A Haven for Vee

Showing posts with label instant ancestors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label instant ancestors. Show all posts

Monday, February 13, 2012

A Lovely Lady


Lovely frost tracings. John thinks this looks something like a swan swimming in ferns. It certainly has been frigid in our corner. How about yours?

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So I've been cleaning and cleaning and tossing and shredding left and right. These are my mother's and grandmother's papers. I hold onto anything that is a letter with any information that might be of interest one day. If it's all about the weather and local gossip...not so much. If there's a mention of historical events...definitely yes. If there's a mention of family history...yes. There are a lot more yays than nays.

I repacked all the family photo albums dating back to beginning of time. For the first time, I can see how such treasures wind up in flea markets. There's just so much hauling these things along. What does one do with it all? 

And in the middle of that, I brought home another instant ancestor. I brought her home because her photograph was so clearly labeled. Her name is Irene Marion Powers and her photograph was taken in 1901 in Pittsfield, Maine.

sitting on my window ledge


Imagine my surprise to look for her this morning and find her already featured at another blog right *here.* The blogger has done quite a little research and found out some interesting additional information about the lovely lady.

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Downton Abbey...one cannot complain about that program dragging as the plot boots right along. Last night, the Spanish Flu was a part of the story line.

Back when I was teaching, I sometimes asked my adult students to write an essay on family legends and lore. If students couldn't think of anything to write, I would offer suggestions, one of which was to discuss how the flu pandemic of 1918 affected their families. I suggested it because my family is filled with stories about that time.

My great-grandmother went to bed on an autumn day and didn't get out of it again for six weeks. My grandmother, nine years old at the time, was coming down with the flu when her father fixed her a hot toddy and sent her to bed on the suggestion of the family doctor. Her father found her on the stair landing curled into a ball when he went up to bed. My grandmother recovered quickly unlike her poor mother. And the stories come from all sides of the family. Does your family have such stories?

I see that next week is the Christmas Show on DA. Does that mean that it's the final one of Season 2?