The DIL and I were driving home the other day from work and she's all going on about how we should go through all the family stuff I've been dragging around all these years and how important it is to write stuff down and how the boys won't care, Yada, yada, yada.
Her reasoning (which is probably sound but I don't want to admit it and since she reads this blog she'll know I was listening as she yammered on. Oh well.) is that if I die tomorrow all the stories that I drug out of my mother-in-law will be lost. The problem with this "let's pull your shit out of the closets and disgorge all the family history in your head" theory means that I may just have to do work.
Way too lazy here, folks.
It would be a lot more fun if I could just tease her with bits of information over a long period of time. She's incredibly anal so this would make her crazy. I'm all over that!
I can't torment the boys anymore (they just don't fall for it, the jerks) so I need to have someone to torment. She fits the bill really well.
Her reasoning (which is probably sound but I don't want to admit it and since she reads this blog she'll know I was listening as she yammered on. Oh well.) is that if I die tomorrow all the stories that I drug out of my mother-in-law will be lost. The problem with this "let's pull your shit out of the closets and disgorge all the family history in your head" theory means that I may just have to do work.
Way too lazy here, folks.
It would be a lot more fun if I could just tease her with bits of information over a long period of time. She's incredibly anal so this would make her crazy. I'm all over that!
I can't torment the boys anymore (they just don't fall for it, the jerks) so I need to have someone to torment. She fits the bill really well.
This is my husband's grandfather. It is his graduation from Pharmacy school portrait.
Isn't he handsome? JR and the youngest Boy look a lot like him.
Get a load of that collar! Bet, made turning his head difficult.
Here is his graduation certificate.
Anyone know where Collingwood, Ontario is?
I think it is north of Toronto.
This is a photo of his mother. Most likely before she had a dozen kids.
Here is the whole family.
Yep, I was right. You have a dozen curtain climbers and you start to look old real quick. I only had 2 and they aged me.
10 boys. Good Grief!
That little girl on the left was probably the worst of the bunch. You know how those babies are. Spoken like a true middle child.
Yep, I was right. You have a dozen curtain climbers and you start to look old real quick. I only had 2 and they aged me.
10 boys. Good Grief!
That little girl on the left was probably the worst of the bunch. You know how those babies are. Spoken like a true middle child.
Here are some shots of the older boys.
JR's grandpa moved down to the United States around the turn of the 20th century. He settled in North Dakota and married JR's grandmother in 1911. She was 18 and he was about 36. My mother-in-law was born 11 months later. They then packed up and moved to Montana.
So that ought to be enough info to satisfy the DIL for a while. If not, she'll just have to wait. I can't be expected to spew family history all at once. This is a dish best savored.
Love,
M
Love,
M
10 boys.
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine.
Great family history.
How did the gig go today? I was thinking about you...
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a lot of damn kids. Of course, that's all they had to do at night before TV was invented...
10 boys! omg. That woman deserves a statue.
ReplyDeleteCollingwood is about three hours away from me, and yes, North of Toronto. (about an hour and a half away)
ReplyDeleteThose old photo are amazing. I wish we had more of our family history preserved in tangible objects.
I love old family photos! I made my mom drag a ton out when I was up in Oregon visiting her recently!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of tormenting your DIL by slowly doling this stuff out. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteI love those old photos. I love to stare at them. If I don't know the people, even better.
ReplyDeleteEllie
What a treasure of family memory you've got there! Thanks for including us. And how is your "news" experiment going?
ReplyDeleteWonderful! I just love genealogy and family history!
ReplyDeleteLinda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/
I love it! You should make your family history a whole blog. I'm doing it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://gladysstory.wordpress.com/?page_id=23&preview=true
And I'm having alot of fun with it!
What you don't realize is there are consequences to your riling up my wife.
ReplyDeleteGood god I look creepily like the dude in the last photograph, far right. Betcha that is William.
Wow, this is impressive. I see 10 boys, and realize I have NOTHING to complain about with one. But I still do.
ReplyDeleteK: I couldn't even image having that many.
ReplyDeleteCasey: Obviously the nights were not real boring around their place.
Keely: She does, doesn't she.
Sher: Thanks for the link.
24: You're from Oregon? I was born in Portland.
ReplyDeleteCapt: Yeah it's fun. We'll see what she thinks.
Ellie: Stare at mine all you want. I've got plenty more. I have a couple of old tin types that I plan to digitize.
Cathy: I think Technorati is crazy but maybe I should give it a fun more days.
Linda: I knew you'd like these.
Ginger: I'll be wondering over to your family history site.
ReplyDeleteBen: You're right that is William and the resemblance is creepy. Kind of looks like Matthew too.
CDB: You still have complaining rights.
I am so jealous of these heirlooms. I love this kind of stuff.
ReplyDeleteI love the last photo. It is so less formal than the others. You can almost hear them discussing having to dress up.
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me how much "stuff" you have of your ancestors. Very nice photographs for how old they are.
ReplyDeleteBe nice to your DIL or these stories wont be carried on to your grands. Then all your hard work will be for nothing!! LOL
Wow, I thought my mom's mother had it tough with seven kids. Oy! Great history though!
ReplyDelete