Surprise! I've now added another of my songs to Youtube (see the others here), this one what I call my year-round Christmas Song. "Wonder of Wonders" covers the life of Jesus in 5 breathtaking (literally--you can tell my lungs are giving all they've got) minutes, and I'm happy to find that though this song was recorded a few years ago, I still love it. :)
As usual, the music and lyrics are by me, and this time the gorgeous accompaniment is by my cousin Olivia Eanes. At the time she lived 10 hours away from me, so she learned the song over the phone, wrote the accompaniment, had it recorded, and then I recorded myself with her track back home in West Virginia. I think all things considered, it turned out pretty well. ;) I would love for you listen, give it a thumbs up on Youtube or a like on Facebook, and share it with all your friends!
If you're at all familiar with my music of the past (which is about two of you reading this--hi, Mom and Michelle! ;) this song is (sorry!) not new to you. But it is one of my absolute favorites I've written, and my amazing accompanist, Alandra, blew me away even more than usual with her work on this song. So if it ain't broke...
This was recorded back in 2009 I believe, back when, by all obvious standards, I wasn't even sick. Yet somehow, knowing personally what this song was about, I feel like it is now so applicable to my life for completely different reasons. Sometimes you reach the point where you don't even have tears left. Sometimes you know you have every reason to cry but you're just not. Been there, done that. There now. More and more keeps happening and going wrong to the point that I kind of have to just shut off those emotions to survive. This song was always so me, but it's now really me.
That said, I am living proof that "sad is happy for deep people" when it comes to music, and this song makes me deeply happy. All these years--and so, so many trials later--and I still love this song. Enjoy the happy-sad with me? (And be sure to like, subscribe, and check out "Home to Emily" while you're there!)
150 years ago today, the Civil War officially ended. But it didn't quite. There were still battles fought after that date, somehow, with
soldiers wounded and dying after surrender was declared. My
great-great-great-great grandfather was one of them.
Unfortunately
when it comes to the stories of ancestors, the "full story" is often
much more sparse than we'd like. But I do know a bit more information
about Joshua and Emily than can be reasonably conveyed in a five-minute
song, so I wanted to share those extra details here.
Joshua
David Smith (born as best I know on October 27, 1818) and Emily Jane
Beall (born as best I know on October 24, 1819) each grew up in
Virginia, at least Joshua in the part that would later become West
Virginia. I don't know how or when the two found each other, but they
were married around 1840--the best I can find is March 5, 1840, so we're
going with that until proven otherwise.
By 1861 The Civil War had broken out, and Joshua enlisted with the 11th
West Virginia Infantry (Union) on August 18, 1862. He began
service on September 21, 1862 and fought through the rest of the War,
with a several-month break in 1864/1865 due to illness.
The war dragged on until mid-1865, and Joshua was wounded in a battle in April or May of that year, supposedly at the Battle of High Bridge,
though I have conflicting info on exactly where and when. Just after
the war ended, on June 4, 1865, he died of those wounds, leaving behind
Emily, his wife of twenty-five years, and ten children ranging from three years old to adult (at least one of whom also
fought and survived the war despite being wounded).
Joshua is buried in Hampton National Cemetery,
a Veterans cemetery in Virginia, and Emily, who died February 3, 1892,
is buried in Bethlehem Cemetery in Grantsville, West Virginia, both
places which are pretty high on my list of genealogical sites to visit.
When
I first got into genealogy back in my mid-teens (which experience you can read more about here), I somehow found Joshua
Smith's picture online--not a terribly common occurrence in the quest
for ancestral info. I understandably flipped out. I've tried to track
down the owner of this photo in the past but wasn't successful, but
one of a few sources of the photo is here.
I also found a description of Joshua: fair complexion, black hair,
brown eyes, 5' 6", and a farmer. I know much less about Emily (not even
sure who her parents were), but I just so wish I had her picture.
If
it's possible to have favorite ancestors, Joshua has always been one of
mine. And since March 5, just a few weeks ago, was Joshua and
Emily's 175th wedding anniversary, and June will bring the 150th
anniversary of his death, along with the 150th anniversary of The Civil
War's official end being today, I wanted to share their story here,
along with the song I wrote about them. (Yes, I took a couple of artistic liberties with it.) Which, if it didn't lead you
here but vice versa, you can watch here (I suggest making sure it's on the highest resolution so it's most readable):
This song is the product of a desire to tell my ancestors’ story, no budget whatsoever, and minimum
resources available—I wish I had the
physical and technological capabilities to capture this song in absolute
perfection. So while you won’t see Hollywood
quality in this production, I hope you see the love that went into it.
It's
not all sunshine and roses, but neither was their reality. No doubt a
lot of it was a nightmare, but no doubt there was also love, and love
lives on.
