Lately I've been trying to print out all my website pages going back almost 14 years. Yes, it's quite a time-consuming job. So far I've finished one complete year and several stories. I'm reading as I go along... things I'd forgotten. It's fun, sad, and interesting... although probably just to me. I wish I still had the notebooks where I wrote when I was really young. Don't know what happened to those... probably got thrown away. I did keep the ones I wrote in college... although at the moment I cannot imagine where they are.
These pictures are me in grammar school, leaving for honeymoon after our wedding in 1968, and the last one was taken a few years back. Since I'm the photographer in our family. I'm not in a lot of pics. I did take a *selfie* the other day while waiting for a friend. I'll post it at the bottom.
While reading through my web sites and blogs (I've had many over the years), I realized how much I would have liked to have had some writings from my own grandparents who died before I was old enough to know them. The only grandparent I knew was my mother's father who passed when I was about 8 years old. I do remember him as being the kindest, gentlest man. His name was Leonce D'Aquin and spoke French - and English with a very French accent (a;ways reminded me of Maurice Olivier... if any of you remember him - the old frenchman in the musical "Gigi"?). Pa-pere' called all of us "mon cher" (an endearment) and as far as I know, lived his whole life in New Orleans.
But Ma-mere' died when I was a baby.... and so did Grandma and Grandpa O'Regan (my dad's parents who changed their name from Regan to O'Regan or back to O'Regan? when they moved to the states). From what I've been told, Grandpa Regan/O'Regan was quite a character. His family origin was Irish, but he was born and raised in England, taking his wife and 3 children to the US around 1918-1920. He and his family came to the US, but his brother took his family to Canada. Neither - from what I've been told - ever went back to England.
So... even though my writings over the years may not be anything too fascinating, they would give some inclinations as to my thoughts and feelings to future generations... if they are ever interested. The sad thing (and I'm guilty of this also) is that we generally are not interested until we're older... and then the people from whom we can gather this info are already gone. Thank goodness for ancestry.com as although they a tad expensive, they are a great source of information.
OK... enough of this. It's a beautiful Sunday morning and there's a million things I'd like to get done today. It's already 11 am - half the day is gone, so I'd better get a move-on. Here's the selfie I took last week.
You're right that we tend not to be interested in family history until we're older. I certainly wasn't, and by the time I was, Grandma (Dad's mom, my mom's mom died shortly after I was born) was ailing in a nursing home. My uncle Peter has stories and he started to write things down, but I'm not sure how far he got. I think he's too busy enjoying his retired life in Italy, frankly. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could use an ancestry site for my dad's family (a Canadian site, I mean), as they're all from Latvia and Germany. So I don't think I'll ever know more than my dad and uncle tell me, based on their own experiences and their memories of Grandma's stories.
There are more stories from the maternal side, and more living relatives, and I have a cousin who had started tracing her family tree, but that was some years ago and I don't know if she's picked it up again.
BTW, I know you can have "books" printed of your previous blogs, or even your current blog, if you want a bound keepsake. :-)
Kim, we have stories that apparently Grandpa O'Regan told his kids and the family wrote down (and they are definitely interesting - like the time he met Churchill when he was in the British Calvary, etc.) But when it comes to verifying some of them, it's more difficult. Actually you can get pretty much info from England and Canada... not so much when it comes to Ireland (at least that's been my experience). But I bet you can get info from Germany.... just don't know how much. However, if your uncle is in Italy, he may be able to get more.
DeleteAnd yes, I plan to check into the book2blog site for the blogs, but when I asked Homestead (which is the website I've used for years), they said no... only way to do it was to print individual pages.
I had not much interest in the old folks myself, until it was too late. I am thankful, in my grandmother's declining years, I spent time with her, and in order to engage her would simply ask a question about what she did as a child, a young woman, a mother, and so on. She would chat away while I knitted and nodded my head. Many of those stories come back to me. Writing down (most) of what I think is was the reason for starting the blog.
ReplyDeleteWell, Joanne, at least you thought to ask questions. And I think putting down what you remember of her memories into a blog is a great idea.
DeleteBoy, isn't that the truth: we have little to no interest in our ancestors until we are old ourselves, and then it's too late to find any of that information out. I love that honeymoon picture and the rakish angle on your hat. You are sure pretty! I love these old pictures and looking at people then and now. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, DJan, you are kind. But it is true that "we have little to no interest in our ancestors until we are old ourselves". However, it is also true that when we were young (-er), we were so busy with kids, family, and work that there really was no time to think about family history. And now that we are retired and have time, there's no one left to talk to about it. Life is funny...
DeleteLike you, I now regret bitterly that I didn’t get my parents to talk about their childhood. My grandparents either died young or weren’t much in evidence. I now comb through memories I gleaned here and there when family stories were told for an idea where I come from.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I think you mean Maurice Chevalier, not Olivier.
Yes, I did mean Maurice Chevalier... not Olivier. Thank you. Loved his "Thank Heavens for Little Girls..." in Gigi !
DeleteLovely pics, Rian.You're so right about uis not being interested in family history until sadly many of the people who could have enlightened us are no longer with us. One of my younger sisters is our family historian and has found out some very interesting facts about our ancestors, but that's not the same as personal memories. Sigh...
ReplyDelete