Sleuthing Through Photos

Submitted by: HostGFSCarlaD@aol.com

 

When family members were still living, I was not really interested in doing the genealogy thing. I was interested in the old days and many of the stories they would tell. I had my dumb wig on and didn't write them down, but some of them still stuck in my mind.  So, I was lucky that I still remembered some of them.

Now we go on to my story.  We had a family reunion (which I organized each year).  One of my cousins came with a box of pictures.  Her mom had passed away a couple of years before, and her dad just passed away.   So, she said to me "Here, if you can figure out who these people are, you can have them.  Seeing you are the one who is finding all this about our family I want you to have them." 

Well, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  But, then I started to check them over and I didn't recognize anyone. What a surprise, right? LOL

So, I went to my mom and she helped me with many of the people, including my own grandparents when they were first married.   I never knew them. L  Well, on we trudged on, looking and looking and trying to figure out who these people were and where these houses and places were.

Mom had an elderly cousin who was able to tell us many more of the people, but didn’t know some of the buildings.  Well, my husband and I were looking them over and he said "you know what, Carol, I think this building is in Cooperstown, NY."  On the building next door to the building I was interested in was a number.  But, my first instinct was to say, “Yeah, sure Cooperstown, what are you nuts?”  LOL 

So, one Sunday off we went for the ride to see if we could find that building in Cooperstown.  Up and down the streets we went. First we couldn’t even find the number on the building that was in the picture.  And we couldn’t find the building I was hunting for.  Oh - I was so dejected.  I just wanted to go home. 

Down the street we headed to our car.   We reached this one side street and I still had the picture in my hand.  Something in my head kept saying to me go down this street.  My husband looked at me and thought I had lost my mind.  But, then I started shaking (for some reason I did not understand at the time why I was shaking).   My husband kept saying "this can’t be it - there is not building on the left."  There was a park there now.  I said nothing just kept looking.  There across the street was the building that was in my picture.  I thought I was walking on clouds.  There on the side of the door was the exact same picture that I had in my hand except that mine had people in it, who I later found out was my family.  My great - great - grandmother and grandfather. My great - grandmother, and my grandfather. 

When I went inside my husband said ”are you going in?”   I wanted to see if I really had the right place.  I spoke with the Manager and he wanted to know where I got that picture.  I told him, and he wanted it.  I said sorry no, but I will make a copy for you. J

He sent me next door to the Village Historian, who was able to really fill me in on so many things about my family from the 1790’s to present.  Wow, I just could not believe it.  We went back a couple more times to talk to her and she was wonderful in helping me.  Oh, and that building next to the hotel?… well it seems it burned down.

© 2002 GFNEWS, a monthly publication of the Golden Gate Genealogy Forum, Inc. of Franklin, MA.
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