God Bless Our Ancestors; R. D. Oliver

God Bless Our Ancestors REBEKAH DEAL OLIVER HISTORY is the record of things done by men, or their failure to do them; the response to each act or its absence, by other men; and the impact of these accumulating responses on future generations of men, all individuals, each in his own time. Though the fruits of one's time can be stolen or taxed, time itself cannot be taken from one to give to another; and no matter how many are using time, no one is de prived because of another's use. Within the span of each one's life he has all the time there is. However, what is done with this freely given and equally distribut ed commodity is an individual matter. This has been true through Mrs. Oliver is a Kansas housewife "mostly in terested in husband, children, grandchildren, the nation, community, neighbors, and friends." the ages, qualified by the degree of each man's freedom, his heredity, environment, geography, religion, ambition, needs, conscience, and other pressures which have always separated the individual from the masses. That which has deter mined the character of each per son has been his response to the circumstances of his life and the use he has made of the time al lotted him, that measure of being plucked from eternity for him alone.

Being human, we think of time prosaically as "my time" or "my lifetime." And indeed, the accom plishments of history are the ac cumulation of the thoughts and acts of individual lives. The pro gress of civilization has developed from the discoveries, the inven101 102 THE FREEMAN February tions, the research, and the in spirations of these lives. Music must be composed before it can be sung; a building, a bridge, a road must be designed before it is built; a voyage must first be charted; and strategy employed before a battle. And, though any modern production is usually completed through the joint efforts of many, still each effort is an individual one. While there is time, each per son lives his life and makes his contribution, whatever it may be, to history. There are some people in· this world, in this country, with the power of government, or claiming to represent the corporate church, or articulate with some assumed authority, who keep busy telling us 'what to do - or not to do. Where we are not coerced either by the threat of force or by the mental gymnastics of authoritarian prop agandists, we may do as we please.

Taking these exceptions into con sideration, each person's time is his own, as God-given as the other rights claimed by our forefathers in the Declaration of Independ ence. Time to invest according to one's judgment and conscience; time in which to play, to work; time to waste, throw away, give away; time in which to be glad, to be sad; time to build, to tear down; time to think, to choose, and to act. Keeping the Record One often hears it said that the important thing is what you are, not who your ancestors were. Nevertheless, people have always thought it necessary to record for posterity the past and passing family history. When immigrants came to this country, from the Mayflower Company on, they con tinued to keep records. In the theo cratic New England colonies the government and church records were usually the same. A man could not vote unless he was a church member. When he was ac cepted as a church member, he was known as a freeman, not before; and the record was kept. Detailed records of town meetings were made and in places where these are extant data can be found about otherwise unknown early Ameri cans.

These records reveal more than mere names, dates, and places. They reveal the character of the people-the rich, bare bones of our heri tage. These ancestors were a religious people and they took time to actively practice their religion. Ingrained in their blood from old Scottish Covenanters, French Huguenots, German Palatines, English Puritans, and William Penn's Quakers, to name a few, they founded their lives and their institutions upon religion. Church records made note of each mem1968 GOD BLESS OUR ANCESTORS 103 ber's activities; the church was the center of the community and took second place in their lives only to the family. As settlement moved westward, the church fol lowed as fast as it could, but did not retain quite the authority it had in the contained settlements of the eastern seaboard; the min istry could not keep up with the rapid expansion of the country. Many localities depended entirely upon the circuit rider and their own family devotions for their spiritual guidance.

Acquisition of land and person al property was the aim of the American settler. Materialistic? Perhaps, but from the dawn of civilization, ownership had been the requisite of freedom. The set tler was jealous of his possessions and land boundaries. Early records abound in lawsuits over what might seem trivial matters today. Some historians criticize the Pur itans for their emphasis on proper ty, work, and frugality; but with out this industry and the incentive for it the Massachusetts Bay col onies would never have survived. Their recourse to law instead of to other means of action is no doubt also responsible for the fact that law and order prevailed throughout many times of stress in the early days of this country and eventually won out in the west where the law, as well as the church, had trouble keeping up with the frontier. Higher educa tion also must have gotten its early boost from the fact that col leges were needed to train preach ers and lawyers.

American Traditions and Their Preservation Our ancestors were a political people. Wherever they settled, in deed even in the caravan, they set up a form of government. Before lea ving their ship, the Mayflower Company set up a compact. So, from the beginning in this coun try every man was jealous of his right to his "say" and of his vote. They ran for office, high and low; and as the United States became an independent nation, they were jealous of the rights' guaranteed them by the United States Con stitution. They built court houses and worked to have each territory quickly admitted to the Union. They were constructive, building what was needed to make and ex pand a great nation. Bred into their bones, Americans have taken their political rights for granted, sometimes overlooking that they must be guarded against infringe ment. Our ancestors were patriotic. Until the present generation, Americans have never failed to answer with enthusiasm their country's call to arms in time of 104 THE FREEMAN February war. Their flag and their country was their stronghold against tyr anny. Freedom was worth dying for.