Famous Fathers (Bonus Post)
The Importance of Fathers throughout History
The roles that fathers play in our lives are as different as the men who fill them, and nothing is more inspiring than looking into the impact that fathers have made throughout history. Here is to the famous fathers of history and the impact that they made on their children and society today.
Rock
In a wartime White House, Abraham Lincoln raised his family while also steering a country toward reconciliation. His young sons Willie and Tad had free reign of the Executive Mansion. They routinely interrupted cabinet meetings, rough-housed with their father, drove their goat cart down the hallways, and built forts on the roof. As thousands of mothers and fathers lost their sons on battlefields throughout the country, Lincoln would lose his eleven-year-old son Willie to typhoid in 1862. He and Mary had already lost young Eddie while living in Illinois. As his wife sank into a severe depression, Lincoln wandered the darkened streets of Washington to visit Willie’s tomb. Amid his personal crisis, Abraham Lincoln was able to be the rock for a divided country and his family.
Protector
In 1933, Otto Frank moved his small family from Germany to the Netherlands to escape the fascist takeover of his home country. As the darkness of antisemitism enveloped Europe, Frank made several attempts to procure travel visas for his family to Britain or the United States. After his older daughter Margot received a notice to report to a labor camp in Germany, Frank moved his family to the attic of his business and concealed them behind a bookcase. For two years his family and a handful of friends lived in daily fear of being discovered, their only contact with the outside world being the radio and the people who were aiding them. In August of 1944, they were discovered and sent to Auschwitz where Otto was separated from his wife and daughters. Otto Frank survived his time at Auschwitz only to find that he was the only member of his family left alive. Upon returning home, he found the diary that his youngest daughter kept during their time in hiding. Otto Frank spent the rest of his life telling the story of Anne Frank, giving a voice to the 10 million people who died in the Holocaust.
Mentor
Someone need not be a father to serve as a father figure. Andrew Jackson’s father died before the future president was born. While Jackson never spoke much about his father, his loss must have affected him severely. Jackson would serve as a mentor to a whole generation of American politicians who carried on his vision that the helm of government should be firmly held by the common man. His most notable pupil was Sam Houston, a young officer in his militia who had also lost his father at a young age. Jackson would advise Houston on everything from what offices to hold to what girl he would marry. As Jackson lay dying, Sam Houston and his family travelled to the Hermitage and arrived just as “Old Hickory” passed away. Sam Houston would serve as chief mourner at Jackson’s funeral and would carry his mentor’s devotion to the United States to the opening days of the Civil War.
Visionary
When Charles Douglass was two years old, his father left their family to travel to England, the first of many absences over his childhood. Upon returning to the U.S., he moved his family to New York where he started a newspaper to spread his radical ideas of equality. Charles and his siblings worked with their father in printing the newspaper, setting type, and delivering the paper to subscribers. Reflecting on his childhood, Charles said this about his father, “My father’s home life during my childhood was not prolonged…(His) homecoming was for a brief season of rest from his labors.” Despite his frequent absences from his children’s lives, Fredrick Douglass worked tirelessly to ensure that his nor anyone else’s children would ever be born into slavery.
Inspiration
Hopefully your father is as much of an inspiration as mine is. My father always had a passing love of history, and that was one of the first things that he and I bonded over. I distinctly remember the large, illustrated books and History Channel VHS tapes that he had in the living room. We have visited several historic sites together and I am always struck by the contemplative mood that he gets into while walking the grounds. The only overnight trip that he and I took without the rest of the family was a school trip to Washington D.C. when I was in eighth grade. While at a souvenir shop on Gettysburg Battlefield, he bought me a post card of Abraham Lincoln looking at a book with his son Tad. My father gave it to me and said, “I’m here with my son, and there he is with his son.” He is my connection to family history and is one of the best storytellers that I know. He never fails to inspire me to be a better person and to work hard to achieve my goals.
Happy Father’s Day