Visiting Jamestown (Virginia) –
Original Settlement by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
As
we were walking around the stone foundations of homes in Jamestown, I thought
of how to define “archaeologist” so a five-year-old girl could understand the
term.
“An
archaeologist is a person who uses her brain and imagination to show people
today how people lived in the past,” I said.
Florence
let the word go through one ear and out the other as we walked among the
remains at Jamestown.
A
statue of Pochahontas fascinated Florence.
Florence had dressed up like Pochanontas one year for Halloween in
Wisconsin. She could not believe she was
a real person.
“She
was much more interesting in real life than in the film,” I said.
“You
will learn about her in the sixth grade,” I said.
“That’s
too long to wait!” Florence said.
“Okay. I’ll find a book at the library about
Pochahontas to read to you, but not a cartoon book,” I said. Some of our favorite outings in Wisconsin had
been to the State Historical Society.”
Florence
liked the miniature scenes of village life – no doubt, because they looked like
dolls.
“Archaeologists
play with clay and draw. It’s not a bad
job,” I said, hoping to influence Florence’s career choices.
“I
want to be a singer,” Florence said to stop my propaganda for a career I would
have liked for myself at one time until I read about forensic anthropology.
Inside
the name of one of the original gentleman who founded Jamestown struck me –
John Pennington. He died three months
after the founding of the town, so I could not claim to be a direct heir, but a
cousin perhaps.
However,
it was neat to see my family name in a historic place. My mother told me that there was a Pennington
at Roanoke as well, but I cannot confirm this information with online sources.
The
English inheritance system of primogeniture, where the eldest son inherited
everything, meant that younger sons had to seek careers in the military, the
church, or as merchants in the Americas, Africa, or Asia.
Judging
by the number of Pennington descendants in the United States, I would say that
the Penningtons and allied families in western England sired many children at
Muncaster Castle in Cumbria, where the Penningtons have resided since the
thirteenth century.
(The
Penningtons, who are of Norman French descent, were in the army of William the
Conqueror. They are listed in the
Domesday Book from 1,000 AD and have also sponsored the building of churches. Rutherford’s novels Sarum and London talk
about the Domesday book.)
Doing
family geneaological work had given me much respect for the survival of the
Penningtons and other families who were given seeds and guns for hunting and
protection as ships from the mother country sailed off to collect the crown’s
part of the harvest the following year.
My
particular branch of the Penningtons settled in western Virginia (Pennington
Gap and Robbins’ Chapel), Lexington (Kentucky), and Kingsport (Tennessee).
Sir
Isaac Penington was the founder of our line and created the Society of Friends
Church (Quakers) in England before coming to the U.S. with his son-in-law
William Penn.
By
my generation, my father told me non-violence does not always mean pacifism. My parents were evangelical Pentecostals I
think. (They laughed at my failed
efforts at attending a Friends’ School on the East Side of Detroit.)
The
Penningtons are original settlers of Virginia, Sons of Liberty, and Daughters
of the American Revolution. I am not
sure of our Civil War status, but my southern family has historically been
fiscally conservative.
I
talked about these topics with Florence as we set out for pizza. I knew we were original settlers of Virginia,
but I was somewhat floored that we were at Jamestown myself.
By
Ruth Pennington Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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| Ruth Paget Selfie |
