This photo was taken in about 1912 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My Great-Great-Grandparents are on the left, Palestine and Mary, their daughter Winifred, who we fondly called "Auntie", their friends Jesse and Mable in front, and Mable's mother and sister in back. They moved their family to New Mexico from Indiana in an effort for their son, Guy, who was ill with tuberculosis, to recuperate.Parts of the movie, There Will Be Blood, were actually filmed outside of Albuquerque. When I saw this film, I was transported straight back in time to the 1910 Albuquerque of my ancestors. I have never been there, but immediately recognized the rocky stubble of the landscape.
I have often wondered how Palestine's voice and accent might have sounded. In the film, Daniel Day-Lewis, who played the part of Daniel Plainview, was silent through the opening mining scenes. When he started to speak, in the first meeting with the townspeople, I felt chills listening to his character's distinctive voice! I was instantly back in time ... it could have been Palestine himself speaking! Day-Lewis studied oral histories of the time period to create his unique American accent and style of speech. I was absolutely mesmerized by his Oscar winning performance.
I also felt my roots in the wonderful surveying scenes, since I have several generations of surveyors from this ancestral line. Palestine, as well as his father, Joseph Lorenzo Dow Hanna, were surveyors. JLD served as county surveyor in Howard Co., Indiana from 1861-1865. I just might have to go back and see this film again, before it leaves the theater, just to feel my DNA tingle.
