Election Day, Politics and Genealogy

Yesterday morning, I walked over to my new polling place on Argyle at St. Augustana College (next to the historic Essanay Studios building) to vote. I tried to vote early last week but after waiting 30 minutes and watching a "crazy woman" start an incident requiring a call to 911 and a visit by Chicago police. I figured I was all stocked up on crazy and I decided to wait until Election Day to vote.

Voting wasn't exactly as easy as I had planned but voting shouldn't be easy, in my opinion.  Voting should be a challenge as well as an event for reflection.

There are those who would disagree with me and the entire genealogy blogging community. Those who feel that elections and politics have nothing to do with genealogy.  In a way they are correct - voting may have nothing to do with genealogy but it has everything to do with my family history. And it appears that mere mention of elections and asking folks to blog their memories of voting, or their family stories of elections or perhaps politicians in the family, smacks of patriotism.  As if that were a bad thing.

Plainly stated, if it weren't for the right and the privilege to vote here in the United States, I might not be here. As I stated on Facebook, whenever I vote I always think of what that right meant to my family and ancestors.  What did it mean to my Patriot ancestors Col. Victor Putman and Jonathan Austin? What did it mean to the women in my family when they first cast their ballots? What did it mean to the immigrant Hennebergs once they became U.S. citizens and voted for the first time? What did it mean to the veterans in my family who perhaps voted while fighting overseas or even here during our Civil War?

I stand where I am today because I had ancestors who could vote and did vote. They voted for change as much as they voted for the status quo. They voted Republican as much as they voted Democrat or Whig or perhaps even Socialist. They voted to raise taxes as much as they voted to eliminate them. The fact is they voted. They exercised their right and the results had an impact on the world in which my family lived and grew.

I'm not going to make any apologies to anyone for recalling the lives and stories of my ancestors while on that walk to the polling place. Nor will I apologize for expressing how politics, elections and voting affected my family. I feel comfortable discussing these issues in the context of my family history without trying to push my own personal causes or views. And if I want to have a different view of genealogy from what some would want to impose as a standard, so what?  It's a free country.

As Americans we live in a country where we can act, talk, walk, work, worship, and love differently than others - each in our own unique way. I believe that a democracy built on the right of every person to have an equal vote provides and protects the privilege to be unique, to be oneself. And that is a right and privilege that needs no apology. Ever.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Election Day 2008

Ballot Receipt, Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Digital image, taken Tuesday, November 4, 2008 in Chicago, IL. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, IL. 2008.

In an unbroken 27 year tradition for me, and following in the footsteps of my ancestors, I voted here in Chicago this morning.

I arrived about 6:10 at my polling place which opened at 6:00 am and there were already 50 people in front of me.  I vote in the 19th precinct of the 46th Ward of the city and my polling place was also shared with the 14th precinct.  Since there were many more 19th precinct voters in line, those from the 14th were able to get in and out quickly.

I think the snails pace of the voting (I was the 61st voter after two hours - that means a rate of 30 voters an hour!) is due to a lack of manpower and the poor physical layout of my polling place.  When I lived in the 44th Ward, I voted in the lobby of one of the residential high rises along Lake Shore Drive and it was easier to maneuver from the registration area to the booths and then to the scanner which reads the ballot.

In Chicago we had a relatively short ballot with only two referenda (one was to convene a statewide constitutional convention and the other was to allow recall elections for statewide officials) but almost 100 judges had to be confirmed with a yes/no vote.

So now that I have my "I voted" receipt, I am off to Starbucks (giving away a Tall coffee for each voter).

There is a larger list of voter freebies courtesy of Lifhacker.

Election Day

In several states and major cities, today is Election Day. Back home in the Catskills where I grew up, there are several local races for supervisor, judge etc. This got me to thinking about two things a) how my family and ancestors viewed voting and b) whether any of my ancestors ever ran for an elective office.

Voting

Starting at an early age, I was reminded that the ability to cast a vote in this country was not only a right but a responsibility. My great-grandmother, Therese McGinnes Austin, was not only very vocal about her political beliefs (which were decidedly right of mine - she despised FDR and was a big Goldwater fan in the 1960s) but about the responsibility of voting. I also learned this from my mother, Jacqueline Austin MacEntee, in not only what she said, but by what she did. I would go with her to vote as a child, even if the election was just for the school board and budget in March.

I am proud to say that I've never missed an election, no matter how small or how trivial I thought the issues were, since I was able to vote in 1981. I was not old enough to vote in the 1980 Presidential election but I did see the first Presidential debate of 1980 in Baltimore between Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and John Anderson (remember him?). I was going to college in Washington, DC at the time and I managed to get tickets through a political club at school.

Voting in California was so much easier and I really miss it: more than 50% of voters use absentee ballots. Absentee voting is not restricted to those who can prove that they will be away on business, out of the country etc. In California you can file for permanent absentee status. Basically you are voting by mail. In addition, California pioneered early voting where you could go down to your city hall and vote in person up to 2 weeks ahead of time - even on a Saturday or Sunday! I just don't know if there would be enough safeguards for this to work in a city like Chicago where the saying is "Vote early and vote often."

I was so committed to voting last November that I managed to vote during the day while I was moving to my new home here in Chicago. I just think more people would vote if voting were easier and if the candidates stuck to the issues that matter to and interest voters. No half-truths or double-answers. No issues driven by donors with the most money. Allow voting by mail, by phone or by internet. And make Election Day on Sundays the way it is in most European countries.

Elected Officials

I haven't had any ancestors run for or get elected to what I would call "major offices" such as governor, House of Representatives, Senate, or President. Many of my ancestors and even current relatives have run for offices such as school board, assessor, tax collector etc.

John Doig Dence from Lowville, New York was my 1st cousin 4 times removed and lived from 1873 to 1956. Here are details of his various elected offices from History of the North Country, Henry F. Landon, 1932, p. 1557-1558:

"President of Dence Lumber Corporation (1932). Educated at Lowville Academy, graduated from Ives Seminary (Antwerp) 1891. Taught school for short time, then became clerk at V. L. Waters dry goods store from 1892-1896. Then became associated with Leroy Crawford of Chases Lake and engaged in general mercantile and lumber business for 15 years. Formed partnership with Royal J. Fenton in 1907. Dence became president of Lumber Co. in 1909. Until 1929 Dence also involved in feed and milling business in Lowville, being vice president and director of C. W. Nole, Inc.

In 1907 and 1909 elected member of Lewis County Board of Supervisors as representative of town of Watson. During 1912-1914 he served as trustee of village of Lowville, 1914 elected as water commissioner of Lowville. Also sealer of weights and measures in Lewis County. He was delegate to National Republican Convention at Cleveland OH in 1924 at nomination of Calvin Coolidge.

He was affiliated with Lowville Lodge, F and AM no. 134; Lowville chapter R. A. M. no. 223; Watertown Commandery K. T.; and Media Temple, Watertown. Also member of Lowville Club where he was past president, and during 1930 was president of the Kiwanis club. In 1922 he was president of the Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of United Methodist Episcopal Church.

Until 1926 he was recognized as one of the leading land owners of the North Country. In that year he disposed of most of his holdings to H. D. Cornwall of Beaver Falls."

Peter Peterse Gansevoort from Albany, New York was my 3rd cousin 7 times removed and lived from 1788 to 1876. Here are details of his various elected offices from Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, edited by Cuyler Reynolds (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911), Vol. I, pp. 65-72:

"Judge Peter Gansevoort, son of General Peter and Catherine (Van Schaick) Gansevoort, was born in Albany, December 22, 1788, and died at his home in that city, January 4, 1876. His higher literary education was acquired at the College of New Jersey, Princeton, where he graduated, and afterward he attended the celebrated Litchfield Law School; still later read law in the office of Harmanus Bleecker, and was admitted to the bar about 1811. His practice for many years was very considerable, and he ranked among the prominent members of the profession. For some time he acted as private secretary to Governor DeWitt Clinton, and then on his military staff as judge advocate general from 1819 to 1821. In 1830-31 he was a member of the assembly, and then a senator for four years, 1833 to 1836 inclusive. In all matters of public interest he took an active part, and was thoroughly attached to all that concerned his native city. He was a trustee of the Albany Academy for fifty years, and for twenty years was chairman of the board. In 1840 he was one of a committee, with Stephen Van Rensselaer, John A. Dix and others, to organize the Albany Cemetery Association, and to select grounds for the cemetery. He was a trustee of the cemetery until his death, and took a warm interest in arranging and beautifying the grounds. For many years he was a director of the New York State Bank, and occupied other positions of trust. Although his military service was short, he took a warm interest throughout life in military matters.

Among the public positions held by General Gansevoort was that of first judge of the county court of Albany county from 1843 to 1847, the duties of which office he discharged with great fidelity and to the entire satisfaction of the legal profession and the public. He carried marked traits of his ancestry with him through life, and was a most thorough representative of the Dutch element of his native city. He was the very embodiment of high-souled honor and integrity, pure in private life, and devotedly attached to his country and its institutions. On more than one occasion he visited the countries of the Old World in search of health and instruction, but always returned home with his love for his own government strengthened by comparison with those abroad. He was a man of courtly manners and commanding presence, and in society was very genial and engaging. His kind heart and generous impulses made him a favorite with all classes of men, and he lived without enemies, and no one is left of all who knew him who does not mourn his death and honor his memory."

Photo: Left to right back: Bridget Farren McGinnes, Loretta McGinnes Murtha, Alice McGinnes Mehl. Seated: Evelyn Mehl. About 1923.