My friend Eve has been talking about doing her family tree on Ancestry.com and it got me thinking about how my great-grandfather had worked hard on our geneaology while he was alive. He even took the time to write a couple of the stories into, well, story form.
I got it into my head to look for those stories and the family tree that I remember and playing around with them on Ancestry.com myself.
First, here is the closet where my Mom keeps all the family papers, pics, etc. that haven't been digitized yet:
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| It's usually a little neater, but I'd already been digging around when I decided to take the pic. |
Scanning all that stuff is one of those projects she does in her practically non-existent free time.
I found the stories:
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| I also found the files of crossword puzzles my Opa created and the speech that was read at his funeral in place of a eulogy - he wrote that too. |
But I also found these:
These are the baptismal and confirmation certificates for my maternal great grandfather and great grandmother. Filled out in German, though they were both born and raised in Ohio, and the churches were in Ohio too.
How gorgeous are these?
How awesome is it that we have these?
That is really wonderful that you have SO MANY THINGS! Wow! And I totally love that label about your ancestors. Haha!
ReplyDeleteWe come from a long line of hoarders. But the clean ones. :)
DeleteWe have my great grandparent's marriage certificate from Germany. I need to find it and frame it. Its so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteOoohhh...I bet it's gorgeous. I know we have more old papers but those were the treasures I cam across this time.
DeleteThose are awesome!! I don't have any cool certificates like that, but I do have the treadle sewing machine my dad's grandma used and my mom has the treadle sewing machine her grandma used.
ReplyDeleteI think it's always nice to have things that have been in the family for a long time. :) We have needlepoint pictures and quilts and a bunch of other things that have been made throughout the years and it's nice to be surrounded by my family like that.
DeleteWow, this is great. Your Opa does seem cool, I love that he did all that. And also the closet full of well-organized documents. My family has almost nothing from our ancestors, but what little we do have is scattered in boxes all over the place. I wouldn't even know where to start. Now I have a goal to try and do something like this for my family.
ReplyDeleteNot gonna lie, my Opa was the coolest and best Opa ever. And I am *clearly* not prejudiced about that. It's just facts is all. :D
DeleteI think it's good to get all of whatever your family has together and maybe work to preserve it. I know that some of the papers we have, no matter how careful we've been, are starting to deteriorate. That's why my Mom is working to get them all onto the computer. At least then we'll have copies that will last.
I am always fascinated with old stuffs. I like old pictures, old letters and documents.
ReplyDeleteIn Jordan, every person knows the names of all his grandfathers until the 7th or 8th grandfather. But unfortunately, we are very bad in keeping an documents or records of things. I would love to have a closet full of old letters, pictures and documents. Lucky you!
These baptismal and confirmation certificates are very fancy.
You labeled this "My ancestors are so German they bled beer." :)
I love that my family made an effort to preserve these things. Not everyone does, and though it is something of a Southern thing to be able to trace your ancestors back at least to the Civil War, the actual documents can get lost through the years. I didn't always appreciate the closet full of old papers, but I'm very glad that we have them now.
DeleteThose are some very fancy certificates, aren't they? Mine's not that fancy... *feels cheated*
You labeled this "My ancestors are so German they bled beer." :)
Yes, yes I did. And I feel the ancestral shame that they heap upon me every time I have to tell someone that I don't like beer.