the ancestors really lived in an amazing world. no internet, no phone, no cars, not even bicycles. well, they got bicycles and cars maybe, after a while, but at first, nothing. they were big on horses. they knew how to saddle them up, get a team, and go a few miles. in all kinds of weather.

the guy below (next post), was my great great grandfather, on my great grandmother's side. his family came from new york state, and settled in central michigan, in the grand river valley. he had an interesting take on things. i typed out his life story and i'm about to publish it. there are several issues related to it.

one is that i feel a little bit like i'm capitalizing on his good writing. he was a powerful writer, very strong and clear, and by typing out this document (The Story of My Life) i am putting it out there for generations to read. such things as what he wrote are public domain now, no question it is ok for me to do it. besides that, i'm his great great grandson, so i have some right to just print it up and make it available, i feel. but it feels kind of strange anyway, and i can't get over it.

there are people who do this just as a kind of cottage industry. they find things in the public domain, and just print them up as books. they figure that if they get even one or two sales, it's worth it. but beyond that, if they own the printed word, they own something going into the future. they have that work, associated with their name, and they are the ones that can print and make it available. it's interesting, as a cottage industry, but there's a problem with these books too. they're ugly. they all look alike. there is nothing individual about anything that they print.

i took out the old picture that had been handed down to me (below) and put a version of it in the book. now, he's looking out at me. it actually doesn't make it any easier to print out his autobiography.

he was an interesting man - treasurer of hillsdale college, he had a grudge against some people there, and used his eloquent powerful style to show how they'd wronged him unfairly. one wishes, upon reading, to get the other side of the story. but he has personal details too, and that's what is most interesting to us in the family i think. his daughter became our great grandmother. his fixation with a small midwestern college i especially found interesting.

i will pull it together when i have the chance, and just put his story out there. someone has to do it, and it seems like that would be me. i got the manuscript, don't know what to do with it, and have too many people to pass it along to. better to just pull it together, put pictures in it, and let it represent him in the annals of history.

my typing is not perfect, and neither is my interpretation of his history. i may be criticized for the way i put the book together. but all books, these days, are going by the wayside. it's the kindle version that will matter in the end. and when i get to that, i will do the best i can with it, and go with it. i'm making history, by making history.