Several years ago, at a Ware reunion held at the Rightway Baptist Church of Bear Wallow, I had the pleasure of again meeting Uncle Ike and his daughters, Martha, Madeline, Marcie, Mae, Mildred and Dorothy.

Daughter Maude missed the trip, as she was at the Iowa State Fair, competing in the Watermelon Seed Spitting Championships.

Dorothy “Doty” Cody was there alone. Husband Luke/Duke Cody was still working on the still that was ruined when lightning hit the outhouse and set the woods afire, thereby destroying the still.

Ike never looked better in his freshly washed and ironed bib overalls. A sterling picture of a real country gentleman.

I was right in the middle of my potato salad and KFC drumstick, when this lady came up and began telling me about how her ancestor research went all the way back to Alexander the Great, and how she was trying to go even farther back to Napoleon! Imagine that!

I kept working on my drumstick and baked beans, while she went on about the intricacies of genealogical research, and I’m thinking to myself, Raymond, Son! You’ve got a live one here!

About the time I expected to hear how she was related to the great Gandhi,

she suddenly ask how far back had I traced my line!

Not wanting the opportunity to slip by, I began laying it on!

I began telling her about Cincinnaticus Ware abt 238-155 BC, and how he went over the Alps with Hannibal during the Second Punic Wars, 218-203 BC.  Left the military in good standing and headed home.

I told about how, by burning his uniform, he founded the now capital of Switzerland, Bern!

I could tell by her eyes she had been “had!”

Suddenly, she jumped up from the table, gave a “How dare you” type humph, pooched out her lips, stomped away from the area and let me finish my drum stick and Cole slaw!

The moral of this is, I suppose, if you are going brag on your ancestry, at least make it believable, right?

RW

5/5/09