52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks: Achievement

In thinking out loud about this prompt word and it being Women’s History Month, who in my family tree can step up to the plate and call out my name to get my attention? Which of my female ancestors…who is this week’s winner?

If one measures achievement in overcoming obstacles, then my paternal grandmother Anna Mroz wins the spotlight. Orphaned, 14 years old, she buys a ticket to come from Poland to New York through Ellis Island. Her ship leaves from Trieste, Italy, which is over 700 miles away. It is 1906, and part of the journey will be by foot while carrying her possessions in a sack. Her achievement: she is the first person in my family to see the Statue of Liberty.

If one measures achievement in overcoming financial struggles during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, then my grandmother Isabella Mary Boultinghouse wins the medal. Married at 19 in 1922, she manages to feed and clothe her two girls and husband. She knows how to sew, crochet, and embroider. She earns extra money by selling baby sets (booties and bonnets) to department stores. Her achievement: she is a role model in my family for women learning to be independent.

If one measures achievement in honoring one’s husband’s dreams, then my 2nd great grandmother Mary Etta Soule takes first place. Born in New York and traveling down the Erie Canal, Mary makes it to Minnesota to claim land and create a home with her widowed mother and brothers. There, she marries and goes with husband Andrew to live in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and finally Kansas. Her achievement: she helps start a family farm and family tree branches in pioneer country…a sheep farm unique to the area.

Finally, if one measures achievement in being a silent majority in the Women’s Liberation Movement, then the kudos go to my mother Merna Mae Storer. Born in Kansas and swearing to get off the farm, she is 18 years old when she goes to work at the State Capitol building in Topeka. Meeting a soldier sweetheart at a dance, she moves to the suburbs of Washington, D. C., after the war to marry and have her family. Because of her husband’s government job and absences from the home, she raises three children. In her later years, she will start a craft business…paint, sell, manage the bookwork, schedule appointments and shows. She becomes a success in her newly adopted hometown in Pennsylvania. Her achievement: becoming and being her own woman.

What is the measure of achievement? Look at, exam, reflect on, emulate the women in our family trees as we discover them among the leaves and branches.