Family Tree Branches

Family Tree Branches

Yes, I do have a new look...I think a few of you noticed! I found it and was surprised how easy it was to apply to my blog...all by my little self! The only snag is I can't figure out how to keep the little ad from covering up my post titles...any suggestions?

Thank you to all of you who commented on my last Show and Tell.
(And Ginger, my history-phobic friend, I have it in writing now that you won't avoid history posts in the future! Sorry... it's a little inside facebook joke...) ;)


And speaking of history (yes, Ginger, I'm still speaking of it...hehe)
some of you know I also specifically love family history and genealogy.
My mom's sister traced our ancestors back to Gov. William Bradford and beyond...all the way to the 1600's which completely boggles my mind!

But as for my dad's side, I didn't even have anything much past my grandparents until recently.

I posted awhile back when two of my distant cousins on my paternal grandfather's side contacted me through the ancestry.com and filled in a lot of blanks for me, including sending pictures and copies of letters.

Well, recently yet another cousin from my paternal grandmother, "Gammee's" line, got in touch with me.
I was extremely close to my "Gammee" so having finally some information about her parents and grandparents has been pretty exciting.

Now, when she was alive I did indeed ask her questions about the "good old days" but for some reason, I don't remember what- if anything- she said about her parents.

But now...after all these years...I have a picture!

In corresponding with this new-found cousin recently, I e-mailed him a few old pictures I had of my grandmother's siblings, ect.

I thought it would be fun to share them with you, too!
Here I am with two of my grandmother's sisters when they came to visit my family in 1980...
(Um...I'm the young one.)

My grandmother had many sisters, all of them treasures....these two aunts happened to live out of state so I seldom saw them.
But there was an occasion or two when I was little when Aunt L. on the right came up to visit all of the family here and brought along her two granddaughters, who were a little older than me.

Here's one of those occasions...

I'm the short one...who seems to be dressed as a boy for some reason that day. (Mom...?)

But there was also this time, when I decided to dress up just a bit more...

Yep, again I'm the short one in the middle...oh yeah...with attitude!

Sadly, I have completely lost touch with these second cousins.
Oh, I have kept some contact with other second cousins, and especially one whom I grew up with... but somehow, as each of my grandmother's sisters passed away one by one, so most of the grandchildren of each of these sisters began to lose touch.

Those grandmothers who once were little girls within the same household and shared parents, secrets and clothes...they were the common bond between the grandchildren that they would later have.
But the common bond is gone.

Now my newly discovered distant cousin is asking questions about them all...which now, in turn, has me wondering. I think I just may have to find out...

I'm thinking, sometimes searching into the past can lead to searching into the present.

Blessings!