52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 51: Nice: Muriel Put Together the Wonderful Photo Album

I am working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

When I think of someone in my family who was nice, the one who was the nicest was my first cousin twice removed, Muriel Gilbert. If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn’t have this wonderful photo album of the Gleeson family that was so nicely labeled.

Now, the album has no out-right mention that she put it together, but there are clues. For one, in the table of contents, she references people by the relationship to her. Photo no. 9 has three young women: “Mother, Aunt Kate Whalen, Aunt Anna.”  [See photo below]

Secondly, the way she created the “M” letters is consistent with another booklet I have that she made, called the Birthday Book. In that book, she kept track of important birth, marriage, and death dates by month. In January, it’s very clear that she made the “M” in the same manner as the photo album.

I loved that she described the relationship of each person to her. It helped me sort out who the people were. I had not heard of many of them and began researching in Carleton County, Ontario, Canada census and church records for them.

I received the photobook very early in my genealogy research of the family and it might have come from my aunt, Virginia, or it came from my dad’s cousin, Margaret, who received it after Muriel’s death. I'm very sorry that I didn't document it's source completely. Anyway, it was such a joy to receive and I’ve bought an archival box for it, so it will be kept safe.

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