Morgan Monks

Informant: Myself/ Mom

Place Item Collected: My memory

Title: A Lullaby of Love 

Genre: Family Song

Informant: My mother is the person who would always sing this song to me and my younger brother. She has been eternally 39 for 4 years now and was born in Las Vegas. My mother grew up in a home where her parents weren’t very involved and I think that situation has made her become quite opposite to that. My mom has always tried to be very involved and supportive in my life but not overbearing. 

Context:  My mom used to sing me a song every night, even when I was older. I honestly don’t know when I stopped asking her to but I remember thinking to myself I was probably too old to have a lullaby every night but I didn’t really care. I also used to think that my mom had a wonderful voice and even told her she should go on American Idol.  She laughed at me and I never understood until later and I now recognize why she thought my idea was so comical. I never knew this until I was older but my mom would also sing that same song to my younger brother Kaden. I don’t know if the song had as much as a profound effect on him but I can only assume it was similar considering he told me that song was also his favorite and he asked for it often. 

Text: The words to the song ‘You are my Sunshine’ that my mom would sing to me every night are as follows:

You are my sunshine,

My only sunshine.

You make me happy

When skies are grey.

You’ll never know dear,

How much I love you.

Please don’t take my sunshine away

Texture:

My mom used to sing this song to me almost every night, when I was scared, and when I was sad. As expected as I grew older the songs came less and less frequent. However when I was older (as I said probably too old to be getting them) I remember some nights I would ask my mom to come into my room and sing the song to me. When she would sing the song she would sit on my bed, and push the hair away from my face as she sang to me. After she was done she would leave my room, and start to close the door just before I would stop her to leave it partly opened. (I always loved falling asleep to the noise of my parents up and talking or watching television).

Meaning:

I never really thought about the importance of this song to me until recently. I mean I always loved the song. To be honest when I was younger I thought my mom had made it up and I was the only one she sang it to because I was her only sunshine. Except when I figured it out that she in fact did not right the song nor was I the only one she sang it to, there was no difference in the meaning of it to me. I felt like she meant that song every time she sung it to me. Even when I was older to me that song meant I love you and I will always love you. I feel like my mom’s skies will be grey if I am gone for forever. I have gotten just a little glimpse of what it feels like to be away from her by being at college. Just being able to give her a hug or talk to her whenever we are in the same room means a lot and I really took that for granted when I was home. To me this song is so much more than just a lullaby; it is the characterization of my mother’s and my relationship. She is my best friend and right now she is my sunshine. I don’t know what I would do without her. She is always the one I can go and talk to about anything and we never stay mad at each other for more than a little bit. I plan to serve an LDS mission and I think that this song is one of those things I will be able to keep in my heart and be close to her.

Bonnie Moore

English 2010-027 @10:30

Morgan Monks
March 20th 2014
Subject: Genealogy Chart

Dusting off the Past


     As I found and researched a little bit about my family it was really informational and it helped me understand a little bit about my ancestors especially because I have only met a few of them. Most of my great grandparents died before I was born or when I was a baby. The other ones lived so far away I rarely saw them before they past. Looking at the genealogy charts gave me a little bit more information into their lives.
     One of the interesting things I did pay particular attention to was the age at which my grandparents died at. There was the untimely death of my fathers mother Artha at 52 from breast cancer which I knew about, but also I learned several of my great grandparents died at a young age as well. My grandfather on my mother's side's parents died at 53 and 68. I was curious about these instances and my grandfather informed me that both of his parents had serious substance abuse such as smoking and alcohol and they died from the affects of that. I never knew that about my great grandparents and it really put into perspective maybe some of the reasons why my grandpa does some of the things he does. He has a hard time getting rid of things so I think that maybe that has a little bit to do with the loss of his parents at a young age along with his brother. Learning this information gave me a little bit of insight into the life of my grandfather.
     Another thing that was interesting to me was where my family is from and where that led them to stay for their lives. On my fathers maternal side most of his family is from Arizona and that is where a large portion of his extended family still lives. In fact my uncle recently moved there to be close to family. My fathers paternal side is from California however and that is where his family has stayed for a long time except when my father moved to Nevada when he was in high school. On my mother's side it rather similar on her maternal side. My mother, grandmother and great grandmother were born in Nevada in the Las Vegas area and my great grandparents stayed there their rest of their lives. The interesting thing is my mother's paternal side. They seen to come from a much different area, the east. I asked my mother what led them to the west because that is closer to where they died and she informed me that when the depression hit her great grandparents left the east to the mid west for more financial opportunity. Looking at where my family came from helped me know just a little bit more about them and gave insight into some of the trials they had to face.
      Another thing that is rather interesting that is shown on a genealogy chart is the passing down of names on my mothers side of the family. For starters I was given the name Morgan from my mother. Her maiden name is Morgan. She did this because she was named after her mother's maiden name Shelley. One thing I don't notice however was that my mothers middle name came from my great grandma Alice Reba Mhoon.Another interesting thing I had never noticed before is my fathers middle name came from his grandfather Arthur which is where my fathers mother'so name Artha came from.  Although I don't plan to name my first daughter my maiden name Monks, I do want to look at my ancestry and find a family name to incorporate into my future family.
    Overall being able to look at my family ancestry really made a difference in the way that I look at my family. I learned a lot about my families past but also thought of things I want to incorporate into my family's future.

Morgan Monks

Informant: Jason Monks

Date retrieved: 3/1/14

Title: A Short Engagement 

Genre: Family story and legend 

Informant: The person who I heard this story from is my dad Jason Monks. The story has been passed down from my father's side of my family. It comes from 6 generations back and has been one of my favorites from that side of my family. 

Context: the story actually comes from an autobiography from my ancestor Lewis Barney. My dad and older brothers have read the book, however I have only read a little bit of it. The story of Lewis Barney's life I will share I heard from my father. My dad often will share a story of one of our ancestors when the subject comes up and this one seems to be told quite often even though everyone in my family knows what happens. We have the book written by Lewis but it is also available online by searching biography of Lewis Barney.

Lewis Barney 

Text: In 1825 Lewis Barney's mother died when he was 17 years old. After her death he and his father Charles would go on trips and leave the younger children at an aunt's. However two years later his family decided to travel west. When the family was preparing to begin their journey his father Charles was approached by a young woman the same age as Lewis. She wished to travel with the family to the west however Charles told her it would be unsuitable and improper for a single girl to travel with them. The next day she came back and pleaded with Charles to take her out west with them. Charles then proceeded to tell the young woman that she could come with their family if she would marry him. Without hesitation she agreed and that same day they went down the road to the Smith home and were married. 

Texture: This story is my favorite because I find it rather funny. When I was first told the story I thought that this is the point of the story when Lewis would be married considering the fact that the young woman was his age. It is funny however because someone who could be his wife ends up becoming his step-mother. Considering the time frame this type of occurrence really wasn't out of the ordinary but when you actually look at the age gap it is rather odd. Considering that Lewis had older siblings his father must have been over double the age of his wife and yet she willingly married him. 

Meaning: Although this story doesn't have much sentimental meaning to me, I do find it rather cool that I have stories preserved from my family's past. I know many do not have many stories from their past family to share and think of and I am grateful I have them. And although the story isn't some amazing rescue or battle story it is just as special or even more so because it is a story of everyday life. It's about how a girl became a wife and mother and although that is probably not how she wanted her story to go, it showed how important going west was to her that she made a sacrifice. This story teaches me about sacrifice. And sometimes it is better to give up something we want (such as finding love) for something better (her new life out in the west). That's why I love this story so much. 

Bonnie Moore 

English 2010-027 @ 10:30