{"id":1548,"date":"2011-04-14T10:39:45","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T15:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=1548"},"modified":"2014-04-07T07:16:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T12:16:27","slug":"royalty-walk-the-halls-of-phs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=1548","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRoyalty\u201d Walk the Halls of PHS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Casey McDonald's family has a few reminders of their Scottish background at home. Pictured is a kilt and document bearing the McDonald clan's crest. Photo by: Casey McDonald<\/p><\/div>\n

By Ellen Smith<\/em><\/p>\n

Genealogy is a recorded history of a person\u2019s ancestors. Sometimes tracing back one\u2019s family can lead to exciting surprises, especially in the case of a PHS student and faculty member.<\/p>\n

After history teacher Mr. Kozlovich and sophomore Casey McDonald traced their ancestors, both found out that they were the descendants of some prestigious people. Royalty from around the world are in the family trees of Kozlovich and McDonald.<\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s claim to fame is her royal roots in the country of Scotland. \u00a0She is a descendant of the McDonald clan, a powerful clan of the past that is also known as Clan Donald. \u00a0McDonald said her clan lived in \u201cthe western Isles in the Isles of Scotland, on [an isle named] the Isle of Skye.\u201d \u00a0Clans consisted of large groups, normally families, and McDonald believed that during this time \u201cclan life was the main way of living for Scottish people.\u201d However, feuding constantly erupted between clans. McDonald said, \u201cWe [our clan] had a long standard feud with [another clan named] the Campbells.\u201d These two ancient Celtic houses warred for centuries.<\/p>\n

Because of McDonald\u2019s lineage with the clan, she can trace her ancestors back \u201call the way to the 1400s,\u201d and the clan actually originated in the 1200s. \u00a0The McDonald clan did much for its country, including \u201chiding the King of Scotland, [Charles Edward Stuart] who was nicknamed Bonnie Prince Charles, so he wouldn\u2019t be killed\u201d during the wars of Scottish Independence, McDonald said. \u00a0Because of that move, the McDonald clan became the most powerful clan in Scotland, and King Robert gave them the \u201chonored position as first standard right [wing of the Scottish army.]\u201d she said. \u00a0Knowing family history can be quite exciting, and there are even remnants of the powerful clan remaining in Scotland today.\u00a0\u00a0McDonald said, \u201cWe have four castles still standing [in Scotland], and at one time [we had] 12 different castles.\u201d \u00a0These crumbling artifacts are all that remain of the clan in Scotland now, but serve as a great reminder of history and its descendants, including Casey McDonald.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kozlovich has also traced his roots back through the ages and has discovered many things. \u00a0\u201cLike most U.S. citizens, I have many ethnic and national origins. \u00a0Russian, German, Swiss, French, Hungarian-pretty much every European group can be found if you go back far enough,\u201d he said. \u00a0Being from the country nicknamed \u201cThe Melting Pot\u201d because of the variety of people here definitely increases odds for a diverse lineage. \u00a0Kozlovich remembered that \u201cthe English ancestry was easiest because the records were available. \u00a0Some of my ancestors can be traced back to the original Thirteen Colonies-Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina-even one to Jamestown in 1619.\u201d<\/p>\n

After looking through the many branches of his ancestry, Kozlovich said he found \u201c[that I was related to] Charlemagne and Thomas Jefferson-my students always get a kick out of that.\u201d \u00a0Thomas Jefferson is a pretty well known figure in the founding of\u00a0the country, but many people are not aware of who Charlemagne is. \u00a0Charlemagne was a great leader in ancient Europe\u2019s past, and he was known as Emperor of Rome and King of the Franks. \u00a0The Frankish nation eventually diverged into the countries of Germany and France, and Charlemagne is recognized as the founder of both countries. \u00a0\u201c[First of all], I think it\u2019s important to acknowledge that being related to Charlemagne is not all that unique,\u201d Kozlovich said. \u201cHe had four wives and some 20 known children. \u00a0When you consider that, there is a good chance that anyone with Indo-European ancestry probably has a common ancestor with Charlemagne. \u00a0My linkage comes by way of my maternal grandfather\u2019s line-some of his ancestors go back to colonial Virginia, and some of those folks go back to English nobility. \u00a0Once you can trace yourself to nobility, you\u2019ll find you have many famous ancestors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Kozlovich and McDonald found prominent members in their family tree, they were faced with the daunting task of mapping it. \u00a0Going back many generations isn\u2019t easy, and sometimes, in McDonald\u2019s case, multiple family members worked together. \u00a0\u201cOur family paid a guy to help trace back our family in the 70\u2019s,\u201d she said. \u00a0\u201cThere are a lot of free websites out there that can help you link with other family trees.\u201d Kozlovich said. \u201cU.S. Census data was a big help. \u00a0All Census data before 1930 is now free and digitalized.\u201d<\/p>\n

While genealogy may seem challenging, it is worthwhile for learning about the past. Said Kozlovich, \u201c[I pursue genealogy] because I guess it has something to do with my general fascination with history and the experiences of people who came before me.\u201d \u00a0Picturing the wars, hardships, and diseases that ancestors have experienced is something that many people don\u2019t usually put a perspective on. \u201cEvery life has a story, experiences that are unique to them.\u201d Kozlovich said. \u00a0\u201cGenealogy shows how we fit into that story.\u201d \u00a0McDonald adds that \u201c[We pursued genealogy because] we wanted to know where we came from, and who our family was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kozlovich adds, \u201c[Genealogy] is exciting. \u00a0Once you go back five or ten generations, you begin to realize how connected we all are. \u00a0Our common ancestors are everywhere. \u00a0The royalty stuff is kind of fun for conversation, but I don\u2019t put too much stock in it, we are who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ellen Smith Genealogy is a recorded history of a person\u2019s ancestors. Sometimes tracing back one\u2019s family can lead to exciting surprises, especially in the case of a PHS student and faculty member. After history teacher Mr. Kozlovich and sophomore … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1552,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions\/1552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}