Small world, literature

TL;DR -- The Economist does a double issue each year right before the Holidays. This year, one of the extra articles dealt with Jane Austen. We saw that her birth was 250 years ago in December. We want to pay attention to the Old Country and thought to do it various ways. This is an example of one method. 

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The U.S. has a 250th this year which really started in the spring of last year with the Lexington/Concord conflict. We have posted on that theme for a few years. Now, we are approaching date of the Declaration of Independence and started a series, in the last post, based upon events in people's lives. We want to continue that theme. 

The Economist's Holiday double-issue had a piece on Jane Austen who was borrn in 1775. The article looked at her publications and compared the economic realities of her characters with a chart depicting a fictional annual income: How Jane Austen revealed the economic basis of society. Never having read anything of Jane, the article reminded me of the ties that were across the water which were somewhat severed by the split that followed the Revolution. That points to possible stories about families and histories of locations of interest to the New England colony. 

Too, I am reading (again, as I first went through the novel years ago) Irving Stone's "Those who love" which is a novel about Abigail and John Adams. Abigail was of Quincy heritage; we will look at her later. John was cousin of Samuel (of the beer) and a farm kid who got into Harvard. Later, he became a lawyer. And, we know him also as the 2nd President of the U.S. Stone's handling of characters and conversations does very well in protraying the times and ordeals experienced by those there. 

Ignoring that until later, we have had several posts on generations. For instance, we wrote earlier that the 5th generation did the Revolution with leadership being provided by the 4th. John and Abigail were of the 5th. And, their son, John Quincy Adams, is, like Jane, a member of the 6th generation. So, we can pay attention to this generation's existence over the beginning and early years of the U.S. 

By the way, the 8th generation was the core of the U.S. Civil War. We mention this as there are threads from the beginning (the 400th) by the entries during the colonial period to the major, internal conflict. 

Getting back to the 250th, the internet/web will allow publication of information from families and other sources that were never pulled together into something cohesive. Of course, technology now will be more of a hindrance and asset for several reasons. But, provenance as a keything will help and will definitely be necessary. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/10/2026

01/10/2026 --