Fun things

[cherimarie]

I found a bunch of fun things in the stuff I brought back from my Dad's after he passed. I'm just starting to go through the boxes and thought I'd find out more about the things I'm finding.

[dontbe]

This brings up an intersting subject...
 I wish our parents would share these things with us before they die.. "hey Ed, here is a trinket I thought you would like to see/hear about. It is/is not important to me, so feel free to get rid of it. It was given/I purchased it/found it at a antiqueshop/on a vacation/in the trash in 1957, and it reminds me of...."

Such an opportunity for a family story lost.. and it happens ALL TOO often. sad/sigh.

[Dean Perdue]

Great topic and points Dontbe but how about the senario where we try to share what we have with our children and they show no intrest or it's like pulling teeth to get them to take the time to hear about our finds so when were gone they don't toss out valuable stuff.
Especially sad when I see a grouping of militaria that some dude risked his life and went through hell for or maybe moms wedding heirloom that was so special to her but nobody seems to know what it meant then say whats this and ends up going unappreciated by the family then split up and blown out for next to nothing on eBay.
I guess we need to take more time and have open minds  to listen and learn about each others intrest/lives while the story is still there to be heard.
Sorry to hear about your loss Cherimarie.
The last photo of the watch looks intresting but I can't make out the details.

[CuriousCollector]

I agree that it would be nice for our parents to pull us aside and tell the stories.  And it would be equally nice if the kids cared.

But the thing that drives me batty are unknown photos.  It costs nothing to write who the people are on the back, and the event or date if known.  And maybe you can't get a kid to physically sit down and listen to the tale about the photo, but they can always read the back of it after you're gone. 

Among the many things we've brought out of FIL's storage unit are many, many photographs.  Some have writing on the back, but others are just lost to history.  Even FIL didn't know who these people were, and begged his mother to write on the backs during her life, but she didn't.  Maybe she didn't know either -- most are "carte de visite" pics, or tintypes pasted into cardboard frames, so they go back quite a ways.  But what a treasure of knowledge, lost forever.

[KC]

Totally agree.

I just went with my parents for a impromptu family reunion.  My dad related to me that his dad told him who all the family members were many times over the years.  He could remember 90% of them and my aunts/cousins could help to remember up to 99%.  We foraged through old cemeteries where moss-laden trees have grown over graves, even found a temporary marker of a relative buried over 100 years ago (when putting a morsel on the table was more vital than a headstone) and found graves that had plants placed on them in respect at one time - but have now taken over, flourishing and enveloping them!  The scene sounds sad and unkempt....but oddly enough it was so beautiful and peaceful on the bank of the pristine lake - much more like their period in time, than the rushed and hectic lifestyles of today.  Over 200 graves, many of civil war heroes and pioneers.  Outlasting the settlement that was long ago dissolved.  I am currently documenting/mapping all of the information and will be sending it out to all our relatives (along with photos) in hopes that someone one day will continue to carry on the family story.

[dontbe]

I agree that it would be nice for our parents to pull us aside and tell the stories.  And it would be equally nice if the kids cared.

But the thing that drives me batty are unknown photos. 

Yes, as a genealogist, this is inexcusable

Among the many things we've brought out of FIL's storage unit are many, many photographs.  Some have writing on the back, but others are just lost to history.  Even FIL didn't know who these people were, and begged his mother to write on the backs during her life, but she didn't.  Maybe she didn't know either -- most are "carte de visite" pics, or tintypes pasted into cardboard frames, so they go back quite a ways.  But what a treasure of knowledge, lost forever.

here is something to consider: technology. Please keep the pictures, even the unknown ones, because one day technology will identify the faces for you!!!! They will match your photo with someone Else's photo that DID know who the person was..

Another thing I thought about just today:

Keep paper records.. someday, you will be able to input information about some loved one, and, with enough info, the computer will answer questions with the same way the person might have!

[KC]

dontbe, so many of our families' pics didn't have any information written on them because they were told over the years the ink would bleed into the photos or on to the photos behind since you stack them back to front.  That did happen to some of the ones that weren't Kodachrome.....

So, interesting the reasons why people didn't do it!