“Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water”
William Shakespeare Henry VIII
June has been a “character building” month here in New England where it has rained nearly every day of the month leaving many basements, garages, and backyards in standing water that slowly returns to the elements.
June has also brought forth a veritable storm of moral terpitude and personal impropriety. Two 2012 presidential contentors - Senator John Ensign of Utah and Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina had to admit affairs. Senator John Edwards who cheated on his terminally ill wife just disclosed he would not rule out a comeback. The death of Michael Jackson has dredged up rumors of drug dependency and illicit relations with minors. These are just the latest in a long line of politicians and entertainers who preached or built a brand around “family values” but whose lifestyle was very different. Governor Spitzer, President Clinton, President Kennedy, Senator Gary Hart, Congressman Mark Foley, Congressman Barney Frank, Governor Jim McGreevey, Senator Craig from Idaho, et. al., et. al. Even the revered Dr. Martin Luther King lived what was described as an “endlessly recycling alternation between the transcendently spiritual and the convulsively carnal” as reported by the late Fr. Richard John Nehaus in First Things. As stated in an article written by N.R. Kleinfeld of the New York Times it’s not that politicians are behaving more badly - we are just learning about it more often. Moreover why would we expect politics to be more free of the psychological contradictions of other humans beings.
Sometimes the artifacts of the psychological contradictions of human beings ends up in vital records. I stunned the audience in Loveland CO with my theory of the true lineage of Orange Emmons based on location centric circumstantial evidence and recorded human behavior. My research in Litchfield County Connecticut for 18th century collateral lines also introduced me to a new term - filius nullius. Literally “child of no man”, filius nullius was the term to a child born out of wedlock or where the paternity of the child is in question. The birth record of Abner Emmons b. Dec. 2, 1761, son of Eli and Tabitha Emmons had this term associated with it. Abner must have been a scandal in that his mother Tabitha was also Eli’s Aunt yet they were contemporaries as Eli was 3 years older than Tabitha. And there is no record of Eli and Tabitha’s marriage.
This kind of jarred me when I saw this record in that it contrasted with my world view of 18th century Litchfield county folk as hard working, virtuous God-fearing, “play it by the rules” people scratching out an existence in the colonies. The reality is that the human nature that we see playing out on the cable news networks is the same human nature that plays out out decade after decade, century after century across all strata of society. Human virtues are not writ in stone - they are often writ in water. Maybe Michael Jackson captured the moment between Eli and Tabitha, or Governor Mark Sanford and his Argentinan love in his song Human Nature:
Reaching Out
To Touch A Stranger
Electric Eyes Are Everywhere
See That Girl
She Knows I’m Watching
She Likes The Way I Stare
If They Say -
Why, Why, Tell Em That Is Human Nature
Why, Why, Does He Do Me That Way
If They Say -
Why, Why, Tell Em That Is Human Nature
Why, Why, Does He Do Me That Way
I Like Livin This Way
I Like Lovin This Way
Or as written by Henry Miller:
Man has demonstrated that he is master of everything — except his own nature.
Remember Shakespeare, Miller, and Jackson as you conduct your genealogical research. It will help you when the genealogical record does not jibe with one’s world view!
Good hunting,
Bernie
