An assignment for class is to interview an elderly relative about family history and write the information into this blog. My mother told me that many of my ancestors were adventurous and hard-working people of European heritage.
1. One of my mother’s ancestors, my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Barthlomew Longstreth, came to North America in the 1600s. His family members were Quakers who had been persecuted in England and came to Pennsylvania to practice their religion. Ancestors in my mother’s family fought for the colonies during the Revolutionary War and against slavery during the Civil War.
2. My mother learned that Bartholomew Longstreth died when he was killed by his slaves
in the fields of his Pennsylvania farm. This was shocking to me; I find it difficult to accept that my family ancestors built their fortunes by owning other people, who hated them so much that they fought back. This is part of the “white privilege” that I have inherited.
3. Eventually, my Longstreth ancestors migrated to Muscatine County, Iowa, where they farmed land that was taken away from the Meskwaki, one of the indigenous peoples of the region (also known as Fox). My ancestors made a living even through the Great Depression on this property, because the Native people were removed to government settlements. This is another part of the “white privilege” that I have inherited.