Mightier Acorns

Journeys through Genealogy and Family History

A parody of a family coat of arms designed with acorns as elements, with the motto "ex gladnis potentioribus" Latin for "from Mighty Acorns"
From Mighty Acorns

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Tad Callin has been working on family history and genealogy since the late 1990s. He does most of his research on Ancestry and posts what he learns to WikiTree.
Call and Response

Call and Response

I’d like to try something a little different this week: I want to hear from you!

The Subject:

How far back can you trace your musical heritage?

Music has always been a passion. My mom recalls that I came into the kitchen with a toy guitar at age three, strumming and singing “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” which I had probably heard her playing from her LP copy of The Sting soundtrack.

My dad and his cousin, Pat, would break out guitars and sing at family gatherings – that’s them in a photo from 1969 at the top of this post.

Grandma Alberta played the organ, of course, and I inherited a nylon-stringed guitar that Grandma Nancy used to play for her art students over the years. I remember both of my grandfathers singing in church, but I also remember Grandpa Bob bursting into song to be silly with us kids, pulling out his most exaggerated barbershop (“Sweet Adeline”) and even opera1, to make us laugh.

More recently, I learned that one of my Callin cousins appeared on America’s Got Talent, and while most of us have not reached that degree of fame, most of the people in my family tree seem to treasure at least some connection to their musical talent.

How About You?

What musical heritage are you most proud of? Any career musicians in your tree?

And even if they were just record collectors or “only” played piano for their church, did they leave a favorite song behind?

What music ties you to your past?

Let me know with a comment, or if you are more comfortable emailing “mightieracorns” at Gmail, let me know if you’d like me to share that (preserving your anonymity, of course).

  1. I remember Grandpa Bob singing “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life,” which originally came from the 1910 operetta Naughty Marietta. Still, I suspect he was referring to Madeline Kahn’s performance in Young Frankenstein! ↩︎
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2 responses to “Call and Response”

  1. Linda Goin Avatar
    Linda Goin

    Homer Robert Eanes, Jr., known to most as “Jim Eanes” (1923-1995) is my fifth cousin on my mother’s paternal side. He played guitar in country and gospel bands, producing records and later becoming a DJ. On my father’s side, his youngest sister, Mary Ann Goin Sales (1940-2013) played an upright bass and her husband played a dobro in groups that played around western Virginia and eastern West Virginia. My mother had a beautiful soprano voice, but I didn’t inherit any musical talent. I practiced piano for ten years, thanks to my mother’s insistence, but I’m still just a piano player, not a pianist. BTW — anyone born along either side of the James River is a fifth cousin, but you may have known that. =)

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  2. Lynda Heines Avatar
    Lynda Heines

    What a great memory you reminded me of! My Dad’s favorite song was Ave Maria sung by Perry Como. We had the 45 blue transparent vinyl record released in 1949 in our record collection. I was always fascinated about the record because you could see through it instead of the normal black ones. I always loved his singing too. My sister, who planned her funeral, had her friends sing it at the gravesite.

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Say hello, cousin!