Texan Searched for Indian's Diamond
- Thread starter jeff of pa
- Start date
Poor guy was a victim of the “telephone game”. Story supposedly starts with great-grandmother, who through normal human failings, embellished and changed story, probably several times, before the story gets to him a few generations later.
Part of this is the failings of human memory, and the desire to “fill in the blanks” when we pass a narrative to someone else. Part is the understandable desire to believe his mother would not lie to him.
It is not, however, a matter of whether someone lied. It is simply a matter of someone, over time, forgetting information and inserting what seems correct to them. A family version of the “telephone game”.
My best guess on this story is that a little research on this will show that much of the information purported as fact is simply memories embellished through time.
Nice story, though. Thank you, Jeff.
Time for more coffee.
Part of this is the failings of human memory, and the desire to “fill in the blanks” when we pass a narrative to someone else. Part is the understandable desire to believe his mother would not lie to him.
It is not, however, a matter of whether someone lied. It is simply a matter of someone, over time, forgetting information and inserting what seems correct to them. A family version of the “telephone game”.
My best guess on this story is that a little research on this will show that much of the information purported as fact is simply memories embellished through time.
Nice story, though. Thank you, Jeff.
Time for more coffee.
OP
OP
- Thread starter
- #3
I Am unaware of the "Telephone Game" You speak of .
Or this Tale till Now.
But am Personally Skeptical of Indian Tales, Simply because of the Hocus Pocus that usually is Included due to
too Much Peyote. & ego.
But Alas, it is a Treasure Tale
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My own family has a buried treasure story. Late 1870s a great-great-grandfather dies. His children wonder where all the wealth went, since he was known through most of his adult life as a wealthy farmer, rancher, and business owner. That story finally came to me through both my father and grandmother with near identical narratives.
As a child, 50 plus years ago, I was led to believe that if someone could simply find where the money was, we would be rich. Such was not to be, however.
After running across a letter to my grandmother, from one of her cousins, written in the 1930s, my interest in this story was piqued. Doing some research on this ancestor, I found that he was, indeed, very wealthy when in his 40s and 50s. The nature of his wealth fit the stories. Good start.
A few years later, I had the opportunity to look through microfilmed newspapers of that area and era. What I found was not quite in agreement with the family story.
Newspaper articles showed very clearly what happened over about a 15 year period. After the death of his wife, my despondent ancestor crawled into a bottle and never came out. In that time he managed to lose nearly everything, leaving little to his adult children, many of whom enabled this self-destructive behavior. His will, written in better times, showed holdings that would have made all of his children and grandchildren very wealthy.
These holdings were sold off, one by one, to feed the habit of once sober man who had become a drunk. It is likely that some benefited greatly from this situation, but that is an assumption on my part. I did, however, establish that his estate, upon his death consisted of a few hundred acres of farmland, and little else.
Most family that I shared this research with refused to believe it. An elderly cousin (3rd or 4th cousin, I am not sure) shared a few years later, correspondence between other relatives, from the years just prior to the death of our common ancestor, showing how a few of the family at that time were sad about what the man had turned into. That series of letters showed the self-destructive path that was taken, along with the hand-wringing about what to do. Sadly, human behavior has not changed.
I hope this shows how family history can easily conflict with fact, once a generation or two has passed.
Still time for more coffee.
As a child, 50 plus years ago, I was led to believe that if someone could simply find where the money was, we would be rich. Such was not to be, however.
After running across a letter to my grandmother, from one of her cousins, written in the 1930s, my interest in this story was piqued. Doing some research on this ancestor, I found that he was, indeed, very wealthy when in his 40s and 50s. The nature of his wealth fit the stories. Good start.
A few years later, I had the opportunity to look through microfilmed newspapers of that area and era. What I found was not quite in agreement with the family story.
Newspaper articles showed very clearly what happened over about a 15 year period. After the death of his wife, my despondent ancestor crawled into a bottle and never came out. In that time he managed to lose nearly everything, leaving little to his adult children, many of whom enabled this self-destructive behavior. His will, written in better times, showed holdings that would have made all of his children and grandchildren very wealthy.
These holdings were sold off, one by one, to feed the habit of once sober man who had become a drunk. It is likely that some benefited greatly from this situation, but that is an assumption on my part. I did, however, establish that his estate, upon his death consisted of a few hundred acres of farmland, and little else.
Most family that I shared this research with refused to believe it. An elderly cousin (3rd or 4th cousin, I am not sure) shared a few years later, correspondence between other relatives, from the years just prior to the death of our common ancestor, showing how a few of the family at that time were sad about what the man had turned into. That series of letters showed the self-destructive path that was taken, along with the hand-wringing about what to do. Sadly, human behavior has not changed.
I hope this shows how family history can easily conflict with fact, once a generation or two has passed.
Still time for more coffee.
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