Several years ago I inherited 5 or 6 boxes of family history from my mother. I've been lugging it around with me all this time, but hadn't ever looked through it. This week I decided to delve into it to see what was there, and I found a TREASURE TROVE! One box was FULL of letters and journals from my great grandmother Florence Grace Pettes Thacker. The letters go as far back as 1922 (maybe further) and include the love letters she and her husband Gerald Quincy Thacker wrote to each other when they were courting. There are about 300+ letters, 20 journals, newspaper clippings, odds and ends, a lock of my grandmother's hair when she was a baby, pictures, and even the ration books they used during WWII that still have the ration slips in them! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself! I'm going to start transcribing the letters today.
Also, as I was digging through the letters I found and email from one of my grandmother's cousins. I knew it was a long shot, but I tried the email and.... IT WORKED! He wrote me back and told me that he was thrilled to find me and told me that he was VERY active in family history and that they even had a yahoo group for the Pettes Family that I could join! I've meet several more of my grandma's cousins and I feel like a long lost daughter finally being found. It is the most AMAZING feeling. I can't wait to get started on my great grandmother's history. I can feel her cheering me on. I've never felt like this before, and I can really feel the presence of angels who are interested in seeing me succeed. They are counting on me. I now know Malachi meant when he said,
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:5-6)
2 comments:
That is amazing! I too have been bit by the spirit of Elijah. I've been focused more on getting a complete record of living family members right now. The last time I was home, my dad and I sat for about two hours putting the information he has into my computer. It's awesome!
Oh, I am such a nerd for family history! Any time I uncover something new I obsess over it for ages.
My dad recently digitized some long-lost photos of my great-grandparents from the late 19th-early 20th century and they are so fascinating! Perhaps the most exciting revelation ever is that my little brother is apparently a carbon-copy of my great-grandfather. WILD! (I've always wanted to see a picture of my grandpa's sister--daughter of aforementioned g-gf--because I'm constantly told that I am her body-double as well.)
I remember reading journals and letters of my ancestors (notably a great-great-grandmother who left Scotland at age 16 to join the 'Saints in Salt Lake City) and feel an almost tangible connection to these people.
Oh, an one more thing (and this really isn't as off-topic as it seems at first), I always write birth stories for my doula babies, but I never really valued their significance until a grandmother of one such baby approached me after his church blessing to thank me for the "wonderful piece of family history" I had provided. I was so touched. You better believe I take those birth stories VERY seriously now! (After all, if *I* had one of my own birth, it would be highly prized, let me tell you.)
I've been trying to convince my mom and grandma to write down the birth stories of all their kids. My mom is a closed book about my birth and it drives me batty. LOL
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