This is the history of the (mostly fictional) Burkehammer family. The distant ancestors are all real people (my actual ancestors) but the living and recent past people are fictional. Where they live is a similar mix of fiction and reality. Their histories are not heroic. They just give me a framework to take my real-life experiences, with all the deep detail of reality, and describe them happening to fictional people and places.
Rachel (Rachel Bridget Lowry, fictional) was born Dec 21 1911 in Buffalo, New York to Thomas William Lowry and Vera Shephard (both real). She had siblings Hazel and Thomas William (both real). In 1918 the family adopted their nephew Paul Foller Lowry when his parents died of the Spanish Flu (Paul is real but only one of his parents died and this adoption did not happen). In 1922 Rachel moved in with her nearby aunts Mina and Louise Lowry (both real). Rachel followed Mina to New York in 1926, then moved to Pittsburgh in 1933 and worked for the city on bridges. She also taught art, and held weekly jazz nights at her house. Rachel married Adam Burkehammer in 1940.
Paul (Paul Foller Lowry, b 1915, real, but fictional history) took over his adopted father's clothing store (real store) and expanded it into the national chain Buffalo Suits (fictional), and was quite rich. (In reality he became a vice president of the Firestone Tire Company, and was fairly well off.)
Adam Burkehammer (fictional) was born in 1911 as Adam Stewart Foller to Ethel Chadwick and Charles Steward Foller (both real). He was the fourth of five children (James, Ethel, Dorothy, Adam, Jane, all but Adam are real). (Charles' sister Ethel had married George DeLawson Lowry (real), parents of Rachel's first cousin Paul Lowry (real), so Adam was known to Rachel through family although he was unrelated by blood.) Charles died by falling through the ice while crossing the Allegheny river in 1917 (real), so Ethel Chadwick remarried the farmer Henry Burkehammer in 1918 (fictional, though there were Burkhammers in Pennsylvania on my father's side) so Adam Foller became Adam Burkehammer. Adam was a metallurgical engineer in Pittsburgh. Rachel and Adam had three children: Laws, Ada, and Amy. They lived in a house on Squirrel Hill in the suburbs of Pittsburgh.
Laws (Adam DeLawson Lowry Jr, b 1942) first married Delilah Lewinski. He divorced her because she wanted to party and freeload and not have children. Later he married Amanda Holz and they had five children: Adam (b 1973), Viola (b 1975), Josh (b 1978), Jessie (b 1978), and Ida (b 1981). They lived in a two-story brick house in Oggville Pennsylvania (fictional), which is a little east of Pittsburgh. The children attended Keystone High (fictional) (Go Keystone Crocs!).
Ada (Ada Chadwick Burkehammer, b 1945) is a lawyer and environmental consultant, advising the government and industry on the intricate laws around wastewater recycling. Hobby of photography. She married Don Jones (b 1946), had a son Wiley Jones (b 1973) who was autistic and intellectually disabled, they divorced shortly after, and Ada raised Wiley herself. Don moved to LA and worked as a taxi driver.
Amy (Amina Louise Burkehammer, b 1947) never married and worked for the Pittsburgh police.
Mandy Holz (b Jan 17 1946) was the child of Rick Holz (Frederick Holz, b 1917, based on real Frederick Mann) and Lucy (Lucinda Lee Stinnett, b 1917 Reno Nevada, fictional, but her parents Mary and Arthur Stinnett are real). Rick flew planes against the Germans during WWII. Mandy was the third of five children, Frederick, Debbie, Amanda, George, and Wanda. She grew up on a farm and liked to sing. She has a rounded face and red curly hair. She married Laws Burkehammer and had five kids. She originally worked as a journalist, often covering court cases.
Adam (Adam DeLawson Burkehammer II, b 1973) went to MIT studying materials science like his father and grandfather, but switched to computer science. Close-cropped black hair, joined a fraternity. He believes his destiny is to be a significant inventor and businessman, which both entitles him and puts certain responsibilities on his shoulders. He's not actually predestined, and he's not overly naturally gifted but still reasonably smart, so whether he can reach the future he sees for himself is quite up in the air. Whether he deserves what he feels entitled to is even more questionable, at least until he's actually achieved something. He does genealogy. Adam marries Emily Chan (from Hong Kong) and has two girls: Madison and Rachel.
Viola (Viola Burkehammer, b 1975) has straight shoulder length black hair, freckles, swims on the swim team, is seriously studious, plays acoustic guitar in her room, is quiet and afraid of overstepping herself. Studying chemistry. She marries Mike McGee and has four children: Wendy, Abigail, Michael DeLawson, and Sassafras.
Jessie (Jessie Burkehammer, b 1978) is a twin. Short, fat, red-haired, gray eyes, very intelligent, loud, swears, and generally has the goal of getting people to accomplish what they're capable of accomplishing. People are like legos for her to stick together. She's likely to go into politics. She went to Carnegie Mellon. She married, divorced, then married a Spaniard and had three kids.
Josh (Joshua Burkehammer, b 1978) is the other twin. Thin, gray-brown thin straight hair, triangular face, gray eyes, sort of a wimpy John Lennon. Mostly he acts ditzy and disconnected and random. He's trying to produce new good music. He plays electric guitar. He went to Carnegie Mellon too. He eventually has a common law wife, DeeAnn Robbins, from Atlanta.
Ida (Ida Burkehammer, b 1981) is a compulsive artist. Photography, art, music, performance art, movies, blogger. She doesn't fabricate things from whole cloth, no she just wants to capture and display everything she sees and experiences so others can appreciate it too. Wide-eyes wonder at the world. Adolescence throws her for a loop, because she both wants to documents sex and not be pursued by creepy men. Eventually decides to mostly drop out of society and be jaded and raise chickens in Vermont. Doesn't have much to do with her older siblings, relates to Viola more than the others.
Cathy Conrick (b 1966), also lives in Oggville, a sometimes babysitter for the Burkehammer children. She's competent, purposely flamboyant, a ham radio operator, on stage crew, on the debate team, plays D&D.
I have always wanted to write a comic strip. Coming up with something funny every day proved impossible, and once a week was very difficult in college. I haven't succeeded since. But I keep fishing for possible ways to do it.
The current most promising path is the Burkehammer genealogy. I'd have a range of characters and families from 1850 out to the present day (currently 2022), and the strip would dance between them. The goal would not be comedy, or drama, but rather observing the details of what it was like to live in that time and place. I expect it'll be somewhat comedic, because I always do that and comic strips are usually that way, but it ought to be centered on short storylines. The overall history would be known from the start, so there can't be suspense over who will finally marry who etc.
Some strips would transition from panel to panel back generations:
(2020) "We'll use butter here." "Of course."
(1990) "We'll use Crisco here." "There've been articles that butter
is actually better for you."
(1960) "We'll use margarine here." "Of course."
(1930) "We'll use butter here." "Margarine's cheaper and more scientific."
(1900) "We'll use butter here." "Of course."
(1870) "We'll use butter here." "What's wrong with lard? You think
I'm made of gold?"
I'm just making that up, I haven't researched the exact popularity periods of each type of shortening. Which means I can't write this yet. I'd have to first lay out a full cast of character, plots, and practice drawing styles that are distinctive for each age. I'd need to collect old diaries from the right times and places. I'd have to be a historian of those cities at those times. I'd also have to learn to write cartoons people want to read. Lots of research needed to make this fly.
Another:
(2020)"The future is solar!"
(1995)"The future is the internet!"
(1970)"The future is space!"
(1945)"The future is airplanes!"
(1920)"The future is potato chips!" (Then a series on building a potato chip factory.)
In the meantime I'll keep filling in short Burkehammer stories set here and there. Rachel Lowry is a central character, and she's only appeared in a few stories so far and only tangentially even then. Her years 1920 through 1940, she's right in the thick of lots of things, she's got internal philosophy to straighten out and external challenges of all sorts. After that she's also challenged to achieve as many of her goals as she can, but she's got her goals pretty much set already.