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Julia Parsons

UWRIT 1104

Lynn Raymond

15 October 2018

The Ragan Family

My family and my roots were always something I was aware of, but not something my

family ever really talked about. I only ever remember hearing about my great-grandparents, but

never my relatives before that. All of that changed when my mother decided to get her DNA

tested on ancestry.com. After that, my whole world changed, because it opened up so many new

doors and lead me down paths I never thought I would be on.

When my mother got her DNA results back, it said we were from Germany, Austria,

Sweden and the British Isles. This information was news to all of us, because we all thought we

were Irish. I asked my mother why she had always thought we were Irish, and her response was

“it’s just something I had been told my whole life, so I believed it and never questioned it.” With

that in my mind, I began digging deeper and questioning everything.

My family all grew up in Boone, NC which is the “perfect” place to raise a family. Boone

is a quaint little town nestled in the mountains of North Carolina, and although Boone has a lot

of mountain terrain, it is also the perfect place for growing crops. Many of my ancestors were

farmers, so Boone was the best of both worlds; a small town to raise children, but also a place

with rich soil, where crops would be able to flourish.

My great-great grandparents had seven children but sadly, two of their children died

during the flu epidemic of 1918. The flu of 1918 was so deadly because doctors found a genetic
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material from the bird flu virus in the strain of the H1 virus in 1918 and the flu of 1918 killed

more than fifty million people worldwide (Paddock, 2018.)

My grandpa was the first of four children, and was named after his father, grandfather

and great grandfather. My grandpa was also born in his own home, and he often used to tell me

he was born on his kitchen table. My grandpa grew up on the farm where his parents grew

potatoes and cabbage. They also had small gardens for vegetables such as squash, cucumbers,

tomatoes and pumpkins. The food from their garden was what they would eat, and sometimes if

they were lucky, they would get to eat some of the cash crop. Potatoes and cabbage were the

cash crop, which meant my ancestors would grow those foods, and take it to town to sell. My

grandpa has told me many of stories about his life on the farm, and even how he was expected to

go to school during the day and come home to work on the farm after. My grandpa even told me

that his father wouldn’t let him go to schools some days, because there was too much to do on

the farm. To me, that shows how education now is valued more than it was back then. My

grandpa had three brothers and sisters, all of which he was very close to. All of his siblings

worked on the farm, but it was always hardest on the boys, my grandpa and Uncle Bill. Summers

on their farm were long and hot, and because my great grandfather smoked cigarettes in the

fields while working, my grandpa and Uncle Bill picked up the habit as well. My great

grandparents, Maw Ruby and Paw Rob had worked on a farm their entire life, and they expected

it to be the same way for their four children. For my grandpa, that was not the case. He wanted to

get out of Boone and experience the ”real world” so he chose to join the U.S Army. My grandpa

went into the Army when he was eighteen years old, and this was not a choice my grandma was

fond of.
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Newly married, my grandpa chose to join the Army, and he got a job in communications.

He worked with Morse code, telegraphs and deciphering cryptic information. Morse code was

developed by Samuel Morse and was something that revolutionized long distance

communication. Morse code assigns letters in the alphabet to dots and dashes, based on their

frequency of use (Morse Code & The Telegraph, 2009.) My grandpa used Morse code in many

of his daily procedures while in the United States Army. My grandpa was in the Vietnam war,

and used Morse Code to send messages back and forth to the United States, but also to his fellow

soldiers that were in the field. During the Vietnam War, my grandpa was injured and received

the purple heart award and was decorated for his braveness during the war.

After coming home from Vietnam, my grandma and grandpa decided they wanted to start

a family. They tried for a long time, and but my grandma kept having miscarriages, which are

actually very common, although they aren’t talked about. Research has actually found that 1 in 4

pregnancies will end in miscarriage (Starr, 2018.) My grandparents were both very upset, and my

grandma wasn’t sure what to do. After trying for another year, my grandma was pregnant with a

baby boy! My grandparents were ecstatic because they both felt like their calling in life was to be

parents. After carrying her baby boy for nine months, she went to the hospital, and had her baby.

Their babies name was Robert, but he unfortunately passed away four hours after being born,

and my grandparents were devastated. After that, my grandparents started trying to have another

baby, but this time they had better luck, and my grandma was able to get pregnant with my

mother.

My mother was the first of two children, and her brother Adam, was born seven years

after her. My uncles legal name is “Robert Adam” because they wanted to pay tribute to their

deceased son, but also to keep the line of boys being named Robert (on my grandpa’s side of the
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family) going. My mom and uncle grew up as “military brats” and moved all over the United

States, and parts of Europe. After asking my mother her favorite place to live, she said it was

either Germany, Alaska, or Washington because of the beauty in the places. While they lived in

Germany, my mom was also able to go to Hamburg, which at the time she didn’t know, but it is

where our ancestors are from. My mom’s recollection of Hamburg was that the streets were very

narrow and that it was absolutely beautiful. We do not know for a fact, but we think our

ancestors left Hamburg and came to the United States in order to make a better life for

themselves, and for their children to come.

After living in so many states throughout her life, my mother chose to go to college at the

University of Washington, and soon after she started college, my grandpa decided to retire from

the United States Army, which meant he had to leave his duty station in Tacoma, Washington,

leaving my mom there by herself. My mom chose to come back home and finish her degree at

Appalachian State to be closer to her family.

My uncle on the other hand, wasn’t as fortunate as my mom had been, and wasn’t able to

live in as many places as she did, just because of their seven-year age difference. My uncle chose

to go to Western Carolina University to get a degree in political science, and after his four years

there, he landed a job in Washington, DC working for the National Board of Elections. My uncle

sped through the ranks, and was getting job offers from everywhere, which eventually led him to

his current position as the Director of Elections in Gastonia, NC.

While in school, my mother met my father and they began dating. After four months,

they decided to get married. A year after they were married, my mother had my oldest sister

Jennifer. Jennifer is ten years older than me, and five years older than my brother. My brother,

Alex, was born in 1990 but wasn’t at all the stereotypical “middle child” because he was the only
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boy. I was born in 1999, and I am the last child my mom and dad decided to have. I grew up

living the very typical life of a little kid; playing outside, riding my bike, and swimming in the

creek.

My favorite memories from my childhood are with my family members. I always enjoyed

hanging out with my grandparents, and hearing all of the stories they had to tell. I learned a

lesson from every story they ever told, and I will cherish those memories I made forever.
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Citations

History.com Editors. “Morse Code & The Telegraph.” History.com, A&E Television Networks,

2009, www.history.com/topics/inventions/telegraph.

PhD, Catharine Paddock. “Why Was 1918 Flu Pandemic so Deadly? Research Offers New

Clue.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 29 Apr. 2014,

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/276060.php.

Starr, Michelle. “New Research Shows Most Human Pregnancies End in

Miscarriage.” ScienceAlert, 2018, www.sciencealert.com/meta-analysis-finds-majority-of-

human-pregnancies-end-in-miscarriage-biorxiv.