Twigs and Branches

While doing some research on collecting and recording personal histories today I came across this poem. It perfectly describes why we need to not wait and start now to record our stories and the stories of our relatives before all that is left is questions that can no longer be answered.

Strangers in the Box
Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I’ve often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still, serene.

I wish I knew the people,
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks.

I wonder what their lives were like.
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I’ll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time
To tell who, what, where, when,
These faces of my heritage
Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate
Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories
Someday to be tossed away?

Make time to save your pictures,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours could be
The strangers in the box.

“In 1997, I authored the poem titled, “Strangers in the Box.”
I originally wrote the poem when my mother had dementia,
and I realized that the stories she loved to tell me about her
youth and her family were locked inside her, and I didn’t
remember them like I was so sure I always would.
Hence, the box of strangers.”
(Pamela Harazin).

© 1997 by Pamela A. Harazim. All Rights Reserved. May be used in unchanged form for noncommercial
purposes if accompanied by this copyright message.

I am loving how the genealogy magazines have so much content on their websites. They are magazines that just keep on giving great information. Some of it is also free - even if you don’t subscribe to the publication.

I am sorely tempted to subscribe to the Everton Genealogical Helper Magazine’s online version. For only $12 per year, you can download each edition and read it at your leisure and it won’t take up space on your shelf or counter top. I am just afraid I would be even more attached to my computer than I already am. The paper version is $29 a year and is a small book. I have enjoyed checking the paper version out from my library but I sometimes want to make copies of the articles or highlight some of the great tips.

Family Tree Magazine does a top 101 best Web Sites each year. You can go to their website to view this year’s nominees. They have separated the group into categories so it is easier to browse the topics that you are interested in. I would highly suggest taking the time to do so- you might be surprised by what you find.

Here is one of the quotes that was on my igoogle page this morning:

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.
- Calvin Trillin

It made me think about a conversation I had with my g-grandmother recently. She was commenting on how so much food gets thrown away. She was remembering how her mother was always so good about using leftovers to make different dishes and by doing so you got new flavors that you couldn’t achieve otherwise.

Skills like that are seldom found these days, I know that I don’t have that talent. A leftover dish usually remains the same when it is reheated at my home- that is IF is is lucky enough not to get buried in the back of the fridge and forgotten about.

I am currently working on writing a brief history about my great grandmother, whom we affectionately call Oma.  She will celebrate her 100th birthday this year.

Over the years I didn’t take as much notice of her stories as I now wish I had.  Luckily her mind is still clear but I feel such a rush now to ask her questions!  While some days she is chatty and will share stories, other days she isn’t as open.  Either way, she can also tire of talking about the past.  How I wish I had taken the time before to ask her more questions.

I have recently been reading about the value of summarizing the life of an ancestor.  And as I have been doing this myself many of the thoughts have rung true.

By trying to write about their life in a brief paragraph form it becomes apparent what details you may be missing.  By trying to add historical background to their lives- more questions come to mind that you will want to ask at the next opportunity.

It has been so enlightening for me to try and fit her life into historical trends and events.  It has helped me understand how much has changed in her lifetime.  During my most recent visit I brought my laptop with copies of some photos I had questions about.  While her vision is failing, she did recognize several of the photos (the computer magnification was helpful) and some interesting stories followed.

So my advice for others
(and myself in the future)-

Take the time to write out the history of your older relatives
and
make it sooner rather than later.

The memories you record will be better (time does them no favors) and you will have more time to ask the questions you haven’t thought of yet.

Happy Writing!

In this time when many organizations are just getting started digitizing their records and allowing the public to view them for free- Norway has a head start.

DigitalArkivet is in Norwegian but does have the option to view most of the site in English.  Some of the great things that are on this site are Norwegian Census Records for the years 1801, 1865, 1875, and 1900.  They also have parish records that are indexed by date and are easy to navigate from different types of records and from town to town.  There are also some photos of farms although I have yet to find one that matches where my family resided. There are other features too but I haven’t figured them out yet.

This is a great site and I have been able to make real progress on my Christianson line in the comfort of my own home.

I have also found another website that helps understand how the Norwegian records are organized.  Awhile back, I was trying to understand these recors better and thus I turned to google (as always) and did a search on Norwegian Parish Records.  I was led to an article written by John Follesdal. I would highly suggest reading it.  He gives a great overview of the records.  At the end of the article he has some tables of information to help you easily read some records.

The rest of the site has a lot of great information about Norway Research.  I will be adding this website to my links shortly.