I’m a sucker for my weekly morning routine. Once I get to work and settle into my desk, I pull up my local NPR station and listen to the news while drinking my coffee and catching up on my email. While listening to the news isn’t everyone’s favorite pastime, I personally find it important … and you never know what you’re going to run across!
Back in March when Tom and I were still in the initial planning stage of Maiden Name Unknown, I was well on my way to catching up with my morning emails when this story came on NPR: “One’s Antifa. One’s In A Militia. How An Ancestry Match Led To An Unlikely Bond.” Researched and written by the talented American journalist Hannah Allam, I was instantly fascinated by the concept.
- Ancestry match? That’s genealogy and DNA testing. That’s my jam. I have also reached out to distant relatives for research purposes and even found a third cousin living one city over from me.
- Antifa vs. Militia. These two movements are on the complete opposite ends of the political spectrum. And, since you’re reading a blog written from a queer feminist lens, I’m sure you can guess what end we tend to lean toward.
We find ourselves in a time when tensions are high within our politically divided nation. It’s challenging to see across party lines, even within our immediate families. Some people try to do it, while others try to ignore the situation overall, or estrange themselves. There are so many factors that impact the changes in our relationships and the decisions we make regarding them.
During this cultural crisis, an example of genealogy bridging the gap between two strangers holding clashing political beliefs on opposite coasts of nation seems oddly poetic. Of the situation, Allam writes:
Andrew and Cody sit on opposite coasts and opposite sides of the political spectrum, each representing movements accused by the other of fueling domestic terrorism. It’s unlikely they would’ve ever met, much less struck up a dialogue, were it not for their chance connection through a German settler who lived two centuries ago.
In separate interviews with NPR, the cousins said they recognize their bond runs counter to national trends of deep polarization and mistrust. At the same time, they’re careful not to present what Andrew called “a buddy-buddy, antifa-Three Percenter love story.” Their talks are deep and respectful, they said, but the differences are real.
A shared relative, a shared interest, and the willingness to take a chance (Cody on sending Andrew a message, and Andrew by offering a bit of trust) opened a line of communication that is likely to impact both men moving forward.
What I also found fascinating was Cody’s description of loving genealogy and history. He describes visiting obscure cemeteries, searching for old graves, and finding people long forgotten to history. He speaks of not wanting to be forgotten.
That theme is something I recognize. I wrote about it in Contemplating Old Cemeteries a few weeks ago, when I shared a post about my love of cemeteries True death is to be forgotten and, at its root, genealogy is about remembering.
Allam’s article brings to light much of what genealogists often find interesting, while also placing it into the context of the modern era. Whether Andrew and Cody continue their relationship doesn’t matter as much as the moment in time where descendants from two German ancestors were able to build connection two centuries later.
Maiden Name Unknown 