Something to doooo! Genealogy?

[NwMtGardener]

I hear what you're saying, thistle. I think thats why i feel guilty about saying No sometimes to that stuff. But its just my brother and I. He just moved into our grandparents house, and he kept some of the antique furniture, which i'm very glad about. And i'm very glad he and his wife decided to move to the grandparents house, so now i can still visit it!

So lucky - i think its a great idea to talk to your kids about what they would want. My one grandmother has asked me about different things that she'd like me to have, and she put masking tape with grandkids names on the bottom of things! We'll see how that works out in the long run! It also opens up the conversation about "what if" something suddenly happens, always a hard thing to bring up and a complicated topic. but important

 

[journey11]

You know...when i was born all my greatgrands were alive. I'm 37, and the last one just passed away at 102, in October this year. I knew them all, except 2 who passed when i was a child, as well as most people know their grandparents. I used to think that was normal. I realize now that i'm pretty lucky.

Yes, rare and blessed, indeed!

I had all four great-grandmas up until I was in my early teens (and one great-grandpa.) I was very close to one of them on Mom's side and spent countless hours at her house since she lived within walking distance of me. She told me so many stories and much family history and we looked through boxes and boxes of old photos all the time and she would tell me funny stories of things my grandpa (her only son) had done as a child. She had many doting boyfriends when she was young and still kept jewelry that a couple of them had given her and even left one silver bracelet to me and a ring that was set with a small Mexican gold coin in the center. My DD6 sleeps in the wrought iron bed with the original bouncy coil springs that she left to me that I used to sleep in as often as I stayed the night with her. DH refinished it for me and it is so pretty!

I wish now I had written down all the things she told me! (And had interviewed those other great-grandparents, had I had the forethought as a young person to do that.)

By shear luck, my MIL came across an old 1920's high school yearbook that chronicled the sophomore year of my great-grandma's sister and a couple of other relatives on her husband's side. The lady she was caregiver for let me have it because it had belonged to her deceased husband and she didn't have any relatives of her own in there. My great-grandma never progressed past 8th grade because she had to drop out and go to work during the Great Depression. I have a 1922 18-kt gold class ring that my great-grandma left me, but I never did figure out who had graduated with it. Maybe one of her sisters. I didn't purchase my own class ring...I wore that one instead.

I also have my great-grandma's wedding ring. Her husband was older than she and left her widowed at age 45. She wore that ring until the day she died, never remarrying. The center of the band is worn completely through after she wore it for 65 years. I wore that for my "something old" when I was married. I will not have a jeweler repair it, since that is what makes it so special to me.

For Christmas DH bought me a combo shelf/quilt rack to display 2 of my great-great-grandmother's (on Dad's side) quilts that she had made. She must have made hundreds of them in her day, because all of the children/grand/great's on that side of the family have at least 2 apiece. I also have several perennials that were starts off of what she had planted so long ago (on the family farm) and the Egyptian walking onions that were starts off of her daughter's (another of my great-grandmothers.)

I love these old things and I love having something I can touch and handle that makes me feel linked to that family history.

I have bits and pieces of genealogical information and old photos acquired on both sides. I need to sit down sometime and assemble it all together or join one those genealogy websites that help you search out the gaps.

ETA: Almost forgot, I also have the wicker bassinet my Dad slept in as an infant. My daughters both slept in it for awhile before they got too big and wiggly. If I think on it long enough, there's probably a few more things around here with family history. I'm lucky this house has so much storage space, ha.

 

[digitS']

You have treasured the connections, Journey. "That old thing!"

Your great grandmother must have been about Mom's age . . .

Maybe if we can have our children sit down long enough, leave the phone off, stay awake . . . too much to ask.

Wasn't really asked of me except Mom lived so much in the past during her final years. She would repeat the same information and on and on. Dad just closed down and off. Grands were gone while I was still in single digitS' except for Dad's mom. Only saw her twice in my life. Can't remember a single thing she said to me.

Steve

Here is an idea: the Millennials may feel more connected to a previous century, a different time. We will see.

 

[so lucky]

Isn't it fun how young kids love to hear stories about their parents when they were little? My grands sometimes beg for more stories about their dad. They get this "imagining" look on their face, trying to think of "big strong Daddy" as a 4 year old having a tantrum in Walmart.

 

[journey11]

Maybe if we can have our children sit down long enough, leave the phone off, stay awake . . . too much to ask.

The Millennials will be lucky to remember anything about their own glory days, much less the stories of their parents or grandparents. Nothing makes me madder than folks sitting in the corner, twiddling their thumbs, squinting their eyes over a stupid smartphone. It's called CONVERSATION, people!

 

[thistlebloom]

Journey, you have many treasures from the past to hand down to your daughters. I console myself sometimes when I think of the family treasures that have been lost to my kids by reminding myself that they are just "stuff", but it is sweet to be able to touch those objects that our loved ones loved.

 

[journey11]

Thistle, were you unable to get any mementos from your parents? :-(

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh, no, I do have a few things. But there were some things they had that were my grandparents and great grandparents that had a lot of memories to my sister and me that are gone now.

 

[Smart Red]

By the time I returned home from the hospital where Dad died, my mother had already cleared out and trashed everything that belonged to Dad except his plants. Those she wouldn't share with me and slowly killed off one by one.

When my mother died we had just begun the process of proving she had early Alzheimer's. I went to her house to find all of her good things had been given - or stolen - by some of the people she was 'helping' and huge bills from people who had used her credit cards. When it came to dividing what was left, my younger sister wanted just about everything. To avoid fights, we just let her have at it. I held a sale for the few remaining things and sis even took things off the sale tables.

When my sister died a few years later, all of the things she took were gone or hidden by her SO and I got very little of my heritage.

 

[thistlebloom]

By the time I returned home from the hospital where Dad died, my mother had already cleared out and trashed everything that belonged to Dad except his plants. Those she wouldn't share with me and slowly killed off one by one.

When my mother died we had just begun the process of proving she had early Alzheimer's. I went to her house to find all of her good things had been given - or stolen - by some of the people she was 'helping' and huge bills from people who had used her credit cards. When it came to dividing what was left, my younger sister wanted just about everything. To avoid fights, we just let her have at it. I held a sale for the few remaining things and sis even took things off the sale tables.

When my sister died a few years later, all of the things she took were gone or hidden by her SO and I got very little of my heritage.

People we are involuntarily related to can be so awful.