Who am I: My Heritage -

And DAMN PROUD OF IT!

So, as usual, my oldest friend provided the impetus to get off my butt and create a new posting. In this case I have had in mind a semi-regular musical try-something-new post. I will start out with the lists of what I have loaded on a MemStik in the TH-55.

When you read them please keep in mind the following:

I envision my heritage as follows:

I come from a long line of Celts and Jutes. Your basic barbarous, uncouth brute that, before being conquered, subjugated or otherwise ‘dealt-with’, made themselves a general pain-N-da-ass of the average invading Legion. They then continued to be a thorn in the side of the ‘civilized’ Romans until the heathens precipitated the great fall. Then, they proceeded to undermine, subvert, smuggle and otherwise live their lives in spite of, rather than at the leave of the ‘Devine Rulers” that were the hereditary inheritors of the Egyptian-Grecco-Roman notion that they, by birthright, were smarter, wiser and otherwise entitled to make decisions for the poor slobs unlucky enough to be born in the fiefdoms under their 'benevolent' rule. Ardent Pagans, my ancestors instantly recognized the truth and beauty in the message delivered by the first Christian missionary that ventured that far a-field of the Holy Land. On-the-spot they became the keepers of the true faith, untainted by the Roman cult ideologues. Sometimes this true worship was hidden as a cabal deep within the very church whose nature they recognized as a bureaucratic nightmare of political materialism. After years of persecution, they leapt at the opportunity to overthrow the church’s choke-hold on the masses and reformed and purified as fiercely as their heathen forebears had battled the first invaders. Ever the keepers of true faith and freedom, they took the first opportunity to strike out to the new world and remove themselves from the boot-heel of fickle tyrants that, when they had paid any attention at all during the succession of wars and strife, some periods thirty years or even a century long, only sent their toadies to collect ever-increasing confiscatory taxes. And so my people proceeded to the new land, moving from one area of high-lands to the next, until they landed in the Ozark hills. Artists, craftsmen and warrior-poets all.

And that’s it. I especially like the reference to the Jutes, as they are a new addition. Previous geneology searches had traced some of the roots back to Central Germany. This has been refined as new information has been uncovered. My oldest friend's Da informed me of this revelation in the vale as we walked the headstones of my Father's people in a cemetary whose name was also my Mother's until she was wed.

Kind of fitting, tutelage on the family tree under the arbors.

And please, should any research reveal facts that could be used to dis-abuse me of these notions, pray don’t.

I like it my way.