Emma (Amanda) and John Crites my 2X Great Grandparents

Family Photos had an important place in my journey into our family history search. They were a launching pad that laid quiet for twenty nine years.  The launching pad’s foundation was laid one summer day at the picnic table in the back yard of our home in Imlay City.   We were having a picnic.  My Father had gone to Detroit to get his parents and bring them to Imlay City for the day.  Grandpa had MS and was wheelchair bound. They lived in a retirement home that would enable them to have a somewhat independent living environment but also give Grandpa the 24 hour a day medical care that he needed.   It was an early version of the assisted living type centers of today.   Grandma brought a large box of old dusty photos with them.

After eating our picnic lunch, Dad went back to work at the dime store, Mom went off to do dishes and Grandma brought out the box!  It would be her job for the day and I soon learned that it was mine too.  It was one of the last boxes that she needed to go through since they moved there five years before.  “Janet, I need you to help me” she said.   “Darn it”  I thought. I had lingered at the table just a few minutes too long.   “I need you to write on the back of these photos for me. ”  she exclaimed.  “Why do I have to?” I whined.  She  stated that my handwriting was better than hers.  And with that I was stuck for the next couple of hours being her scribe!

Smith Picnic – 1968

She dumped the content of the box of photos on the table and it created a nice size pile. I thought this is going to take hours!  I sat at the picnic table with Grandma Lillian and Grandpa Everett and we sorted through old photos. The Photo’s were of people from a long time ago.  Faces I had never seen, young and old, in small towns in front of unknown houses. They were of Grandpa’s  family, the Smiths, his parents, grandparents,  his uncles, aunts and assorted cousins. It was almost like a game. Grandma would show Grandpa the photo like a flash card and he would tell us who it was.  She would hand the photo to me to write the name on the back.  So I wrote the names that I heard; McGoogan, Wert, Sparks, Meeks, Crites, Jackson, Smith and Denney. I wrote them on the photos in my 13 year old hand writing. Most were misspelled but I was in a hurry! I had better things to do, you know!

John and Emma Crites – Uniondale, Indiana

Some time later, Grandma went thru the photos again and wrote notes on the back trying to describe the family relationships. Notes like Grandpa Crites’ sister, Everett’s favorite Cousin, Grandma Crites’ mother. All added to assist someone to understand who these people were many years from now when she and Grandpa were long gone and someone decided to look at the old photos in this dusty box.

Twenty nine years later, I decided to add the people that I “know” to a family tree in Family Tree Maker. I had bought Family Tree Maker for my husband for Christmas. He had been using an old DOS based software for his family information.  My father had died the year before and I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at this while my mother was still living.

I was trying to figure out who Grandpa Smith’s parents were and where they came from. Grandpa Smith told me that he was born in Indiana, I remembered that much. I talked to my Mother and she tells me that she has this dusty old box of photos that were Grandma and Grandpa’s. My next visit to Michigan, we got the photos out. As I search through the dusty box, I was startled by handwriting on the back of the first photo. Chills ran up and down my back and tears began to well in my eyes. Suddenly I was flooded with the memory of the afternoon at the picnic table with Grandma and Grandpa. I am in awe as I notice that Grandma wrote on the photos too. Grandma was talking to me loud and clear.

She sent me research hints to find twenty nine years later. Some of the hints sent me on wild goose chases and some goose chasing were of my own doing when I spelled the name wrong but each stoke of her pencil and mine gave me a place to start. After spending an hour or so with the box, I realized that it was much smaller than I had remembered. And there weren’t THAT many photos! Oh what I would have given to be able to ask Grandma and Grandpa some questions now. I was so lucky to be able to spend “that time” with my Grandparents that day. It was a gift that I will always cherish.

If you are the keeper of your family history, make sure you find someone to share it with a generation or two younger than you. Even if they do not seem as interested in it as you would like. It is important for these memories live on. Label your photos and make sure the young children in your family hear the family stories so they can understand and experience the joy of keeping the memories of their ancestor alive.

How my Grandmother knew that I was the one who would take on this mission, I’ll never know but she knew. Thank you, Grandma Lillian! I love you too!

Lillian Losee Smith at about the age 10

Having to pick one favorite photo is really difficult because I love them all.  The all speak to me at high volume!

Happy Hunting!

Jan