Portrait by Rudy Salgado, River City Tintype
Welcome to my page! This is where we discover who we are through our ancestors and the history they lived.
I have come to think of all the people who have come before us in my family tree, of which I only seem to be the tip of a leaf, as in fact one continuous branch, stretching back through villages and wars and plagues and famines—and surviving, despite it all. This is what you are, too.
“Like the generation of leaves,” said Homer, “the lives of mortal men.” Just as old leaves are blown from the trees and scattered, he said, and in spring, the new buds burst, so it is with the generations, or as the old bard himself sings: “As one generation comes to life, another dies away.”
Reading these lines from the Iliad, I realize that I used to think about my ancestors as those fallen leaves, long since sunk into the earth, and that I myself am a single, trembling leaf. But now, having studied their lives a bit deeper, I’ve come to think of myself less as a single, individual soul, and more the part of a longer, continuous body that stretches through time. I am, after all, born of not just one mother and father, but all the mothers and fathers before me. All of our bodies emerged from those before us, and those before them. Given all that I carry of those unknown people, I am convinced that my heritage is far more than genetics.
I’m here to not only share my stories, the ones of those who came before me and ensured my birth, but to share how you can realize your own stories. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot of methods to find out more about these people: the ships they sailed on, the wars they fought in, the railroads they worked for, the children they bore, and the children they lost. And the more I learn, the more I realize how incredible it is that we are here at all.
Why subscribe?
Free subscribers have access to:
Notes on the history of genealogy: what it is, what it’s been, and why it’s such a big deal today
Posts on my ongoing search for ancestry to help you find yours
Ideas on how to find an array of documents, photographs, and other historical tidbits from American history to support your own search…and even further back than that
Paid subscribers receive all the free content as well as:
Short video workshops with resources on how you can begin to discover your own ancestral families through online research, libraries, and interviews
Community conversations, Q & A’s, and occasional guests where we can talk about your ongoing searches for your own history
Sneak peeks into my ongoing manuscripts, including The Tombs of Slate Run, my memoir on the search for my personal ancestry
Every new post is sent directly to your email inbox. For a spam-free, ad-free reading experience, plus audio and community features, get the Substack app.
To get the most out of One Continuous Branch, join the community as a paid subscriber. With your generous support, we’ll keep the work going, and for my part, I’ll write, continue the research, and also to travel to all the places where history hides in the wings: little graveyards in Pennsylvania; historical museums in Orange County, Indiana; the abandoned ancestral homes in upstate New York, and libraries, well, everywhere. What will I bring back for you? Stories, of course, but also strategies to help you launch your own journeys. Our ancestors are out there, waiting with their tales. Together, we’ll let them be heard!
Get access to the whole community for only $7 a month—the price of maybe a coffee or two—or for the discounted rate of $50 a year. I look forward to meeting you!
About me
I’m a writer, poet, and film photographer living in Louisville, Kentucky. I earned my MFA in poetry from the Warren Wilson College Program for Writers, and published three collections of poems and two hiking guides. I’ve received grants, residencies, and fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council, Vermont Studio Center, Great Meadows Foundation, The Bascom Center for Visual Arts, and Elizabeth George Foundation. I am working on a nonfiction book on my family’s varied and harried ancestry, The Tombs of Slate Run.
When I’m not writing, working in the darkroom, or poring over historical documents, I spend time with my daughter, scour antique stores for cameras and rare books, and, on occasion, explore the Appalachian landscapes, from the Red River Gorge to Pine Mountain to the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River.
To see (and purchase) my photographic prints and to read some of my previously published articles and poems, visit www.seanpatrickhill.com.
Lines from the Iliad translated by Robert Fagles (1990).
