I Can Identify Because of Muriel

Many years ago, when I first started working on researching my family story, one of my aunts (I can’t remember which one – perhaps Aunt Lorene Waldron) sent me the Gleeson photo album. Oh, what a treasure it is. It is leather-bound with photos, mostly photo cards, inserted into pages. Each photo is numbered and there is an index in the front to write who is in each photo.

It was so exciting to pursue the album until I realized that the identifier listed people in relationship to themselves. Who was the scribe? My aunt had told me the album belonged to Muriel Gilbert, the daughter of Mary Martha Gleeson and Warren E. Gilbert. She never married and pre-deceased her mother by six years. Since Martha lived in a rest home in her later years, it is likely the album ended up in one of her niece’s hands. My guess would be Margaret Patterson, who was single and had written a story of the Patterson genealogy many years ago. Perhaps Margaret had then passed it on to either my Aunt Lorene, Virginia, or June, who passed it on to me. [Note to those who are reading: record gifts and the gift-giver. Don’t expect to remember!]

I later received a little book called “My Birthday Address Book” that had belonged to Muriel. In it are lists of people with their birth and death dates. The handwriting in the address book matches the handwriting in the photo album. See how she made her Ms? It is very distinctive. Now that I know who wrote the identification of the photos, I can identify who they people were in relationship to Muriel and to me. Muriel and I are first cousins, twice removed. Her grandfather, John Gleeson is my great-great-grandfather.

Not all photos are identified and some photos that were identified are missing. But I still treasure this album very much. I first photographed the images using a camera and black and white film. I wasn’t happy with the result. I asked my sister-in-law who was better with a camera to do the same and her results were better. Once scanners came on the market, I scanned the photos. I really should re-scan them at a higher resolution. The album is now housed in an archival box for protection.

Thank you, Muriel for being diligent in carefully identifying the photos and creating the birthday address list to help me with your identification of the photos.

#52Ancestors: Week 8: I Can Identify

This is my sixth 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.

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