The drive to Orrick, Missouri from my home takes three hours and twenty minutes without a fuel stop. If I remember to download a podcast, the time flies by. But even without, I start the trip by listening to our local NPR station until the signal is lost at the northbound turn to Carthage and my thoughts turn to family.
I love the idea of a home town. My parents left Charleston, South Carolina when I was two months old and rambled until shortly after my eighth birthday, when they divorced and my mother followed my father to Dallas. I've never claimed to be from Dallas or anywhere really because each place I've lived holds a time capsule of my life at a point in time.
After twelve years in Arkansas, I'm still not from Arkansas. My career was in Ohio. My friends and some of my happiest memories are in Ohio, yet were I to go home...well, there's no home to return to. My career, friends, children have all moved on.
What is it that brings me back to Orrick? The stories. Although my family are no longer there, memories remain in the land, in the river, in buildings and stories of the town and townspeople. When I visited last month, my friends (and distant cousins) were having coffee discussing the day's activities and I remarked that I was up for anything but didn't want to ask too many questions because I'm not from Orrick--it's not my hometown. "Oh," my cousin replied, "but it is."
Last night, my research lead me back to those rascals, the Plantagenets, the Magna Carta, and on to Henry III who was responsible for reconstructing Westminster Abby, and by way of the Provisions of Oxford, the institution which has come to be known as Parliament. Although Henry was born in Winchester Castle, the court spoke French, not English. Henry's father John lost control of Normandy, Brittany, Maine, and Anjou--their "hometowns" to Philip II of France leaving them only Gascony and Pitou. Upon his death, Henry was buried in Westminster Abbey but his heart was buried at Fontevraud Abbey with the bodies of his Angevin family.
I thought I'd close with some bread crumbs from my Plantagenets thanks to cousin Rear Admiral George Dewey.
Life of George Dewey, rear admiral, U.S.N.; and Dewey family history. Being an authentic historical and genealogical record of more than fifteen thousand persons in the United States by the name of Dewey, and their descendants. Life of Rear Admiral George Dewey, written and edited. by Adelbert M. Dewey. Dewey family history comp. by Louis Marinus Dewey, assisted by William T. Dewey, and Orville C. Dewey, 1898, Dewey publishing company, Westfield, Mass, pg 36.
(1) Charlemagne, Emperor, etc., had
(2) Pepin, King of Italy, who had
(3) Bernard, King of Italy, who had
(4) Pepin, Count de Vermandois, 840, who had
(5) Herbert I., Count de Vermandois, d. 902, who had
(6) Herbert II., Count de Vermandois, d. 943, who had
(7) Albert I. , the Pious, Count de Vermandois, 943-987, who had by his wife Gerberga, a daughter of Louis IV. of France,
(8) Herbert III., Count de Vermandois, who had
(9) Otho, Count de Vermandois, 1021-1045, who had
(10) Herbert IV., Count de Vermandois, 1045-1080, who had
(11) Countess Adelar, heiress, 1080-1117, who married Hugh Magnus, son of Henry I., King of France, by Anne of Prussia, and had
(12) Lady Isabel de Vermandois, who married Robert, first Baron de Bellomont, created Earl of Leicester and Mellent, and had
(13) Robert, second Earl of Leicester, Lord Justice of England, who had
(14) Robert, third Earl of Leicester, Steward of England, who had
(15) Lady Margaret de Bellomont, who married Saire de Quincy, created Earl of Winchester, 1207, died 1219, leaving
(16) Roger, second Earl of Winchester, Constable of Scotland, married Lady Helen, daughter of Alan, Lord of Galloway, died 1264, leaving
(17) Lady Elizabeth de Quincy, who married Alexander, Baron Comyn, second Earl of Buchan, grandson of Richard, Baron Comyn, justiciary of, Scotland, and his wife. Lady Hexilda, granddaughter of Donald Bane, King of Scots, who had
(18) Lady Agnes Comyn, who married Gilbert, Baron de Umfraville, and had
(19) Gilbert, Baron de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, by right, of his first wife; married 1243, Matilda, Countess of Angus, and had
(20) Robert de Umfraville, second Earl of Angus, who had, by his second wife. Lady Alansee,
(21) Sir Thornas de Umfraville, of Harbottle, younger son, who married Lady Joane, daughter of Adam de Rodam, and had
(22) Sir Thomas de Umfraville, Lord of Riddesdale and Kyme, who had by his wife, Lady Agnes,
(23) Lady Joane de Umfraville, wlio married Sir William Lambert, of Owlton, Durham, had
(24) Robert Lambert, of Owlton (or Owton), father of
(25) Henry Lambert, of Ongar, Essex, father of
(26) Elizabeth Lambert, who married Thomas Lyman, of Navistoke, Essex, died 1509, leaving
(27) Henry Lyman, of Navistoke and High Ongar, who married Alicia, daughter of Simon Hyde, of Wethersfield, Essex, and had
(28) John Lyman, of High Ongar, who married Margaret, daughter of William Girard, of Beauchamp, Essex, died at Navistoke, 1589, leaving
(29) Henry Lyman, of High Ongar, whose son
(30) Richard Lyman, born 1580, at High Ongar, removed to Roxbury, Mass., in 1631, died 1640, at Hartford, Conn., of which he was one of the original proprietors. He had issue by his first wife, Sarah,
(31) Robert Lyman, who married Hepzibah, daughter of Thomas Bascom, and had
(32) Richard Lyman, of Windsor, who married Hepzibah, daughter of Thomas Ford, and had
(33) Hepzibah Lyman, who married Josiah Dewey, b. 1641 ; d. after 1731, and had
(34) Josiah Dewey, Jr., b. 1666, who married Mehitable Miller, and had
(35) William Dewey, who married Mercy Bailey in 1716, and had
(36) Simeon Dewey, b. 17 18, d. 1750, who married Anna Phelps, b. 1719, d. 1801, and had
(37) William Dewey, b. 1746, d. 1813, who married Rebecca Carrier, b. 1746; d. 1837, and had
(38) Simeon Dewey, b. 1770, d. 1863, who married Prudence Yemans, b. 1772, d. 1844, and had
(39) Julius Yemans Dewey, b. 1801, d. 1877, who married Mary Perrin, b. 1799, d. 1843, and had
(40) George Dewey, the present [ed. 1898] Admiral, b. 1837, who married Susie B. Goodwin.
I highlighted generation 38 above because I'm related to Simeon's sister, Rebecca, who married Gedeliah Chase which makes George my second cousin.