Tag: religion

Mothering Mental Health

What does Mother’s Day mean to you? There is a continuum of responses, as each person has unique and perhaps thorny memories of their upbringing, sometimes without a mother.

Let’s consider a mother of 6 children who lost her mother when she was 5 years old (her mother died during childbirth when a sister was born). This resilient mother is Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910). In addition to motherhood, Howe was a published author and poet, playwright, newspaper publisher, activist in abolitionism and woman’s suffrage, but perhaps best remembered for her Battle Hymn of the Republic as lyrics to the tune, John Brown’s Body. As early as age 20, Howe anonymously published in literary magazines.

Howe’s mother also was a poet in her shortened life. Her father was a Wall Street stockbroker and banker. Due to a mothering aunt and a privileged educational life with private tutors, Howe became a scholar, eventually reading and speaking 7 languages. Raised in her father’s Episcopalian religion, Howe read extensively and came to reject a Calvinistic view. She became a Unitarian; her faith became a strong motivator in her reform causes. Howe was friends with other Unitarian scholars and writers — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Lucy Stone, and Theodore Parker among others.

Howe’s husband, 18 years older, reportedly wanted a stay-at-home wife, but Howe lectured widely without benefit of stay-at-home Zoom. When her husband confessed to multiple affairs on his deathbed, Howe took the high road and wrote a flattering biography of him. Never assume that “famous” or “upper class” people escape trauma. Each person’s mental health path, regardless of significant losses, has the possibility of restoring a healing journey.

May is Mental Health Awareness month with a theme of “More Good Days, Together.” It is likely that Howe’s time spent nurturing deep friendships was part of her sustaining wellness. With Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe established the American Suffrage Association. There are many ways to mother or father in one’s life. Howe mothered a peace movement when she traveled to Europe for the promotion of an International Woman’s Peace Congress.

Howe’s 1870 Mother’s Day Proclamation is a testament to her passion and persistence in peace-building. Over 150 years later, Howe’s poetry has meaning for today; she frames a mother’s love for her offspring and calls into question the “justice” notion that wars can solve problems. See her full Proclamation: https://allpoetry.com/Mother’s-Day-Proclamation

“…our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn / All that we have been able to teach them of clarity, mercy and patience. / We, the women of one country, / Will be too tender of those of another country / To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. / From the voice of a devasted Earth a voice goes up with / Our own. It says: ‘Disarm! Disarm!’ / The sword of murder is not the balance of justice….”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

496. What are your earliest memories of your mother?

497. How do you view motherhood today?   

Ancestor Pearls

Ever curious, I traveled to the UK to find my English ancestors in the Yorkshire dales (Viking word for valleys). On my plane ride over the ocean I read the history of Yorkshire’s people – industrious and opinionated – check and check. I also found a new understanding about my 9-times-great grandfather. Gathering Yorkshire lore, there is a line-up of possible gene diversity in early times. My Lonely Planet travel guide gives a history of a variety of people occupying Yorkshire. Originally there was a local tribe called “Brigantes” who were linked to the Celtic goddess Brigantia. But many adventurers desired claim to the lovely rolling hills and dales of Yorkshire. A revolving door of conquering warriors settled there:

  • AD 71 — Romans fought off Brigantes, building roads and fortifications.
  •  AD 122 — Roman emperor Hadrian, born in Italica, used the fort at York for “campaigns.”
  • AD 325 — Roman priest Paulinus converted Yorkshire people to Christianity.
  • AD 410 – Roman Empire rule ended in Britain with Anglo-Saxons taking charge.
  • AD 866 — Vikings arrived, making York a successful trading post.
  • AD 954 — King Eadred of Wessex took command, ousting the Vikings.
  • AD 1066 — King Harold II held off a Norwegian invasion, only to die at the Battle of Hastings.
  • AD  1066 – Vikings rebuilt York, including the beginning of the large cathedral…
  • AD 1644 – “Civil” War nearly destroyed the city of York.

My ancestor, Joseph Whitacre (also spelled Whitaker), was born in Yorkshire in 1680. Was he part-Viking? Was he Norwegian? I already knew that he was a Quaker who set sail from Liverpool to Philadelphia on the ship Britannia in 1699. The pacifist Quakers were persecuted for their religious beliefs. They rejected the Church of England’s rituals containing elaborate ceremonies and set ways of worship. Quakers held a different understanding of divinity, believing in the “Inner Light,” or the presence of divinity within each person.

In the University of Leeds Brotherton Library basement, my daughter and I viewed microfilm records of the Quakers in Yorkshire in the 1600’s. There were so many names beginning with the letter W and my relative was not at the beginning of the W names (not listed alphabetically). The last name of Wilson might be next to Wood. When I finally saw Whitaker, John, whose father was also John, it was amazing!

Unfortunately, there was no occupation listed for his father, or his mother’s name, but I found what I was really interested in – his identity confirmed, his hometown named, and his siblings’ names. I was able to visit the site of his Quaker Meeting House, and his family’s town of Halifax, important in the wool industry at the time. Halifax was delightful, nestled in the dales of Yorkshire…one immigrant family line traced to their hometown, three lines to go.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

395. Where did your precious ancestors live?

396. How many diverse groups of people might make up your family tree?