The Godfather

 

Last night I said to my husband Dave, "I don't know who my Godparents are".  He looked at me quizically since I am the family historian and keeper of the family tree.  I had been so busy trying to find new people to add and verify the existing ones that I forget about my own connections and history.

If the role of a Godparent is to guide one's religious education, then mine were remiss, since I didn't even know who they were.  In my family the role of Godparent was more an honorary title anyway.  We were not church going folks.  I don't believe my father was ever baptized, and my mother is a lapsed Catholic. I was baptized Catholic because my mother worried that my soul would not go to heaven if I didn't get a sprinkling of holy water.  

The naming of Godparents in our family was more of a "in case something happens to us" move, hoping that the Godparents would step in and take care of things.  I am Godmother to two of my nieces.  First was Brittany, my sister-in-law's daughter.  Second was Hannah, my sister's daughter.  By the time I became Hannah's Godmother I had become agnostic.  I may have said some words I didn't mean in the church as far as religious guidance goes, but no bolt of lightning struck me down.  The important thing is, if anything had happened to either set of parents, Dave and I would have been ready to step in to make sure they were taken care of.  And that was really the important thing to everyone.  And yes my Godchildren turned out OK.  Brittany was a church goer and made communion.  Now she's grown, has children of her own, and is a nurse.  Hannah attended a Catholic high school, was a star basketball player, and now is attending college.  Both are smart young women and even though I would like to take credit I cannot.  I don't think my role as Godmother helped or hurt, but I was always in the background in case I was needed, and always there for support and encouragement, birthdays and other holidays.

So I called my Dad today.  I asked him, "Who are my Godparents."  He pauses and says...ahhhhhh.....shoot, let me think.....ummmm.  My mother said my uncle S.P. and then he said, no, that's Michelle's Godfather.  Then he remembered that it was my Uncle E.W. and his sister-in-law B.S.  They had asked E.W's wife to be the Godmother originally.  but her conscience prevented her from doing so because she was taking birth control and the church forbade it.  So now I have that answer.  

My father then asks me, how are the Brouses related again?  He asks this question pretty often because I found out through Ancestry.com DNA testing that I have 1% DNA from Cameroon, Congo & Western Bantu Peoples.  Another 1% is Northern Africa DNA.  I have a theory along with my distant cousin K.A. on Ancestry that this lineage comes from the Brouse line, as that is the only line we share and both have this DNA on the same centimorgan (or something like that, I don't understand the science of DNA testing, K.A. has a better handle on it).  We both have George Brouse in common, who also happens to be a United Empire Loyalist.  George was born in Germany in 1740, but he lived in NY during the Revolutionary War, fought for the side of the Crown, and lost his life.  His family were escorted to Canada by Sir Guy Johnson and given land as a reward for the sacrifice of his life.  We think that Elizabeth, his wife, may be the link to Africa but are not certain.  We are hoping that is the scenario rather than something more nefarious like a result of slavery.  This family wasn't wealthy or prominant so I am thinking they probably did not have slaves, more likely that there was a marriage.  Some other researchers say Elizabeth claimed to be Iroquois, but perhaps that was not accurate.  Neither my DNA or my sister's DNA shows any Native American blood.  Anyway, that's a mystery that K.A. and I are trying to solve.  

Since my father is curious about my investigations, I asked him if he would take the Ancestry DNA test so that I could possibly make more connections.  Surpising to me, he agreed and my mother also wanted to take one.  I ordered the kits and when I get them will make a long overdue visit to Watertown to administer the tests and also visit.  We have all had our Covid shots so now we can finally visit without the spector of the pandemic hanging over us.  While I am interested in researching the past, one musn't forget the present; we need to take advantage of whatever time we have left on earth and spend it with loved ones.