My Personal Journaling Story 05-29-2015

2015-05-29 09:10:40 and 2015-05-29 09:24:29

Greetings.

I hope you and your journaling are well. (I would love to hear from you about both.)

This blog post will share the direction I am moving personally and with this blog. My main objective with this blog is to help us (you and me) capture our lives on the page. It's a how-to journal blog, as well as it is my goal to provide inspiration with our journaling, through prompts or exercises, hints and tips, and stories.

I have been trying to find a place to hang my journaling hat (a focus) for a main focus for personal SOC Journaling and my journaling in general. But, I just haven't found it until now.

Nature and Observation Journaling are a must and I will do some of that. Undoubtedly.

It's me and is who I am.

But, there is another part of who I am.

So, who am I?

I need to provide some background in order for me to answer that question. This will also help explain where I will focus this blog for a while.

My husband ('B') and I moved to Virginia four years ago. About seven months or so after that, my Granny called me and shared how her niece was doing some genealogy on the family. She shared some information we had no idea about. We thought her family came to the U.S. five generations ago or so.

Wrong.

She said D (her niece) had traced our family back to 1670 or so to a Bryan Penny.

The 1670 part caught my attention.

"Do you know where Elizabeth City, Virginia is? That's where he lived."

As we talked, I did a quick search on the internet and found it was present day Hampton, Virginia, which we lived nearby. I told her that.

I wondered, then, if the family could be traced to Yorktown or Jamestown. I told her in would do some searching myself and let her know.

Little did we know where it would lead.

I have an uncanny ability to find information others cannot. Somehow I stumble upon the answers accidentally. This includes my family tree.

With my family tree, there have been gaps people have not been able to find the answers to and fill. In fact, several hired professional genealogists to find the answers. I learned within a couple of days about some of the gaps and learned how several professional genealogists looked for answers, but found none.

Well, I found them within a week. I got the answers, which opened our tree wide open.

My family has been in the United States of America since 1607. I had three go to Jamestown in 1607 and by 1635, I had over thirty or so at or near Jamestown in Virginia, and a few miles from where I lived.

Then, my tree opened up even more. About eight months ago or so, I found out I was a direct descendant of Joseph of Arimathea! And I learned earlier how I am also a direct descendant of Nero and Charlemagne Carolus Magnus Carolingian, 1st Emperor of Holy Roman Empire.

Oh, dear. I just did a search on my family tree and discovered more direct and distant emperors. I had no idea. They are:

-- Emperor Augustus
-- Emperor Claudius Caesar Rome
-- Emperor Heinrich V Dethe Salian Germany
-- Claudius I Tiberius Roman Emperor (is this the same as previous mentioned???)
-- HRE. Hugo "L'Abbé" Emperor Of The Holy Roman Empire
-- Louis "Le Pieux The Pious Le Debonnaire The Fair" Carolingian I Emperor HRE
-- Pierre Capet I Emperor Constaninople (a direct ancestor)
-- Pontiff Tiberius Claudius Nero Emperor Rome

Huh. Who knew?

I hadn't put it together until now.

I have been a research-oriented crazy woman trying to fill in all the branches and leaves, and finding so many, I thought I would come to an end one day and would then be able to research more fully each individual.

But, with over 17,000 individuals so far, three plus years later, I see how many gaps I still need to fill in. I am trying to focus first on my direct ancestors. However, that number is massive and grows by the day.

About a month ago, I was able to, by accident again, trace from one of my direct branches to Abraham of the Bible, then to Adam.

I needed a few weeks for that information to roll around in my brain and am still bewildered.
I also traced another part to King David.

So, letting that simmer... and with doing my own personal journaling..m and with reading my favorite book on journaling, "Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal" by Alexandra Johnson (see this link: http://smile.amazon.com/Leaving-Trace-Keeping-Alexandra-Johnson-ebook/dp/B002OFVNIC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432916448&sr=1-1&keywords=on+leaving+a+trace+johnson), I read about journaling a family chronicle.

I also read in the book about how there are some family members we wished kept a journal, but didn't. And later, why not write one for them, whether a journaling entry or a journal.

The lightbulb went off two days ago and I decided that was what I would do for my family.

I have several famous, notorious, and fascinating family members, and the everyday variety I cannot wait to explore and learn more about myself, my family, history, and the world. Kings, Emperors, biblical people, and those who are what some would call ordinary fill the leaves and branches of my family tree. I cannot wait to learn about all of my direct leaves and branches first.

Today, I just realized that the journaling I want to do is for the world, about nature, and history, and is not about me at all, other than what I can learn about them and enjoy from learning about them. Not me. Them.

I want to write the journals of all of them. I will write it first as nonfiction, then as historical or contemporary fiction.

And I will journal about what unlearn and how I am.changed from them.

The truth is from this family tree, we can gain an unique perspective of the history of the world,for my family comes from all over.

I am starting with one individual, which I will tell you more about in a moment.

I am starting a journaling series:

"From Adam to Me Family Tree" Journaling Series

I have a family tree of over 17,526 people and I still have a lot of missing branches and leaves. Once I am in our house, and we are settled from our move, and I play a week or two of catch-up... Then, I will spend a month working all day and night (but with 8 hours sleep) to fill in more, and to get more information on the people I have. But, until then, I have what I have.

So, yep. Gulp.

I would not have so many if it wasn't for the fact I have some well documented people in my family tree. So, that sure helps.

I look forward to this journey.

I hope to inspire you with your journaling as well. I will still include journaling how-to pieces and prompts and exercises.

My first relative I will study and journal for is:

ANCESTOR #14 THOMAS CORNELL.

I am generation #1. He is the 14th. Adam is the 154th.

It is with this branch and leaves I begin.

A JOURNALING EXERCISE OR PROMPT

Who do you wish kept a journal, but didn't?

List all of them.

Then, pick one. Who would you want to write a journal for?

Blessings,
--Stacy Duplease
Email:
agodlyvision@gmail.com
rememberingyourpresent@gmail.com
Blogs:
http://rypjournaling.blogspot.com
http://rypstories.blogspot.com
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Tablet

What's Surprised Me

What's Surprised Me

My life has been...
I don't even know the word for it. And, maybe there are several words--not just one.
My mind is boggled at best.
I'm living a surreal existence right now.
I discovered something about my life that changes everything (but really shouldn't--but it does). And, the truth is, I have no idea what to think or what to do at this point.
Go to this blog for more information:

http://lhtmft.blogspot.com/ 

If you go there and find nothing, stay tuned. I will get a blog post--or several up today. It's something that will take most of the day today as I write several blog posts as I try to grasp what I've discovered and figure out what it means for my life.

Here's a hint:
Family Tree Journaling

Family Tree Journaling (History Journaling)

Family Tree Journaling (History Journaling) 

A NEW BLOG POST SERIES: FAMILY TREE JOURNALING
This will become a new blog post series, by the way. So, stay tuned.

FAMILY TREE JOURNALING IS REALLY HISTORY JOURNALING
Family Tree Journaling is learning about history through your family tree.

NOTE FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW YOUR FAMILY TREE:
First of all, let me apologize if this brings pain for any of you who do not know your family tree. It is not my intent.
Therefore, please, think about making your own history of your possible family tree through journaling.
How? You can do this through learning about history.
Learn about your national history and the world history of each time frame, for as long back as we have a recorded history. Your life has been shaped and influenced by this, whether you know your family tree. So, please, still read and do these blog posts and journaling suggestions. It still applies to you.
You can use the family history of the family who adopted you, if you desire. After all, their tree is your tree. Blood doesn't make anyone less part of a family. They chose you for a reason. However, if your adoptive situation was not very good, then look at the next suggestion.
Otherwise, I suggest you use the history of a famous person from that time period and answer/do the following Family Tree Journaling.
Or, here is another suggestion. Check out this blog and you can use my family instead and do your own journaling: http://lhtmft.blogspot.com/

WHY DO FAMILY TREE JOURNALING?
It's important to know where you came from and the vents that shaped who you are today. The events of history has shaped who you are today and who you will become.

FAMILY TREE JOURNALING INSTRUCTIONS
1 Pick a family member, if you know one, or a famous person from your nation at the time. If your nation didn't exist in the time period, pick a nation from a nation you know you came from then, and had an ancestor from them, or pick a famous individual from that time period and from the place you could have been from.
Write the name in your journal.
2 Get to know everything you can about the individual from #1. Journal about them.
3 Learn everything you can about the history from that time. Learn the national and world history. Journal about it. Get down the facts in your journal. Focus on the facts that jump out at you for whatever reason--and make sure to write why those facts jumped out at you.
4 Take 2 and 3 and combine them. Imagine you are a person living in this period of time in history. Write what their life must have been like in your journal. Use your imagination.
5 Now, answer these questions in your journal:
A What did I learn?
B How does this apply to me and my life today?
Never answer that it doesn't. After all, the reality is, it does. History has shaped who you are today and your life story. Period. End of story. All stories connect and link. Each story is sacred. Every story we learn about or here impacts our lives today and it does so in a personal way. Every story shapes our story today. We can learn what to do or what not to do through them. We can learn how God worked in, through, and around the past person's lives and see similarities, as well as differences, in our own story.

Updated March 05, 2014 1322 p.m.