Ancestry Map

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Need to capture your ancestry visually in a small space? Here is an ancestry map that I created as a 5”x7” rectangle which shows the names, dates of immigration and countries of origin for 4 family lines each going back 4 generations. Five, six or more generations can be accommodated depending on the length of surnames.



Key:
Green: Mother’s maternal ancestors
Red: Mother’s paternal ancestors
Black: Father’s maternal ancestors
Blue: Father’s paternal ancestors
Script Font: Country of birth
Regular Font: Family name of ancestor and date of immigration
Font Size: Largest fonts represent parents, fonts decrease in size for prior generations

I then arranged the names and places artistically rather than chronologically. If a last name is taken by a spouse at marriage (common in many English –speaking countries historically) then I didn’t repeat the name. Similarly, for Spanish surnames, to allow for space, I didn’t repeat the paternal surnames. This greatly reduces the number of names that need to be included and allows more names to be readable.

Similarly I didn’t repeat countries of birth. I included the name of any country in which at least one of my ancestors was born, but I only included each country once, even if 4 great great grandparents and 2 grandparents were born there. To visually identify that multiple families originated in a particular country, I used more than one color in the country’s name. For instance, to show that my mother’s dad and my father’s dad came from Italy, I would write Italy with both blue and red font. I adjusted this technique to show balance in the numbers of ancestors coming from multiple family branches. For instance, if many of my father’s maternal ancestors came from Russia and one of my mother’s paternal ancestors came from Russia, then I might write Russia all in black with just one letter red.

I also included the dates of immigration to our current country of residence. The dates next to the names in the generic ancestry map shown here, correspond to the year that name or branch of the family immigrated; they are not meant to represent the date for that particular individual. In the case of many ancestors having come to your country a long time ago, many of the names would include dates. On the other extreme, if your parents were born abroad and you immigrated to your country then none of the names shown would have dates included. In such a case, I would include the date of immigration in a large font prominently in the center of the map.

Modify and adjust to suit your family’s structure. Country names, immigration dates, surnames can all be adjusted in color, type and size to reflect a multitude of ancestry information. Perhaps you want to include common first names or employment industry or number of siblings. Select the attributes that are most important for your family and then modify the fonts to reflect those attributes.

My daughters suggested increasing the transparency as you travel back in time through the names, so that the great great great grandparents names would be quite faded. Just beware of attempting to capture too much information as having more than 4 or 5 attributes may only serve to overwhelm and confuse whoever is reading your ancestry map.

Weaving Blind

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A myriad of blues cascades along the warp on one loom like a mountain stream. Reds and golds glow like a summer sunset on an adjacent loom. Each loom tells a different story, just as each weaver has his or her own story to share. The weavers at these looms aren’t drawn to the vibrant colors and may not even be able to imagine the colors they create as they move their shuttles back and forth through the shed. Each of the weavers in this small room is blind or significantly visually impaired.

Louise sits in front of the cascade of blues, looking at her weaving and seeming to ponder her work. Yet Louise isn’t seeing the loom as most people would. After being oxygen deprived at birth, Louise’s eyesight slowly dimmed until she became totally blind. She still has memory of color, so as her warp is described to her she has some inkling of what the colors convey. But it is her tactile view of the warp that is most expressive. Changing the shed and passing her shuttle across the warp, she senses that she’s caught a thread. She carefully feels the edge with her agile fingers. Watching, I cannot see a mistake. When I tell her so, she asks for my hand and then moves my hand to the offending thread. By touch the minute error is quite evident. Louise carefully undoes the caught thread and continues weaving.

At the loom in front of Louise sits Janette who has been blind since birth. She too carefully passes her shuttle back and forth, creating beautiful straight edges and beating a very consistent fabric. In front of Janette, sits Carmen who has been blind for 5 years and is working at such a frenetic pace she cannot stop for any interruption. Her shuttle flies back and forth, back and forth, pausing only long enough for the briefest of beatings.

Then someone calls out, “I need a leg.” I need a leg? Doesn’t sound like a typical request from a blind weaver. This request has come from Pauline. Pauline is 97 years old—nearly 98 she’ll happily announce, and is legally blind from macular degeneration. Her 97 plus years don’t give her quite the strength and agility to release the warp and bring it forward. The rapidity with which her ‘need a leg’ requests are made, indicate just how quickly she is weaving.
So how do all of these talented blind weavers get the warps on their looms? Frances Curran is the creative director of the New Hartford Artisans Weaving Center. She designs the palettes for the warps for each loom and with the support of many local weaving volunteers the looms are carefully prepared. After the fabric is woven, volunteers finish the pieces, creating beautiful scarves, ponchos and bags, which are sold to help support the center.

As I depart the weaving center, the non-stop, interspersed clink of the heddles fill the room. Knobby hands reach out to feel the texture of the threads in the warp and weft. Even the scent of the fibers is alive in this small room as the weavers beat their threads, each to his or her own drummer.