Running head: FAMILY HISTORY 1

Family History of the Nelsons

Professor Thomas O’Neill

CHYS 3P38

Katie Nelson
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As the American poet, Maya Angelou, once said, “We are who we are because they were

who they were.” Family history helps us to understand not only what our ancestors were like, but

it also allows us to compare our own characteristics to those individuals from past generations.

Every single person’s family history is different from each other, as they have their own stories

and experiences that are unique to that particular family. There are many different aspects to be

taken into account when describing one’s family history, such as: the diverse resources, the

strengths and weaknesses of the family, characteristics that ancestors portrayed, and the life

events that shaped who they became. In terms of my own family history, I was fortunate enough

to be able to discuss past events that have happened in my family with my paternal grandmother,

also known as my Grannie, who is 89-years old. She was born in 1928 in Hamilton, Ontario.

Within her family and my Grandfather’s family, there are many stories and unique events that

have occurred that contribute to the person that I am today. Therefore, this paper will discuss

how a family can be described as a “body” and a “field” through my Grannie’s life experiences,

as well as generations before her. Then, I will compare these experiences to my life experiences

in terms of the forms of capital that are held in my family, unique rituals, traditions and values,

and specific events that have shaped my family’s story.

Bourdieu’s Concepts of the Family

To begin, the socialization of a family often differs depending on the social locations that

the family was exposed to. This type of socialization within a family can determine how the

family values the things that they have, and this sense of comfortability can be passed on to

future generations. The knowledge of what is comfortable or natural to the family is known as

“habitus.” Bourdieu coined this term, and describes how it plays a large role in a family

dynamic. As I will discuss throughout this paper, my family’s social status changed dramatically
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since my Grannie was a child. For instance, when my Grannie was a child, her family was

extremely poor to the point where they had to rely on a form of welfare to get them by. Thus, the

differences of habitus that my family history portrays allows our future generations to inherit

different cultural skills, social relationships, and varying educational practices.

The embodiment of resilience in such a difficult time in my past relative’s life, shows

how my family can be a “body.” According to Bourdieu, the family as a “body” refers to a

transcendent individual that represents a family’s history and tradition. The specific traditions,

values and events that have occurred in the past will be brought to light in a way that shows how

myself and the rest of my family today continue traditions and possess positive traits. Moreover,

the family as a “field” can be defined as the places in which family can show growth,

work/employment, and play. The image of “field” is greater than institutionalized life, as

institution implies a sense of sameness among a community. Specifically, my family’s history

has shown a variety of different settings where they have used the capital that they held to

progress their social positions as they started their own hydro company. This business was the

first of its kind in the area where they lived (northern Alberta). Thus, the embodiment and

uniqueness among society from my family history will be discussed/

Forms of Capital

Furthermore, Bourdieu’s concept of capital can be applied to many different aspects of

our life that enhances our level of success. Capital is derived from our past experiences that

determines the amount of resources we inherit. The forms that are known to be held within

certain types of family are the material, social, and cultural capital. The most obvious type of

capital is the material form. This refers to the physical objects that belong to an

individual/family, such as: money, houses, cars, land, property, investments, etc. Social capital
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relates to having access to a network of social connections that others can rely on as a resource.

Finally, cultural capital can also be seen within my family as it is having knowledge and

education that is a step ahead of others.

With regards to my family history, materialistic items did not seem to be a top priority or

something that was often held within my family. My Grannie discussed how life when she was a

child was extremely different to how life is nowadays. In particular, she was born in 1928 and

the Great Depression happened a year later in 1929. She mentioned that her family was very

poor to the point where they did not always know if food was going to be on the table. However,

my Grannie’s parents were not lazy. They made several gardens to help feed their children and

her father worked in order for her family to receive “relief.” She mentioned how her family often

had to depend on the city of Hamilton to keep them clothed and fed, up until the war started in

1939 when she was 10 years old. When the war broke out, there were finally jobs available. This

shows that my Grannie’s family did not always hold material capital. They were able to get by

with enough food, clothes, and shelter in order to survive. Then, they became more prosperous

and no longer had to depend on the city. My family went from being very poor to middle class,

to even a little more comfortable than middle class. This shows that the capital that they held

changed due to the war in 1939. They went from having minimal material capital, to having

access to more than the average family.

In addition, my great Grandmother and her family opened up a fish and chips store.

Although they did not have much prior knowledge of how to make fish and chips, they taught

themselves how to cook. The one fish and chips shop suddenly turned into several fish and chips

stores all across the city. This shows how my family was able to turn a small idea of opening a

fish and chips store into something that provided both enough money for the family to get by and
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a place that had good food for the community. The types of capital held within these chains of

restaurants could be material, social and cultural. Material capital can be seen through the

investment that they made within their company, as the social capital can relate to the sense of

community that they provided. In terms of cultural capital, my family’s restaurants were an

example of how they took their self-taught skills of how to cook fish and chips and shared this

talent with others. Social capital was also held in my Grannie’s family as when her mother died,

their neighbour’s would come by and drop off several meals for the family as a way to help

relieve the stress of cooking when they were trying to grieve their loss. Evidently, my family had

strong social relationships with their neighbours who went out of their way to provide some

sense of relief for the family, especially my Grannie’s dad, who had just lost his wife. The sense

of social capital is seen through the food that was provided as a resource for my family.

As well, my Grandpa’s family experienced some life-changing times in terms of the

forms of capital that they held. His father and two brothers were born in Alcorn, Iowa and for

some reason, which I will discuss later on, they all moved to northern Alberta. They were all a

couple hundred miles from each other and decided to start their own hydro company when they

were just young men. This shows how they picked up their lives and moved up to the high

prairie, where they started their own business in order to provide for the rest of the family. Their

hydro company was the only company of this sorts for hundreds of miles. This shows how they

held cultural capital, because they used their own skills and knowledge about hydro to have a

steady income. Also, social capital was held within the family-run hydro company because they

were known by name around the town. If anyone needed help with anything to do with their

hydro, my family was there to lend a hand. Thus, the forms of capital that are held within my

family’s history varied from material capital, social capital and cultural capital, over the years.
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Traditions

One of the most important traditions that my family has is the importance of gathering

the whole family together for the holidays. In particular, Christmas is an extremely important

holiday for us, as we get to spend it together, always laughing and simply enjoying each other’s

company. Our family celebrations sometimes even include individuals who we may not be

related to, but that is something that our past generations have done as well. My relatives from

decades and decades ago welcomed everyone and anyone who had no place else to go for the

holidays, and we continue to have these open invitations to our family events today.

In general, meals were and are an important part of my family’s traditions. As I learned

from my Grannie, meals were not always easy to come by but her parents did their best to make

a decent meal with seemingly nothing. The family dynamic was back then and now is based on

being able to come together as a family to have a nice meal. Today, I see these same values of

eating together as a family, especially through my own father. He goes out of his way on a daily

basis to provide an amazing home cooked meal for my family. He even goes out of his way to

make sure that every person in my family of 6 has something that they like, as my sister is a

vegetarian and I do not eat red meat or dairy.

Another unique tradition that my family has is the passing on of the family “Bible.”

However, this bible is not the typical bible as it is not necessarily a religious heirloom. Instead, it

contains the names of people who have passed away, their birth dates, death dates, and any other

important information that needs to be kept track of. As my Grannie says, “It’s a beautiful thing.

It looks worn though, so someone read it. The pages are separated by, what almost looks like

wax paper, to keep them from getting damaged.” Although I am not sure where it originally

came from, my Grannie knew that it was given to her parents from someone, her parents passed
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it on to her, and my Grannie has passed it on to one of my oldest cousins, Andrea. Important

names and dates of my family will likely continued to be written in this family heirloom of ours,

for years to come. If the tradition does continue, my cousin who has the bible now will likely

pass it on to her children, and so on and so forth.

Life Events

Moreover, my family has faced endless amount of challenges, tragedies, and losses that

have shaped who we are today. From before my grandparents were even born, both of their

families had to overcome a variety of obstacles. Specifically, my Grannie’s mother was an

extremely passionate and determined woman, as she fought for women’s right to vote back in the

early 1900’s by writing letters and taking part in protests. That is why my family today,

specifically the women, make sure that they vote every time an election comes around because

our ancestors fought for women to have a vote. Also, after my great Grandmother married my

great Grandfather, she had to overcome the loss of 4 sons. The first one died at 6 months old,

while the other 3 died at birth. Additionally, she had to learn how to walk and talk again after she

became paralyzed for 6 months after giving birth to my Grannie. These heart-breaking and

challenging events that my great Grandmother was able to overcome, shows the amount of

strength that she had. This type of strength is present in my own Grannie, as she had to mourn

the loss of her mother just weeks before she gave birth to her first child. My Grannie had no

choice but to rely on her own strength to be able to care for her children without the advice or

help from her own mother. She also has faced several health problems in her life and she has

continued to beat the odds. As seen through the amount of information that she was able to

provide me with, her mind is still so strong even considering the fact that she has almost been

alive for 9 whole decades.

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Another life event that seems to have had a large impact on my family is when my

Grandpa’s father, my great Grandfather, and his uncles fled from Iowa and moved to the remote

place of northern Alberta. There are theories and ideas as to why all three of these men decided

to pick up their lives and move way up north in Canada. In fact, my Grannie seems to think that

they all fled Iowa at the same time that America was going to war. They likely feared that they

were going to be recruited into the war, so in order to prevent that from happening, they moved

to Canada. It seemed as if they did not want to be found, as northern Alberta were “the boonies

and the streets were mud,” as my Grannie stated. This shows that my great Grandfather and my

two great Uncles were able to take their lives in their own hands and make their own decisions.

This event has shaped a lot of my family’s history in the sense that my great Grandfather might

not have even met my great Grandmother, as she was already living in Canada. In terms of my

great Grandmother, she herself had to make an extremely difficult decision before she met my

great Grandfather. Her first husband was physically and verbally abusive to her and she already

had had a child with her abusive husband. However, in the early 1900’s, if you had a child and

you wanted to leave your husband, you had to consider the fact that he could take that child from

you and you would never see that child again. My great Grandmother had an incredible amount

of courage to decide to take her child and runaway to the high prairies, where hardly any person

resided. The strength and perseverance she had has been passed down to more recent

generations, as my family continues to be resilient in the face of adversity.

In more recent events, my family has had to face an unimaginable loss of my 21-year old

double first cousin, Paul. He was a volunteer firefighter and he died in a tragic accident in 2011

when he was on his way to a house fire. Paul’s fearlessness and ability to put the needs of others

before his own will be always be something that I admire. The loss of my cousin is a tragedy that
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has caused an unbelievable amount of pain for my entire family. The only thing that has helped

us through this loss is not only the fact that we have each other, but also, that we have the

strength and resilience that has been passed down to us through our ancestors. It is in our genes

to be able to overcome the unimaginable. In times of tragedy, our unbelievable strength shines

through, which is the most evident characteristic from my family’s history. Thus, the loss of my

cousin has taught my family and I to never take anything for granted. It is important to tell your

family and friends that you love them and that you appreciate them every single day, because

you never know when you will lose the chance to do so.

Conclusion

After discussing multiple events and evident traits that have shaped my family’s story, it

is apparent that I have been heavily influenced by relatives that lived before me. This whole

experience opened my eyes to the fact that we sometimes focus too much on the future and the

present that we often forget about our past. As well, my Grannie expressed how happy she was

knowing that someone else now knows these stories that she shared with me. However, this

paper only discusses one half of my family’s history, which means that it is only half of my story

of how I became the person that I am today. All in all, my Grannie mentioned in the interview

that, “All of my children and all of my grandchildren have strength. All of you do. You just have

it. You don’t even know you have it. But, if you have an emergency, you’re going to be able to

hand it. It’s in you. My mother had it and my mother-in-law had it, so it’s been passed on to you

guys.” This shows how the challenges and obstacles in which my ancestors had overcome, have

instilled in myself and others in my family the type of strength that we need to become the best

versions of ourselves possible. All in all, “When we learn about the past, we gather strength for

the future” – Hank Smith.