View from the top of Friday Mountain near Austin, Texas where my great-grandfather, Roy Bedichek, wrote Adventures with a Texas Naturalist.
Family Stories.
Our Stories.
Genealogy has interested me since I was a teen. Though only dabbling in family research over the years, I now have significant time to dive into my family's stories.
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At first, I felt genealogy was a somewhat self-centered endeavor. I didn't think there was a purpose beyond satisfying my own curiosity and sharing the findings with my extended family. I am learning it is much more than that. As I join Facebook groups and meet folks face-to-face along my journeys, I now see the way that genealogy can bring us together -- even when the truth about our ancestors' relationships are painful.
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With the amazing online tools available today and the ability to travel the country, I am creating adventures driven by my ancestors' stories to learn more about my family, more about the world, and more about myself.
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We are not responsible for our ancestors' actions, but we are responsible for our response to what we learn. I celebrate the courage and fortitude of my immigrant and homesteading ancestors while also owning the inconvenient truths of my enslaver ancestors.
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I hope you will be inspired to learn more about your ancestors and the wonderful world community in which we live.
Welcome to the journey!
Karen
On March 22, 1909, twenty-nine-year-old Roy Bedichek (my great-grandfather) began an epic bicycle ride of 983 miles. He rode out of Eddy, Texas at 4:45am and followed the railroad tracks across West Texas to Deming, New Mexico where he filed a homestead claim.
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One-hundred-fifteen years later, on April 1, 2024, I along with my mother, father, husband and dog launched a trip to retrace most of his trip as closely as we could with our travel trailers.
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What did we find? What questions were answered? What new questions arose?
In March 2023, I traveled to my home state of Texas to learn more about my great-grandfather, Roy Bedichek. He observed the world with childlike wonder. He shared his love of nature, Victorian poetry, and philosophy with his many friends, family and acquaintances in hopes of inspiring them to be equally fascinated.
I traveled some of the terrain he traversed years ago. I stood where he stood and looked where he looked.
I read his letters, birding lists, notes and musings.
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​I went on an ADVENTURE WITH A TEXAS NATURALIST! And I blogged along the way!
In June 2024, I took a trip across the US following my matrilineal line. I wanted to know more about the women in my family, their mothers and their mothers' mothers. I wanted to see where they lived and better understand the times in which they lived. What hard decisions did they make? What was their role in the family? How were they involved in the issues of the day?​
"there comes a time when silence is betrayal"
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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It was inevitable. Much of my family line dates back to the 1600's. Still, the first evidence I found of slave ownership hit me hard. Now, the process of digging deeper, learning more and owning that truth has begun.
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I don't know exactly where it will take me, but the first step is telling the truth to the family and the world.
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I am a descendant of enslavers.​​​
"A mockingbird turns today's bug into tomorrow's song almost while you wait."
― Roy Bedichek
(my great-grandfather)
Hi, I’m Karen
I'm passionate about making the world a better place. I like connecting people to each other and the natural world.