Winning Words 4/17/13
“Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors.”  (Aesop)  I once met a lady who was a direct descendant of Alexander Hamilton, and I have a friend who is related to the naturalist, John Muir.  Do you have any famous ancestors?  A cousin contacted me about information for a family tree he was researching, but I never did see the result.  Are you into that kind of stuff?  My father played baseball against 3-finger Brown.    ;-)  Jack

 FROM HAPPY TRAILS IN NOVA SCOTIA:  My most famous ancestor is also my namesake--Jim Fisher, Jr.. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, but his real clame to fame was receiving the trophy (still in the family) as the most artistic liar in the frontier. In the absence of television, competitive lying was a major source of entertainment. He lived in what is now Transylvania County in Western North Carolina.////JACK:  Maybe lying in your family goes back even further than old Jim Jr.  How about Eve telling God that the snake made her eat the apple?.

   FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  My husband is related to Daniel Boone.  My Greatgrandfather was a ward of the King of Denmark, which I used to believe he was in the Royal Family but it turned out that he was an orphan and the King took care of all the orphans. Anyhoo, that's how our ancestors are famous. They were good people.////JACK:  Future branches on your family tree will have some interesting things to say about you...I'm sure!

 FROM WALMART REV:  To save me time writing, Jack...look up Major Samuel McCulloch...spelled differently, but told he is my fifth generation uncle.////JACK:  Wow!  Now, that's an ancestor!  Maj. Sam won fame by his bravery and daring deeds fighting Indians during the early settlement of the country, and by his leap from the summit of Wheeling Hill down a steep declivity of 310 feet. He was killed by the Indians who abstracted his heart and ate it, "To make us brave like him."////REV:  Such a heritage, uh?! All heart, am I!

 FROM JS IN MICHIGAN:  And I could add......good stewards of our earth.////JACK:  I've read that the word, steward, has its origin in "keeper of the sty"...sty-ward.

 FROM GUSTIE MARLYS:  I have a friend who is really into that stuff.  She was researching her own relatives and doing a Civil War project for Watertown, MN Historical Society and she found my great grandfather.  He was featured in the whole display.  Big picture and all.  Now she is doing something else about Nels Mattson.  Kind of fun to see.  Guess I will be going out to Waconia to see it again.////JACK: There were several regiments from Minnesota in the Civil War.  Was your great grandfather in one of them?

 FROM BANJO SUE:  Oh, you mean Mordecai Brown, who had a farming accident and lost parts of two fingers?  Was your dad in the major leagues?  Tell me more!  Thanks for this tidbit of info!!   PS:  No, I didn't know him until I googled him.////JACK:  3-Finger was on a team of major-leaguers which barnstormed during the off season, playing local teams.  When they came to Galesburg, IL, my dad played 1st base for the team that faced Brown.

 FROM MOLINER JT:  Famous ? Yes My Mom and Dad.////JACK:  Great people!  I remember them well.

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Alas, my ancestors came into the USA from Denmark but they were poor.  Gary however, came from a very famous family....both on his grandmother and grandfather's side.  His grandmother was a Fraser.  There was a cousin who was an explorer...he was the famous Fraser in Canada.  There is a Fraser River, Fraser Mountain and numerous other Fraser areas and places named after him.  Gary's mother was the 7th cousin of Abraham Lincoln which of course, makes Gary the 8th cousin removed from Abraham Lincoln.  In fact, his grandfather was named Abraham Raymond Lincoln and was a doctor for Lutheran Social Services in the 1900's.  Our legacy is passed down from generations. ( PS  I did have an uncle who was a rum-runner during Prohibition...he was shot and killed running rum across Lake St. Clair.) ////JACK:  Fraser...Lincoln...and a rum-runner...Now, there's a combination.

  FROM KF IN MICHIGAN:  I'm saving that research for "retirement"..... The only thing I know about my ancestors is their time in Michigan - living in the area of Monroe, Plymouth and Northville. Farming families. My grandmother (Johanna Oldenburg) had a brother who owned a general store in Northville on Center Street. We have pictures of Uncle Fred in front of the store. The building is still there, and there is a sign on the back that says "Oldenburg Building".  Mark's mom makes up stuff about their relatives : )////JACK:  What kind of business is in the Oldenburg building?  Make something up, if you don't know.

 FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  Yes. I believe that we should be good examples for our children, grandchildren, etc.  I have written my work for them of their heritage of the De Taeyes and the Guffeys.  Fightin' Jim Guffey fought in the Revolutionary War.  We went to the Highland Games in Dunedin on Saturday where the clans have booths, the bagpipers have a contest, the kilted dancers compete, the competitors throw telephone poles, have a tug of war, throw a large bag of rocks over a high bar, and the sheep dog does its herding. By the way, I went to my OLLI class this morning, and one of the speakers was Richard Gonzart who is the head of the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City and he was also a graduate of the University of Denver.////JACK:  A community near here has Highland Games, too, but I've never attended.  I'm not into wearing kilts.  BTW, where is Ybor City?////SHIRL:  Ybor City is in the southeastern part of Tampa.  It was the place where the cigar factories were and where the Spanish speaking residents lived.  It has gone through many stages including the gangsters, the failed urban development, many attempts to revitalize it.  The heart is 22 St. and 7th Ave.////SHIRL:  It's pronounced eeeebor.

 FROM WATERFORD JAN: My grandmother was a Wolf, my mother was a Colley, and my father was a Boxer. That's as close as I can come to notoriety in my ancestry.  Maternal grandmother Wolf married a man named Colley and their only child was my mother, Clara.  My mother married a man who boxed professionally for a few years.////JACK  I read that the TOP name for female puppies is, Anna.  I didn't see Clara on the list.

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  MY MOTHER'S GREAT-GREAT-UNCLE WAS MAYOR OF PHILADELPHIA...(PHILLIPS)  I HAVE BOUND COPIES OF MY FAMILY TREE ON BOTH MY MOM AND DAD'S FAMILIES, BUT GUESS THEY ARE JUST FAMOUS "INSIDE"  THE FAMILY!  I WOULD NEVER HAVE DONE THE RESEARCH REQUIRED TO HAVE IT DONE AND PUBLISHED, BUT FORTUNATELY MY AUNT ON MOTHER'S SIDE, AND COUSIN ON DAD'S SIDE WERE ZEALOUS ENOUGH TO GIVE THE TIME TO IT,  AND WE ALL BENEFITED!
I WONDER IF WE WILL BE GOOD ANCESTORS?? "THE ULTIMATE TEST OF A MORAL  SOCIETY IS WHAT KIND OF WORLD IT LEAVES ITS CHILDREN" D. BONHOEFFER. GULP!!
////JACK:  There should be some cartoons accompanying some parts of your life story.

FROM FM IN WISCONSIN:  My mother, when she was attempting to get us to practice our music lessons,  said that she was related to the famous Polish pianist Jan Paderewski.   Her maiden name was Patzke, and I used to kid her about her polish relative.   She never explained how we were related – I can’t check it out now, as my mother died in 1992 – almost 104 years old!////JACK:  Did you ever learn to play the piano?////FM:  I played a piano accordion and a piano a bit – but quit before I was very good.   My sister tool piano lessons for 8 or more years.////JACK:  Just think...If you'd kept up with those lessons on the piano accordian, you might have landed a job with Frankie Yankovic, instead of becoming a preacher.