The Seavey Diaspora

As mentioned in an earlier entry, I’m off to New Hampshire this coming weekend to visit friends from college (and my leisure reading on the train, largely by coincidence, is likely to be an advance copy of a new book by Pagan Kennedy, who’ll be teaching at Dartmouth in the fall, on the ride up…and an old book by David Lipsky, Brown alum from the late 80s, on the way back down — and there’s your advance glimpse of my September and October Book Selections).

Being in New Hampshire, of course, not only means being in the state whence my father’s side of the family, like many Seaveys over the past four centuries, hails but also being close to Seavey Island, the disputed territory recently fought over by Maine and New Hampshire (I mean legally, not with guns).

Should Seavey Island ever be handed over to me, my resulting royal house will have a readymade slogan, for I have just discovered what is purportedly the traditional Seavey family crest online, with its fine slogan, “Virtue is more excellent than gold.”  Of course, I would have preferred “The gold standard and moral standards” or even “Virtue and gold — it’s all good,” but those might not be considered as poetic by some people.

My empire should include not only automatic citizenship for all who bear the Seavey name — and exalted positions for those precious few Seaveys with Google rankings comparable to my own, such as Iditarod champion Mitch Seavey, military commentator Mark Seavey, and comic book professional John Seavey — but also should involve a treaty of unification with Seavey Township (population sixty-four and population density about two people per square mile) in Minnesota.

Here’s hoping Al Franken will not end up representing Seavey Township’s state in the Senate.  (He might do to America what he did to hapless Air America!)  Should he triumph and Seavey citizens decide to secede from the U.S. as a result, they know what fledgling nation to turn to for support.