Musings of a Genealogy-Nut

My Mother's 2nd birthday.

Overlay - Moments 2 Remember by Tina Chambers
Background - My Shabby Valentine by Rene Bross
Stacked Papers - Valentine Funk by Irene Alexeeva
Newspaper Rose - Vintage Ephemera by Irene Alexeeva

This page was an answer to a challenge about a forgotten memory.

JOURNALING: There was a funny feeling when I discovered this photo. My parent’s bedroom!!! I remember the bedroom set, especially the dressing table. Now the table has been remodeled into 2 bedside tables. My brother has the furniture. I remember the doll, Janice, but not the buggy. I don’t remember playing dress-up with Mom’s hat and shoes. The pajamas don’t strike a chord, either, but that bedroom! I can picture Mom sitting on the stool with the hem of her dress turned back to protect it from nail dust and filing her nails. The Priscilla-style curtains were all through the house. Why do I know that felt hat was blue? I don’t remember, or do I?
KITS: ButterflyKisses-by Kim Liddiard and FunkyFrameStamps by Rene Bross for Club Digital April 2008

I am letting my mother's writing on the photo act as the title.
JOURNALING: A summer day and 5 friends...how did they amuse themselves in 1921? My mother and her friends held a Mock Wedding. The preparations took all day. Each girl had her part and had to scour up a costume appropriate for her role. That is my mother playing the part of the minister, wrapped in an army blanket. My aunt was Maid-of-Honor in a bath robe and her mother’s cloche' hat. This was in my grandmother’s garden so I can only guess that they were allowed to pick some of her flowers for the bouquet. The “gentlemen” holding their hats just so during the ceremony is quite elegant, but the knickers on the girls must have been just a bit risque.
KITS USED:
Vanilla Page Kit by Meryl Bartho
Ring Around The Rosies, Deep Tone Page Kit by Meryl Bartho

My goodness...has it been a year since my last post? I haven't given up, in fact, I am contemplating a road trip to Indiana to look in the genealogy department of the Fort Wayne library. It was to be a trip with an online genealogy/ scrapbooking group, but the group seems to have disbanded.

Along the way, I have corresponded with a 5th cousin in Indiana who wrote a book about my grandmother Anderson's roots. Another friend send me scans of the pages that are linked to my search. A wealth of information! I do hope we can go this summer. I want to meet this cousin.

"Ambitious Katie was both teacher at a two-room school and Postmistress of the small town of Alvordton. She was desperate to get away from the small town. Then an handsome railroad "boss" stopped to get his mail whenever he passed through town. Soon the two were an "item" and a short while later, they went to the county seat to be married by a minister they knew. Katie was no longer able to work as a teacher OR a postmistress once she was a married lady. They traveled together and finally settled in the town of Adrian. There my father was born. Grandpa Gus took a job with the railroad in Detroit and they settled there for good."

As a very little girl, my mother had always wanted a lot of children. However, her health had made that all but impossible. She had numerous operations and miscarriages. Then along I came! It would be another 12 years before the second child, my brother, was born.

"Grandma Laura, why did I never get to know you? Only 2 of your 8 grandchildren were ever held by you.You were born and bred a lady, but with a strong mind of your own. You defied your parents to marry the son of immigrants a man who worked to become a successful and wealthy businessman to give you everything. You never saw either of your daughters marry or have children. When you died far too young, your family was never the same. Your husband followed in less than a year “of a broken heart” and your youngest daughter named her first child, me, after you. You are the first person I want to see in the after-life. I want that Grandma hug I never felt."

This is my mother's mother's mother...Great Grandmother Alice. I can only identify her because I know for certain that it is my Great Aunt with her and I can rule out any of her sisters as the second woman due to age. As far as I know, this is the only photo of her in my collection. None of my cousins seem to have any old photos so I guess this is it.

I create all scrapbooking pages on Photoshop Creative Suite 2.