Mother's Day

In honor of Mother’s Day, I thought I’d share a piece of Bear Family history.

Every family begins with a mother bear somewhere. Our family tree begins with these two lovely, happy ladies, sisters Anna and Hedgwick. Both knew that the key to a future of wealth and happiness was across the sea in America. So they married smart young men and convinced them America was the land of milk and honey. America. Also known as New York. O.K., Upstate New York really – in a little tiny town that hardly makes it on most maps.

But milk and honey was in their futures. Little did they know they would be gathering their milk and honey from the moo cows and buzzin' bees.

Anna had a slew of children, and the first three boys were well educated in their home country of Lithuania and sent to America with the promise to earn enough money to bring the rest of the family over. And so it was written. And so it was done.

And everyone made it over in time for Anna's husband to go on to the promised land. In those days, weddings and funerals were great photo opportunities, since A) photographers were quite expensive, B) pretty much the whole family would be there and C) there was at least one person you didn't have to worry about holding still.

The youngest of the original 3 brothers, Leon, was quite the ladies man. His family hoped he would give up his roustabout days and settle down with a nice girl. So he found that young lady of his dreams, proposed to her, set a date and celebrated. C.E.L.E.B.R.A.T.E.D. with everyone who would raise a glass and with a few young ladies of lesser reputation along the way. Word got out to his bride-to-be's family and the whole affair was called off.

So, what was a family to do with such a scandalous young man on their hands? Why, send to the Old Country for a lovely bride, of course!

Enter Ksenia. (pronounced Kah-sehn-ya)

She was a virtuous young lady of rather limited beauty, and an interesting upbringing. Scorned by the mother who raised her, she was "farmed out" to another family by the age of 7. She received no formal education and spent her days milking cows, tending to the chickens and working the gardens. Essentially she was an indentured servant.

Her older sisters took pity. Perhaps because they saw their mother's distaste for this child. Perhaps because the oldest sister was actually Ksenia's birth mother. It's just one of those things that happens and no one in the family talks about directly, though hints are dropped along the way. And since everyone involved is long gone from this world, I don't think they would argue over the fact that her oldest sister lamented about a daughter she left behind when she was rather hurriedly sent to America, a child who would just happen to be the same age as Ksenia. And a mother/grandmother who showed such distaste for this young girl.

So money was gathered and Ksenia was sent for. When she arrived in this small upstate NY town, the family threw a party. And what a party it was! She was welcomed by the parish priest. She was given a beautiful dress to wear, borrowed from a cousin, along with a wreath of flowers in her hair and a lovely bouquet to carry all through the party. There was a wonderful dinner, with music and dancing.

And at the end of the night, Leon, the dashing young man with the moustache said, "Time to go home." What? Go home with a stranger? What about her sisters? Ksenia had never attended a wedding before, and had no idea what had transpired. And besides, this guy spoke Lithuanian and Ksenia only knew Ukrainian.

So that night, Leon took Ksenia home to his farm. And thus was the beginning of the Bear Clan.

Ksenia may not have been formally educated. And she never learned to sign more than an X to a document. But she was one smart cookie. The first thing she told Leon was that she had no idea how to milk a cow. And she never again milked a cow in her 95 years on this earth.