Saturday, June 13, 2009

My Ancestors In Song - If They Could See Me Now

Bill West over at West In New England came up with a great idea a few weeks ago - set the names of your ancestors to the music of any song. I don't know why this meme escaped me but it wasn't until I saw Jasia's post over at Creative Gene that it got me to thinking about my ancestors and what song I would select.


As much as I detest Broadway musicals, I decided to use a song from the musical Sweet Charity (starring Gwen Verdon on Broadway and Shirley MacClaine in the film version) entitled "If My Friends Could See Me Now." Here goes:


If they could see me now,

That ancestor gang of mine,

There's Elizabeth Douw 1

and Baata Janse Klein. 2

I'd like those grandparents to see for a fact

The kind of top drawer, blogging friends they attract.


Oh say Margaret Ean 3

Look at all these clans.

Only one Putnam seen

But hundreds of Putmans.

What a set up! Holy cow!

They'd never believe it,

If my kin could see me now!


If they could see me now,

My big old family group,

With names like Bloom and Potter even Van Voorhoudt!

I'd hear those grandparents say:

"Brother, get him!

He'll find our family secrets and a patronym."


All I can say is, "Gee!

They weren't that hard to find

I stared in '93

and haven't lost my mind."

What an adventure! Holy cow!

They'd never believe it,

If my kin could see me now!


(1) 9th great-grandmother, b 1634, Fort Orange (Albany), New Netherlands


(2) 8th great-grandmother, b. 2 April 1686, Albany, NY


(3) 8th great-grandfaher, b. 1611, German

4 comments:

Bill West said...

Bravo, Thomas! You has some tough names to rhyme, there!

Bill

Dorene from Ohio said...

I love the lyrics about your ancestors!!

Bill West said...

Yikes, make that have, not has!

Untangled Family Roots said...

That was cute. Well done!