I have many regrets about my early days of genealogy research, as I am sure many of us have. We regret not asking our elders certain questions before they died. Some of us did not even know about genealogy when our elders were alive.
That is what happened with me. In the summer of 1969, I flew down to Pomona, California, with my grandmother (Nana) to attend a wedding. We stayed with her sister, Loretta Patterson, in Pomona for two weeks. Loretta’s grandchildren were my age and I spent some time with them, visiting Disneyland, Hollywood, San Juan Capistrano, and other Southern California sites.
There were many days when I was home with Aunt Loretta and Nana for dinner. Dinner was always a great deal of fun listening to Aunt Loretta and Nana talk of their childhood days in Mitchell, South Dakota, and Anaconda, Montana. Only I did not know exactly where they lived until I started genealogy. Their stories had us laughing so hard, that they brought tears to our eyes. Aunt Loretta was the best. She was older than Nana and had done some pretty bold things in her life growing up.
Only, I do not remember any of the details, only the impressions. We did not have recording devices then. I did not take notes. I did not know that someday in the future I would want these stories to pass on to the younger generations.
I also wished I had asked questions of their brother, Jack, about his life and his time in the service in World War I. Only, he had been a bit gruff and scary to a thirteen-year-old girl. Such regrets.
Loretta Patterson, Jack Sullivan, Anne Hork, July 1969
#52Ancestors-Week 25: Storytellers
This is my seventh year working on this
year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe.
I write each week in one of my two blogs,
either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into
the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s
ancestors in new and exciting ways.
If only we could have known that someday we would wish with all our hearts to hear those stories again! I share your regret, not having family stories in the words of the storytellers.
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