Family Heritage

At some point in the late 18th century, a young German named John Leonard Dekle arrived in Savannah, Georgia. John had several children, many of which survived to adulthood and created their own children, including William Grissom Dekle. William married Bethany Hollingsworth, whose Quaker family had come to the New World from Ireland and had fought in the Revolutionary War. But the Hollingsworth line is another branch of this tree for another time. William became the first sheriff of Thomas County, Georgia, and had several children himself, furthering the Dekle line, and branching off in its own various directions, including William Grissom Dekle, Jr. Junior fought in the Civil War, fighting for Georgia in the Confederate Army. He died in battle and was buried in an unmarked grave on the field. When his wife later died in 1911, she was buried in an unmarked grave in honor of her husband. For any history buffs (I had a teacher in middle school who was into Civil War reenactments, for example), details about the battle in which William Jr. died in can be found on this website.

Fortunately, this particular branch of the Dekle line didn't die with William; he was a father prior to the Civil War, and his children lived on, including Thomas Henry Dekle. Thomas married Susan Elizabeth Wilder, who was born on December 27th. Interestingly, my mom would eventually become Susan Elizabeth Wise, with the exact same initials. I too have the initials SEW, although obviously my S stands for Sarah. My birthday, however, is December 29th. But this is once again sidetracking; it's not even of particular significance, I just find it interesting. Thomas and Susan had their share of children as well, producing James Orin Dekle. James married Zelma Lee Perry, and they had a handful of children, including James Orin Dekle, Jr, in 1910, better known as J.O.

By now, I'm sure you've realized that at some point this lineage will change from Dekle to Wise and I'll throw myself in. Indeed, J.O. was my great-grandfather, whose eldest daughter is my grandmother, whose only daughter is my mother.

Although different generations moved around the South, they primarily remained in Georgia for several generations. J.O. was in the army, and as a result the family lived in numerous locations. But eventually, he returned to Savannah. When people ask why I'm in Savannah for graduate school, there are only two answers: 1) because SCAD is a good art school, and 2) because my family is from here, and it's a beautiful place. If I'm going to be away from home, I may as well be in a place that has been home to my family for hundreds of years.

I work in the Lucas Theatre, which is celebrating its 90th birthday this December. A little old lady came in this evening, who couldn't have been any younger than 80, and struck up a conversation with my co-worker Sara and myself (yes, the two running the concessions stand tonight were Sarah-spelled-correctly and Sara-missing-an-h...although the lady chose to differentiate between us as Sarah-with-dark-brown-hair and Sara-with-light-brown-hair). She commented how she had been in Savannah all her life, and the more historic she got, so did the town. She praised SCAD for its contributions in renovating and rebuilding the community, and asked if we were SCAD students. Because we both are, she figured (correctly) that neither of us were from here. However, I informed her, my grandma and her family were from here.

So the lady asked what my family's name was, and I told her Dekle. She thought for a moment and said that sounded very familiar. She told me that she had known a girl when she was younger who had dated a man named Dekle. She couldn't recall what his first name was, but said that he was a very fine fellow.

The thing with the Dekle family line is that all Dekles in America can be traced back to the same common ancestor, that German immigrant John Leonard.

So this lady who had known a Dekle at some point, who dated but didn't marry her friend, would have been related to me in some way or another. I'd say it's a small world, but I've had enough interesting little connections such as this that they no longer surprise me.

Savannah Film Festival

The Savannah Film Festival is a pretty big deal here, bringing in a handful of big stars. This year, the honorees include Oliver Stone, Lily Tomlin, Ray Liotta, and James Marsden (there's one more but I don't recall - I don't know who she is). But in addition to these stars, other actors, directors, and industry bigwigs come to host events and present master classes.

I didn't know much about the film festival, so I pieced together information as I was able via the website. This led to the happy discovery that Alec Baldwin was coming to town to present Stanley Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon. So on Sunday, Margo and I headed over to the Lucas Theatre (where I work) to sit through a three hour movie, followed by a Q&A session. The experience itself was very fun; the movie was well done (of course it was; it's Kubrick), and Alec Baldwin was a delight.

By the time we got out, it was evening and it was getting dark. Margo and I popped into an art supply store so I could find prop mustaches (for a poster I was working on; the ones I found were made for Archie McPhee's in Seattle, which made me happy), and then across the street to Panera for dinner.

Remember the haunted CVS? Well, we passed by it on our way home. It was past 6:00 so it was closed, and it was dark. This was the night before Halloween, so I was telling Margo how silly I thought it was that the ghost was still haunting it in search for her baby, who is long dead by now too. As we approached the CVS, we heard a baby crying; I busted up laughing. That kid really had a set of lungs. We were followed by wailing for a while.

Anyway, the Film Festival continues this week and through the weekend. Margo and I have tickets for another film this weekend, one starring Jason Segel and Ed Helm. Looking forward to it!