Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Family Tree

I woke up again in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep, but before I woke up I was dreaming that I was introducing myself to a new group of people. This made me think about how this baby is going to introduce herself. She's 1/4 Koyukon Athabascan 1/4 White (mostly Swiss) and 1/2 Filipino (Kapampanggan).
Mama's side: Me, I say, "My name is Margaret Olin Hoffman David. My mom is Dee Olin from Ruby and my grandparents are Lorriane (Olin) and the late Johnny Honea from Kokrines and Ruby and Lillian (Pitka) and the late Fred Olin Jr. from Kokrines and Galena. My dad is David Hoffman, who grew up in Flint, Michigan and Spokane, Washington, and my grandparents are the late Helen (Wolf) from Livingston, Montana and George Hoffman from Bozeman, Montana." My mom has 15 brothers and sisters so I have 80+ cousins on that side, and my dad has two sisters and I have 6 cousins on that side (but my grandpa was one of 9 children so I have many extended cousins). I grew up in Ruby, Nome, Barrow, Juneau, Sitka, and Anchorage, but rooted by spending summers at fishcamp, Big Eddy, 23 miles upriver from Ruby on the Yukon River.
Taytay's side: Eric John Ramos David from Las Pinas, Philippines and Alaska. His mom is Leonora "Ning" Ramos from Pasay City, Philippines, and her parents are the late Emilia (Manarang) and the late Lucio Ramos both from Pampanga, Philippines. His dad is Leonoardo "Ronnie" David, and his parents are the late Filipinas (Mercado) and the late Estanislao David, all from Pampanga. EJ has 12 aunties and uncles and many cousins also. He grew up in Pasay City and Las Pinas until he was 14 then moved to Barrow, and then Anchorage.
This baby is so rich in family and history and culture. I'm almost nervous about being able to instill all of this in her the way that it's been instilled in us.........

No comments:

Post a Comment