Monday, April 20, 2015

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.  

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