"Fourth of July - A Family Tradition"

 Our Country is young, but it is one of the oldest democracies on Earth, something for which we should all be proud. Its independence from Britain 247 years ago is what we celebrate today – a long tome ago, but time shrinks when we consider generations.

 

Not to go too deep into the weeds of genealogy, but my great-great grandfather’s maternal grandfather fought at Lexington on April 19, 1775. He would be one of my 32 four-greats grandfathers. So whatever genes of his that course through my veins are pretty diluted. But what makes this man who was at Lexington on that fateful day seem closer is that my great-great grandfather (of whom I write below) knew his widow, his maternal grandmother, who died in 1830 when he was twenty. (Her husband died in 1784). And my paternal grandmother, who I knew well, knew her grandfather, as she was twenty-five when he died in 1901. With that in mind, the years seem to melt away.

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

More Essays from Essex

“Fourth of July – A Family Tradition”

July 4, 2023

 

“Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.”

                                                                                                                Attributed to Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)

                                                                                                                Austrian Composer and Conductor

 

In his book Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy, the American author and journalist Matthew Scully wrote: “Sometimes tradition and habit are just that, comfortable excuses to leave things be, even when they are unjust and unworthy.” Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder and Executive Chairman of Amazon, once noted: “The death knell for any enterprise is to glorify the past – no matter how good it was.” 

 

However, the Encyclopedia Britannica defines tradition as doing something that has been done by a group, including a family, for a long time. It is in that sense that I write of a family Fourth-of-July tradition that is in its 134^th year. Living in Massachusetts, my great-great grandfather made this entry in his diary for July 4, 1889: “Children and grandchildren played baseball.” Among those present, was my paternal grandmother who had been born in 1875. For the next eleven years (he died in 1901 at age 91), each Fourth of July entry mentioned the baseball game – one year it was a day late, because the family gathered for a photograph, and one year (1898) it was cancelled because of the heat, but what began in Benjamin Harrison’s first year as President has continued to the current day.

 

I do not remember my first Fourth-of July, but it was likely in the early 1940s, though there is no one now alive who can say if the game was cancelled during those years. For my father, the excuse to return to where he was born and grew up was the draw, so most years we went. Attending the game became an initiation rite for those brave enough to marry into the family. The descendants of my two-great grandparents are numerous, now probably numbering several hundred – my grandchildren meet fifth cousins.

 

There is comfort in the continuing of a tradition, so long as it is not taken too seriously. In Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier wrote of memories of Manderley: “The order never varies. Two slices of bread-and-butter each, and China tea. What a hide-bound couple we must seem, clinging to custom because we did so in England.” I get that same sense when I drive to the house, see chairs and tables set aside for the elderly, while the lawn is covered with people of all ages – pitcher, base runners and outfielders alike. Remarkably, in its previous 133 years, the game has always ended in a tie. Perhaps this year will be different, but I suspect not.

 

In his last Fourth-of-July diary entry, my great-great grandfather wrote (July 4, 1900): “Did our best in glorifying our ancestors who fought for our liberty one hundred and twenty-five years ago[1], though some of us could but doubt of our rulers of the present day were as equally disinterested and governed solely by the best of motives in our recent wars. However, there are too many side issues involved in political matters for all to ever agree, even if we should succeed in civilizing the whole world, according to our notions of what is right and just.” Today, our nation is more diverse, which has made us better and stronger. While acknowledging our differences, we celebrate our commonalities, as citizens of this great nation! Happy 4^th!

 

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[1] My great-great grandfather’s maternal grandfather was at Lexington on April 19, 1775, which is why he celebrated that date rather than 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed.