If you know me at all, you know I have never been a big fan of history as a subject of study. It was my worst subject in school, by far. I hated the huge, heavy textbook and every boring word in it. Did I ever actually complete any of the assigned reading? I can't imagine that I did. I can clearly remember, though, the agony of trying to force myself through line after line of mind-numbing text... well, never mind. There's no point wallowing in the memory of that misery, is there!Knowing that one had ancestors aboard a famous boat, however, or bumping knuckles with Cromwell or whatever... that does tend to pique one's curiosity a little. And since I started looking up my ancestors at Google Books, I've read quite a bit more history than I ever did in all my school years combined.
It might have been a different story, those miserable school years, if the history books had been more like the one in which I recently found my ancestor, Rev. Samuel Stone. He's in quite a few history books, actually, but none more entertaining than Hartford in the Olden Times: Its First Thirty Years. In fact, he's almost incidental in this book, and yet I had to keep laughing... um, I mean reading. Click to enlarge the image below... it's sort of an appetizer...
I've left Hartford in the Olden Times on the table for you at my library blog, My Ancestors in Books, where you will not be shushed for laughing out loud.
3 comments:
I think history textbooks ruin history for a lot of people. I was one of them until my husband (a history geek if ever there was one) started recommending more interesting history books, then getting into genealogy further whetted my appetite. I look forward to checking out Hartford in the Olden Times!
What fun. Thanks for sharing.
Love it!
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