QI is a Chinese word for the invisible force in and around us.
My daughter Deb and I are into finding our ancestors and especially finding out stories about them we didn’t know. We spend a lot of time in cemeteries :). One of the most interesting stories we found was about my great grandfather, Joseph P Littlefield of Maine. The tragic story of his death and that of his wife Jane and their three oldest children out of eight, Margaret 18, Adison 14 and Atwood 12 prompted Deb and me to go to Maine to find their grave.
My great grandfather Joseph P Littlefield was injured in the Civil War. He was a member of Co. C, 9th Maine Regiment. He was wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia and sent home to Maine to die. He died on Sep 3, 1864 of his massive injuries but also of typhoidal pneumonia. His wife and the 3 oldest of his 8 children died within months of him from it as well leaving my grandfather Charles G Littlefield at age 9 the oldest of the five remaining children. A tragic story and once we learned about it felt compelled to find their graves and honor them. Their small plot is off the beaten track in Rome, Maine we found it and traipsed through the brush to get to it. This was very emotional in that Joseph, Martha Jane, Margaret, Adison and Atwood have become very real to us and we feel very close to them and could definitely feel their spirits that day. We weren’t able to bring them flowers but left 5 pennies to indicate we were there and remembering them.
I definitely feel this was a QI experience.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2020/11/17/rdp-tuesday-qi/
November 18, 2020 at 7:34 am
I really enjoyed this story. Love learning things about my family. My husband’s father’s family had a similar story & his cousin wrote about. It was made into a movie called “All Mine To Give.” I remember hearing something about a distance ancestor that had almost their entire family killed in an indian massacre in the 1800’s I think. I have to find more info on this.
November 18, 2020 at 7:55 am
The stories from the past make our ancestors more real to us, everyone has a story, some more interesting than others. I looked up the movie and yes, similar devastating story. Thank you for sharing that.
November 22, 2020 at 9:50 am
I can see how that must have been a moving experience. Wonderful that you and your daughter made the effort to seek out their graves.
November 22, 2020 at 12:29 pm
🙂
December 9, 2020 at 2:53 pm
Great that you honored those before us from the past. Thanks for this emotional post.
December 9, 2020 at 5:55 pm
Thank you for your kind words. It was really quite an experience for me and my daughter.