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The Resource Ancestor trouble : a reckoning and a reconciliation, Maud Newton

Ancestor trouble : a reckoning and a reconciliation, Maud Newton

Creator
Author
Summary
"Maud Newton's ancestors have vexed and fascinated her since she was a girl. Her mother's father, who came of age during the Great Depression in Texas, was supposedly married thirteen times, and survived being shot in the stomach by one of his wives. His father purportedly killed a man in the street with a hay hook, and later died in a mental institution. On her father's side, a Massachusetts ancestor was accused of being a witch, who cast sickness on her neighbor's ox and was later tried in court for causing the death of a child. Maud's father had a master's in aerospace engineering on scholarship from an Ivy League university and was valedictorian of his law school class; he also viewed slavery as a benevolent institution that should never have been disbanded, and would paint over the faces of brown children in her storybooks. He was obsessed with maintaining the purity of his family bloodline, which he could trace back to the days of the Revolutionary War. Her mother was a whirlwind of charisma and passions that could become obsessions; she kept over thirty cats and birds in a tiny two-bedroom apartment, and later started a church in her living room, where she would perform exorcisms. Maud's parents' marriage was acrimonious, their divorce a relief. But the meeting of their lines in her was something she could not shake. She signed up for an online account and began researching her genealogy. She found records of marriages and trials, wills in which her ancestors gave slaves to their spouses and children. The search took over her life. But as she dabbled in DNA testing and found herself sunk in census archives at 1 o'clock in the morning, it was unclear to her what she was looking for. She wanted a truth that would set her free, in a way she hadn't identified yet. This book seeks to understand why the practice of genealogy has become a multi-billion-dollar industry in contemporary America, while also mining the secrets and contradictions of one singularly memorable family history"--
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xviii, 378 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Contents
  • It skips a generation
  • An impulse to leap
  • The idea of heredity
  • Genes expressing themselves
  • Grandma's eyes
  • The family face
  • Mugshots from DNA
  • Grudging kinship
  • Chasing the dream
  • Emotional recurrences
  • A doorway
  • Heirlooms and disinheritance
  • Monstrous bequests
  • Not racist
  • Disconnection
  • Unacknowledged remains
  • The witch
  • Generational curses
  • Veneration
  • Lineage repair
  • The namesake
  • Not forgotten
  • Beneficial and malignant creativity
  • Roots
  • Like a lenticular print
  • Skeletons and magnolias
  • Family secrets
  • DNA sleuthing
  • A universal family tree
  • Taking a bite
Isbn
9780812997927
Instance
Label
Ancestor trouble : a reckoning and a reconciliation
Title
Ancestor trouble
Title remainder
a reckoning and a reconciliation
Statement of responsibility
Maud Newton
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"Maud Newton's ancestors have vexed and fascinated her since she was a girl. Her mother's father, who came of age during the Great Depression in Texas, was supposedly married thirteen times, and survived being shot in the stomach by one of his wives. His father purportedly killed a man in the street with a hay hook, and later died in a mental institution. On her father's side, a Massachusetts ancestor was accused of being a witch, who cast sickness on her neighbor's ox and was later tried in court for causing the death of a child. Maud's father had a master's in aerospace engineering on scholarship from an Ivy League university and was valedictorian of his law school class; he also viewed slavery as a benevolent institution that should never have been disbanded, and would paint over the faces of brown children in her storybooks. He was obsessed with maintaining the purity of his family bloodline, which he could trace back to the days of the Revolutionary War. Her mother was a whirlwind of charisma and passions that could become obsessions; she kept over thirty cats and birds in a tiny two-bedroom apartment, and later started a church in her living room, where she would perform exorcisms. Maud's parents' marriage was acrimonious, their divorce a relief. But the meeting of their lines in her was something she could not shake. She signed up for an online account and began researching her genealogy. She found records of marriages and trials, wills in which her ancestors gave slaves to their spouses and children. The search took over her life. But as she dabbled in DNA testing and found herself sunk in census archives at 1 o'clock in the morning, it was unclear to her what she was looking for. She wanted a truth that would set her free, in a way she hadn't identified yet. This book seeks to understand why the practice of genealogy has become a multi-billion-dollar industry in contemporary America, while also mining the secrets and contradictions of one singularly memorable family history"--
Assigning source
Provided by publisher
Biography type
contains biographical information
Cataloging source
LBSOR/DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Newton, Maud
Dewey number
929.20973
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • plates
  • genealogical tables
Index
index present
LC call number
CT275.N5225
LC item number
A3 2022
Literary form
non fiction
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Newton, Maud
  • Newton, Maud
  • Newton family
  • Genealogy
  • Genetic genealogy
  • Racism
  • United States
Label
Ancestor trouble : a reckoning and a reconciliation, Maud Newton
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographic references (pages 331-364) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
  • It skips a generation
  • An impulse to leap
  • The idea of heredity
  • Genes expressing themselves
  • Grandma's eyes
  • The family face
  • Mugshots from DNA
  • Grudging kinship
  • Chasing the dream
  • Emotional recurrences
  • A doorway
  • Heirlooms and disinheritance
  • Monstrous bequests
  • Not racist
  • Disconnection
  • Unacknowledged remains
  • The witch
  • Generational curses
  • Veneration
  • Lineage repair
  • The namesake
  • Not forgotten
  • Beneficial and malignant creativity
  • Roots
  • Like a lenticular print
  • Skeletons and magnolias
  • Family secrets
  • DNA sleuthing
  • A universal family tree
  • Taking a bite
Control code
on1259585367
Dimensions
24 cm
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xviii, 378 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9780812997927
Lccn
2021025844
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations, genealogical table
System control number
(OCoLC)1259585367
Label
Ancestor trouble : a reckoning and a reconciliation, Maud Newton
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographic references (pages 331-364) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
  • It skips a generation
  • An impulse to leap
  • The idea of heredity
  • Genes expressing themselves
  • Grandma's eyes
  • The family face
  • Mugshots from DNA
  • Grudging kinship
  • Chasing the dream
  • Emotional recurrences
  • A doorway
  • Heirlooms and disinheritance
  • Monstrous bequests
  • Not racist
  • Disconnection
  • Unacknowledged remains
  • The witch
  • Generational curses
  • Veneration
  • Lineage repair
  • The namesake
  • Not forgotten
  • Beneficial and malignant creativity
  • Roots
  • Like a lenticular print
  • Skeletons and magnolias
  • Family secrets
  • DNA sleuthing
  • A universal family tree
  • Taking a bite
Control code
on1259585367
Dimensions
24 cm
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xviii, 378 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9780812997927
Lccn
2021025844
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations, genealogical table
System control number
(OCoLC)1259585367

Subject

Genre

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