2020 Scholarship Winner
Olivia Card (42626441)
Olivia's essay
Reverse Chronological JMA Ancestry
I, Olivia Card, was born in Cooperstown, New York, in 2001. It is my mother’s ancestry that leads back to John and Betty More. Her name is Tammy Hammon Card. She was born in Middletown, New York, in 1970. She is related to John and Betty More through her mother, Katherine Schnack Hammon. Katherine was born in Oneonta, New York, in 1942. Her mother, Olive Rose Schnack, is a descendant of John and Betty More. Olive was born in Pine Hill, New York, in 1908. She is related to John and Betty More through her mother, Grace More Rose. Grace was born in Roxbury, New York, in 1876. Her father, Addison Porter More, was born in Roxbury, New York, in 1832. He is the great grandchild of John and Betty More. John Pearson More, his father, was born in Roxbury, New York, in 1799. He is the grandchild of John and Betty More. Jonas More, his father, was born in Harpersfield, New York, in 1778. Jonas More’s parents were John and Betty More, who were born in Rothiemurchus, Scotland, in 1745 and 1738, respectively.
Living in the Past
I have chosen to compare my life to that of my Great Grandmother’s, Olive Letha Rose Schnack. Olive Schnack lived from 1908-1976. While she lived in the same general area I do now, her life was very different from mine due to how long ago she lived. The 20th century was very different from the 21st. Society has progressed a lot, in many ways, since then.
Olive Schnack was born in the ending years of the Women’s Suffrage Movement, a movement that had been going on for nearly a century. When she was born women could not vote. However, by the time she was of voting age, women had gained that right. But they still had a long way to go before they were equal to men. For example, they could not be as involved in politics as men could be. They also did not have the same occupational options and opportunities that men had. They were seen as nothing but housewives and mothers. They were not valued as individuals. They were seen as physically and intellectually lesser than men. I would not have liked to live during this time for this reason. I do not think I would have been happy. However, Olive Schnack did live long enough to see women gain many rights. She was alive during the Women’s Rights Movement in the 1960s and 70s. I do not know if she played an active part in this movement—after all, she was in her 50s-60s at the time—but I do know she enjoyed watching women gain more rights. I would have enjoyed this as well. It would have been a cause for celebration. As my Great Grandmother died of a heart attack in 1976 she was not around long enough to thoroughly enjoy all the rights she had just gained. While this is sad, it is great that she lived to see society’s views on women progress. I hope to see more gender equality in my lifetime.
Olive Schnack was a school teacher for the fifth and sixth grade. At the time she was a teacher over 70% of all teachers in the United States were female. This is because it was one of the few jobs women could hold. She worked at a public school where she taught all the courses to her students. While I do not know where she attended college, I can tell she did because it was required of her in order to become a school teacher. I can also assume she went to college in upstate New York because it is where she was born, got married, and died. I, too, am planning to attend a college in upstate New York, not far from where I was born. In this aspect, we lived similar lives. As I am making this choice now, I can assume I would have made the same choice if I had been born in 1908 like my Great Grandmother. While we had very different experiences growing up and lived in very different times, it looks like I will be following the path she followed all those years ago. I say this because I am considering becoming an English teacher. I personally would like to teach high school students, which isn’t too far off from the grades my Great Grandmother taught. While I don’t think I would have been very happy living in the times she did, I do think I would have enjoyed being a school teacher just as much as she did. I, like her, would have chosen to be a teacher not because it was one of my only options but because I would like to help young students learn and grow.
I chose to write about Olive Schnack because, even before I learned she was a school teacher, I felt connected to her through my name. I was named ‘Olivia’ because it was similar to ‘Olive’. While I obviously never got the chance to meet her, I would like to believe we were similar in our personalities as well. Despite the fact we lived in different time periods, it is clear to me that we ended up being quite alike. I am proud to call Olive Schnack my Great Grandmother, and am proud to be related to John and Betty More.
Sources
Author, Anonymous. “A History of Teaching in America – As Told By Those Who Know.” The Waking Bear, 5 Mar. 2007, www.wakingbear.com/archives/ahistory-of-teaching-in-america-as-told-by-those-who-know.
Burkett, Elinor. “Women’s Rights Movement.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 5 Mar. 2020, www.britannica.com/event/womensmovement.
Hammon-Card, Tammy, and Olivia Card. 24 June 2020.
“JMA Directory.” JMA Directory – Directory of Descendants of John and Betty Taylor More, www.more.org/directory/.
“The Woman Suffrage Movement.” National Women’s History Museum, www.womenshistory.org/resources/general/woman-suffrage-movement.