Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois (c) Bill Oliver 29 June 2003 Vol 2 Issue: #25 ISBN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, Storytelling usually begins with "Once upon a time ..." or "A long time ago ..." These traditional openings signals a suspension of "time and space". However, these openings or beginnings bring to mind "fairy tales". The storytellers of history, of families, of peoples are a bit different. The stories that they tell may be folktales; debatable as literary; yet they are openings through which we have new ways to perceive our world and theirs. One age of ancestral kin aids another age of ancestral kin. An example; the barbed wire used to fence property in the Great Plains of Nebraska was invented in the state of Illinois. Two different ancestral kin from two eras were involved. One in creating and the other is utilizing. Any writer appreciates feedback — letters from readers. They tell us things; they give us ideas. This week a couple of comments from readers centered once again on story-telling ... one of my favorite topics! We are the storytellers ... we are the chosen!! We are the ones in a family -- and there is always one -- who breath life into what has gone on before us. We are the ones who flesh out the bones!! Those bones that are bones of our bones. We are the storytellers of the clan or tribe ... the family. Last week I had the great pleasure of interviewing Paul Fellows, a local historian in Massac [Mass-sack] County, Illinois. The object was to become familiar — get a feeling — of Massac County where an ancestor had property. When material is written for this ancestral family it must evoke a picture to bring them alive again and keep them alive every time words about them are read. Those words must somehow say that those ancestors know and approve of what is said about them. As the storytellers, when we find these ancestors, we find ourselves. We can stand at their graves and we can feel how they have contributed to what we are now ... today. What they accomplished ... how they helped make and keep us a Nation. With great loving care we scratch their existence into the fabric of history ... because, they are us and we are them. Part of my ancestry is Celtic, and one of my family surnames is Son of Mahan [McMahan] or, also known as, Malachi. Well, Malachi had a brother, Brian or Briain, who was the twelfth son of Kennedy of Thomond. The brothers were great heros of their people against the Danes. Malachi was the more gentle and noble of the two; Briain the more athletic and forceful. When Malachi was killed by treachery, which oft happens to the less energetic, Briain became king. My Grandfather, was sensitive and gentle. So gentle, that my Dad and his brother, would oft tell that Grandpa would cry harder then they did when Grandma would force him to take them to the "woodshed". However, Briain has his greatness. He is credited with having originated surnames. He brought the clans together, under one king, for the only time in Irish history. He lost his life against the Norsemen at the Battle of Clontarf, though his warriors won the day. He was eighty-nine. Quite an energetic person. In lore, it is said that "Briain was the last man of Erin who was the match of a hundred men." That story has an implied fact in it which leads to mythology. Due to the variation of Malachi being a form of Mahan/Mahon, the implication was made that Malachi was one of my ancestors. Genealogy is said to be proven family history, while mythology is not. Well, the mythology in family history often turns out to be as factual as the written documents we use. Take for example the information in census reports, or the dates on tombstones. Haven't we all copied down a death date from a tombstone and used it as absolute? Careful investigations will sometimes show that just because it is written in stone doesn't make it so. Another myth or story that has been passed down through several generations is that x-great grandpa married a HARPER who was [part] Cherokee. To reinforce the story as proof it is said that "she knocked the red hair our of us Irish for three generations. Dad and one of his sisters were Irish "reds". There is lots of evidence that there were marriages within the family that involved members of the "five nations", but so far the proof of my line eludes. There is a statement on many of my websites: "Undocumented Genealogy equals Mythology". As true as this is, one must remember that mythology was made from fact. Mythology serves me good purpose in that it has always led me to find genealogy. Thus, do not disregard mythology as worthless ... it isn't ... but, it does tend to open my "inquiring eyes" in hopes of finding real proof. Wado, Bill -=- Other sites worth visiting: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html