Kalloch Family Webmaster

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Welcome to my autobiographical page, I'm Ken Kalloch, webmaster of this site, and two other family sites The Killough Reunion Association Home Page and My Irish Roots (a site for a cousin of mine).  I'm also co-historian of the Kalloch Reunion Association, along with Peter Richardson, and one of four assistant historians of the Killough Reunion Association.

For my Kalloch and Killough relatives who might wonder how I connect with the family, this is how I connect: My father was David H. Kalloch, son of Sumner Boyd Kalloch, who grew up at Wiley's Corner in St. George, Maine.  Sumner was a son of Adam Boyd Kalloch, who was a son of Capt. Adam Kelloch, son of Hanse Kelloch, who was a son of Matthew, son of Finley (Killough) Kelloch, who came from Northern Ireland to Boston, Mass. when he was 7 years old in 1718 and settled in St. Georges, Maine in 1735.  My Kalloch line from Robert & Mary Killough to me in register book format.  Here are a couple pages with photos of myself and family: My "Portrait Pedigree",  My Photo Album page.

I made this page so that our website visitors can know a little abut me.  This page is divided into five sections which cover some of my experiences and interests so far in my life.  The sections are: 1) My family, work, etc., 2) Family history & genealogy, 3) Computers 4) Religion & Argentina, 5) Lakota (Sioux) culture & spirituality.

My Family, work, etc.

I'm 49 years old and single.  I was married, but we divorced in 1999.  We had four children and I've dedicated this website to them.  It's my hope that this website can help all of us and our children to learn more about our heritage and our connections as a family. 

My main interest/pastime is helping our Killough/Kalloch family to connect with each other, and with our history and genealogy via this website.  This keeps me pretty busy, but when I'm not working on this, my other main interest is learning more about the Lakota (Sioux) language, culture, and history.  I don't have any Native American ancestry that I know of, but I like learning about other languages and cultures, and the Lakota language and culture I find very interesting and I like it a lot.

I grew up and still live in Concord, NH.  After graduating from Concord High in 1978, I went to work in the composing room of Rumford Press, where my parents had both worked since the 1940's.  I thought that printing would be a good career, but after 3 years of working there I was laid off and the plant closed in 1983.  At the time that I went to work there, they were printing more than sixty different magazines.  The largest was Consumer Reports with about 2 million issues per month.  They also printed Atlantic Monthly and many magazines for McGraw Hill, Hearst, and other large publishers.  Both of my parents went to work at Rumford Press after graduating from High School.   In 1942, my mother, Catherine was one of only a few women hired to operate the Monotype caster, due to the lack of men because of WWII.  My parents brought me in there frequently as I grew up.  I remember when I was young seeing my father operating a monotype caster.  Then in the early 1970's I remember seeing the transformation to computer typesetting, and when I went to work there I saw further transformations in typesetting, which also led to the demise of the composing room.  Typesetting went from a very skilled  profession which required 4 years of apprenticeship, a large composing room and many workers, to something where publishers could set up their own typesetting in their own office with less people with less experience and less cost.  Now any one of us we can do virtually the same thing on our own home computers.  As Rumford started phasing out their composing room, I went to work in the bindery for about a year, and then was laid off in December 1982 as the plant continued moving closer to permanent closure.  During the time prior to lay off, I volunteered to be a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) and I ended up serving an 18 month mission to Argentina in the "Argentina Rosario Mission" from May 1983 to Nov. 1984.

After I came home from Argentina, I went to work at the New Hampshire State Hospital in the kitchen, (a woman that I had worked with at Rumford Press, at that time now worked in the kitchen and told me that they were hiring).  I worked there for 2 years and met my first wife (wedding photo), Marjorie (her portrait pedigree).  Unfortunately our marriage ended in divorce.  In 1987 I switched jobs at the State Hospital and worked until 1997 as a Nursing Assistant.  After a decade of taking care of psychiatric patients, I decided that I wanted to go back into printing and graphic arts, since I had previously enjoyed that type of work.  So in 1997 I quit work at NHH and went to work at a printing company called Concord Litho.  I worked in the sheet-fed press department first as a helper, then as a feeder (load the pallets of paper into the end of the press).  In the Fall of 2000 I had to stop work there because of an illness called sarcoidosis.

Family History and Genealogy

When I was pretty young, I remember going with my mother and grandmother Mabel many times to visit old cemeteries to look at old stones for genealogical information.  My grandmother enjoyed history and genealogy and did a lot of good research which helped me get started with my research.  One day she let me photocopy all her research, this got me started and I expanded from there.

Serendipity has also helped.  The most prominent case of serendipity that I've experienced was on January 13th of 1983 when I was at the old record's room of N.H. Vital records trying to research my mother's Messer family.  I had gotten back to her grandfather or great-grandfather, but that was only as far back as I had been able to get to.  I wrote "Messer " on a piece of paper and was going to hand it to one of the research volunteers in charge of the old records, so that they could retrieve the Messer records for me.  But then a guy whom I had never met, who was also there doing research, saw "Messer" on my piece of paper and introduced himself as Tracy Messer.  I showed Tracy the information that I had so far for this line and he immediately recognized the names that I had.  It turned out that his great-great-grandfather Hollis Messer was a brother to my great-great-grandfather Curtis Messer.  The best part of our meeting was that Tracy had traced this line and related lines extensively back to the 1600's and I was able to photo-copy his Family group sheets and Pedigree charts!!! 

Most of the research that I did on my genealogy, was in the 1980's, mostly at the Tuck Library of New Hampshire Historical Society.  I made a lot of progress, but I haven't done very much work on it since then and there's still a lot more work to do.  But my genealogical priorities now are, helping to research Kalloch and Killough descendants, so I'm not sure when I'll have the time or energy to get back to serious work on my own lines.

Computers

When I first got interested in computers, home computers were only available as kits that you had to assemble yourself, and the first computer that I used printed the information out on paper instead of a monitor, and programs were saved on punched paper tape.  This was at Concord High in 1977.  The school had a Digital PDP-8e, running BASIC, with two model ASR-33 -(nice photo, site is in German though) Teletype keyboards connected which printed everything out onto paper, and all the programs were saved on punched paper tape.  I thought that it was the coolest thing and in 1977 I was spending all my free time on it and even staying after school to use it.  That year I received an award from the school for "computer science".  This was the first year that the school held Achievement Awards night (according to the school history Timeline on their website), so I probably received the first computer science award that the school gave out!  Another thing at this time was the printing company (Rumford Press) that my parents both worked at (and which I later went to work at) printed all the books for DEC's computers (PDP-8's, PDP-11's, etc.) and also printed BYTE and Creative Computing magazine, so the occasional copy of these magazines that found it's way home also helped fuel my interest in computers. 

The first computer that I wanted to buy was either an Altair or IMSAI (it's still for sale!), but I didn't buy a computer until 1982 (a TRS-80).  I tried it out for a while, but ended up taking it back and I used the money for my trip to Utah in 1982.  I didn't buy another computer until the Spring of 1992 when I bought a Tandy 1000-RL.  The 1000-RL resparked my interest in computers and I wanted to learn more.  By December 1992, I was thinking about getting a better computer, and I set my sights on the Tandy Sensation (this was the first personal computer based on the MPC format), and I ended up getting it.  The Sensation came with a modem which allowed me to call online services such as Prodigy and America On Line, so within a short time I had downloaded a lot of free/shareware games, etc.

The next significant event that happened was that a girl whom I worked with told me that I should meet her boyfriend, because he was really interested in computers too.  This other guy lived on the other side of the city and we would drive back and forth to each other's apartments to swap the newest software files that we had downloaded.  I had the idea that maybe there might be some type of software available that we could download and install, which would allow us to call each others computers to exchange files, instead of needing to drive back and forth.  So I started looking at and trying out various types of BBS software that was available for download on AOL.  The BBS software that I installed (Spitfire) work very well, so I decided to get a separate phone line for the BBS, and in April 1993 I made it available to the public as the "Starlite BBS."  (One of the first BBSs that I called was called the "Up All Nite BBS."  The spelling of "Nite" was part of my inspiration for my spelling of "Starlite," the other was, I was standing outside one evening looking at the stars, trying to think up a name for it.).  This allowed people to call my home computer using a modem.  A year later in April of 1994 our local newspaper did an article about mine and a couple other BBS's.  I ended up shutting down the BBS in 1998 (after 5 years of running 24/7), and I didn't do very much with computers until July 2001, when I started this website.  One very positive outcome of having the BBS was that it led to my interest in the Lakota (Sioux), which I'm happy and grateful for.  I wrote some more about the BBS in that section and how I was introduced to the Lakota by it.

Religion and Mission to Argentina

My religious/spiritual journey began when I attended Sunday school (I guess that it actually began before that, when I was baptized as a baby there, but I don't remember the event) at a Congregational church (the same church that my parents were married in).  I think that I even had close to perfect attendance every year of Sunday school.  I'm glad that my parents encouraged me to do this, but by the time I was in High school I was looking for something else.  At this time when I was in the 10th grade  I dated an LDS (Mormon) girl and we attended many youth activities together and I ended up joining the church, but I only stayed active for about 6 months.  I stayed inactive from the LDS church until January 1982 when I became active again.  By June of that year I was thinking about serving as a missionary for the church.  That summer I drove to Utah with a friend and we stopped at many of the church historic sites in New York, Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, and I spent the entire month of August with a family that lived near Salt Lake City in West Jordan.

I don't remember when I actually applied to be a missionary, but my mission call came the following March to Argentina (National Anthem) (map of South America).  I was called to serve in the "Argentina Rosario Mission," in the northeastern part of the country (see the map on my Mission Photos page).  (In 1990 the mission area was divided, with the northern part becoming the Argentina Resistencia Mission).  (Argentina info page from LonelyPlanet.com).  On May 5th, 1983, I entered the Missionary Training Center (MTC) for 8 weeks of study.  There were 8 of us in our district, called the "Galvez District."  The 5 other Elders also went to Argentina Rosario, the 2 sisters went to Chile or Bolivia (I don't remember exactly).  The eight of us spent all our our class time together, which was about 9 hours per day.  Long days, but we learn a real lot very quickly!  I had a difficult time memorizing the "Missionary Discussions," but while I was in Argentina, I managed to learn Spanish/Castellano pretty well.

At the time that I volunteered to be a missionary, I felt strongly that it was the right thing to do, and I'm glad that I was able to do it.  I arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina on July 8th 1983,  (this was just one year after the Falklands/Malvinas war, and the military still ruled the country).  After arriving in B. A., we rode to another airport, then took a flight to the city of Rosario.  My first mission area was in Rosario (3rd ward, Saladillo), then my next area was in downtown Rosario (7th ward, Parque Independencia).  On the evening of Oct. 30th, it was quite a sight to watch from our 2nd floor apartment, the streets and sidewalks below fill with multitudes of jubilant Argentines after elections were held (¿Luder o Alfonsín?) and Raul Alfonsín won.  (The era of the Argentina's military dictatorship was coming to an end!).  On Oct. 31st, I left Rosario (province of Santa Fe), and traveled to La Paz (prov. of Entre Ríos).  Then I journeyed up north to Misiones province to Apóstoles & Posadas (2nd branch).  (Apóstoles & Posadas are now part of the Argentina Resistencia mission, instead of the Argentina Rosario mission).  After about 7 months in Misiones, I then went back to Santa Fe province, this time to the city of Santa Fe, (Pompeya branch), and finally to the city of Rafaela.  On Nov. 6, '84, fifteen of us (the other 5 Elders that I started with, plus 7 others from the U.S. & 2 Argentines) who served missions from July '83 to Nov. '84, gathered at the mission house.  I received an honorable release from my mission, and arrived back home on Nov. 8, 1984.  Serving on this mission was one of the best experiences of my life, although it was very difficult at times. (See: My Mission Photos Page).

I still try to keep up with the Spanish language (Castellano), even though it has now been 23+ years since I lived in Argentina, and I still enjoy drinking yerba maté (bombilla), the national drink of Argentina and Paraguay.  I also still have a real fondness for Argentine tango music and a lot of the "Rock Argentino" (my favorite band is Los Enanitos Verdes), dulce de leche, empanadas, and many things Argentine.  But, I don't have the same fondness for the church and I'm no longer a member.  I still think that there are some good things about the church, but there are too many things in its doctrine (and Book of Mormon) that are no longer logical to me and which I can no longer accept.  I kept going for about 4 years after my mission, but ended up deciding that I needed to pursue a different path.  It was difficult for me to get past Mormonism (recovery from Mormonism site).  Leaving Mormonism surprisingly created a big spiritual void which was difficult to fill with any other religion/spirituality.  I looked at other spiritual paths in the late 1980's, but by the the early 1990's I had pretty much totally abandoned trying to find a religion or spirituality that I felt comfortable with.  This all changed in the Spring of 1995, when I was introduced to traditional Lakota spirituality.

Lakota Culture and Spirituality

In September 1994 my interest in the Lakota culture was ignited when a person who had an interest in Plains Indian culture, "partially the Lakota/Sioux", called my BBS (newspaper article about my BBS).  At this time I had no idea who the Lakota were, but seeing Lakota and Sioux written together sparked my curiosity and I wanted to know more about them.  The first thing that I did was to get the "L" encyclopedia and look up "Lakota," but it didn't have anything, so I looked up Sioux, but that didn't tell me very much, other than they were located in South Dakota.  My next step was to get out a large National Geographic map which showed South Dakota in detail and I saw where the Reservations (pdf map) were.  Then I looked for more information on the computer BBS networks that I had access to (this was prior to Internet web access).

I found a series of Dakota/Lakota language messages: "ieska wowapi dakota" on "Native_Network" (an "echo-mail" network which was available on BBS systems) that really interested me!, (I've seen a similar series of Lakota language posts at UniLang).  The person who called my BBS had taken a Lakota Philosophy course at Sinte Gleska University with Albert White Hat (link to Albert's Lakota language book), and a short time later he gave me a bookstore list from Sinte Gleska University (on the Rosebud Lakota Reservation in South Dakota) and I ordered some Lakota language books.  I also read some cultural/history books which he loaned me, by Luther Standing Bear, Black Elk and James R. Walker.  I studied the Lakota language and history, but stayed away from the spirituality.  I read on the computer about problems with non-natives getting involved with the spirituality, and with "plastic medicine men" selling Native American spirituality.  After reading this, I felt it was not the right time for me to delve into studying the spirituality, and the respectful thing to do was to leave it alone until I understood more.

In March of 1995, 7 months after beginning my Lakota study, I ordered a cassette and book of Lakota Ceremonial Songs (doc file), by John Around Him, from Sinte Gleska University.  I was curious to hear how the songs sounded.  My order came and within a week after it came, I saw a newspaper notice that John Around Him was coming to New Hampshire to do a workshop, not far from my home.  I looked at the name in the paper and said to myself, geez, isn't that the same name as the guy on the tape and book?  It was!  John conducted a two-day workshop at local Indian Museum in April 1995 and I was able to attend.  He spoke about the traditional Lakota culture, history and values, and he stressed the importance of the Lakota language ("language comes first, language is everything, without the language we have no culture").  He also cautioned people to be careful with trying to learn the spirituality from books, saying that they will confuse you, and are dangerous.  He also warned us about people from the reservation going around lying to people and that religion isn't to be sold.  He said that we've got to be careful with what we're doing in a spiritual way, to ask questions and get enough information. 

During John's presentation, he also told us about his life and the problems that he had after returning from the Vietnam war with drugs and alcohol and then he told us how he was able to give up those things, and end up where he is now in his life, a cultural and spiritual leader in his community.  After each day of workshop John conducted a Lakota purification ceremony (inipi) at another location (Proctor Academy, in Andover, NH).  This was the first time that I participated in this ceremony and my first experience with Lakota spirituality.  Prior to meeting John, I was drinking a lot, and it didn't seem like I could go without it.  While we were standing around waiting for the stones to heat for the purification ceremony, I was talking with John about drinking.  I told him that I really didn't drink that much, which was an understatement, all John said to me was: "you don't need it."  These four words stuck in my head and that night after my first inipi was the first night in a long time that I didn't drink any alcohol.  I'm very grateful to John for coming to New Hampshire and sharing his Lakota culture, and for inviting me and my family to visit him, and his family's sundance in South Dakota. 

The following year my youngest son was born and I named him "John" after John Around Him.  When my son John (photos) was 2 months old he traveled with us to John Around Him's Sundance between Kyle and Allen, SD (on the Pine Ridge reservation), (my other children stayed in NH).  The following year our entire family was able to travel to South Dakota (click to view a picture of our family at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota in 1997).  (A Lakota perspective of Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills of South Dakota).  On this trip, John, now one year old, stood up and walked for the first time at the house of the family that we stayed with at Potato Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

When I started on this path in September 1994, it was said to me, that "to learn the customs and ceremonies of a people" was "an honor", and  that a person should "stay with one nation of people so that honor can be returned," also that it was not right to mix and match customs from many nation's traditions, because each native nation has it's own distinct traditions and ceremonies.  I'm very grateful for these words of advice, because I have followed this advice, and honor has returned to me in many ways over the years.

Following are some links about the importance of respect, and of not mixing Native traditions from one culture with another culture, or selling spirituality.  First is the Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality, which was unanimously passed in 1993 by about 500 representatives from 40 different tribes and bands of the Lakota, and the second is an Article On The "Lakota Declaration of War".  These pages also have some good information: "Cultural Theft," and "What is a Twinkie."

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