Sometimes the most
important documents, photos, or artifacts in our family history come to us from distant family who kindly passes on wonderful treasures like the family
bible or a photo of a long-lost relative. As the extended family all know
that I have a passion for genealogy, often envelopes or boxes of items get
passed on to the nutty family historian. Sometimes the treasures are
right under our noses, and we had them all along.
I was in charge of the
care of my mother's house in Pennsylvania during the summers when she stayed at
the ancestral home on the Chesapeake. One hot July day in 1997 early
in my family history journey I was doing the weekly chores sorting mail
and watering plants when I remembered a scene as a young girl talking
to my father in my parent's basement when he pulled out an old photo of his
puppy and one of his mother who had died in 1912.
It occurred to me that the photos were still in the house, and I
poured over every box I could find without success.
Discouraged, I sat in Daddy's easy chair to think and spoke out
loud my frustration and plea for guidance. Suddenly I had an
idea for a hideaway in the basement, zoomed down the stairs, and within
minutes had two old wooden trunks filled with documents, photos, jewelry,
locks of hair, tin types, albums, newspapers, and
more. I was crying so hard that when I called my mother in Maryland
I couldn't make myself understood and frightened her. It took some
time to convince her they were tears of joy.
Inside the wooden box
were documents from the family including a legal-size sheet that described a
1920 family reunion of the Eisenberg/Jones family.[1] It gave some history
that led me to research our connection, and all at once I was related to a
family that settled in Pennsylvania before William Penn! I spent the summer
learning all about "New Sweden" along the Delaware River that
was settled starting in 1638. On 27 September 1997, the descendants of the
Swedish colonists held several events in Pennsylvania and Delaware to celebrate
their heritage. I attended the annual Mans Jones Day in Berks County at
the house owned by one of my ancestors in 1701.[2] The Historical Preservation Trust of Berks County had people dressed in colonial garb and I ate lunch in the nearby
colonial tavern. The next day the state of Delaware sponsored the launch
of a replica of a Swedish ship, the Kalmar Nyckel, which brought many of the
Swedish colonists to America. It is to be the official "tall ship" of
Delaware because the first landing of the original Kalmar Nyckel was near
present-day Wilmington.[3]
One of the most prized
treasures coming from one of the wooden trunks was a letter. Dad's aunt
Mary had written the letter to her uncle who was living
in Delaware County in 1895. The letter was a description of the
birth of my dad who weighed ten pounds. His exhausted mother allowed her mother
to choose the family name, Joseph. What a
wonderful document this letter is! Many baby pictures and unlabeled family
photos were also part of the trunk's treasures.[4]
It is such a wonderful
gift to be able to honor those who came before us and understand ourselves a
little better as a result of getting to know them. Knowing that
sometimes we are lucky to stumble over artifacts to illuminate their lives
makes the journey that much more special and aids in honoring our ancestors.
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