Dealing with the past...

I had folders and folders of negatives in my filing

cabinet.. After finding on Amazon, a gadget that

will turn negatives into pictures and save them one

a sd card.. and down load them on to my computer.

My job has been to turn those negatives

in to pictures so we can put them on a flash disk.

To save for those who come after us.

Two of my daughters have been searching thru

Ancestry.com for the facts of who, what and when

of our family.  They are half sister, so they are

searching not only my family...but their father's as

well.

What a project this has become.  My aunt Harriet

many years ago, did research on her family. Her

father's side.. searching all the way back to

Sweden.  Her daughter has the gold mine that

my aunt cultivated.  Which she has shared

a lot with Ancestry.com... which has helped

my girls a lot as well as some cousins.  My great

Aunt May did the search many, many, many years

ago on Harriet (and my father's) mother's side.

Going back to the first Chase to land on the USA

soil.  With a few extra information.

You know, every 10 years we cuss the National

Census, but I have to say, that census which goes

way back.. centuries.. has help the girls with not

only where they lived but the occupation of those

head of house hold.  Very interesting.

My negative works has produced a lot of old

pictures that have been forgotten. From the 1960

to the 1990's so far. Places we have lived.. friends

we had over the years, cars, horses, cats and dogs that

have come and gone.  1327 of them... but they are

all saved.. some are rough shape. 

My next project is to cultivate from my cousin

some of the stories we know of our grandparents.

Some of us were alive when our grandparents

were alive.. the rest have the stories that our

parents have told to us about them.. So we

can give some flesh to the facts that are found.

Before it is all lost..

I remember a book and a show on television

called Roots, where the elders pass down the

stories.. The Native Americans do the same..

But this is becoming a lost art.  Some don't

care... and some care too late after their

parents are gone..  Well, we are trying our

best to not let that happen.  What got me

started was, there was a book written last

year about the island/town where my father

was born and raised..  There was no

mention of our family.. NOTHING.  My

grandfather, ran a horse and buggy taxi

to the two ferry sailboats that brought

people to the main land on each side. He

also with two other gentlemen build the

local theater. He had a gas station and

sold Fords.. which my uncle took over.

Had a store and they delivered groceries

by horse and buggy first and cars later

to the summer resident.. AND NOT ONE

WORD in that book about any of them.

Not my grandfather's brother who also

had a gas station.. did mention his wife

who was a postmistress on the island.

But that was it.. Well, I want my grand

kids and those after.. know we did all exist

and while we weren't  well known, but we counted.

It is a lot of work, but the girls are excited

to see where their relatives came from.

My youngest found out her grandmother's

family came from.. NEWPORT, R.I.  The

same area my parents lived in all their lives.

Small world.. maybe they knew each other.  

Also the side line to the pictures, is sharing

those of my friends and their children from

long ago.