Five Generations of Joy

We had dropped the coach off at Pikes Peak Traveland for Jeff and his crew to spend the day playing with it and had headed into town to visit the post office, the library, and get some lunch (great fish and chips at OLD CHICAGO). Then we walked the several blocks through this very vibrant downtown to the old courthouse which is now the area's community history museum. 

Just as we reached Courthouse Park we ran into Mister Seymour. Something about the bronze statue caught my eye.  The casual way the hat was placed on the bench.  The look of comfort in the trim suit.  And the face, molded in bronze, that reminded me of my grandson Khalif.

Here was a man who had been tested by time and had met it head on.  Not a great politician, general, or millionaire.  But a MAN.  Read the plaque for a small bit of his story.

In the museum, on the second floor, is a room devoted to local black history.  It brings the stories of these folk to life.  In a land where many accepted all, there were too many in the 19th and 20th centuries who accepted only those 'like them'.  And the Negro, Black, African American was by some thought to be less than any other.  held in contempt below Indian, Mexican, or any other human simply because they were darker skinned than all.

But despite the strong KKK of  William's time, and the challenges of being a free man in a place where you'd have thought freedom would be most available, Mister Seymour strove, and never stopped striving.  Can a white person even begin to imagine the challenges that were thrown up at William when he became the first juror to assist in deciding the fate of other, possibly white, persons in the El Paso Courtroom?

I pray my grandson's Khalif, Kaream and Tristan continue their growth toward being such fine and strong men.

I had taken my pictures, and was moving on to look at the fine frontier weapon collection in the second floor main hall when I overheard a mother across the room from me setting up a photo with grandma and her two beautiful granddaughters.  Mom wanted to be sure to get the man in the white suit in a picture at knee level in the photo with them.  I wondered why so I did what any red blooded American would do; I eavesdropped.

They were related to this man!  Cool!  But who was he?  So, being the shy person I have always been, I asked.

The smiling grandmother is William Seymour's granddaughter!  The statue in the park is her families founding pioneer. The smiling mother is her daughter and the two cute and precocious young ladies are the next generation of Seymours since the American Civil War to live and love Colorado Springs.

They said yes, I could take their picture. So I did, and you can see for yourself, the joy that has come down through certain challenge, fear, and strife of the 19th and 20th, into the 21st century.

Meet the Seymours.  Daughters all of William, who along with Elizabeth, his wife, decided to homestead Kansas, and then Colorado, and build a life for these and all who follow. 

 -Ken