Family History
The family ancestry includes no celebrities or royalty but the stories are rather more diverse and interesting as a result. The history of the family follows classic American settlement courses: immigration from the Eastern seaboard through the mid-South and into Iowa, and immigration from Ireland, possibly due to the Irish Famine, through Quebec, Canada into North Dakota and then Iowa. The examination inspires existential questions as these people are largely forgotten – they came and went and nothing of particular note is left, regardless of their seemingly voracious ambition and hard work. When their spouses died, they remarried and carried on. When famines came they moved to better places. They moved and moved and came West and broke land and built houses and businesses and had families. And now they are gone.
The backdrop of this page is an image of a hilltop at Helena, Arkansas - the site of a minor Civil War battle. Jacob Houser, my great-great-great-grandfather, a Third Sargent in the United States 33rd Iowa Volunteer Infantry, was shot in the head and killed in the Battle of Helena on July 4, 1863 when his unit was overrun by Confederates. He is buried in the National Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. Jacob's wife Charlotte gave birth to their daughter, Sadie, 22 days later.
Another great-great-great-grandfather, Bernard Donnelly, immigrated from Ireland to Quebec in 1846 during the Irish Famine. Bernard and the bulk of his family immigrated to the North Dakota via Port Huron, Michigan in 1880 and pioneered land North of Grafton, North Dakota.
The family history is littered with similar stories.
The backdrop of this page is an image of a hilltop at Helena, Arkansas - the site of a minor Civil War battle. Jacob Houser, my great-great-great-grandfather, a Third Sargent in the United States 33rd Iowa Volunteer Infantry, was shot in the head and killed in the Battle of Helena on July 4, 1863 when his unit was overrun by Confederates. He is buried in the National Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. Jacob's wife Charlotte gave birth to their daughter, Sadie, 22 days later.
Another great-great-great-grandfather, Bernard Donnelly, immigrated from Ireland to Quebec in 1846 during the Irish Famine. Bernard and the bulk of his family immigrated to the North Dakota via Port Huron, Michigan in 1880 and pioneered land North of Grafton, North Dakota.
The family history is littered with similar stories.
