JACKPOT!
Hi, all. Hope everyone's had a good day.
We were cleaning today, opened my mother's suitcase, and found a genealogical jackpot! Pictures, dates and records, obituaries/funeral mementos, and more. (Bonus for the handwriting being clear and legible! Unlike mine.) All from my mother's side, which I know least about. Apart from anecdotes from my father, grandmother, and help from a cousin, I had almost nothing before this, except what I'd dug up on my own (took me something like two weeks to find my mom's mom's mom's grave). (Speaking of that cousin, I found a picture of her from 1985; can't wait to show her. Hee!) What might prove most useful is an incidental on my grandma's death certificate. Her father's last name, and a country of origin: Scotland. BINGO! I'd traced other branches from my mom to Prussia, Scotland or Ireland (depends on records), and PA. But grandma's father was a mystery; just haziness and rumors. But I've got a name now! Albeit not a very unique one, but it's more than I had before.
Maybe this is strange, but I'd really like to travel around the country and go to the cemeteries where all my relatives are buried. Visit them. Remember them, so that they know at least one more person cares. I'll probably never have the money for it, but it would be nice to travel to the gravesites out of the country; I know for sure of a couple in Spain and England. (Why, oh why, did I not have any Japanese ancestors? I'd have a perfectly legit reason for going. Family research/business. Really!)
It was also unseasonably warm today, like summer came early. Noticed a woman walking up the block in one of those chunky cable-knit cardigans, and thought to myself, "Lady, I'm baking; how can you stand it? You can't possibly be walking fast enough to generate your own breeze!"
We were cleaning today, opened my mother's suitcase, and found a genealogical jackpot! Pictures, dates and records, obituaries/funeral mementos, and more. (Bonus for the handwriting being clear and legible! Unlike mine.) All from my mother's side, which I know least about. Apart from anecdotes from my father, grandmother, and help from a cousin, I had almost nothing before this, except what I'd dug up on my own (took me something like two weeks to find my mom's mom's mom's grave). (Speaking of that cousin, I found a picture of her from 1985; can't wait to show her. Hee!) What might prove most useful is an incidental on my grandma's death certificate. Her father's last name, and a country of origin: Scotland. BINGO! I'd traced other branches from my mom to Prussia, Scotland or Ireland (depends on records), and PA. But grandma's father was a mystery; just haziness and rumors. But I've got a name now! Albeit not a very unique one, but it's more than I had before.
Maybe this is strange, but I'd really like to travel around the country and go to the cemeteries where all my relatives are buried. Visit them. Remember them, so that they know at least one more person cares. I'll probably never have the money for it, but it would be nice to travel to the gravesites out of the country; I know for sure of a couple in Spain and England. (Why, oh why, did I not have any Japanese ancestors? I'd have a perfectly legit reason for going. Family research/business. Really!)
It was also unseasonably warm today, like summer came early. Noticed a woman walking up the block in one of those chunky cable-knit cardigans, and thought to myself, "Lady, I'm baking; how can you stand it? You can't possibly be walking fast enough to generate your own breeze!"