With the interest in the great grandmothers thread, a look
at another branch on the tree - Great Aunts & Uncles.
- by blood or marriage, it realy doesn't matter for the children will be third cousins. For the great greats, that could be a whole
new branch of distant cousins. And, isn't it funny when you compare old photo of you or your parents and grandparents, then see the faces of great great aunts & uncles or distant cousins, how much do some look like others??
Not all of the great aunts and uncles lived to cash their first
pension cheque or go for a winter time vacation in
sunny California or some tropical paradise where the sun shines
while the old folks sit and relax with a tall cold drink
forgetting about cold winds and freezing rain or
those snow shovelling deeds - with heart attack potential,
or the skidding round and round 360 on black ice as the
fender benders rise.
A quick selection of lost great uncles was WW I - KIA
- John PHILLIPS.
Some of the married names of great aunts include
Savage, Cronk, Timms & O'Flynn. Then there was a Smith,
a Selley, and a Du Jardin, and others.
As a small child in London town many years ago, I do remember
visiting a clothes shop of the late great aunt Agnes. Or,
early years in Canada visiting great aunt Elsie. But, alas
some were gone and others lived far away, so I didn't get
to meet many of the old folks resting on the old family trees.
We never met, but they have their stories, and through the lips or words of their children, grandchildren
or great grandchildren some moments will be passed on.
One such deed, of the grandchild of my dearly departed
great aunt Louisa Rose (Zelley) Timms is a book. The primary
location is Alberta, Canada but it also mentions some of
the older folks that lived in Weymouth, Dorset such as
our shared great great grandmother Mary Ann WHITE from Wyke Regis and the mariner Richard ZELLEY. The book also touches on such noted places as Green Bay.
North Americans relate Green Bay with the mighty USA football team "the Green Bay Packers". But, it also had more personal memories of a great aunts grandchild and great grandchildren.
Being a London born lad, I did like fish & chips, rock candy from Southend-On-Sea. But, early years in Canada, visiting old great uncle Thomas PHILLIPS in a small village on
Vancouver Island, Canada was far different from running along Holloway Road in North London, or sitting in Hampstead Heath park.
Drinking goats milk and eating duck eggs in the small Canadian community was a far cry from Pie & Mash or roast beef & gravy on a Sunday afternoon in London Town.
