Ancestry

Portrait of my grandfather's great-grandfather, Rev. Robert Miller (1805-1885).

I'm embarrassed to say that I was never really interested in history until I realized that it involved people from my family. It was only about 12 years ago that I discovered that I had some notable ancestors, so I started digging into my genealogy to have a record of names and relationships. It was learning about these men and women and their stories that then spurred my interest in the larger events that affected their lives. Just yesterday, I was reading about the Connecticut colony, officially formed in 1638. They wrote a revolutionary document called The Fundamental Orders - basically the prototype for our federal Constitution that would be written 150 years later. I recognized the name Reverend Thomas Hooker, and I quickly searched my records and found that he is my 10th great-grandfather! He preached that "the foundation of authority is laid firstly in the free consent of people" - a radical idea at that time. It inspired freedom in that colony, and it inspires me today!