My favorite family memento is the large box of family history, old photographs & genealogy records passed down to me from my Grandmother; the history of who I am and the who/what/where/when and how by which I came to be, as our family tree grew and branched out.
I must admit that I didn't fully pay attention to Gram's excitement as she joined genealogy clubs & searched for vital information upon her retirement several years ago. After all, I was a single parent right smack in the middle of raising 4 energetic young children. The thought of spending any rare quiet moments of spare time sifting through old photos and birth/death records of my ancestors seemed like quite a chore.
As I've gotten older and my own children are grown, I am so very grateful to have had all these glimpses of our family history handed down to me before my Grandmother passed away. They are indeed very interesting. Old photos explaining who my great-great grand-relatives were and where they came from; immigration papers and passports with photographs and vital information; birth, marriage, and death certificates from a span of over 150 years. Proud photos of 1st automobiles, autograph books with whimsical writings of high school classmates, graduation certificates and honors bestowed for jobs well done. Military records, letters mailed home from war saved by worried mothers & girlfriends anxiously awaiting war endings, metals and ranks received. Locks of hair carefully saved from 1st haircuts, tiny hospital bracelets with beaded baby names, dates & places of the various events of life.
While Gram did gather a multitude of information, documents, and photos ~ she never got around to properly organizing all that information. Before I get too old to get around to it myself, it's my goal to create a series of organized albums & digital displays documenting where I came from... to pass down for the next generation of branches in our family tree. copyright 2013 www.redshedvintage.com
lovely idea Donna I might steal it. lol
ReplyDeleteThank you, Elaine! Steal away, I enjoy sharing my ideas ;-)
DeleteWhat a worthwhile endeavor (and what a lot of work it will be, though a labor of love)! What I have found in my own life regrettably, is that when older loved ones were eager to talk about family history and pass it on to me, I was not ready to listen carefully. Now that I am most of my opportunity is gone.
ReplyDeleteMay, it seems that life tends to run it's course in basic cycles ~ perhaps we all tend to become interested in our past only when we begin to feel like we're in the 3rd quarter of the game. Hopefully with all the technology available today, future generations will have something like a family history/photo blog documentation... to pass on like a baton in the race to get through life's cycles.
DeleteMy excitement over my mother's genealogy interest was lackluster in the beginning as well. But like most things, I learned to appreciate the knowledge and the connections that so easily could've been lost to "time." Had to check out your post when I saw the link on Folk Magazine!
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