Sunday, January 29, 2017

Refugees

Due to the events of the past few days, here are some portraits of refugees. One was a peace-loving man who fled Denmark to avoid conscription in the Second Schleswig War. Others fled religious violence or persecution in Europe or America. All hoped to find peace and security here. And as you could probably guess if you've known me for any length of time, these are my ancestors. Do my ancestral stories inform my politics? You'd better believe it. If you're American, there's an excellent chance that you have refugee ancestors as well. Can you name them? Do you know about their experiences?


Names (left to right). First row: Ove Oveson, George Jarvis, Ann Prior Jarvis, Sidney Tanner. Second row: Mayflower pilgrims Richard Warren, Francis Cooke, John Cooke; Rebecca Hill Pettit, Edwin Pettit, Archibald Newell Hill and son Samuel. Third row: Isabella Hood Hill, Samuel Shepherd and wife Charity, Adeline Springthorpe Thomas.

No comments:

Post a Comment