Descendants.
That is what we leave behind right?
Well, sometimes there are other things - artifacts, manuscripts, legacies or belongings that somehow make it into the present and tell stories of the lives of one's ancestors.
Peter Quackenbosch was the founder of the Quakenbosch family in America; traveling to settle New Netherlands in 1654. He was a brickmaker in Rensselaerswijck living outside of the North Gate on Court Street (now Broadway Street), New York. (Bibliography of the Quackenbush Family in America (www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Quackenbush_Bibliography : accessed 04 July 2019) He appears in three seperate genealogies I have currently researched as a direct ancestor.
Pieter’s house was discovered during excavation in the year 2000. The first house, owned by Reyer Elbertsz, was destroyed by fire – so everything above the new floor can be attributed to the Quackenbush family. Below are some of the items recovered from the site including several tobacco pipes, four toy marbles (four from the previous household), two copper alloy thimbles. The house was abandoned in 1686 and destroyed in 1698. (Hartgen Archealogical Associates, Inc. Beyond the North Gate: Archeology on the Outskirts of Colonial Albany : Archaelogiical Data Retrieval, Quackenbush Square Parking Facility, Broadway, Albany, New York, Rensselaer, New York, Hartgen Archeological Associates, 2005.)
Little evidences of a forgone time. However, it is part of the conclusions drawn from the evidence at the residence that brings the 'life' and 'humour' to a story. (My reactions in brackets below).
Analysis of the evidence at the Quackenbush site revealed the following:
- The house was reserved and utilitarian (okay - like the time they lived in)
- The family used the hearth and brick stoop to gather to drink alcohol/smoke pipes (not considered reserved by the conservative folk today)
- Items were left where they were last used (sounds like my house, why can't anyone put anything away?)
- Marbles may have been used by the adults for gambling (brings new meaning to 'lost my marbles' doesn't it)
- The family had intestinal worms, multiple kinds. (eww... wait... I was not expecting that)
What would they discover in the ruins of your home?
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