re: #217 HappyWarrior

Yeah I try pointing that out too. And you’re right about the Klan. My grandfather talked about it going through Johnstown one time and it really worried him and his family since their parents were immigrants and from Melania’s country funnily enough. He certainly had his own prejudices that I saw but I never saw him go out of his way to be a jerk to to someone simply because of their skin color. All the family members I meet, it’s interesting seeing where they lie politically. Most of my first cousins, aunts, and uncles (All on my Dad’s side since my mom’s brother passed away years ago without marrying or having kids) are pretty liberal minded. I really credit a lot of how I view the world to growing up in a diverse area, reading history, and being on the spectrum.

I don’t see the large mass of cousins that often.* And at the meetings I don’t recall much, if any, political discussion. I know one of my cousins home-schooled her children, but not the particular underlying reasons for doing so. And they are fairly scattered nowadays, though there is still a good number of them around Johnstown still, including one who owns my former grandparent’s house in Portage.

* - My branch of the family is the smallest (youngest of 5). And as the youngest of 3 all my 1st cousins on my paternal side but one are older than me. And about the only time there are gatherings I am invited to are funerals at this point. I keep in some touch via Facebook with a couple of them and that’s it. My two oldest aunts generated fairly large clans due to having four and ten children respectively.

My maternal side connections are nil since my mother was the only child who survived past 15 and thus any cousins on that side are at least 2nd and I have not been in touch with any of them in decades.