Well, the name of this blog is me.. myself and I guess this post can be filed under the me part, well not really me but my better half, Kathy Last Thursday night we attended the reception for the opening of Duke Riley‘s project “Reclaiming the Lost Kingdom of Ralston Laird” a the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The project is part of the Philagrafika 2010 project . Duke is an artist who, well let him tell you what he does:
My work addresses the prospect of residual but forgotten unclaimed frontiers on the edge and inside overdeveloped urban areas, and their unsuspected autonomy. I am interested in the struggle of marginal peoples to sustain independent spaces within all-encompassing societies, the tension between individual and collective behavior, the conflict with institutional power. I pursue an alternative view of hidden borderlands and their inhabitants through drawing, printmaking, mosaic, sculpture, performative interventions, and video structured as complex multimedia installations. Read more here.
In this case it is Ralston Laird, the “King of Petty’s Island”. Ralston Laird is Kathy’s great-great grandfather James Laird’s brother and Kathy, being the great genealogist that she is, has done a great deal of research on the descendants of Ralston. One of the main reasons for her interest was that four of Ralston’s ten children were daughters who were deaf. The daughters all grew up on Petty’s Island and attended the School for the Deaf in Philadelphia married and had children. Well, about six months or so ago, when Duke decided that King Ralston would be his project, he goggled Ralston’s name and low and behold Kathy’s name popped up all over the place, because of all her queries and posts, etc. So Duke contacted her and she provided him with the majority of the information he used to complete his project.
Fast forwarding last night was the reception for the opening of the project and it was a great night. When we got there we first looked at the art work which was great. He used the information Kathy supplied for the family tree and many of the newspaper articles she sent. The thorns on the family tree which signified that the people led a life of crime were also there because Kathy knew their stories! As part of the project Duke also wrote a letter to Hugo Chavez on behalf of the on behalf of the Laird Kingdom Liberation Army requesting that the island, which is now owned by Citgo be returned to the Laird Kingdom
- Ralston Laird Family Tree
- Overall View of Family Tree
- Legend from the tree
- Painting of Ralston on Tank on Petty’s Island
- Duke Riley and Kathy
- Plates of the Royal Family (Living Heirs to the Kingdom)
- A Grandson of Ralston – Anthony
- Tombstone Rubbing from Ralston’s Grave
- Kathy at the Podium
At about 6:30 the program began. There were a few introductory comments, then Duke was introduced and he spoke reluctantly. At the end of his speech, he gave his laundry list of thank yous and at the very end he said that he could not have done the project without the help of Kathy Karn who had provided 80 to 90 percent of the information he used. He asked if she was there and after we pointed her out he called her to the podium to say a few words. Now, if you know Kathy, you know that in the spotlight is not where she likes to be, but she made her way to the podium and spoke passionately about her fondness for Ralston and the help that he had given Irish immigrants in the Philadelphia area at a time when they were not well received in the community and the courage to raise four deaf daughters. After that, we met Duke and his project manager, pictures were snapped and we continued to look around. At one point Duke’s project manager told us that Duke was worried about how Kathy was going to feel about what he did! All in all it was a great evening and wonderful to see Kathy get recognized for all the hard work she did in learning the history of “King Ralston”. I was a proud husband! You can read more of Kathy’s great genealogy stories at her blog Gone But Not Forgotten