So Much To Uncover

About a year ago I decided to write a story for my Dad about his family. It would be a surprise for him for his 95^th birthday. I also thought it would be fairly easy as I had all the information, or so I thought. It quickly became obvious that the story had to have more than just fact after fact. It needed to have interesting tidbits about the location where the family had come from in Germany and where they were to make their home in the United States. It needed pictures, in addition to those of a census or passenger lists of places and people. All this added research took time, but in the end was well worth my effort.  In the end I felt that for my first attempt at compiling a family story, it was a job well done.

With the finished project in the mail, the waiting began. Would he like it? Would he take the time to read it? I waited and waited and finally he called about four days after I had posted it in the mail. Something you have to know about my Dad, when you call him on the phone, he NEVER says hello or goodbye! He just starts talking. Oh he might say something like, “Is that you?” and then just start right in. So when I picked up the phone his first words were, “I’m overwhelmed.” At first I wasn’t sure what he meant, but then he repeated it and I understood. Now mind you he hadn’t read it yet, that wouldn’t happen for a few more days, but he could tell a lot of effort had been put into this small book. He did eventually read the story and when he called after finishing it he said, “I’m still overwhelmed! Make one for Mother’s side too.” But the best compliment he gave was when he told me how it brought back so many memories. I had found on Google maps, a picture of the house he had lived in with his grandparents, parents, and baby sister. He told me about how he slept in the attic, his grandparents and parents slept in the two bedrooms and his sister was in the living room; how only company used the front door; and that there was an outhouse in the backyard and he was always afraid of falling in! He also told me that they had chickens and a cistern. He then told me he wouldn’t let my brother, who lives with him, touch it till he had finished reading.  Who could ask for anything more?

With that project done, it was time to concentrate on my Mom’s side of the family. This will be more of a challenge than my Dad’s because his heritage is German and my mothers’ is Irish. On her side we have family names such as Kelly, Grady, Roach and Cummings to name a few. Deciphering who is who will take time, lots of time.

But taking the lesson I learned from writing my Dad’s story, I started first with looking for pictures. Luckily for me I remembered a box I had gotten from cousins of my Mom, who had lived in Penn Yan, NY. They were sisters who lived to be 93 and 100 years old. Two little spinsters who taught for 40 some years and never married. At first I didn’t think there was going to be anything of value. It seemed that it was an album after album of pictures of trips that they had taken together. But then a notation under one of the pictures caught my eye. There in an album from a trip to Ireland there was this:

 

A picture that has the caption “Grandma Kelly’s house near Kerrick on Shannon”! WOW, I had no idea. This album will have to be put to the side for further scrutiny.

But also tucked in the box and a file cabinet that I had forgotten about were these gems:

  A family picture of the two young future teachers with their parents,

cousin and uncles

         Just a few of the Mass cards of family  and friends with birth and death dates.

                       And last but not least a portion of a World War II ration card!

This is just a sampling of the treasures that were waiting to be found. Thank goodness these two ladies loved to travel, take pictures and write things down! The time of discovery is here. To paraphrase Capitol One commercial, "What else is hiding in that box?"