Family History

[chicken]

John Wesley Moore Family Group
Originally uploaded by chickenofeathers.

When my mother passed away, it was quite a shock to discover hidden pictures in her house, of relatives and ancestors she had always claimed not to care about, and Christmas cards from relatives she had always told us she did not know, and who wanted nothing to do with her.

Mah Family, Fresno, 1938
Originally uploaded by chickenofeathers.

I also found a lot of photographs of my father's relatives that I am sure he wants back, that were left behind in her house when he fled during the beginning of their separation/divorce.

I also found a booklet that she sent away for in the 1980's, from a distant cousin of hers, showing her mother's mother's branch of the family tree dating back to 1600's Virginia colonists!

I find all these photos fascinating because I had become accustomed to the idea of never knowing anything about my family. Now I know a lot more, and my father has started telling my sister and me lots of stories to go with the photos of his family. I've never had this kind of relationship with him before -- it feels good.



Meanwhile I have lots more scanning to do -- this is just a small sampling of the total number of photos we found!

Comments

[vrya.livejournal.com]

cool! I love old family photos... my cousin has promised me he'll be scanning a bunch this winter, let's hope he comes through. At the end of this summer, I put together a book with the few photos I had already collected and added transcripts of stories told to me by family members, and published via lulu.com. Every last member of my extended family was thrilled, I distributed 35 copies! If you have contact info for some of the other people descended from the folks in your collection, I highly recommend going that route! There's nothing like tons of praise from people you barely know ;-)

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

That might work, but I don't know any of them. I had one address from an old Christmas card, a cousin, and sent him the obituary for my mother, but never heard back. So it isn't likely, but it's a nice idea. And my father's side doesn't really need more stuff, his youngest brother's wife is REALLY into family history and probably knows more about it and has more pictures and stories than anyone.

[zandra-x.livejournal.com]

I meant to say how cool these pictures were a couple of days ago, but, you know, distracted. Cool!

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I love your icon.

[zandra-x.livejournal.com]

Thanks, it's one I really like from my Mildred Pierce set.