Show I r m Not everybody in the country can claim six ninety-six first cousins like I can but everybody has an equal number of ancestors an ancestors ancestors an- an even though the ancestors dont don't have an equal number number number num num- ber of descendants Fair or not that's the way it stacks up THERE IS AN OLD CHESTNUT of a saying about how peering up family trees should be done with caution for fear of finding therein a few nuts or possibly some lemons This may be true but everyone has ancestors they can brag about too if it they hunt hard enough For instance one of my ancestors once owned a goodly portion of Manhattan Island He exchanged this real estate for a cow The transaction from his viewpoint was a good goodone goodone one and I dont don't suppose he cared a farthing for what his descendants would think Another of my forefathers was a great patriot who fought with cunning and intelligence during the Revolutionary War Warr His patriotism was however for Mother England and when the Colonists caught up with this r Tory they promptly hung hi him m. m U I HAD ANOTHER ANCESTOR engaged In that war who was sympathetic to the cause of the Rebels But he was one of the rich quick boys and while his comrades fought the battles he worked to corner the ginseng root market He planned to ship the things to China where they were regarded as a medical cure The English however blockaded the ports before he could send out a single shipment and he died dieda a pauper pauper loads loads of ginseng roots but no money His brother John Hancock did better In more re recent ent history I have several ancestors I regard with special fondness One of these was a great-grandfather great who came through Utah Territory in 1850 en route to the California gold fields He had heard so much about the Mormons Mormons Mormons Mor Mor- mons he stopped in Salt Lake City for the week end to study them He told his with a laugh that if it the Mormons converted hi him m hed he'd never cut his hair again They did and he When he died his hair still thick and reddish gold was worn in a single long braid which he wound around his head This same ancestor left a letter In which he complained to Illinois relatives about being sick and tired of dodging through sagebrush with the US U.S. Marshals hot on my trail His crime a common one for the day was being too much married He fled to Mexico taking his several wi wives yes with hi him m. m ANOTHER OF MY FOREFATHERS conformed more closely to the tv Image of what early Westerners were really like This great-grandfather great died an untimely death in Nevada Ne- Ne Nevada Nevada Ne Ne- vada as a result of a disagreement over a poker game Ina In Ina a word he got shot On the distaff side I had a great grandmother who at the age of four walked from Florence Nebraska to the valley of the Great Salt Lake Later In life she took up the study of medicine and she served several of the Mexican Mormon Colonies as their only doctor She was a colorful lady to say the least with a habit of saying exactly what she thought t with distinctness in both Spanish and English m ALL MY ANCESTORS WHO settled in these parts had vast families which caused relatives among their descendants such as my six ninety-six first cousins I once worked with a aNew aNew New England girl who knew nothing of her forefathers beyond her parents and who had just one cousin That was astonishing to me then It still is |