The Family Tree
By Terence L. Day
Terence L. Day, genealogist and journalist, is on the Washington State University faculty. He welcomes e-mail at genealogy@moscow.com, or regular mail in care of the Tri-City Herald City newsroom, P.O. Box 2608, Tri-Cities, WA 99302-2608.
Make most of holiday family gatherings
This column was published May 27, 2001
What is Memorial Day to you? Just another day to play; beer, barbecue and blistering sunburn?
Or an opportunity to honor your family's dead? Especially those who have fought in our nation's military?
For too many, Memorial Day is nothing more than the first summer holiday, although we celebrate it more than three weeks before summer arrives. I'm not against a little fun. If all goes well, 21 members of my family will gather Monday in Kennewick to observe a quick family get-together.
Owing to the tender age of our grandchildren - 10 between the ages of a few months to 12 years - our cemetery visits will be abbreviated. But we will place flowers on six graves in four Kennewick and Pasco cemeteries. And as family patriarch, I will have a few brief words to say about the men and women whom we honor.
Then we will play with our tribe of young cousins, barbecue the hamburgers and generally stuff ourselves before disbanding to homes in Pullman, Seattle and Meridian, Idaho.
I regret we won't be able to visit the grave of Theodore Barber Day in Retsil, Kitsap County. Ted is our Civil War ancestor, which would make it especially appropriate to visit his grave on Memorial Day. But, if we were to do that, the family couldn't gather. Retsil is an out-of-the-way place.
We will be thinking of Ted, however, on Memorial Day. The holiday began as a remembrance of Civil War soldiers.
Memorial Day originally was known as Decoration Day, a term that came from the custom of placing flowers on the graves of Civil War veterans.
I'm not sure when the change was officially made, but I remember that when I was a youngster, older folks in my family spoke of Decoration Day. In those bygone days, Decoration Day was celebrated on May 30.
Origins of the celebration are lost in the dusty annals of history. Several cities claim the honor of being first to celebrate the holiday.
Observance of the holiday became widespread when Gen. John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued a proclamation on May 5, 1868, urging the nation to observe Decoration Day on May 30. The GAR was a fraternal organization for veterans of the Union Army.
Logan recommended "strewing" flowers and otherwise decorating the graves of those who died defending their country during the Civil War.
On May 30, 1868, General James Garfield spoke at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.
The observance since has expanded to placing small flags on the graves of men and women who served in the Armed Forces, especially during war.
In 1966, President Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the official birthplace of Memorial Day. Waterloo was chosen because it had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866, and has made Memorial Day an annual, communitywide event.
As the observance spread from community to community across the country, the memorial expanded. Following World War I, many communities began honoring veterans who died in any American war.
In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday and set its observance on the last Monday in May.
By custom, Americans have expanded the scope of Memorial Day to include decorating the graves of all our dead, regardless of whether they served in the military.
If your family gathers on Memorial Day, I hope you will take time out from play to decorate family graves and retell family stories.
But whether you make it entirely a day of play or visiting cemeteries, I hope you will take notes on the family stories that invariably will be told and retold.
Then, before the chicken scratches become too stale, write them up and put them in your family history.
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Pat Isaacs Richley - known to many as Dear Myrtle, guru of genealogical research - is the featured speaker at next month's Tri-City Genealogical Society's annual seminar.
The seminar is from 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. June 23 in the Battelle Auditorium, 902 Battelle Blvd., Richland. Cost is $25 for those who register by June 16. After that, the cost is $30. Lunch and handouts are included.
The seminar will cover use of the Internet, evaluating evidence, proper source citation, U.S. military records and getting original documents from books and compact discs.
For reservations, send e-mail to societyinfo@aol.com or call 627-6436.