As life comes from a breath, a word, the picture goes from a blurry monochrome to a moving, vibrant, colorful image as if one has breathed essence into it.
At least in my head anyway, for I now have a story.
This post is for Genealogy Matters Storyteller Tuesday Challenge: OBIT OBSERVATION: a death record that reveals something about an ancestor.
A 1923 photograph & a newspaper clipping led me to a legacy I never knew I had.
I always thought it morbid to read obituaries. No offense to my elderly readers, but the activity seems more typical of the generation ahead of me, for I remember my mom and grandparents habitually scanning the newspaper for the obituaries and commenting every so often on a particularly notable death.
In fact, a former neighbor with whom we had all lost touch showed up at my mom‘s funeral, and when I asked how she even knew my mom had passed, she, of course, stated that she had read it in the newspaper.
Good thing the funeral home director had reminded me to send in that blurb to our local paper.
I’m in touch with a research specialist who has gathered important information on my previously unknown ancestors, and you guessed it – I was able to view a sort of obituary for a grandparent, printed in the area Free Press in the spring of 1923.
I also learned that our main library downtown has an archives department where one can search old newspapers—in which I found other treasures as well.
My grandfather died at the much-too-young-age of 42 from contracting a severe & swift case of double pneumonia, leaving a wife and a quiver full of children behind.
For anyone browsing, such an obituary reveals a very sad situation. His widow left to raise her young family on her own.
What it does not reveal is the story of his life prior to that spring day in ‘23.
Since I perused a file on this ancestor in those archives, I happened upon information that supplements this obituary.
And because I met a previously unknown family member, I was able to see photos of this young man’s funeral procession. My historical consultant explained why his procession was so elaborate, business owners closing shop and standing on the street as the horse-drawn carriage transporting his coffin passed by. A seemingly military march following for a man with a prominent role in the building of a city. All common for a man active in the hub bub of the city back in the day, shortly after WWI.
Even better, I heard stories of how he met his wife, my grandmother, and how their love story lasted 60 years after his death.
Love-at-first-sight, I heard. This man’s wife called him her knight in shining armor, the love of her life, her hero. She spoke of him daily until she finally left earth at the age of 101 to join him.
Stories like this have never been part of my heritage. I didn’t know many happily married couples in my family. And when I uncovered secrets & deception underneath the already-known transgressions, my family legacy looked pretty disreputable.
The fact that I didn’t know these people, or even know of them, until recently puts the concept of my family history into question.
Am I to rewrite my history?
Can I claim this as my heritage at all?
Do behaviors or values trickle down into our cells, dotting the strands of our DNA?
Does a powerful love story flow through our bloodline?
My grandfather died young. But the love he shared with my grandmother endured. Through stories. Through children. Through memory. And somehow to me.
Some relationships were buried in archives, silent until now.
Now, they echo. And I am listening.
Do you have anyone in your family who left behind a story that still speaks?
{ I am still tip-toeing around these unearthed stories, so you’ll notice I do not use names very often. I strive to be careful to protect the innocent bystanders of my story who have not yet opened the tomes. Maybe reading my book will pave the way for them. And maybe 🔗 My Father’s Daughter , linked here, will inspire you, too, to tell your stories. Keeping it all uncover just creates unnecessary pain.}
NOTE: Liking ❤️& Sharing helps more people find inspiration in family stories. 😉
Shell, thanks to your book, the life of you and your dad will endure.