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Freeman
Dan Freeman 

Creative Writing from Real Life 

10 Dec 2021 

Professor Lindenberg 

1,000 Loves 

Cars rush by the six lane busy parkway outside of the city skyline, kicking up pebbles

from the potholes. The streetlights sway in the wind, cross lights flashing as the empty bike lane

serves as a park lane. I stand looking across the parkway through the screen of my iPhone

camera as it gazes upon the building on the corner with its protruding round circle window. The

building itself is worn, the decades of abuse and neglect are obvious – worn blue paint covers

what must have been a red brick building. It’s funny – the not-so-glamorous parts of the building

help paint the picture of what once was. As the camera clicks, I envision the scene 100

years prior: my great great grandfather, a blind man, raising a family of four children – running

around outside into the not-as-busy street with all their cousins – in the heart of Over-the-Rhine

with not two nickles to rub together. A car horn honks as the Toyota Prius leans into the next

lane, speeding as the “35 MPH” equals at least 50. I put my phone down and look back at the

depressing looking building and can’t help but smile; wondering how my life formed from that. 

It’s a lifelong question that we as humans find ourselves asking – that is, how we ended

up where we are, when we are, what we are, and truly who we are. You can turn to philosophy,

thinkers like Aristotle or Darwin to consider the origin and purpose of life, or of course religious

beliefs. However there is one thing that seems to help answer this question of how we came to

be, and that’s through the art of genealogy. 

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There’s a real sense of nature vs. nurture in this game of life – it happens more for some

than others. As someone who was adopted from birth, I grew up knowing nothing about my

biological family. My adopted family and extended family welcomed me as if I was their own. I

felt some sort of gap in my life, I think, and that’s why I got so interested in genealogy. If

I couldn’t find out who my birth family was due to limited information and loss of

contact, than at least I could look at the family I did have – the family that cared about me. My

mom always tells me how similar I am to her brother and father – how all of us have the ability

to talk to anyone about anything and make it pleasant. Or when one of my cousins brings a new

significant other to Christmas and we all line up and ask them which of us is adopted –

they never guess me. Blending in is just pure luck, I guess. I have found in my research that I do

that I definitely “fit in” very well with my family – so for me, my life is definitely more on the

“nurture” side, and I’ve found comfort in that in genealogy. Of course, when I met my biological

family at age twenty-one, I saw the different side of that – nature – how similar I looked, acted,

and sounded to all my siblings and parents. But this piece isn’t about them, it’s about my

nurturing family – the family I most definitely view as my real  family. 

It may seem weird, old fashioned, or too creepy-detective-esque, but genealogy helps

people understand, study, and answer why they are. I know when I was in elementary school, I

was asked to interview a grandparent on the Great Depression. I told my parents about the

assignment, and they told me I could talk to my maternal grandmother – but what about

my paternal grandparents? After all, I was always closer to them. I was told it was a “sensitive”

topic – but why? That’s what sparked my start into genealogy. 

With dad’s parent’s feelings towards their parents, siblings, ancestors, and the true secretiveness

engulfing their lives before my dad, I knew I had to dig a little deeper. I turned to a website
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called Ancestry.com, and read a “Getting Started” article. The first step was to build a tree, kind

of tough to do without knowing much past your grandparents (Getting Started, 1). I was hesitant

to begin that process, but I did what I know, 

Hm... well  dad was born on October 2,  1966 in Cincinnati, Grandpa’s name is Thomas

Edward Freeman, born February 18, 1937 in Cincinnati, Grandma’s name is Rosina Margaret

Foster, born February 6, 1940 in..... Portsmouth, Ohio I think. Hm... what else... Grandpa’s

mom’s name was Gertrude Althoff. She died the year I was born, 2000. She had three siblings

who I knew, Irene, George, and Alt. They were really nice, I met them all. Nothing on Grandpa’s

dad – no one talks about that. Where do I look next...... 

BA-DING 

A leaf appears on grandpa’s name, I click on it, wondering what it could be. “1940 US

CENSUS,” I click on it, hesitant that it could give me the answer I’m looking for – Great-

Grandpa's name. I gasp as I read the old record - 

Findlay Street 103 Freeman, William Head M W 24 M No HS-4 Ohio Same Place Yes Service Man Furniture

Store 

  -------       Gertrude Wife F W 23 M No HS-2 Ohio Same Place No 

   -------       Thomas  Son M  W 2 S Ohio  SOURCE CITED IN WORKS CITED

Just like that, I was hooked. That was grandpa, that was grandma, there was no doubt.

Grandpa always said he grew up in various houses on Findlay Street with his extended family –

little did I know to actually look at Census records.  

Ancestry.com opened up a world of possibilities for me. I threw myself into extensive

research for years – from age ten to fifteen I grew my Ancestry.com tree into well over 2,000

people (compare that to today’s 13,099). I found myself still hitting roadblocks on Grandpa’s
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side, that is until he passed away suddenly in 2016 (Obituary for Thomas Freeman

Sr.). That’s when Grandpa opened up a little bit about his family and I received a shoebox

stuffed full of photographs from Aunt Irene – Great-Grandma's sister.  

Since he’s been gone, it’s almost more enjoyable and intentional to discover his family’s past.

While I wish I could talk to him about the things I’ve uncovered, I find a sort of comfort as if he

is living on through my research – in online databases that will surely outlive me. Surely, there

are some ethical issues with genealogy research. There is the “Do No Harm” rule that physicians

take an oath to in their service, the same holds true in genealogy. I’ve heard from my paternal

grandmother the same question many genealogists hear, “Do not tell anyone until we (the older

generation) are dead,” (Philibert-Ortega). Most recently, I had a similar situation occur with my

maternal grandmother, someone who has always been a source of great knowledge and

information on our family’s history.  

The situation came up while working on my current project, The Descendants of Joseph

Moster from Germany – I'm over 500 pages into the writing of this book, and just now have

hit our family’s section of the book. I’ve had our family’s vitals (birth, death, marriage dates)

done for years, but with this book am including biographical information with each person to

make it more of a story. That’s when I uncovered three generations, men, of our family who

ended their lives the same way – suicide - stemming from two men who were brothers-in-law.  
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BOTH ARTICLES CITED IN WORKS CITED

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I read newspaper articles about the instances and couldn’t quite believe it. The next day I

was visiting with my grandma – this part of the family would have been her husband’s first

cousin. I asked her and her husband’s sister-in-law Aunt Mary about what I had found – they

said they had never heard of such a thing. I pushed it a little further, saying they

both would’ve been in the family at that point and surely would’ve heard something. To this I

received the response, “Don’t tell anyone.” 

With genealogy, a genealogists is compelled to tell the truth and nothing but the truth –

good and bad. For the sake of family concerns though, there are times when this ethical dilemma

becomes real – do I include these facts or do I not? I still haven’t decided what to do, but have

decided if I do I am including a narrative on the stigma surrounding suicide over the course of

the 20th Century, maybe that will lighten the mood a little bit.  

There’s always some central question that begins your search into genealogy. It could be

learning who your favorite grandma’s parents were, or where your dad’s family immigrated

from, or what ever happened to that long lost great aunt. Whatever that question is – it motivates

us in our conquest for knowledge in this artistic hobby. Motivates us to find the answer – the

answer to us. 

I don’t think people quite understand the probability of, well, them. Do you know how

crazy it is for you to be where you are, when you are, how you are, and why you are? Again one

may turn to religion to answer these questions, but genealogy takes a different more inclusive

angle. Let’s put in in this form, with simple numbers that will surely make your head spin, as

they make mine.

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YOU have… 

2 Parents, 

4 Grandparents, 

8 Great-Grandparents, 

16 2nd Great- Grandparents, 

32 3rd Great-Grandparents, 

64 4th Great-Grandparents, 

128 5th Great-Grandparents, 

256 6th Great-Grandparents, 

512 7th Great-Grandparents, 

1,024 8th Great-Grandparents, 

2,048 9th Great Grandparents, 

4,096 10th Great Grandparents, 

and the list goes on, and on, and on – doubling per generation. It’s mind-blowing to

consider how many hardships, heartaches, headaches, and habitats each of these people

persevered in order to create you. YOU are the result of thousands of loves, and what a beautiful

thing that is. It’s my goal to uncover those loves – the stories, the people, the memories, and sort

of bring them back to life in a way that’s pretty real to me.  

In my experience with genealogy, love can look like a lot of things. Often with

genealogy, it’s hard to really delve into the older generations – in fact only within the first four

or five generations are you able to get more personal with due to artifacts such as photographs,

newspaper articles, and written story that hasn’t been lost. Finding anything really

substantial before those generations is luck – or sometimes not, I guess. I think knowing that you
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and I are the spawn of this melting pot of relationships helps me navigate my life better –

knowing that in my hard times, thousands of my ancestors have gone through and dealt with

these situations and feelings.  

There are many ways to get started with genealogy. As I said, my first goal was to find

out who my paternal grandfather’s father was. The first step is finding that drive I touched on,

the next is establishing a goal – finding grandma’s country of origin, great grandpa’s military

service, aunt Martha’s middle name, or the childhood home of my grandpa. When you have a

goal, you have a way – an anchor of sorts. I turn next to personal stories – get up close and

personal with those relatives who might know some of your answers. This could be in the older

generation (if they’re still around). 

I know as an uncommonly young genealogist, I have had the privilege to talk to my older

relatives – boy what a blessing. Speaking to grandparents, their siblings, cousins, and friends

about their families and stories really shapes what genealogy is - you see, 

I’m not a grave-digger, I’m  a storyteller.  

A common misconception with genealogists is they’re obsessive about facts and

statistics. Sure, I enjoy those aspects of genealogy – the birthdates, the wedding dates, the death

dates, the baptism dates, the confirmation dates, the cause of death, etc., but I find myself being

more passionate about the who. Who was my ancestor – what did they do, where they lived, who

were their friends, what was their life like. That’s when you turn to sources such as newspaper

articles archived on Newspapers.com  or Ancestry services, even at your local library.  

I think I partake in this hobby to feed this need of assurance that everything’s going to be

OK. Let me explain what I mean by that. By painting the picture of my ancestor’s long gone, and

researching all these things about them, I’m able to really make them more human; more
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relatable. Some of the stories I uncover are more “relatable” than others, but they all still feed

that common purpose. I’m not sure where this need for assurance came from, but I find it

rewarding and nerve-calming especially when I’m going through hard times. How many heart-

breaks did my ancestor’s have, how many tests did they fail, how many friends had they lost, or

relatives deceased? There’s comfort in numbers – and the more “numbers” I can find, the more

secure I feel in this life.  

Some of my “top-hits” of genealogical finds range from my 2nd great grandfather’s

written testament on his experience in the American Civil War, meeting President Abraham

Lincoln while injured in the hospital to the account of my 3rd great uncle George going crazy,

being shipped off to the mental hospitals of Athens, Ohio where he now haunts a college dorm

on Ohio University’s campus to a simple address of my blind 2nd great grandfather who lived on

the corner of Findlay and Central Parkway in Over-the-Rhine, a mere fifteen minutes from where

I grew up. How did I come from all of that? 

The answer, to me, is simply pure luck. The fact that I got placed in this wonderful, nurturing

family was most certainly luck. Others look to God, divine intervention, science, reincarnation –

but luck revolves around all of those things. There’s no place I’d rather be and genealogy has

helped me confirm those thoughts.  

The product of 1,000 loves – YOU are unique, YOU are a gift, go and find out how.  
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Works Cited

Freeman, William: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/m-t0627-
0319200497?usePUB=true&_phsrc=jZp38466&usePUBJs=true&pId=35731754, 1940 
United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com  Operations, Inc., 2012. 

“Getting Started.” Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/cs/us/gettingstarted. 
 
“Lake Owner Kills Self.” Rushville Republican, 8 Nov. 1955, pp. 1–
8, https://www.newspapers.com/image/549800924/. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021. 
 
“Laurel Farmer Suicide Victim.” Rushville Republican, 5 Apr. 1958, pp. 1–
6, https://www.newspapers.com/image/549744565/?article=9ce8526f-2093-4a42-b5bf-
ba9f08eaf772&focus=0.1472603,0.7187978,0.26323685,0.9769723&xid=3355&_ga=2.11
9845128.1058852655.1639021659-2074180956.1601526917. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021. 
 
“Obituary for Thomas Freeman Sr at Meyer & Geiser Funeral Home.” Meyer & Geiser Funeral
Home, June 2016, https://www.meyergeiser.com/obituary/3750391. 
 
Philibert-Ortega, Gena. “Genealogy 101: Ethics for the Genealogist.” GenealogyBank Blog,
Genealogy 101, 7 June 2019, https://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-101-ethics-for-
the-genealogist.html.