How History Comes Alive
Karyn Staedler

Remember history class in school? Memorizing those dumb, dull, dry old dates and the names of
all those old kings and wars and battles? Really ho-hum wasn't it? Your children and
grandchildren who are still in school probably feel the same way now. Here's some information
you might want to pass along that might make some of it seem more interesting:

American History - Everyone knows that William Bradford was the first governor of the
Plymouth Colony. For us Southworths, it's much more exciting to know that Governor Bradford
was our great-grandfather's stepfather. Yes, Constant Southworth was only about eight years old
when his mother, Alice, married Governor Bradford. Constant probably didn't get to know his
father (Edward) very well since Edward died when Constant was only six years old. It must have
been pretty interesting growing up in the household where a lot of the major decisions about this
new country were made!

English History - The Magna Charta (or Carta) is generally considered to be the cornerstone of
Anglo-Saxon law, since it is the earliest agreement between sovereign and subject on the rights
of both parties. It spells out what each can do, and the limitation of powers. In the reign of King
John, in the year 1215, twenty-five men representing the barons (the noble class) signed the
Great Charter as sureties ( guarantors) for the baronial performance. Another fifteen noblemen
participated as "friends of the King." None of this ever meant much to me until I discovered
recently, through genealogy, that nearly all of these noblemen are my great-grandfathers, and so
is King John! Of the forty barons listed, thirty show up on my direct line of descent, the greater
majority through Southworth wives.

Word History - On December 25 in the year 800, Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire. According to the calculator in my genealogy computer program,
Charlemagne was my 34th great-grandfather. It is said that nearly all Anglo-Saxons, like us, are
somehow related to Charlemagne. Now I know exactly how we are related!

And that's the end of today's history class.