Musings of a Genealogy-Nut

They were sisters, girls of good Indiana farm stock, but they wanted more. Minnie was married into a successful photographer’s family by age 18 and had son, Clair, exactly a year later. Katie, however, watched as her older sister settled more and more into life in Hicksville and swore it wouldn’t happen to her. She became a teacher in the one room school house, AND postmistress. Her clothes were fancy and she nagged her sister to dress just so. Even her little nephew was pushed into the fashionable mold. By age 17, Katie married a handsome railroad man who wore suits and hats. She fled Hicksville for Chicago, Detroit and finally settled for the quiet life in Gibraltar. Fashion never was far from her heart.

Minnie and Katie were almost different generations with the 8 year difference in their ages. Katie remained devoted to Clair even after his mother died in 1950. Clair never married (maybe it was those outfits). He and my father were close, again inspite of the difference in age. Both were pharmacists and both owned their own stores, Clair’s in Ohio; Dad’s in Michigan. When Clair died in 1966 it was the end of a branch of the family that went back 5 generations. I have had to do some real detective work to turn up a few cousins, but, at last, there have been some connections back to a fine, proud, family dating to the early 1700s. Katie and Minnie would so love what I have learned. I wish I could share it with them.