By Gratian Yatsevitch III
What I’ve come to appreciate in my own life is that family culture and behavioral traits are passed down through the generations. For as long as I can remember, I knew I was the five times great-nephew of John Hancock, one of the Founding Fathers and major financiers of our nation. My mother would make references to her ancestors and told me brief stories of our family’s past. John Hancock married into the Quincy family, my family.
I found unfathomable narratives in history books, reading them like heroic fairy tales: the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston, just to name a few. Each conflict strengthened the Quincy and Hancock family bond. I marveled; why did John Hancock and his wife Dolly risk everything to help establish a nation rooted in liberty?
John and Dolly had two children who sadly didn’t survive to adulthood. Dorothy “Dolly” Quincy was the aunt, godmother, and namesake to my maternal great-great-great-grandmother, Dorothy Sewall May. Dolly was descended from a deacon, a reverend, a colonel, and a judge across the generations. The Quincys were a quintessentially New England family all the way to my mother, Margaret, who was born and raised in Massachusetts.
Today, when I read books and letters, both about and by my ancestors, I am reminded of the Quincy and May character that lived in my mother. Above all, it’s their integrity that stands out, and it’s undoubtedly a strength that’s founded on their Christian faith. The history behind my mother’s bloodline also reminded me that it wasn’t just the Founding Fathers who risked everything, but they did so with their wives supporting them in a plethora of ways.
I grew to appreciate that the American Revolutionary War is inextricably linked to the Colonists’ belief in God’s righteousness. Our Founding Fathers had two choices: to establish that all our rights come from men and man’s law; or to establish natural law, the idea that all our rights are God-given. From the fervent prayers at the first Continental Congress to the way natural law is the foundation of America’s legal system, God’s name has been invoked as our claim to freedom and liberty. This was established in the opening text of the Declaration of Independence, that our rights as citizens are not derived from the government, but rather “endowed by our Creator.”
Deep spiritual faith also endured in Dorothy Sewall May’s husband, Col. Joseph May. I actively searched for his will and last testament as if seeking a hidden treasure, a clue to the mysteries of my ancestors. In his final words, he movingly wrote, “I desire to record my gratitude to Almighty God for his singular favor to me through life … mercifully visited as it has pleased him, with a share of disappointments and bereavements: but always sustained by unwavering confidence in his wisdom, which cannot err, and in his goodness, which is unchangeable and everlasting.” Col. May outlived his wife and several children, so for me, this sentence sums up his steadfast faith in God. He dutifully led his family spiritually and supported his son, Samuel Joseph May, through his Harvard University education. Samuel eventually became a reverend, devoted abolitionist, and suffragist from the 1830s until his death in 1871.
Although my mother lived her Christian faith fully, she kept it private. She led by example. And as far as I know, my mother not once missed her right to vote her entire adult life, knowing what her ancestors had sacrificed.
After two decades as the wife of a U.S. Army colonel and diplomat, she was denied healthcare after an unwanted divorce. She fought the legal system all the way to the U.S. Congress and won. She led the way and had a determined courage for justice. I admire that about her. For all my ancestors, their Christian faith carried them through turbulent times.
Examining my mother’s handbag after her death, I was surprised to find a note written in her unsteady handwriting, where she had inscribed the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins. I knew she wanted those reminders to strive to live a life worthy of honoring God. My mother always had a strong sense of right and wrong, an audacity for justice. I believe that was carried through her from her ancestors, who risked everything to help create a freer nation 250 years ago.
Today, all Americans are beneficiaries of this heritage, the idea that serving God faithfully is what championed our freedom. My mother didn’t tell me too much about our family history; it was already imbued in her life. It’s that part of her, woven into the tapestry of my family’s Christian heritage, that I cherish the most.
