Daily Compass

The grave of Isaac van Deusen (1704-1796) in Great Barrington, Massachusetts

Last year, I went with my family and parents-in-law to visit the graves of long-departed ancestors of my father-in-law. We calculated that Isaac van Deusen, a Dutch colonist in western Massachusetts, is my child’s seventh great-grandfather, nine generations removed from her (and seven from my father-in-law). As someone whose genealogy gets lost a generation before my grandfathers immigrated to the US, this is astounding to me. -Michael Tino (CLF)

What is your experience of understanding your genealogy?

When I was a kid, my grandpa used to take me to JFK airport in New York City to watch the big planes take off and land. I remember the sound of the arrivals and departures board clicking as it updated. I was brought back to this pleasant memory recently when a friend posted a picture of that airport terminal. It’s a great way to remember my grandpa. -Michael Tino (CLF)

What is a happy memory you have of an ancestor?

For many years, I heard about the idea of connection to ancestors and thought of it in theoretical terms — always with a little distance, never quite believing that direct connection could be possible. I wasn’t sure that connecting to ancestors was even for me, as a white person (weren’t my ancestors the bad ones?), and even though I felt very drawn to indigenous cosmologies that included ancestor connection, I never knew how to enter that relationship in a way that felt authentic or real.

And then my beloved mother died, and all of a sudden, the most important person in my life was an ancestor. Connection to ancestors was no longer a choice, it was necessary for my survival. Then, the frameworks of ancestor connection I had been exposed to became a lifeline — something to deepen into, to help me feel able to trust the felt connection I still had with my mother, and to lean into a web of older ancestors, of the many beloved dead who would be welcoming my mother and holding me in care through my grief. This is still the framework that I move through the world in, by necessity, and alongside of my grief I feel so much gratitude to know myself as part of a larger lineage of connection across time and space. -Rose Gallogly, CLF

How do you feel a larger lineage of connection across time and space?

When I need to do a hard thing, before I start I take a few minutes to center myself and think about the love and support that surrounds me. My family. My friends. My ancestors. Depending on what I’m gearing up to do, different ancestors come to mind. Sometimes it’s ancestors whom I knew – my grandmother, my 7th grade teacher who always supported me. Sometimes it’s the ancestors I’ve just heard about, whose stories made an impression on me. Always, imagining my ancestors in my corner, cheering me on, helps me to get started on the work in front of me with courage and faith in myself. -Jody Malloy, CLF

Where I live, today is still, unfortunately, celebrated as Columbus Day, a holiday intended to honor Italian-American heritage, but instead honoring colonization and the dehumanization of the Indigenous peoples of North America. As an Italian-American, it pains me that my people celebrate the wrong ancestor. I long for a celebration of the vibrant culture of my people that is not also a celebration of white supremacy. -Michael Tino, CLF

How do you celebrate your ethnic and cultural heritage?