Grandma’s Letter
I don’t recall what compelled me to ask the question to my
parents about my family history, but at age 12, I have a clear memory of the
curiosity that started to build from their responses. My father’s ancestral lines are 100% Swedish
& he readily had a couple generations of information & memories; my mother’s
ancestral lines were, to her knowledge, Irish and German. Her knowledge was limited as it appears that
family history was not a common topic of conversation growing up. My paternal grandparents both died before I was
born; my maternal grandparents were still living, albeit several states away in
Minnesota.
And, so it began with a letter to Grandma. She had precious few details, but it
satisfied my 12 year-old’s curiosity.
Better yet, it was more than enough to get me started 30 years later
when I jumped in with both feet into the vast and curious world of genealogy.
To this day, I treasure her letter to me, from the pink floral stationery that
she used, to her penmanship that I recognize from our ongoing letters, and to
the snippets of knowledge she shared.
To my children’s dismay, I have developed a deep respect for
and interest in genealogy. While raising
three children with my husband and working full-time outside the home, my time
spent on family history research is limited.
Taking a page from my ancestry cousin’s (3rd cousin once
removed)
blog Nellie’s Basket, a must read, I created this blog to share information
with my family, close and distant…and, of course, anyone else who has an
interest in genealogy! This is also my first adventure with blogs, so the percent likelihood of posting formatting mistakes and errors is moderate to high...Houston, we are go for launch!
Never knew how your love of your ancestry got started. Nice to put things in context. Thank you for inviting us all to join your journey!
ReplyDeleteHi Terri,
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed reading your blog. Great stories and I LOVE all of your pictures!