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I have spent the last 2 days scanning a crap load of old family photos from Hubby’s side of the family. There were over 200 pictures plus newspaper articles! I’ve stayed up later these past 2 days than I have in years. I’m pooped. I’m also very glad to have the opportunity to do this for Hubby’s family.
A little bit of background first. Hubby’s parents died when he was in his early 20’s. Hubby has next to nothing to remember his parents by – no photos, memorabilia, diddly-squat. When we married I asked Hubby about family photos, etc & was told there weren’t very many, that his parents weren’t photo taking kinda people. Hubby does not know much about his family history either. His older sisters know a little bit but not very much detail. I tried asking the few older family members when they were alive but didn’t get very far myself. I even started building a family tree for Hubby so the information wouldn’t be lost down the line.
On the flip side, my dad’s family tree is very well researched. My mom’s side not so much & there aren’t many of them left to fill in the blanks either. That is a future goal of mine in fact. My paternal grandmother was great at filling in the gaps that the written family tree had – the oral history of her family. I grew up attending annual family reunions with scads of cousins running around, listening to the old folks talk, & absorbing the love & sense of family history. That is why I insist Hubby & Kiddo attend the family reunions now even though there are less & less people who come each year.
So imagine my surprise when I discover Alan & Char (Hubby’s cousins from WI) have brought a HUGE bag full of photos with them on their visit down here. All the pictures & newspaper articles were from Uncle Ivan (Alan’s dad)who died in 2005. My SIL Linda sat down with her son, his wife, & me and started going through the photos identifying the various people in them. My other SIL Florence joined us & started telling some of the stories that went with the photos. I was so excited to see these photos I couldn’t believe it! This is exactly the kind of thing I love!
No one else was willing to ask permission to take the photos home & scan them so I did. Permission was given & so I have been scanning, editing, & uploading pictures into Facebook since Sunday afternoon. I will eventually put them all on disks so everyone in Hubby’s family can have copies of these pictures. Alan & Char are leaving on Thursday which is why I’ve been rushing to get this massive task accomplished.
Now to get everyone to label faces, dates, & places!
Elizabeth
