Aunties and Ancestors

Pictured above are my Great-Aunts Bernie and Ruth…

My brother, who is downsizing, has been steadily bringing me medium-size boxes of family photos and other ephemera that he’s unearthed. Because we’ve been so busy with garden, family, and travel I am just now getting around to pilfering through the photo albums.

If you know me well at all, you have heard many “Aunt Bernie” stories, starring my grand-aunt Bernadine Mayne Harrison, who lived to be 100 years old. Born in 1903, she was 19 when she married Uncle Harry, and they were married for 50 years before he died in 1972. Bernie and Harry traveled a lot and in 1950 they loaded up their car on a ship and sailed to Italy, where they disembarked and proceeded to tour. In one of the boxes Brother brought me is a full album of that trip. I am fascinated and have fallen in love with my Auntie all over again.

She was the Best Dresser! Check this out. Her purse has a hook for her gloves…

There’s more of that sort, as well as pictures of Bernie’s sister, my beloved Aunt Ruth (who first took me to the cemeteries). Here’s the sisters – not Italy, most likely the Gulf of Mexico.

There are other old albums with pictures of Grandmother and Grandad (Bernie and Ruth’s parents, my great-grands) that I’ve never seen before, and a daguerreotype, marked! as my great-great-great grandparents, Eliza and Orlando Harris (Grandad’s grandparents).

Call me crazy, but I believe these folks are here with me. Of course, I actually knew and had a relationship with my aunties and grandparents, but all of the greats have become so familiar to me as I researched and wrote about their lives and times. I love telling the tales of my tribe and I draw them down to help me sort through the photographs of their happy times.

The oppressive heat is back and the garden is wrapping up, so it’s a good time to stay in the a/c and do some writing over on the Ancestry blog. I’ve got some stories to share…

Stay cool!

Peace