How Flowers Can Tell Us Stories From Our Family History

Guest Blog Post by Katie Andrews Potter

Where I live in Indiana, one of the most popular destinations for families is Brown County State Park. The park is tucked in the middle of the gorgeous hill country of southern Indiana and has some beautiful (and challenging!) hiking trails. Wildflowers dot the landscape, changing with the seasons, from the crocuses popping up in the snow of early spring to the black-eyed susans into the fall. This park is extra special for our family because many of my husband’s ancestors lived in Brown County. His Potter ancestors even came to the area in the 1850s because they had heard it was pretty! And now still today we Potters love to go there for the same reason. 

The Flowers of our Ancestors 

I remember on one trip to the park a couple years ago, we went to the nature center to take a look around, but what I gravitated to was just outside the nature center - their Pioneer Garden. Inside a tall white fence was a small garden, which, according to the sign just outside the enclosure, was full of flowers, herbs, and other plants that pioneers of Brown County would have had in their gardens. It was fascinating, but what really struck me was the line on the sign that said that many flowers in the park, especially daffodils, were actually wild descendants of flowers in the pioneers’ gardens. They dotted the sides of the trails and roads inconspicuously - but they had a story to tell. Their ancestors had graced the gardens outside log cabins long ago - and maybe, just maybe, some of the flowers we saw around the park were descended from my husband’s ancestors’ flowers. 

Another lesser-known place to hike in Brown County is Yellowwood State Forest. My husband has connections to this place through his ancestors, as well. There is even a tiny old cemetery where his 4th great-grandparents are buried, right alongside a hiking trail you can find down a long winding gravel road. We recently hiked this trail, and in the height of summer, wildflowers were everywhere. We passed many morning glories along the side of the trail. As we hiked along on land that my husband’s ancestors had lived on, seeing more and more flowers along the trail, the thought of the pioneers’ flowers came back to me. I had to wonder if the morning glories I was seeing there were somehow descended from the flowers in their old gardens.

Were we hiking past family history, growing wild in the forest around us? Were the flowers in the woods telling us stories too, just as much as the old stones in the cemetery told us stories about his ancestors there? 

Family History Beyond Names and Dates 

We know that our family history is so much more than names and dates. It’s not just the “begats”, is it? It’s the stories behind the names and dates. Every name on a family tree has a life story behind it. And all of our lives are so multi-faceted.

All throughout human history, we have had a special relationship with plants, particularly flowers. We simply cannot survive without them, first of all, but through the millenia, we have discovered countless ways that they can be used. They have medicinal and therapeutic qualities, and they provide us with delicious foods. And of course, we admire and appreciate their beauty. 

So, how do we incorporate flowers into family history with kids? 

When we make the connection that our ancestors used plants in a wide variety of ways, we begin to understand their lifestyles so much better. Their life stories are fleshed out in a multisensory way, too. With your kids, close your eyes and imagine the homes of your ancestors and the plants inside and out of their dwellings. 

For example, when I do this exercise I can imagine my Indiana pioneer ancestors. I close my eyes and simply start asking questions and imagining: 

Did they have a fire blazing in the hearth, even through the hot days of the summer? Can you smell the wood smoke? Are there sweet-smelling flowers in a vase on the table? Or perhaps there’s a faint scent of spearmint, which they swept across their threshold to freshen the air. 

Outside, can you see their gardens? Do they have the tall garden of corn, beans, and squash intertwined together? Do they have herbs in pots or in the ground, ready for use any time they have need of them? And then beyond the wide variety of fruits and vegetables around the home that they’d eat in season or store in the cellar through the winter, are there flowers that they’d brought from seed to beautify their homes? 

I can imagine what their homes might have looked like, smelled like, felt like, and beyond, and suddenly I’m transported back into their time and space. 

Of course, these are just examples of my own pioneer ancestors. Your kids’ ancestors may have had an entirely different experience with plants and flowers, depending on their situation and location. But with your kids, use your imagination to begin asking questions -  to bring your ancestors back to life through imagining the sight, touch, smell, and taste of the plants they used in their time here on earth. 

And next time you pass a field of wildflowers alongside the road, look twice. Think back, imagine, and wonder. Flowers have remarkable beauty, power, and yes - stories. Listen to them. 

What stories can the flowers around you tell? 

Katie Andrews Potter has been a family historian since she was a teenager. Today she is a married mother of three children, with whom she loves to share stories of their ancestors. Katie is an author, educator, and an American History graduate student. She teaches online creative writing classes about the past to kids and teens through her organization, Wildwood Writing. You can find her at WildwoodWriting.com, and follow her on Instagram at @wildwoodwriting.

Photo Credits: Katie Andrews Potter & Benjamin Potter