Intergenerational Analysis: Great-great Grandparents Joseph and Olive Tenney McFate

Everyone has 16 Great-Great Grandparents. 8 great-great grandfathers and 8 great-great grandmothers, 8 pairs of great-great grandparents. 4 paternal pairs and 4 maternal pairs. I will be conducting an intergenerational analysis on all of my great-great grandparents, to better understand who they were, what their lives were like, and to help me better understand my roots and how they can help inform my legacy. This is an analysis of my Mother’s maternal grandmother’s parents, Joseph and Olive Tenney McFate.

Background

Joseph Smith McFate was born on February 16^th 1845 on the banks of the Mississippi in Nauvoo, Illinois. His McFate line came to Ireland from Scotland in the early 1600’s and then to Pennsylvania in the mid 1700’s. His mother died when he was two years old, shortly after she gave birth to her second child in a hut made of mud and sticks on the frontier of Nebraska. The baby also died. When he was 4 years old he crossed the Plains in a covered wagon and settled throughout central and southern Utah territory. When he was 13 years old he went to live with and work for a family to learn a trade and to provide money for his family. He worked for this family for a year and in return his father received a horse. While working for this family he gained some skill in wood working. He also developed an interest in learning how to play the violin. He taught himself how to build a violin and taught himself how to play it, eventually becoming very skilled at both. He spent his life helping settle many communities throughout southern Utah and Arizona. He worked in many trades including dairy farming, grain harvesting, timber hauling, saw mill work, and blacksmithing, but his main skills were in carpentry and home building. He died on October 7^th 1930 in Thatcher Arizona.

Olive Eliza Tenney was born on April 27^th 1849 in the foothills just east of Salt Lake City, Utah. Her parents crossed the Great Plains less than a year before she was born. She grew up all over Utah and California. Her parents were early settlers in San Bernardino California where she spent many of her early years. She was married at the very very young age of 13, her husband was barley 18 at the time. She was a child, but had probably experienced and endured more by then than most people do in their entire lives today.

She eventually had 13 children, 9 lived to adulthood. She had her first child when she was 15 and her last when she was 45, which is incredible. She was pregnant in 4 different decades over a 30 year span.

She eventually had 13 children, 9 lived to adulthood. She had her first child when she was 15 and her last when she was 45, which is incredible. She was pregnant in 4 different decades over a 30 year span. I can’t comprehend that. Her and her husband and family moved all over southern Utah and Arizona Territory many times throughout their life. They would uproot and move everything they owned often, carrying it all in two wagons, one ox driven, and the other horse driven. She received training to be a mid-wife in Salt Lake City when she was younger and used these skills throughout her life on the frontier. In seeing pictures of Olive I see a strong resemblance to my Grandmother, who is Olive’s Granddaughter. At the age of 15 she lost her first child less than two weeks after she was born. Shortly thereafter she and her husband took in a widower’s baby daughter after the baby’s mother died in childbirth. They raised that girl as their own. Another of their daughters suffered from severe rheumatism as a child and had to use crutches to get around her whole life. This had to of been a very difficult thing for Olive to take care of this daughter out on the frontier in such a condition.  Olive died on August 16^th, 1916 at the age of 67.

Intergenerational Analysis

I don’t know much about Olive, but you know she was strong beyond belief. Having 13 children out on the frontier over a 30 year span is unimaginable. She lost 4 of them in childhood or infancy and raised 9 of them to adulthood.

My mom’s grandma was Olive’s daughter, also named Olive. My mom knew her very well. From the stories I’ve heard of her I know she had a pure heart and was an amazing inspiring person. I have to assume that her mother, Olive, also had similar qualities and was similarly impressive. I imagine her daughter learned from her and adopted her worldview and many of her qualities.

There is a little more information out there about Joseph, but I still don’t know much about him either. I find it interesting that he had strong talents in music, woodworking, and carpentry, but he never seemed to settle into a career in any of those. He was a wonderer and traveled back and forth over long distances chasing work and reprieve from his Asthma. It seems that his traveling around and taking many years before settling down had to of been difficult on the family. I’m sure it was difficult to get established, create a good reputation, and build a financial foundation when you keep moving from place to place. Never specializing in a trade was probably less financially beneficial than if he would have. I don’t know the reasons for all this moving and not settling but I imagine the nature of the times and places he lived contributed to it. He probably didn’t have many resources to get started with. He was married when he was 18 and didn’t have financial support from his parents to get started in life. He had to work for everything he did have. That’s a difficult thing, especially on the 19^th century southwest frontier. I have to wonder what his life would have been like had he been able to settle somewhere and really dug into the community and a trade earlier in his life.

Insights

I’ve gained a few important insights from my intergenerational analysis of Joseph and Olive.

Do Difficult Things

Joseph and Olive did difficult things their whole lives. Because they did difficult things, a measure of privilege was passed down through the generations to me. I don’t want to simply be the recipient of that privilege, I want to keep passing it down through the generations. I also want to pass it on to anyone I can in my day. In order for that momentum to continue, I need to also do difficult things.

Keep A Pure Heart

From Olive I learn that a pure heart can be made and maintained through great difficulty. If she can wander the wilderness having and raising babies for 30 years all while keeping a pure heart, there is no reason I can’t.

Have Goals and a Vision for Where You Are Going

Again, I don’t know the whole story, but Joseph seemed to wander for years, not really knowing what he was pursuing. I need to be focused. I need to know what I am pursuing and stay focused on pursuing it. I have a million times more opportunities than he had. If I stay focused and diligent I can do anything I want. Not doing that would be an offense to the struggles Joseph and Olive endured for me to have this privilege.

Serve Others

Olive served others. She was a midwife on the frontier. She helped bring many babies into the world and helped many mothers at their greatest time of need. That is pure service to others that can’t be repaid. That is the kind of service that puts positive energy into the world and makes the world a better place. That is the level of service I want to be to others.

Conclusion

As always, doing these intergenerational analyses leaves me wanting to know more about these people, their lives, struggles, victories, dreams, and personalities. I’m happy to know what I do, but wish I knew more. The more I know about them, the more I can learn from them to shape my own life and the legacy I’m building. I’m thankful for Joseph and Olive and the legacy they left for me. I hope to build on it and push it forward to my daughter and future generations.