17 Indiana University – Kokomo Assignment

Kariah Barnett

Indiana University Kokomo

Family History Project

What is Family?

A structural definition of the family says that “Family is a group of people united by ties of marriage, blood or adoption” (Ciabattari, 2017, p22). A Household-based definition says that family “consists of everyone living under the same roof, “(p 23 ). A role-based definition says “family members are interacting and communicating with each other in their respective social roles” (p 25). and an interactionalist definition says “family members are creating and maintaining a common culture” (p 26). I agree with these definitions because being a family does not just mean you are biologically related, or that you live together, and do things together. Being a family is about sharing good and bad times together, making time for one another and dedicating a small portion of your life to connecting with these specific sets of people.

Change in Age

On average, my family has married at 21 years old, then had a child at 29 years old, and passed away at 70 years old. I gave birth at 23 years old, and am getting married at 25 years old. My family’s average age of giving birth in the past four generations was actually higher than I expected. My own mother gave birth to me at 15 years old, and her mother gave birth to her first child at 18 years old, so I am happy to say I waited until I was much older than either of them. While the average age of giving birth in my family is 29 years old, if I truly wanted to compare the age of giving birth, I’d need to get an even more extensive family history to account for all of the children. That way I could compare the ages of parents when they had their first child, and not just those who are my direct descendants. However, records are limited, and not all divorces or births are accounted for.

Although not fully encluded in this accumulation of information, I expected divorce to be much less common than it has been throughout the years. Many of my ancestors have had multiple spouses and this made it very difficult to track how many children they had. Marriage in my family has also changed considerably. My great grandmother married at 15 years old, my grandmother and mother at 18 years old, and I will marry at 25 years old. Marriage, “instead of a way to begin one’s adult life, it is something we enter into only after reaching other milestones, such as finishing our education, getting established in jobs or careers, and paying off debt” (Ciabattari, 2017, p 80).

Decent Politics – Clipping

Zerubavel (2012) explains different methods people have used to “accommodate both personal and collective agendas” (p. 80) while making their family tree. As I was reading this chapter, I thought of my maternal grandfathers’ first wife and children. Almost that entire side of my grandfather’s family has been clipped or cut and pasted. My grandfathers’ only son, Robert, is on that side. While we claim Jerod, his son, we do not talk about Robert at all. I decided in order to include Jerod in this project, it would make the most sense to include Robert, but for all other aspects of my family life, I do not consider Robert my family. In fact, only one of grandpa’s four children from that side that is included in family discussions or holidays. This distancing of oneself from others who biologically are related in order to save oneself from relating to someone who is a threat to society is not uncommon.

Pedigree

One of the greatest days of my life was also faced with many difficult decisions. My daughter Eleia Annette Barnett Blackburn, was born July 22nd, 2017 at 6lbs 5oz. Notice she has two last names. It is common for children to have their father’s last name, but in order to pay respect to my grandfather, we decided to give her both, Barnett and Blackburn. I believe this is a form of Patronymics. An example of this is when a son takes their father’s last name but and then added an affix to it when he moves out. This is in order to create his own identity in addition to his fathers’ history. Knowing who you descended from is important for social identity (Zerubavel, 2012, p 23-24). Patronymics helps keep track of that descent. 

End Thoughts

It is incredibly easy in today’s day and age to forget where we come from. I admit to taking my grandparents for granted until I started working on this project. Whenever I hit a block of information I couldn’t understand it was extremely sad. I knew I couldn’t just stop and ask because those people are not here anymore. I imagined the future, and what it would be like for Eleia if I hadn’t done the brunt of this work for her. Family history is important because, without all of the people from the past, you would not have a future. Their accomplishments and heartbreaks are reflected in you. You are a complication of all the hard work of the past. I am grateful to have the opportunity to do this project because it has truly humbled me into respecting my ancestors far more than I ever have.

Resources

Ciabattari, Teresa. 2017. Sociology of Families: Change, Continuity, and Diversity. Thousand Oaks, CA:  SAGE.

Zerubavel, Eviatar. 2012. Ancestors and Relatives: Genealogy, Identity, and Community. New York, NY: Oxford UP.