around the next corner which may add some perspective to an ancestor's personality or actions. To leave any relevant information out of such a history is a potential loss that bothers all of us who have collaborated in it's preparation. As a result, we have decided not to write this narrative the conventional way by completing all research and then putting everything together in an organized format. I and the other participating cousins will write as we go--updating whatever part of the story that new information enhances. Our hope is that some day we may be able to bring this to some degree of closure. While my wife and children have some idea of what I doing, as the story grows in length it seems less and less likely that they will take the time to read it. Perhaps that is best for everyone--a story only becomes really interesting when its protagonists are dead and gone. When I began this family biography, I had hoped to have it near completion before I died, and to publish it in whatever state of completion it may have evolved. Now as other cousins seem to be interested in joining me in updating our genealogy database and collaborating on the writing of this family history, I am somewhat less anxious and hurried as it is my hope that there will be group of interested Armstrong descendents out there who will continue to work together on preserving and updating the family records and the family biography.
Sitting down to write the history of one's family is a daunting proposition. Such an effort can require years of research and will never be as complete as one would like. There is always a new source of potential information just
I began doing genealogical research in 1976 but in less than a year gave it up as I ran into a number of stonewalls and felt that the expenses involved would be too great. I did nothing more until February of 1994 when I decided to try again. In the next two months I located a Mormon Stake in neighboring Rockledge, Florida, began contacting the historical and genealogical societies in South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota, and learned of the genealogical sources available through the Orlando Public library, that I also began visiting when I could.
When I began, I knew my grandfather Armstrong's name but little else about the Armstrongs who, by all appearances, were likely to present a formidable research challenge. Some of my contacts in the 1970s were no longer available, but I managed to reestablish early links with some of my Armstrong cousins who in turn helped me locate other family members interested in genealogy. Through them I developed my information about the Bulens and Odekirks. I had no idea when I began writing in April of 1994 where my research would lead me or what I would learn. My goal was to leave something of value to my descendants--a narrative that provides images of their ancestors as they were, not saints to be worshipped, but real people with strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, and who lived life the best they could given the opportunities that life afforded them. I intend to include family folklore when I run into it--not to perpetuate gossip, but to add perspective when there appears to be some degree of probability. This will undoubtedly displease certain family members still living and/or their offspring. However, as this is family folklore, I feel that our descendants would be interested in the color that it adds to the narrative. Ancestors and future generations share a marvelous, unique, and unpredictable caldron of genetic linkages that result in recognizable similarities as well as wholly unexplainable differences. Regardless of when we may have lived, we are still family, and it is not right that we be strangers.
As I and the other scribes that prepare this narrative pass on what we have learned of the family history, this narrative will be necessarily flavored and limited by our abilities of expression and perception. We will also write about our own lives and experiences and can only hope that we will do so in a manner that is realistic, yet not prone to pedantry. I have wondered on more than one occasion what something like this should be called--a family history? A biography? An autobiography? Memoirs? Somehow none of these seems completely appropriate as it is all of these and yet more. An autobiography may be appropriate for someone who has led a life of momentous achievements, who has captivated the public consciousness, or has experienced an extraordinary adventure. Writing ones memoirs brings to mind a less celebrated or publicly renowned life experience such as that of a judge or wealthy, well-traveled socialite. My life certainly has contained few events or achievements that would generate that kind of excitement. As people are prone to placing people in categories with tight little labels, I would probably be classified and filed away somewhere under the heading of average white male (a depressingly mediocre and vaguely unsavory phrase which tends to express the sentiment that the only flatulence of value is that which attains high decibel levels).
As a young boy I was struck with my own uniqueness. I was the only one in my head, a discrete consciousness, who (at least in my own mind) I felt to be as or more intelligent, athletic, etc. than most other folks I came in contact with. As unique is commonly translated to mean special, I gradually came to believe that my life would naturally include some chain of extraordinary events and undoubtedly, great wealth. As the years went by and great wealth and acclaim eluded me, I came to the understanding that it was my very own uniqueness which was noteworthy and that every human being is special--in fact, the concept of an average man is a societal myth perpetuated to make us feel less than we really are.
Genealogical research has reinforced my premise while helping me to understand that being unique is not only an individual experience that may include a bright but fleeting moment in history, but a personal link in a human chain of very special people who lived and passed on both principles and genetics that their descendants have the distinct responsibility and honor to perpetuate. While it is important to contribute to improvement of the human condition, not all of us have either the opportunity or ability to do so. However, if we understand and respect how our ancestors contributed to our existence and do our best to shape the thinking, values and prospects of our descendants, we will have made a contribution that is, by any standards, both special and noteworthy.
This is not a simple rendition of historical facts and dates. It contains some personal suppositions and interpretations of events that cannot be absolutely verified and is, therefore, subject to attack by historical and genealogical purists. This is also, however, not a fiction about a hypothetical family that never existed. Although almost too simple, perhaps it is best to just call it a Family History after all. Whatever we call it (who cares anyway!), I hope the ancestors will not be offended and that it will help our descendants round out their self image and perhaps understand a bit better how they came to be who they are. It certainly has not taken away my feeling of being unique, but now that I know something of my family and it's history, the fact that there are others out there whose physical and emotional genetics I share, fills me with a certain conmfortable pride. There are also other feelings and emotions even deeper down......a feeling of continuity, that on a nonreligious plane this is as close to immortality that we mortals will ever get, bouyed further by the knowledge that as individuals and a clan, this written legacy will perpetuate our memory for those generations of Armstrongs that will follow.