- Pleas take care of this book
“Facts as near as I know. Don’t hurt anyone to have records, as may come in handy to know in future. I’m writting five of these books from my copy. I wrote it from memory, + what others have told me, and from other records I have.
“I’m writting each of you five children one book. All are alike, or near, so if one child happens to get their book destroyed or lost, he or she can get a recopy from one of the other four children.
“Pleas take care of this book.
” By Mama”
These are my grandmother’s words, exactly as she wrote them on the pages of a 10 cent Nifty notebook, blue ink flowing from a Parker fountain pen.
The year was 1959. Grandma had it in mind to set down in writing the family history as best she knew it. “Don’t hurt anyone to have records,” she wrote.
She wrote out five copies of her little book, one for each of her children. I first saw my mother’s copy not long after my grandmother’s passing in 1965. I was 12 years old and I was fascinated.
Using my grandmother’s record as a beginning, I have gone on research binges over the years always with the goal of adding to my grandmother’s legacy.
Grandma wrote from memory, things she knew and things she had been told. There are a few errors here and there as would be expected with any oral tradition. Still and all, it is amazingly accurate.
As I sift through the records on ancestry.com and other online resources, all I can say is….Grandma would have loved the internet
