Visiting relatives over Christmas, I was just shocked to be asked if I wanted to look at the family box.
Well, duh........is the pope catholic??
Had I, I thought, not made my interest in family history
abundantly clear before?
How come you're only asking me now, all these years later??? I was so shocked that I hadn't been asked this before, considering that I thought I had been bothering them all for years to tell me anything they knew. I guess that unless you have the family history bug, it doesn't mean anything in particular to you.
It was absolutely thrilling. Apart from various BMDcertificates, there was a potted history from the 1790s of one part of the family, who apparently hailed from Somerset, much to my surprise. There was also a bit of history of my gggrandmother who hailed from Cornwall, which really sorted a few things out, giving the name of her father and brothers and other fascinating information.
Apart from that, there was a big box of photos which had belonged to my gmother and gfather. Sadly, although they may have known the identity of the subjects, by the time my aunt had inherited them, no one knows who they are. How sad is that. I was able to identify one photo of a building, because of census info I had acquired, but most of the other stuff will remain unknown for ever. Including, probably, photos of my ggrandparents etc.
I made a resolution there and then to sit down and write in pencil on the back of every photo who/where/what they are, before it's too late. It's quite certain that if anything happens to me, my son will have no idea who most of the photos are and what they are there.
One of the most thrilling things was a folded over paper containing a very leathery looking dried leaf. The writing on this was very hard to read. As far as I can work out, it says something like:
This orange tree that the enclosed leaf comes off was presented to George the 4th by Charles the 10th of France, said to be 408 years old brought from Hampton Court on the 8th July 1841.
How exciting is that. But no clue as to who wrote it or what their connection was to it. I'd love to know more about that.
Anyway, I guess, what I'm trying to say is:
Make it clear to your family your interest in recording the families history. Don't take it for granted they've got the message.
Sit down and write on the back of every photo who it is and the reason you have it.
Sign and date and explain everything, because - hey - it aint gonna be so obvious in a few decades from now.
Happy New Year.
Linda
