Family Tree

This is the story of one of the very first European families in america. They live in Virginia, on a big piece of land and struggle with everyone else in their village. The family myth is that the elder of the family planted an oak tree in a field by the house to celebrate the birth of his son in their 5th year in Virginia. Soon afterwards the baby dies and is buried under the oak. The families fortunes improve and soon they are buying up more and more land, within a generation are the largest landowners in Virginia. The story of the family is retold by a mother-in-law to the bride of the oldest son in 2000. Everything about the family is told in correlation with the oak. The family had to abandon the farm during the civil war and the tree almost died. A stray bullet hits the tree in the revolutionary war happened a week of the heir dying. Every birth is written into a new branch, every death is written on the trunk. When members of the family move away, they always take an acorn with them, to feel connected with home. One year a huge storm hits and the tree is hit by lightning. The family splits but then finally recovers when the tree recovers. Finally the tree starts to die