Caspar the Friendly Ghost
A conversation with Artie and a show put on by a friend have inspired me to start a search for ancestry. One day in and I have found a lot of amazing things: Ernesto Otto's WWI draft registration, a great-great-great grandmother named Arcadia Leah, born in Milton, Delaware and of course a long chain of Rowlands reaching way back to Wales.
Here is one especially profound tale, the tale of Caspar Fischer, grandpa's grandfather, who came to the US in 1885 when he was 12.
The 1900 Census records him at the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital for the Insane.
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Here's a shot of the facility (from http://history.tomrue.net/mpc/)
What do you do with this sort of information, which I found, along with a lot of other information, in a matter of hours on the internet? How much more can I learn about this and the other friendly ghosts whose very bodies I inhabit now? Or is it better to let them rest in peace and accept with veiled eyes the struggles and joys of their lives?
posted by Mandy F @ 9:19 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
I had the same questions. On one hand, it's pretty profound to see these records of those who came before and to make connections where you had gaps. On the other hand, it could be seen as intense, computer-assisted, multi-generational naval gazing. And it left me feeling a little lonely knowing the names and dates of all these people, but having no anecdotes handed down to go along with them. Of course, I didn't find any gems like Caspar. I did find a Milford census with my family listed on the same street as the Drapers, though. "Me? Nooooo..."
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