I am in the process of collecting old photographs for a display on a wall in our house. It will be a family tree type of thing. I am also scanning a lot of them and then editing them, i.e. cropping, changing color to black and white. Most of the color ones have faded so badly over the years. It will include direct linage ancestry only. I have plenty of collateral related ancestors I would love to add but space is limited. This will include 'K's' family as well but we are not in possession of as many photos of her family as mine. Apparently we had a lot of photographers. My Dad's father was a prolific amateur photagrapher. I think I have posted some of his old photos in Dehaviland D-4 biplanes on here in the past. All he had was an old Kodak box camera you held at your waist and looked down into the small view finder. I am amazed at the quality of some of those old photos.
A lot of this collection is due to my passing interest in genealogy but also my sentimentality. I know that when I am gone, all those old photos will go into the trash sadly. No one else shares my interest, so it will stop with me. Same with the genealogy. Zero interest. But I have always had an interest in the past, in history, my roots. I'm the lone ranger as far as that is concerned. It even showed in my television and movie choices. Westerns are still my favorite.
I have a lot of information in my head that I have learned about my ancestors that no one else knows. One of the things I found in my genealogy searches is the photo on the header. I was stomping around and old cemetery trying to track down dates on ancestors and I found that marker on my 3xGreat Grandfather's grave and his wife's. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas has used my photo. There were other grave there with that marker. It's part of my bonifides of being a Texian and not a Texan, 7th Generation from what I can trace. Please don't use Texican, that is something the movies came up with and has been in use since.
I had been queried by an Aunt a while back and I related some information she had no knowledge of. This was about our common ancestor's service in the War Between the States. She said I should write our family history down for our family. Unfortunately I would be the only one that would probably read it. I really don't even know how to proceed and not sure I have that interest. My attention span wanders way too much. I sometimes wonder if I have ADD. It would explain a lot of things.
Happy Trails
3 comments:
My guess is that someone in your family (maybe a grandkid) will wonder about the family history. And if your insight and knowledge in these matters hasn't been preserved, that their own research will be poorer for it. If you are motivated enough to do it, I'd do it as therapy for yourself and for the future, even if relatives in the present have no interest. I know I am great full that a great aunt took the time to trace our own history in the 1990s.
Life is so much more than what is written in an obituary.
As an aside, my family (Pinkerton) can trace our entry into Texas (Cherokee and Smith County) from Tennessee from after the Civil War. So you've got us beat by 30-40 years.
I always enjoy reading your posts.
Pinky
Please get it down on paper or record what you know. That is an important piece of family history that does NOT need to be lost.
@Pinky-Thank you for your suggestion and kind words. I haven't shut the door on doing this. I just need to figure out how to proceed. As far as I can determine one branch of my family arrived in Texas in 1834 with some other genealogist suggesting 1827. Others arrived later 1840-50 era. Thanks for coming by
Old NFO-I will probably make a stab at it once I figure out how.
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