. Sometime after the war, he seems to have found work as the pilot of a boat. It seems he was probably unmarried and had no children. He died at the age of 24 or 25 on June 22, 1872, of tuberculosis. He was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery, where he still rests today, beside the family of Isaac Newton Piggott. How about that? Just goes to show again that “history reads stranger than fiction” and is often times a mystery awaiting a detective to solve it!
Speaking of searching for facts, here’s the fact for the day:
Tears caused by sadness, happiness and onions look different under the microscope.
Here is the word definition for the day:
“Adhocracy”: A 20th century Latin word meaning “A flexible, adaptable, and informal organizational structure without bureaucratic policies or procedures.” Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little less bureaucratic policies and procedures in government…a little more “adhocracy” now and then…what do you think?
Here are some thoughts for the day:
“A hug is a great gift…one size fits all, and it’s easy to exchange.”
“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
—C.S. Lewis, “The Magician’s Nephew,” as quoted in “C.S. Lewis’ Little Book Of Wisdom: Meditations on Faith, Life, Love, and Literature,” (2018)
Here’s to a great Sunday and lots of love & good wishes always…stay safe, stay strong and…
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)