I'm the child of unimportant people who didn't have any particular impact on the world, not even on the people they created. The people they came from were interesting but ultimately also unimportant (see ancestors below). On the maternal side, Scottish and English immigrants who were among the earliest of Europeans to settle on the North American continent. Most notable among direct ancestors was Sarah Boone, the sister of pioneer Daniel Boone. In Scotland, the McCleod and MacDonald bloodlines led to Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie. Later generations were miners and oil drillers in North America. They settled in Texas and Oklahoma and then were among the early immigrants further west. Copper miners in Montana, silver miners in California, and oil drillers in Texas and California. My maternal grandfather was actually born on an oil well in Taft, California. His wife, my grandmother, was born in Helena, Montana and had been briefly married to one of the richest men in California, before falling for my grandfather when he tricked her into teaching him how to bowl (he was already an expert).
On the paternal side of things my family were immigrants from the Alsace Lorraine region of France. Equal parts French and German with some Swiss wives thrown in. My 4th great grandparents immigrated to North America and moved to the frontier city of Detroit in about 1805. These were hard working people. My 4th great grandfather was the Mayor of Fort Detroit at one point. His children moved to the Oregon Territory in what would become Aberdeen and the Seattle-Tacoma area. They worked in lumber and milling.
If any of my ancestors left ancestral homes or wealth, none of it has made it to me. I know for certain that my grandfather left some inheritance behind and there had been provisions to give some of it to the grandchildren, but at some point his own children convinced him to let them divvy things up. That never happened in my part of the family.
My inheritance was primarily made up of an ability to work hard and an inclination towards thinking about things a bit too much. I also managed to get a few old photographs and books. I'm proud of the people I come from, but I find it difficult to understand how they left no ancestral homes, no family business, and no family wealth. All of that has either been squandered or stolen - but it should have been sizeable given the industries and time periods they lived in.
I've had a genetic test done to see my ancestry. My mother had long told tall tales of an Oklahoma grandfather with a Cherokee princess bride. No such thing shows up in my genes. I am (genetically) about 48% England, Wales, Northwestern Europe(including France, Germany, and Switzerland) and 48% Scottish/Irish and 4% Norway. Long and short of it - I'm a white person of no particular importance who can trace himself back more than 550 years through many generations of similar white people of no particular importance.
I was born in Washington State and then spent most of my childhood in California with a few odd years in Oregon. Here are some links to the places I lived during this period of my life (in the event that Vagobond.com disappears or goes offline you can find the text of all these entries at http://www.chrisdamitio.com/places.html
I joined the US Marines to escape my unpleasant family and reality. My father had been an army reservist during the Korean War but never left the states, my mother's fraternal twin had been in the Army during the Vietnam war but was mostly in Germany. No other members of my family left behind any legacy of military service though on my mother's side there had been a few notorious 'law men'. My mother's 5th husband was a Marine who did a tour during 1980s, the period of relative peace between the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Here are some links to the places I lived during this period of my life.
After taking my honorable discharge from the Marines, I took some time to figure out what direction I wanted to go in life. Here are some links to the places I lived during this period of my life.
The dot-com crash caused me to rethink the idea of creating a media or tech future for myself. The WTO protests and the election of 2000 radicalized my political thinking. I started to focus more on writing and travel. Here are some links to the places I lived during this period of my life.
The financial crisis and the Bush years had really soured me on the idea of the American dream or using my new degree to get a job. Instead, I decided to leave the country forever(that was my plan). Here are some links to the places I lived during this period of my life.
Becoming a father changed the way I thought about the opportunities that America offered. I brought my wife and baby daughter back to the USA which the Obama years seemed to have shaped into a new world of justice, equality, and fairness (I thought) Here are some links to the places I lived during this period of my life.
The election of Donald Trump and his first term in office proved everything negative that I'd ever thought about the USA, capitalism, and the so called 'American Dream'. I dragged my wife and daughter to Honolulu and set about trying to build a unicorn startup in paradise. Here are some links to the places I lived during this period of my life.
I dug up my ancestors in the hopes of finding some clue to who I am. There's no one famous or historically remarkable in this list besides Sarah Boone. Still, these are the people I am made of. I carry their DNA.I'll list them in the following way. Maternal(origin) + Paternal(origin). I find it funny how certain generations just disappear and in my own lineage how one side leads back to European family of Damitio and the other side to European family of DeMarchant. I wonder if there is some connection.
He had 11 children, one of which was Daniel Boone and another was Squire Boone Jr., who was the father of Sarah Boone, who married John Willcockson (Wilcox). After Squire's marriage they settled first at Bucks Co. and lived there till 1730. This is where several of his children, including Daniel, were born. They finally ended in North Carolina in 1753 after stopping in Virginia for two years. He and his wife, Sarah, are buried at the old Joppa Cemetery at Mocksville, Davie Co. N.C. where their stones stood, now almost destroyed by vandals and enclosed in an iron cage. Part of the time that they lived in this area they had to flee for some time because of Indian problems.
Elizabeth emigrated Sep 20, 1683; Bristol England to PA aboard the Morning Star.
Edward Morgan possibly married Elizabeth Jarman, probably the daughter of John Jarman. Edward and his wife arrived in PA in 1683 and lived near Radnor PA until 1695 when they moved to Towamencin Township and built a house on 500 acres of land. He joined the Society of Friends and was known as Edward Morgan the Tailor. "The Morgan house and family figure importantly in American History. Edward MORGAN, {son of Sir James MORGAN of Llantarnam} [sic - not Sir James' son], Wales, brought his wife Elizabeth to America in 1683. In Philadelphia they became members of the Society of Friends at the Haverford-Radnor-Merion Meeting, later acquired the house-site and some 800 acres, and became the first settlers in the Upper Welsh tract beyond Gwynedd. Their daughter Sarah, born in the house, grew up to marry one Squire BOONE, and made them the grandparents of Daniel BOONE, that great frontiersman who led the settlement of Kentucky and then the West. Early Settler Of the Welsh colony of Gwynedd, Berks County (now Montgomery County), PA. While some sources say his birth place is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that is not correct. Death: 1739 Place: Gwynedd, Pennsylvania
Mary Maugridge was born in 1669 at Bradwich, St. Disen's Parish, Devonshire, England. She was the daughter of John Mauridge and Mary Milton. Mary Maugridge married George Boone III, son of George Boone II and Sarah Uppey. Mary Maugridge died on 2 February 1740/41 at Berks County, Pennsylvania.
"Believed to arrive in Philadelphia in 1683 at age 29 with wife Margaret; daughters Elizabeth and Sarah. Ship info unknown. Son, Thomas Jerman, with wife, Margaret Elizabeth, and daughter, Elizabeth, is believed to arrive in Philadelphia in March 1699 in the "William Galley" from the River Towy, Wales. Passage paid at 5 pounds each for 3 passengers."