If you’ve never read the Psychic Roots books by Hank Jones, you’re missing out on all that is mystical about genealogy. These books tell tales of ancestors guiding genealogists’ research and of the strange and mystical experiences some researchers have had. I recently had a Psychic Roots experience of my own.
As part of my job as a chiropractic assistant and as a patient of chiropractic, I have been learning about a therapy technique called Neuro-Emotional Technique1, which is a way of releasing “stuck” emotions from your body so it can function and heal and be healthy. Part of this technique involves “re-feeling” emotions from the original time when they happened. Sometimes they can get a little more esoteric in nature and can seemingly relate to past lives or the lives of your ancestors.
You may or my not believe in these possibilities. However, you may still enjoy my story. My point is that in a recent therapeutic session, knowledge of my ancestors was a real help in figuring out an emotional complex. I was experiencing one of these “stuck” emotions that seemed to have originated with my maternal ggg-grandmother––feelings of being deserted, of needing to control all situations, and not being allowed to have fun because of work and other responsibilities.
My doctor determined what the emotions were and described the general scenario to me; I had knowledge of who ggg-grandmother and he did not. I got a little goose-bumpy over that. He knows I am into researching my ancestors and asked me if I knew who this person was. So I began to relate what I knew and then we postulated on what her life must have been like.
My ggg-grandmother, Angeline (possibly Higdon) married Thomas Carroll Mitchell somewhere around 1848–1849 (probably in Barren County, Kentucky) since I have found them married in the 1850 census with no children.2 In January of 1862, Thomas joined the Confederate Army, Company G, 2nd Missouri Calvary.3 At that time, the family lived in Cooper County, Missouri.4 According to his affidavit in his pension application, he was captured at Sardis, Mississippi in 1865 and “confined in prison at Alton, Ill until the close of the war.”5
I have no journal, letters or any other documentation that suggests there was any contact between the couple while he was at war, although she did find out that he was in Alton Prison and moved the family there according to an 1866 deed that records them as being “of the County of Macoupin and the State of Illinois” which is near Alton Prison.6 Also, their child Margarett was born in Illinois according to census records.7
So, knowing all of this, I began telling the doctor about Angeline and together we imagined what her life must have been like. She probably felt deserted as her husband went off to war and left her with six children to raise. They lived and worked on a farm, from what little information I have obtained. They probably had friends and neighbors who helped out, but when it came to being in charge of all of the responsibilities of raising children and taking care of the home, that was all up to her for four years.
She probably was unsure if her husband was still alive during much of that time. She probably heard stories from friends, neighbors, the local newspaper, letters to herself or others––stories of injuries, death, capture, torture and all manner of tales common to war time. These stories likely heightened her fears about what her husband was going through and probably led to anxiety. We theorized that her mechanism for combating these emotional stressors would likely have been to try to control what she could––her home, her farm, her children and by working constantly she would have been distracting herself from the terrible images she may have had in her mind.
I can imagine the unknown driving her crazy. In our high-tech world if you want to know something about someone, it is generally just a few clicks of a mouse away. I cannot fathom how she had to emotionally deal with being out of touch with her husband for months or even years, not knowing what dangers he may have been facing. I can imagine that when she got a letter notifying her of his location at Alton, Illinois, that she packed up her family almost immediately and made her way to him, to await his release. She could not wait any longer to see him again.
No matter how strange it may sound, in addition to dealing with my own emotions, this therapy technique really made me feel connected to this woman, more so than I have ever been when doing research. I could almost see Angeline’s face, I could feel what she must have been feeling and I got a real sense of how these people are still connected to me and my life today. I realized they are never truly gone, they all live within us, having passed traits and behaviors down from generation to generation. I now know more than ever why I love genealogy so much and have a renewed sense of purpose for my research.
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1 For more information on this technique visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro_emotional_technique
2 Thomas Mitchell household, 1850 U.S. census, Barren County, Kentucky, population schedule, Division 1, page 374, dwelling 993, family 1018; National Archives micro-publication M432, roll 191.
3 Thomas C. Mitchell, compiled military record (private, Company G, Green’s Regiment, Calvary), Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Missouri, micropublication M380 (Washington: National Archives), roll 10.
4 Thos. C. Mitchell household, 1860 U.S. census, Cooper County, Missouri, population schedule, Saline township, Gooches Mills post office, page 58, dwelling 390, family 390; National Archives micro-publication M653, roll 616.
5 Thomas C. Mitchell file, no. 378, Pension for Ex-Confederate Soldiers; micropublication Reel S1086 (Jefferson City, Missouri: Missouri State Archives).
6 Cooper County Deed Records, Missouri, Book G2, page 308. “Deed to J. B. Miles from Thos. C. Mitchell, 22 September 1866.” FHL microfilm 947046.
7 Thomas Mitchell household, 1870 U.S. census, Audrain County, Missouri, population schedule, township of Loutre, Martinsburg post office, page 510-B, dwelling 161, family 145; National Archives micro-publication M593, roll 756.
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