In the prologue, the woman we learn is Celia’s granddaughter says that with time she’s come to understand how much she’s been shaped by “not just those on the branches of my family tree but also by their stories.” How do you think our forebears’ stories shape us? Do you have any indication of this in your own life?
As someone who has done family genealogy, those facts, birth dates, death certificate, etc. all tell a story, but the real history, the personality, the struggles, the bravery of your family are in the stories told by parents, grandparents. Sometimes it is hard for them to tell the story because of the memories brought back, but that is where the history lies. Unfortunately, children today are more interested in computers. then listening to grandma or grandpa.
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I think stories are easiest to remember and relate to–whenever I hear a story about a distant family member I feel close to them event if I never met them. Stories often include feelings in addition to events which makes them timeless.
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My paternal grandfather was a masterful story teller. The stories he told about his childhood on a farm in southern Indiana,being the first in the family to own a Model T, how he’d eloped with my father’s mother, and how great great Aunt Julia smoked a corncob pipe and drank moonshine gave me insights into where we’d come from. My dad didn’t talk much about his youth until he was in his late 80’s, which gave me a deeper understanding of his strength and resiliency that he’d passed onto his children. We are all products of the generations that came before. On the other hand, my mother was completely tight lipped about her family. It leaves a gaping hole in our understanding of where we came from.
I had the fortune of inheriting my grandfather’s glass negatives and photo scrapbooks mainly based on the family’s life in Montana in the early 1900s. Also fortunately, my aunt who was nearing 100, recalled a lot of that time period and was able to relate stories upon seeing the negatives I had developed. (That service is no longer readily available as most private photo stores are out of business. The glass negatives were 4x6 or 3x5.) This all resulted in a project I pulled off of sharing prints with family members complete with my aunt’s recollections.
And most recently a cousin and I researched and wrote a 19 page narrative complete with photos about our mutual grandfathers who were brothers and the other four siblings. We dove into newspaper archives and reached out to cousins who filled in those personal stories.
As someone mentioned, DOB and DOD dates are important but the bits and pieces of life stories are precious. Personalities come alive and perhaps make it easier to think who my sister or brother got that from! 