Memory Monday 2

Before I start with new memory photo, I want to share how I know so many details about my veterans. And the rest of my family.

I come from a family of "stayers". Other than my Revolutionary War sixth great grandfather, everyone lived in my county and was buried here, either by immigration or migration.  It makes researching your family history so much easier when all the records are 1.5 miles away at the county courthouse. I also have access to a library that has all the newspapers from my county beginning in 1834 available online to search.  I feel like a cheater compared to most family history researchers. 

Now to my second group of memories. Photo memories are my favorite. I think it is because two of my grandparents were orphaned as children and they didn't have any family photos to pass down. 

The second night of my first genealogy class we were learning how to use Ancestry dot com.  I put in the name of my 2nd great grandmother and this photo came up. 

I said, well this is wrong, that is my grandmother. I don't know if you can see the resemblance in the photo below, but my grandmother really resembled her grandmother in real life. 

This is a photo of my mother, my oldest daughter, me holding my youngest daughter and my grandmother who was in her 90's.  The photo would have been taken in the mid 1980's. 

The only photo of my grandmother's mother was this family photo I found on Ancestry. I was not sure which of the six sisters was my great grandmother. She died when my grandmother was about 10 years old. 

Our local Facebook page had people post photos of old houses around town. A local resident posted a photo of a house from about 1930 with a woman she identified by name on the porch as her grandmother. I commented that I think your grandmother was my grandmother's sister! 

This lead to her coming to my house with a rubbermaid tub of family photos. Unfortunately this is the only one we can identify for sure as my great grandmother.  Her copy of this photo had names on the back! 

My great grandmother is the first daughter seated on the left side of the photo. This photo was taken in the year before she died and I think she looks much older than her siblings. I believe she was ill and they wanted a family photo before she died.

And to take a further step backwards, this is the first woman's mother - my 3rd great grandmother! She was born in New York in 1816 and was living in my county with her family by the time her brother was born in 1824. They were one of the "First Families" of my county.

Now you have meet me, Mary, my mom (whose sister was Mary), my grandmother Ann, my great grandmother Mary, my 2nd great grandmother Sarah and my 3rd great grandmother Sarah. 

I come from a family who likes to share names and live in one location.