A few ideas for a Christmas blog have been gnawing at me for the past few weeks, but with the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparation, writing time has been limited. Today, I took my son to see the new “Grinch” movie. I guess you could say the “green” guy swelled my heart three sizes, causing those Christmas thoughts to meander around in my head again. Which led to the creation of this blog post, despite the fact I am under a time crunch today. I guess some things they just got to come out of you one way or another.
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In life we all get our start somewhere. In most instances, that start begins with experiences and connections we share with people. Henry McMorran’s start is no exception. As I discussed in an earlier blog, Henry worked for W.H.B. Dowling as a clerk until his business closed in 1860. During the Civil War period from 1861 to 1865, Henry went to work as a clerk for two men, John Stillson, who was engaged in the lumbering and mail stage business in Brockway & Port Huron, and Myron Williams, who is known for having been heavily involved in the lumbering and vessel building trade in the Marysville area with his son-in-law, Nelson Mills, starting in 1850. In 1862, Myron sold his interest in the lumber mills to Nelson and focused entirely on his vessel business.
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As far back as I can recall, I have always been captivated by stories about real people. As an adult, I naturally gravitated towards genealogy. Over the course of the past year, I’ve ventured into personal history writing. What I found to be true in my quest to understand my family history is that we all have a personal history to tell.
The proof of our existence can be found in the documentation we generate and keep. Personal history is about more then sharing history just to share it. It includes an individual’s thoughts and experiences along their life’s journey. Personal source materials can include, but are not limited to, photographs, newspaper stories, letters, business records, vital records, tax filings, real estate records, estate planning documents, journals, blog posts, social media posts, etc. The list could go on and on depending on the person. These resources are like puzzle pieces that come together and breathe life into people and families from the past. Of course, personal records should be preserved over time to capture a personal history. But in the case where personal papers are not preserved, there is always hope for personal history writers to find documented resources of personal value in public or private record depositories. I wanted to share this post with you to highlight the value of personal record preservation.
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