Pioneer

{Ida Frances Hunt Udall~my great-great grandmother}

I love music.  All kinds of music.  But rarely has a song touched my heart like one of the newest country songs by The Band Perry—“Pioneer”.

Those of you who’ve visited me over the years know that I love the people who came before me.  All of them. 

Many of them truly were pioneers…the ones that crossed the prairies of this land—climbed the mountains, carved out the roads, fought the fights, lost their lives…and I love them and their stories.  

Which is why this song spoke to me the way it did…

{a stretched 12x24” black canvas was the perfect background for this chalkboard-style “ode” to my pioneers}

Just in case you can’t read my writing, I’ll share the lyrics with you here—and call upon a few of my own pioneers to illustrate…

{Mary Ann Bates Ellsworth.  My husband’s 4th great-grandmother}

Oh Pioneer,
I sing your song…
It's the hymn of those who've gone before and those who carry on

{Jesse Nathaniel Smith.  My 2nd great-grandfather}

 Pioneer
Your work is hard.
But the future of us all rests on the shoulders of your heart--

{Mary Jane Robinson West.  My 3rd great-grandmother} 

Where are we going?
Oh, I don't know
But still I've got to go.
What will become of us?
Oh, I don't care
All I know is I'll go anywhere
Pioneer.

{Edmund Lovell Ellsworth.  My husband’s 4th great-grandfather}

Oh Pioneer
So young and brave--
Be careful of the careful souls who doubt you along the way--

{Louisa Barnes Pratt.  My 4th great-grandmother} 

Pioneer,
You orphaned child--
Your mother is adventure and your father is the wild…

{Jonas Ostlund.  My great-great-grandfather} 

Where are we going?
Oh I don't know--
But still I've got to go
What will become of us?
Oh I don't care--
All I know is I'll go anywhere
Pioneer

{Lois Pratt Hunt.  My 3rd great-grandmother}

Let your heart not be troubled…

{Hans Heinrich Braendli.  My 3rd great-grandfather}

I won't run when bullets chase me.
I won't rest where arms embrace me.
I will love when people hate me.
I won't hush, no you can't make me.

{Augusta Maria Outzen Smith.  My great-great grandmother}

Send the dark but it won't break me.
You can try but you can't change me.
Take my life, they will replace me.
I won't hush, no you can't make me--

{Almon Whiting Babbitt.  My 4th great-grandfather}

Where are we going?
Oh, I don't know--
But still I've got to go
What will become of us?
Oh, I don't care--
All I know is I'll go anywhere--
Pioneer.

Let your heart not be troubled…..

{Margaret Cooper West.  My 3rd great-grandmother}

My heart is filled with gratitude for my pioneers—for all they sacrificed and suffered so that I could raise my children in a free and beautiful place…

…and to The Band Perry for their beautiful words—their tribute to those who’ve gone before that struck such a chord in my heart…

Julie

“Let your heart not be troubled…”

LiveJournal Tags: Pioneers,The Band Perry,ancestors